How to Ventilate Your Home This Winter

During the winter months, many homeowners have a tendency to shut off the outside world because the weather is so cold. This can cause problems with your indoor air quality, so this isn’t the best strategy to employ, especially when winter ventilation is a factor. Instead of completely sealing yourself off, try these simple tactics that will allow you to stay warm while improving ventilation.

Reverse Your Ceiling Fans

One extremely simple tactic to improve winter ventilation is to reverse the direction of your home’s ceiling fans. You can do this by simply flipping the switch on the side of each one. This will pull the cold air up while pushing warm air down.

Crack Open Each Window

During the warmer months of the year, opening your windows is a great way to improve ventilation, but that’s simply not possible when the weather turns cold. However, unless it is absolutely freezing outside, cracking open each window just a bit will allow fresh air inside without making your house too cold.

Run Bathroom and Kitchen Fans

Running your bathroom fan whenever you’re taking a shower will help keep humidity low and avoid problems like mold and mildew. As for the kitchen, the exhaust fan will keep potentially harmful stove and oven fumes from being circulated into other rooms.

Use a Balanced Ventilation System

Although the installation of a balanced ventilation system will likely require installation by a qualified HVAC technician, this is an effective way to improve ventilation. It works by exchanging stale air inside with fresh air outside at the same rate.

Consider a Supply Ventilation System

This system isn’t quite as good as a balanced ventilation system because it brings in moisture with the air outside, but it is still worth considering. This works by pulling fresh air inside and allowing stale air to leak out through cracks and other small openings in your home.

If you’d like more expert advice on winter ventilation or have any other HVAC topics to discuss, please contact the friendly technicians at CCAC. We’ve been servicing the Coastal Bend of Texas with professionalism and expertise for 40 years.