It's Not Enough To Insulate -- You Also Need To Ventilate

Insulating your home will go a long way toward cutting down on your energy costs, especially during the winter in northwest Arkansas. However, don’t forget about the need to ventilate your home as well. Ventilation is very important in maintaining good air quality. Not only that, but without proper ventilation your heating and cooling equipment will get dirty much faster, resulting in additional wear and tear as they operate.

What is home ventilation?

Ventilation is the air that’s exchanged between the outside and inside of your home. Having the right amount of ventilation is important for energy efficiency and comfort. Too much ventilation will result in your home losing conditioned air, while not enough ventilation will result in pollutants getting trapped in your indoor air, which will seem stale and uncomfortable. There are three main ways that outdoor air vents into your home:

• Infiltration – When outdoor air seeps into your home through joints, cracks, openings, walls, ceilings and floors.
• Natural ventilation – When outdoor air moves through doors or windows that have been opened.
• Mechanical ventilation – When air is removed by devices such as exhaust fans in kitchens or bathrooms, or ventilation or purification systems that force the exchange of air.

What should your home have?

Infiltration is not the type of ventilation you want, as these are basically air leaks that allow moisture and pollutants to get into the home in addition to causing energy loss. Mechanical ventilation will help remove any pollutants inside your home as well as bring in outdoor air in a much more controlled manner. The amount of ventilation you need depends on the size of your home as well as the HVAC system you use.

Have an expert technician inspect your home in order to accurately assess how much ventilation is needed. If you need to ventilate your home more than you already are, please contact us at Paschal Heat, Air & Geothermal. We provide northwest Arkansas homeowners with expert HVAC service and quality customer care.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Northwest Arkansas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about ventilation and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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