Ventilation Tips for the Winter Season

Ventilation Tips for the Winter Season
Tennessee summers are known for extreme temperatures, but our winters aren’t exactly mild either. Between ice, sleet, rain, and even snowfall, it’s no surprise why most Tennessee residents spend so much of the winter months inside their homes.

Unfortunately, this time indoors can be hazardous to your health in a way you may not realize–especially without proper ventilation. Due to air pollution from various sources, the air we breathe indoors can be more toxic than the outside air. Wintertime indoor air can become incredibly harmful because we don’t want to open windows and doors to ventilate. 

Home Ventilation and Filtration
Ventilation is a process of keeping air fresh by continually moving stale indoor air out of the space and replacing it with fresh incoming air. Complementary to home ventilation is filtration: keeping indoor air fresh by filtering or removing airborne toxins. Together, ventilation and filtration purify and detoxify indoor air during the winter season. Here, learn Chancey & Reynolds’ tips for winter home ventilation and air filtration.

Effective Home Ventilation Tips
Ventilation goes beyond simply opening a window or turning on a ceiling fan. Here are some of the most effective ways to ventilate your home according to our HVAC-certified pros:

• • • Use heat recovery ventilators: These appliances ensure a steady supply of fresh, oxygenated outdoor air to purify your indoor air at home. Heat recovery ventilators feature two fans and a heat exchanger core. They precisely calibrate how much fresh air to pull in based on how frequently you run your heater or furnace.

• • • Open your windows: Though it may seem counterintuitive to open your windows in the winter, it’s highly effective for home air ventilation. And unlike opening your windows and doors for air ventilation during the summer, it isn’t necessary to keep them open all day long. For adequate wintertime home ventilation, open windows on both ends of your house, and the polluted air inside will flow out in no time. Be careful to notice cold air flowing in, and don’t let too much cold air in to necessitate heating after closing your windows

• • • Use air purifiers: Air purifiers remove pollutants and toxins from the air in your home to sanitize it. Unlike oil diffusers, which add particles to the air in your home, air purifiers remove problematic particles

• • • Use fans: By making good use of fans already in your house, you can amp up the impact of other ventilation methods like opening your windows. Turn on your ceiling fans while your doors and/or windows are open to force out contaminated household air even faster. This will reduce the time your windows and doors remain open so you don’t lose all the heat in your house. Kitchen and bathroom fans draw excess moisture from the air, reducing mold and germs. A box fan is useful for rooms without other fans where it’s more difficult to ventilate.

• • • Reduce clutter and furniture: Cluttered areas of your home are more prone to mold and mildew. Cramped furniture pieces or laundry items in a room blocks fresh air from flowing throughout your home, making it feel damp and musty even after hours of ventilation. Well-spaced furniture reduces the accumulation of polluted air in the house and improves airflow, making other ventilation methods more efficient.

Partner with Tennessee’s HVAC Experts
Founded in 1978, Chancey & Reynolds has decades of valuable experience that instills confidence in home and business owners. For more than 42 years, we’ve performed repairs and maintenance on all types of residential HVAC systems, air conditioners, heat pumps, furnaces, and more. HVAC users across Knoxville and Lenoir City trust our team of air specialists to keep their homes comfortable all year long. Contact us today to get started!