With spring quickly approaching, now is the perfect time to think about the ventilation in your home. Since spring also brings high levels of pollen, ventilation can be a key method of improving your indoor air quality. Paired with things like whole-house filtration and humidity control, you can ensure that your allergy symptoms are kept under control this spring.
What Is Home Ventilation?
When you ventilate your home, you’re replacing air on the inside with air from the outside of your home. The problem with this process for allergy sufferers is that you could be bringing pollen and other outdoor contaminants inside your residence. You can filter these contaminants by running your HVAC system and whole-house filtration equipment.
What’s Contaminating Your Indoor Air?
Aside from the springtime pollen that can come into your home, many other culprits that can affect your indoor air quality. If you have pets, pet dander can worsen your allergies. Dust and dust mites can lead to sneezing and coughing. Volatile organic compounds can off-gas from cleaning products, air fresheners, building materials, and candles. When you combine these indoor contaminants with what’s going on outside in the spring, you can end up being itchy and uncomfortable.
Mold spores are prevalent in homes in this area, especially if you’re not controlling the relative humidity in your residence. We recommend that you keep humidity between 35% and 50% during the spring months as well as the rest of the year. This will reduce the prevalence of particulate matter in your indoor air since humid air holds more contaminants. Mold is very dangerous and can quickly spread through your home through your HVAC system and ductwork. It can cause headaches, fatigue, nausea, and brain fog. We recommend a professional inspection of your HVAC system and ventilation equipment at least once per year to confirm there isn’t mold present in your home.
Different Types of Home Ventilation Equipment
Depending on your home, you may have one or more types of ventilation equipment available. Exhaust fans are common as they remove air from areas of your home like your kitchen or bathroom and expel it outside. It’s recommended that you use this equipment when you’re bathing or cooking, and humidity and particulate matter levels are rising. You can improve the quality of your indoor air by running your exhaust fans for approximately 15 minutes per day, even if you’re not cooking or running water in the bathroom.
There are supply-only ventilation units that bring fresh air from outdoors into your home. The problem with this equipment is that it can bring outdoor allergens inside if there isn’t some sort of filtration involved, and a specific amount of pressure isn’t maintained in the home.
Heat recovery ventilation systems recover heat from air that you’re exhausting, using it to heat air that is coming inside your home. This is an ideal system if you’re still going to run your heating equipment in the spring. This is common on chilly spring nights in Madison, WI.
Of course, natural ventilation is something that occurs through different openings in your home. This includes your windows, doors, and chimney. If you’re going to open your home up to utilize natural ventilation, you’ll want to do so during times of the day when pollen levels are low. This is usually during the early morning hours and late in the evening once the sun goes down.
Considering Ventilation Rate
Ventilation is only beneficial if there is a quick exchange of air occurring. Ventilation rate refers to the quality and amount of external air that is ventilated into a specific space. In an ideal scenario, you should be moving air from a non-contaminated source to inside your home.
The Installation of Ventilation Equipment
If you have decided to have ventilation fans and other equipment installed in your home before Madison, WI, springtime’s allergy season, there are things to consider. For starters, the type of equipment you are using may impact the overall comfort and functionality of your home. Some fans can be quite loud. If you are installing these fans in areas of the home like your bedroom or a bathroom that is attached to a bedroom, look for a unit that boasts a low decibel rating.
Consider where your ventilation equipment is going to be installed. If you are creating a large amount of airflow in a specific area, this can lead to hot or cold spots in your residence. Depending on where your thermostat is placed, you could end up forcing your HVAC system to run more frequently to keep up with your interior comfort demands. It’s important to work with our team of professionals to ensure that the installation is performed correctly. We will also help you choose equipment based on your indoor needs. Lastly, we will ensure that all your equipment is placed in the right locations that amplify ventilation without compromising indoor comfort or efficiency. When this equipment works as designed, it should help you save money and improve indoor air quality.
When Ventilation Isn’t Ideal
Ventilation isn’t a beneficial process when the air outside your home is polluted with some sort of contamination, and you bring that directly inside. In some cases, this may be pollen from plants that are blooming in the spring and summer months. Other pollutants can include smoke, ozone, and emissions from vehicles and factories that are near your home. The ventilation system that you’re using should include some type of filtration. This will remove particulate matter from the air that is coming into your home to protect your indoor air quality.
Considering Additional Filtration
If you’re someone who suffers from allergies in the spring, you should consider having a whole-house filtration system installed in your home. This equipment can often remove up to 99.97% of the particulate matter in your indoor air, including contaminants that are as small as 0.3 microns in size. High-efficiency particulate air filters, or HEPA for short, can remove pollen, pet dander, dust, mold spores, and germs from your indoor air. Activated carbon filters can remove volatile organic compounds, smoke, and bad odors from your indoor air.
Think about the minimum-efficiency reporting value, or MERV, for the filter you’re selecting for your filtration equipment. A MERV rating is also used for standard furnace filters. The higher a MERV rating is, the more particulate matter it will remove. However, be careful with this factor. Choosing too high of a MERV-rated filter can result in too much airflow restriction in your HVAC system or filtration setup. Stick to a filter with a MERV rating between 8 and 12 to promote ample airflow while trapping many contaminants.
Southport Home Services is available if you would like assistance with the installation of ventilation equipment in your Madison home. We can also install whole-home air purification equipment to reduce the number of particulates in your indoor air. Contact us to schedule an appointment today for HVAC inspection.
