Picture a perfect winter’s evening. If you are like most Americans, you have envisioned your family together in your home with the furnace working hard to keep you all warm and toasty. American homes are well insulated, so you don’t lose too much heat through your walls.
However, winter is the season of colds and the flu. The biggest reason why we tend to get these illnesses during the winter has very little to do with the actual cold. The main reason is that we tend to be indoors all the time, and we don’t aerate our homes quite as much. We’d rather not lose the precious warmth, but we inadvertently help the growth of bacteria and viruses. So, what can you do?
Open Your Windows Daily
The first solution is the most logical one – open your windows. If you are worried about the cold, you can do this early morning, just as you are about to leave the house. This way, not only do you get the natural, invigorating awakening, but you won’t risk anyone staying in the cold house since most residents are usually leaving home in the morning. Keep the windows open for a short period of time and the majority of stale nightly air will be replaced with fresh, cool, and healthy outside air.
The major drawback of this method is, of course, precipitation. If it’s raining or snowing, you can hardly open the windows without causing a mini flood in your home. The other problem with this method is the moisture which can be brought in with the air. If the home is not warm enough to dissipate that moisture, it can accumulate and create the perfect conditions for mold growth.
Check Your Furnace
If you are worried that your furnace will have problems reheating your home after you have aerated it, chances are that the furnace is either not fit for your home, or in need of maintenance or repair. To learn more about that, consult this handy article https://hughesairco.com/heating-service-scottsdale-az/.
In normal circumstances, your furnace can reheat your home quite quickly, and you should start noticing the change within the first minute or two of turning it on. However, you shouldn’t forget to change the air filters in your furnace, because they are an ideal habitat for bacteria, mold, and viruses, all of which can cause illnesses or allergies.
HVAC Systems
A lot of people claim that their HVAC system is all they need to ventilate their homes. However, that is not always true. If the HVAC, or just the ventilation system, doesn’t have a fresh air intake which draws the air from the outside, the only thing it is doing is circulating the same stale and germ-full air inside your home. The only thing it does is cool the air down and move it from one place in the house to the next.
While the air filters do capture some of these impurities, they have their limits, so you are not getting the fresh air you need and want. Check with your HVAC technicians whether your system supports fresh air intakes. The systems which do have this feature are typically a bit more expensive, but they are well worth the investment. They ensure that the air exchange is as energy-efficient as possible, so you don’t have to worry about losing too much of your heat, which would increase your heating bill.
Heating is the pot priority to most people in the winter, but air quality should never be neglected either. The best option is to install the system which integrates both of these functions.
