Home Airflow Affects Temperature & Health

How Airflow Impacts Your Home's Temperature, Air Quality & Your Safety

Good air quality is an important factor in your family's comfort, health and safety. According to the EPA, Americans spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors, where the concentrations of some pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than what is found outside. When your house suffers from poor airflow, air quality will significantly drop.

The importance of your home's airflow is often overlooked. Poor ventilation can come from blocked or obstructed air vents, which will negatively impact your airflow. Poor airflow can lead to a number of less-than-desired outcomes:

• Respiratory issues — As Perfect Pollucon Services states, "pollutants accumulate and become trapped in enclosed spaces, occupants are exposed to a cocktail of harmful particles, including dust, pollen, mold spores, pet dander, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)." The longer you or your family is exposed to these pollutants, the higher your risk is for asthma, allergies, bronchitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other respiratory issues.
• Allergies and sensitivities — Poor ventilation can exacerbate environmental triggers that make allergies worse. Those who live with allergies will likely experience heightened allergy symptoms, since poorly ventilated spaces lead to increased exposure to allergens.
• Infectious disease — Poor airflow leads to stagnant air. That creates the ideal environment for the transmission of airborne diseases, such as influenza, tuberculosis, and COVID-19.
• Sleep disturbances — Poor air quality can increase the temperature in your home, leading to restless nights and poor sleep quality.
• Building deterioration — Poor airflow and ventilation can accelerate the deterioration of building materials in your home. That corrosion can compromise the structural integrity of your house.
• Discomfort and stress — Those who live in homes with little to no circulation often report discomfort, which leads to stress and a less-than-ideal living situation.

Airflow and ventilation is more important than you might think. In this article, we'll dive into more ways that air flow and circulation can impact your home and comfort. We'll also share some ways to improve airflow to ensure your family is happy, safe, and healthy at home.

How to Assess your Home’s Air Quality

Proper air flow is an important, yet under looked, component of a healthy and comfortable environment. Proper air circulation ensures that fresh air is constantly moving in and around your home to maintain good indoor air quality. When you optimize air flow in your home, you can expect the following benefits:

• A consistent and comfortable environment for your family
• Fresh air that will boost productivity and focus for tasks at hand
• A reduction in the concentration of airborne pollutants and allergens
• Less of a need for excessive heating and cooling

But before you can optimize the air flow in your home, you should first assess your home's indoor environment to understand your current air quality to pinpoint areas with poor air flow. Consider the following factors:

• Air Quality Odors — An unpleasant smell often indicates pollutants or stagnant air
• Allergy symptoms — If you or a family member is sneezing or coughing more than normal, it can indicate the presence of allergens in the air
• Condensation — Excessive condensation on your windows or walls can be a clear indicator of high humidity levels
• Dust accumulation — A build up of dust can point to poor air filtration or improper circulation

Once you identify any of those factors, it's time to find the source. Look for areas in your home with significant temperature differences, places that feel stuffy, mold growth, or more dust than normal. If that describes your home, you likely have an air circulation problem.

How Airflow Impacts Your Home’s Temperature

If you live in an environment that sees temperatures swing from bitterly cold to sweltering heat over the course of the year, you'll understand the importance of a properly-functioning HVAC system. One of the best ways to keep your HVAC functioning at peak performance is to make sure it has proper airflow. Here are some ways that airflow impacts your home's HVAC efficiency:

• Thermostat function — You rely on your thermostat to read the temperature in your home. If you have a lack of airflow, it can make the air seem hotter or colder than it really is in some rooms in your home. That will lead to an incorrect reading from your thermostat.
• Removal of stale air — A properly functioning HVAC system will remove stale air from your home. But when there's no airflow, that air will remain stagnant. Stale in your home can cause problems such as increased allergy symptoms, dust build up, lingering cooking odors, and more.
• Humidity level management — HVACs play a crucial role in regulating the humidity in your home by removing moisture in the air. When the airflow of your HVAC is not functioning properly, your home may experience high humidity levels. That can lead to your family experiencing discomfort, fatigue, headaches, nausea, and more.
• Energy efficiency — If the airflow in your HVAC is blocked, your system will have to use up more energy to perform its normal duties. The more energy your system has to use, the harder your system will have to work to heat or cool your home.
• Longer HVAC lifespan — If your HVAC system has good airflow, it won't have to overwork itself. That can minimize the number of costs and repairs to your HVAC system, which will help it last longer overall.

How Airflow Impacts Your Family’s Health and Comfort

When your HVAC system doesn't have good airflow, that impacts your home's air quality. Poor air quality can impact your family's health and safety. Here are some issues that may arise from poor ventilation.

• Accumulation of contaminants — Without proper airflow, indoor pollutants will settle in different areas of your home, such as carpet fibers and the air itself. When these contaminants remain stagnant in your home for too long, your family may experience fatigue, dizziness, and an increase in allergy symptoms.
• Physical symptoms from extremely high or low humidity — Too little humidity leads to extremely dry air, which causes uncomfortable symptoms like sore throats, dry skin, sinus, and eye irritations. Too much humidity can lead to a moisture buildup, which can lead to mold growth.
• Increased risk of airborne diseases — Lack of ventilation increases the risk of airborne diseases, such as the flu and COVID-19. Without the fresh air flowing through those indoor spaces, bacteria and viruses remain suspended in the air. When that happens, it increases the likelihood of germs being passed from one person to another.
• Low oxygen levels — If your house doesn't have proper airflow, you may experience a carbon dioxide buildup. That leads to reduced oxygen levels in your home. That can lead to symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, decreased cognitive function, and headaches.
• Poor sone ratings — A sone refers to a unit of perceived loudness that comes from a machine, such as an HVAC system. If your HVAC doesn't have proper airflow, it will have to work harder to produce the desired amount of heat or cool air. While a sone isn’t actively harmful to your family, they are unpleasant and disruptive to your indoor environment.

How to Improve Air Flow in Your Home

Air flow is crucial to creating a comfortable living environment for your family. Poor ventilation will lead to an imbalance of temperature across your house, along with allowing pollutants to build up in the air and make people sick or allergic. But you can easily combat those problems. You can easily take any of the following steps to take to ensure air is circulating properly throughout your home.

Bring fresh air into your home to keep virus particles at bay. If you can, and the weather allows it, open your doors and windows as much as possible. The wider the better, but having them cracked works too. Use strategically placed tower fans to keep the air moving and create a cross breeze in your home. Point them away from people and place them as close as possible to windows to get rid of virus particles in your home. If you have ceiling fans, keep those on as well.

Leverage exhaust fans in your bathroom, laundry room, and kitchen as well, since they're also effective at circulating air throughout your space. They'll help remove moisture, odors, and pollutants straight from the source. If you have visitors in your home, you can keep your exhaust fans on for an extended period of time.

Next, make sure to use a pleated filter in your HVAC system, as these are widely considered to be more efficient than standard filters. Follow the manufacturer's instructions to install the filter correctly. Change your filter every three months to ensure optimal performance and that dust and allergens don't build up. If you have visitors coming to your home, set the fan to "on," as opposed to "auto."

Visitors unknowingly bring different germs into your home. This tactic will help to ensure they're filtered out as quickly as possible. But if you're especially worried about people bringing germs into your home, limit the number of visitors you have. You can also gather in larger rooms where people can be spaced apart and keep your visits short.

You can also use a free-standing air purifier to supplement the work your HVAC system does. Just make sure to select one with a HEPA filter, as it will remove airborne particles, allergens, and pollutants from indoor air, especially in areas with limited ventilation.

Keeping tabs on the humidity in your home is a great tactic to consider, too. If you have any damp are humid areas, like basements or crawlspaces, use a dehumidifier to remove excess moisture and prevent mold growth. Use humidity sensors in these same areas as well. They'll help you to monitor indoor humidity levels and adjust ventilation and dehumidification systems as you need to.

You should also check all the vents in your home. If a heavy piece of furniture, like a chair or dresser, is blocking it, that will prevent air from reaching that room. Dirt and debris block vents too, so make sure to clean them regularly.

Repairing Your HVAC to Improve Your Airflow

In some cases, you can do all the right things to improve your airflow, and the situation still does not improve. When that happens, the HVAC system itself is likely to blame. While you may fret that you need to purchase a new HVAC system, that might not be the case! Sometimes, you can repair instead of replace.

Familiarize yourself with the system or talk to an expert to figure out the extent of the repair needed. If the repair costs significantly less than a replacement, it makes more sense to repair the broken part of the system. You should also determine if your appliance is covered under a home warranty. If so, it may cover a portion of the repair, the entire repair or even a new replacement.

Not only does repairing your system instead of replacing it save you money, but it will provide you with environmental benefits as well.

As the Pinnacle List says, "Manufacturing new home equipment requires many belongings, including metals, plastics, and extraordinary raw substances. Extracting and processing those substances devour significant quantities of electricity and frequently bring about habitat destruction and pollutants.”

When more people repair their home appliances instead of replacing them all together, the demand for new parts will go down. That means the energy needed to create that equipment will also lessen. That will also reduce landfill waste and carbon emissions, along with promoting a more sustainable lifestyle.

The good news is that you can turn to McCombs Supply for your HVAC replacement part needs! The following items are just some of the parts that we offer:

• Blades, blowers, and pulleys — Our offering ranges from aluminum blades, to blower squirrel cage wheels, to plastic blades, and more.
• Motors — We supply quality HVAC motors from trusted manufactures such as Broan Nutone, Fasco, Magnetek, McMillian, Packard, and Supco.
• Draft Inducers — We have draft inducers that fit all the major brands of furnaces and HVAC equipment such as AO Smith, Bryant Payne, GE, Heil, ICP, Lennox, Nordyne, Rheem, Trane, Tempstar, York, and more.
• Attic fans — We offer attic fans in a variety of sizes that will cool hot attics by pushing out hot air from inside and drawing in cool air from the outside through vents.

TL;DR - Better Airflow Equals a More Comfortable & Safer Home

Proper airflow is more important to your family's comfort and health than you might realize. Lack of circulation can lead to a number of undesirable outcomes, such as respiratory issues, allergy symptoms, infectious diseases, sleep disturbances, building deterioration, and more.

If you're experiencing an unpleasant odor, an increase in allergy symptoms in your home, excessive condensation, or uneven temperature, you might have blocked airflow in your home. To improve the situation, open doors and windows when you can to create a nice breeze to circulate the air. You can also use a pleated filter in your HVAC system and a free-standing air purifier to supplement those efforts.

But if that's not enough, feel free to reach out to the experts at McComb's Supply and we'll help you to assess the situation. We are committed to providing our customers total satisfaction — every time, guaranteed. Contact us today to get a conversation started.