Three Key Strategies for Home Ventilation

Three Key Strategies for Home Ventilation

All homes need ventilation. Have you ever considered if your home is properly ventilated? Did you know that effective ventilation removes indoor air pollutants, moisture and odours? Most home heating and cooling systems, including forced air heating systems, do not mechanically bring fresh air into the house. Opening windows and doors, operating window or attic fans, or running a window air-conditioner with the vent control open increases the ventilation rate. In addition, bathroom or kitchen fans remove contaminants, including moisture, directly from the room where the fan is located and also increase the outdoor air ventilation rate.

Overall, there is a general trend to ensure that homes are more energy efficient meaning there is a focus on making the home tightly sealed to reduce energy consumption. While energy efficiency is important, it is also necessary to consider other ventilation strategies. The following article will review three key strategies for home ventilation: natural, whole house, and exhaust.  

Natural Ventilation

Traditionally this was the most common ventilation method, but things have changed on the ventilation strategy front, especially for homes that are properly air sealed for energy efficiency. Natural ventilation depends on a home's airtightness, outdoor temperatures, wind, and other factors.

Natural ventilation occurs when there is uncontrolled air movement or infiltration through cracks and small holes in a home—the same ones you want to seal to make your home more energy efficient. This method also occurs when windows and doors are opened, albeit this does not happen as often because of central heating and cooling systems. This method is unpredictable and uncontrollable – moreover it cannot be relied on to ventilate a house uniformly.

Whole House Ventilation

Whole house ventilation system provides uniform ventilation throughout a house and can be controlled to meet various needs. This system is typically the next option when it is determined that natural ventilation is not enough to keep air quality healthy. Whole house ventilation systems utilize fans and duct systems that can either send indoor air outdoors or supply fresh outdoor air into the home, or even a combination of both.

Whole house ventilation has four subtypes and include: exhaust, supply, balanced, and energy recovery ventilation systems. Exhaust systems force indoor air outdoors, while supply systems bring outdoor air indoors. Balanced ventilation systems force air equally into and out of a home, and energy recovery systems transfer heat from that incoming or outgoing air in an effort to minimize the amount of energy that otherwise would be lost.

This system often provides other features to improve your home comfort such as, timers to control when to run a fan and control the speed as needed.  Indoor air quality sensors are available to detect carbon monoxide and other pollutants. Dehumidifiers help monitor and control indoor humidity, while air filters remove unwanted particles from fresh air before it enters your home.

Spot Ventilation

Spot Ventilation uses controlled air movement via localized exhaust fans to quickly remove pollutants and moisture. This strategy is not used on its own, rather typically it is used in conjunction with one of the other strategies.