Bad air out, fresh air in – bringing fresh air into your home

When you hear the term Fresh Air, it might invoke thoughts of a warm summer breeze, a walk on the beach, or that first smell of spring after a long winter.

When it comes to your home, it is much more than that. Fresh air is a vital part of maintaining Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). Bringing fresh air into the home can be as simple as opening doors and windows and letting it happen naturally. The challenge is that opening doors and windows is not always practical. That is where other solutions come into play.

Lets first take a look at why it is important to have fresh air coming into the home. Not to try and scare you, but your home is full of pollutants that are negatively affecting the air you are breathing. Something as simple as you breathing is producing CO₂ gas. Add in cooking (especially on a gas range), cleaning or using almost any appliance and the air quality can quickly deteriorate. Brining fresh air in is as simple as exchanging the stale (bad) air in the home with new (fresh) air from outside the home.

Now back to how to do this. We already talked about windows and doors and the limitations they have. Another option is using what is known as a mechanical solution. With a mechanical solution such as the Air King model QFAM, fresh air is brought into the home with a fan. There are a large variety of mechanical solutions on the market and they all have their pros and cons. HRV and ERV units are good, but expensive to purchase, install and maintain. Simpler solutions such as small fans that bring air in can work, but the air is not conditioned or filtered. Depending on the location or day, sometimes the air coming in might be worse than the air inside (high pollution areas or days). It is best to look for a solution that provides air filtration (filters that can be easily accessed and changed) as well as some type of humidity and temperature control that doesn’t allow extreme cold, warm, or humid air into your home.

From a homeowner standpoint, do the simple things – open doors and windows when you can, utilize your exhaust fans and range hood. Consult a HVAC expert to walk through the best solutions for your specific home. To learn more about fresh air solutions from Air King visit http://www.airkinglimited.com/page/qfam-fresh-air-machine.html

Turn up the exhaust – using a two-speed exhaust fan

Over the past several year’s indoor air quality (IAQ) has become a major focus when it comes to residential homes. We continue to gain knowledge regarding the air we breathe and the effects it can have on us. Properly ventilating the home is at the forefront of creating a quality living environment.

A newer trend in residential home ventilation has been the usage of two-speed exhaust fans. Lets take a look at exactly how a two-speed exhaust fan operates. The exhaust fan has a low speed that typically runs continuously at a very low sound level to provide a constant air exchange in your home. You probably won’t even be able to tell the exhaust fan is operating. Studies have found that by exchanging the air of your home (exhausting the stale, contaminated air inside the home and bringing in fresh air from outside of the home) multiple times per day will increase your indoor air quality. There are also national building codes that require a certain number of air exchanges per day depending on the size and occupancy of your home.

While the low speed provides the amount of airflow needed for the daily air exchanges, when the bathroom is in use you typically need a lot more power. This is where the high speed comes in. The high speed will generally be two to three times that of the low speed and provides the power you need to properly ventilate the bathroom when it is in use.

There are multiple ways to control how the exhaust fan switches from low to high speed. The most common is a wall switch, but there are also automated solutions such as motion sensors or humidity sensors that when activated (either by someone entering the room or a rise in humidity) will turn the exhaust fan to high speed.

When choosing a two-speed exhaust fan, you want to take into consideration items such as where it will be located, the sound level and how you will switch from low to high speed. To learn more about two-speed fan options from Air King’s visit www.airkinglimited.com.