Air Movement in Your Home Can Improve Comfort and Save You Money
Homes today are built to be almost airtight to improve energy efficiency. However, trapped air may be full of pollutants, odor, and moisture, so you need a way to ventilate your home with fresh air. Without proper ventilation, your family may experience health problems associated with contaminants such as fumes, radon, or formaldehyde, or mold may grow due to excessive moisture. Spot control, or removing pollutants where they’re produced, is critical to ensuring adequate ventilation.
Getting the Required Ventilation
There are three ways of obtaining the recommended ventilation in your home:
- Natural: Natural ventilation involves using the air that enters the house through doors, windows, and cracks.
- Whole house: Whole-house ventilation works with fans and the existing ductwork.
- Spot: Spot ventilation uses exhaust fans to remove pollutants and moisture at their source.
Understanding Spot-Control Ventilation
Spot-control ventilating fans are typically used in combination with natural or whole-house ventilation strategies. They are usually found in bathroom and kitchens, where there is more odor and moisture produced that requires removal. Using fans at the source of the contaminants makes removal much quicker and more precise than natural or whole-house methods.
Types of Spot-Control Fans
There are three types of spot-control fans:
- Fans mounted in the ceiling remove pollutants through ductwork to the outside and are usually found in bathrooms.
- Fans mounted in a wall vent to the outside and are commonly found in kitchens, laundry rooms, and bathrooms.
- Fans mounted in the hood of the kitchen range are ducted for outside venting.
Some kitchen range hoods will use recirculating fans. But these are not recommended, as they are not designed to move contaminants, such as odors, pollutants, or moisture, outdoors. Instead, these contaminants are continually recirculated throughout the home, leading to hazardous conditions.
Long Island, N.Y., residents interested in learning more about spot-control ventilation can contact T.F. O’Brien Cooling & Heating.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about ventilating fans and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
T.F. O’Brien services the Long Island, New York area. Visit our website to see our special offers to get started today!
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