How and Why You Should Improve Your Louisville, KY, Home’s Airflow
If your home is in Louisville, KY, you know how hot, stuffy and stale the summers can be. When your home’s airflow is lacking, your house can be highly uncomfortable for you and can stop your HVAC from working efficiently. Luckily, a few simple tweaks are all you need to make your home more comfortable for the hotter days ahead. Read on to learn what you can do to optimize airflow and enjoy cleaner air.
Open Doors and Windows
When it comes to improving your home’s airflow, opening it up is the quickest way to do so, especially if the weather is dry and the pollen count is low. You can also open doors and windows opposite each other to create a cross-breeze. Fans will also help circulate the air, making it feel more comfortable.
Keep Your House Clean
By keeping your house clean, you won’t overburden your HVAC, which means that your equipment will run at a more efficient level and air will move more freely. If you have carpeted floors, you may use a HEPA-rated vacuum, while hardwood, tile and composite floors will benefit from getting mopped twice a week.
Decluttering also helps air move freely around your home. Throw out any items you don’t need, such as broken appliances and furniture. These bulky items can obstruct airflow, especially if placed too close to your HVAC system, vents and ducts.
Check Vents, Ducts and Registers
Make it a habit to check on each room’s vents and registers. Even if you don’t want to cool a certain space, it’s best to keep the register open since closed registers simply make it more difficult for your air conditioner to direct cool air to where it needs to go.
Have you noticed that your HVAC is producing less airflow than usual? Your HVAC might be experiencing some issues, such as blocked vents, clogged filters and leaky ductwork. If your HVAC hasn’t been professionally serviced in a long time, you may want to schedule HVAC maintenance with a trained professional.
Install an Attic Fan
You can improve ventilation indoors by having an attic fan installed. Doing so helps circulate the stagnant air trapped in your home and creates a cooling breeze that reaches down to other parts of the household. Installing an attic fan will widely vary in terms of cost, but the upside to owning and operating one indoors easily outweighs the initial upfront cost.
Get a Ventilator
A high-grade ventilator expels stale air out and draws fresh air in. Energy recovery ventilators and heat recovery ventilators can do more than increase airflow. These devices also draw the energy from outgoing humidity and utilize it to pre-condition the fresh air coming in, which reduces your HVAC system’s workload.
Run Your HVAC Only When Necessary
During humid summer weather, it may be tempting to keep your HVAC running all the time. Overuse, however, can rack up the utility bills. As such, keep your HVAC fan set to auto mode and only turn on the air conditioning when you’ve exhausted all other options and still feel hot and stuffy inside.
Regularly Check and Replace Your Air Filter
A simple and inexpensive way to drastically improve your home’s airflow is to change your air filter on a regular schedule. Filters typically end up getting clogged with dust particles, which severely impact their ability to work properly. Usually, manufacturers recommend installing a new one every three months, although you can also inspect it monthly to see for yourself whether it needs changing or not.
Air circulation is often an overlooked aspect of home comfort, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. By following the tips above, you can improve your home’s airflow and your family’s health and well-being without going over your budget. To learn more about indoor air quality services in Louisville, KY, contact our technicians at Birkhead Co. today!
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