How Home Ventilation Works With Your HVAC

Tired of being stuck indoors all winter? Ready to open up the windows and let the fresh air in? While opening a window or two is a great way to get air things out, your home likely has built in ventilation systems to help circulate the air flow.

Proper ventilation is the successful exchange of indoor and outdoor air. Having good ventilation in your home can help your HVAC run more effectively and efficiently and keeps temperatures regulated. Having poor ventilation can only cause problems. While there is nothing worse than stale air, poor ventilation can also cause a buildup of potentially harmful indoor air pollutants and excess moisture.

Types of Ventilation 

Here are the most common kinds of home ventilation and how they impact your HVAC system:

Natural Ventilation
This type of ventilation is fairly self-explanatory. When you open doors and windows, fresh air passes through and naturally ventilates your home. During the spring and summer, use natural ventilation to your advantage by opening windows during the night and early mornings when temperatures are cool. This will help cut down on the need to use your air conditioner.

Exhaust / Spot Ventilation
You’ll most likely find exhaust or spot ventilation in your kitchen or bathroom. Exhaust fans work to extract indoor air. The air is then replaced with air from leaks in the building shell or through passive vents. Exhaust ventilation helps to quickly push out stale air and control moisture, which can impact the effectiveness of your HVAC system. This type of ventilation operates either continuously or intermittently and is almost always used in conjunction with other types of ventilation.

Whole House / Supply Ventilation
Mechanically venting with whole house fans involves a fan system, typically built into an attic, that is designed to bring outside air into the home. This type of ventilation creates a powerful suction and exchanges hot inside air for cooler outside air. Air is pushed through ducts into several rooms of your home. The supply system allows for better temperature control and less pollutants, as air passes through filters.

Structural Ventilation
This type of ventilation involves venting the attics and crawlspaces of your home. Providing proper ventilation to these areas helps to control heat and moisture levels throughout your entire home.

Balanced Ventilation
A balanced ventilation system introduces and exhausts equal amounts of fresh outside air and polluted inside air. This system usually has two fans and two ducts and facilitates even distribution of fresh air by strategically placing supply and exhaust vents. Typically, fresh air is supplied to bedrooms and common rooms, while exhausts are placed in bathrooms and kitchens.

Properly ventilating your home helps your HVAC system work well and will prolong its life.

If you have questions about ventilating your home or are having issues with ventilation, give us a call! As local heating and cooling experts, we can help identify if changes need to be made to your homes HVAC or ventilation system. We work to provide our customers in the Portland Metro area with the best products and services to meet any of their heating and cooling needs.