When the first air conditioning bill of the cooling season arrives, it may be an unpleasant reminder of the high cost of home comfort. As the weather demands cooling both night and day, the expense gets even more severe. By supplementing air conditioner use with natural ventilation strategies, however, you can have a comfortable indoor environment while keeping your cooling costs under control.
Natural ventilation involves taking the best advantage of wind, shade, fans and other cooling sources while avoiding actions and circumstances that generate excess heat. Here are some of the more effective ways to use natural ventilation in your home:
- Use wind and breezes for cooling. When wind flows around your house, it creates natural areas of positive and negative pressure. Positive pressure areas bring cool air in while negative pressure pulls warm air out. Open windows and experiment to find out which windows are which, then keep both inlet and outlet windows opened slightly to create an effective airflow through your house.
- Open windows at night when the humidity is low. Run a fan to increase the ventilation level and remove more warm air from your house.
- Close windows and doors in the morning and when daytime temperatures are highest. If your home was sufficiently cooled overnight, indoor areas should stay cool until afternoon.
- Use fans to increase circulation inside the house. Set up fans to blow air from the cooler shaded side of your house to the warmer side.
- Keep windows closed during high-humidity days and nights. If excess moisture and humidity get into your house, your air conditioner will have to work harder to remove it.
- Make sure your attic is well ventilated. Attics can get extremely hot during the summer. The heat will radiate through your ceiling and into your lower-floor living spaces. Poorly ventilated attics can also accumulate excessive amounts of potentially damaging moisture.
For more than 33 years, Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning has been providing HVAC services to customers in Lorain, Erie and Cuyahoga counties. Contact us today for more information on natural ventilation and how it can help reduce your home cooling costs.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about natural ventilation and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Energy 1 Heating services the Lorain, OH area. Visit our website to see our special offers and get started today!
Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning
1 (440) 246-5440
Serving the Lorain, OH Area