Despite the beauty of the Lorain and Oberlin area, the summer heat and humidity can make living here uncomfortable if you don’t plan ahead. By choosing the right home ventilation, you’ll not only stay cooler, you’ll also enjoy fresher indoor air.
Natural Ventilation
Natural ventilation makes use of natural air currents to move air through your home. The most basic method is opening windows on both sides of your house to let in a cross breeze. Other wind-driven ventilation options include air inlet vents and trickle vents installed above the windows.
Buoyancy-driven ventilation is another way to benefit from natural airflow. This method takes advantage of the tendency for warm air to rise. Vents are installed in the lower part of your home to take in cool fresh air, and wind turbines or other vents are placed on the roof to exhaust stale warm air from indoors.
Ceiling and Other Fans
Improving airflow in your home can be as simple as turning on a few fans. For moving room air and keeping you cool, ceiling fans are the most efficient. By pushing air downward, a ceiling fan creates a breeze that increases evaporation on your skin, making you feel around 5 degrees cooler.
Pedestal fans and box fans also help, although they move smaller volumes of air, so they can’t affect the whole room. A fan’s breeze makes you feel cooler, but it doesn’t lower the room temperature, so remember to turn it off when no one is in the room.
Whole-House Fans
This large fan is installed in the attic and pulls air through the whole house, exhausting hot air out through the attic and drawing cool, fresh air in through your open windows. Even in hot weather, a whole-house fan can keep the house cool enough that you won’t need your air conditioner. Professional sizing and installation are critical to ensure the fan moves the right amount of air and doesn’t cause excess noise.
For more information on optimizing your home ventilation, check out Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Lorain, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about home ventilation and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning
1 (440) 246-5440
Serving the Lorain, OH Area