Indoor air quality is critical for your family’s health and effectively and efficiently heating your home. However, cold weather can pose a unique challenge to maintaining good air quality. The air quality is complicated by naturally spending more time indoors than over the warmer months. This guide will explore the indoor air quality challenges that cold weather brings with it and how you can mitigate them to keep your home’s air healthy.
The Science of Cold Weather, Humidity and Air Quality
A good place to start is understanding the intersection between cold weather, humidity and airborne contaminants. Particulate air contaminants dry out when relative humidity drops below ideal levels of 30% to 50%, making them lighter and allowing them to stay in the air rather than falling on surfaces.
Relative humidity is a ratio that describes the maximum amount of moisture the air can contain before it condenses out of it. Hot air can hold more absolute moisture than colder air. Therefore, even at 30% relative humidity, colder air has less absolute moisture than warmer air.
Finally, there’s the dynamic of how air flows based on temperature. Warmer air is less dense than colder air, which allows it, and the contaminants it contains, to float up. Conversely, colder air stays closer to the ground, keeping more contaminants trapped. The dynamic of cold air outside with warmer air inside further traps more contaminants inside your home.
Ventilation and Winter Weather
Ventilation is extremely important for maintaining your home’s air quality, exchanging stagnant indoor air with fresh outdoor air. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that indoor air often has two to five times higher contaminant concentrations than the air outside, making it incredibly important to have proper ventilation throughout the year.
Ventilation over the winter months can become more problematic because you’re less likely to open windows or leave doors open. Rather, you rely more on natural and mechanical ventilation. This can include mechanical vents like the range fan in the kitchen and the exhaust fan in your bathroom. However, you may need more ventilation.
A popular option is what’s called an energy recovery ventilator (ERV). These are mechanical vents that are installed as part of your HVAC system. They contain a heat exchanger that allows outgoing warm air to preheat incoming cool air. These improve your home’s heating efficiency, lowering your heating costs and reducing the wear on your heating system.
Use of Heaters and Fireplaces
The cold weather also means that you’re using one or more methods to heat your home. Gas furnaces, fireplaces, wood stoves and any other heating option that burns fuel can add contaminants to your home’s air.
Gas furnaces, one of the standards for heating homes around Hanover, produce hot exhaust, which heats the air circulating through the system. That exhaust travels through a heat exchanger before moving up into the flue and out of your house. However, a crack in the heat exchanger, or a leak anywhere in the exhaust system, can allow toxic gases to escape into your home, including carbon monoxide. This is why annual furnace maintenance and a functional carbon monoxide detector are both critical.
Fireplaces, or any option that burns wood in your home, can add substantial air contaminants. Depending on how well your flue is working, your fireplace can add carbon monoxide, soot, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and butadiene to your home’s air.
Keeping current on maintenance is one of the best ways to reduce heating system contaminants. Furnace maintenance includes replacing your air filter, cleaning the system and optimizing its performance. Fireplaces need routine maintenance and cleaning. Regularly clean out the ash from the firebox and clean the inside and outside of the glass doors. Have the chimney professionally cleaned at least once each year to prevent a dangerous buildup of creosote and other flammable contaminants.
Seasonal Smells
The colder months bring with them the holiday season and gatherings. Part of setting the mood for both family and friends is scenting the air to match the event. Whether the air is scented by baking cookies and cooking flavorful meals or you use air fresheners, it can add contaminants to the air.
Of particular concern are artificial air fresheners, which often release VOCs like formaldehyde into your home’s air. To avoid this, stick with natural fresheners, such as essential oils and natural potpourri. Whenever possible avoid using aerosol products like cooking sprays. Use your range hood fan whenever you’re in the kitchen preparing goodies or meals.
Increased Risks of Moisture Issues
While the natural humidity tends to fall over the winter, the colder months bring with them an increased risk of moisture-related issues. This often happens because of a well-sealed home and insufficient ventilation, or failing to use the ventilation that’s available at the right times. The moisture from cooking, cleaning and bathing then gets trapped in the house, quickly leading to issues with mildew and mold.
One of the first ways you’ll notice a moisture problem in your home is condensation on the inside of your windows. Preventing this is as simple as keeping an eye on your home’s relative humidity and managing it as needed. If your home’s humidity is greater than 50%, consider using a dehumidifier.
Spending More Time Inside
The EPA found that Americans, on average, spend about 90% of their time indoors, which is especially true over the colder months. The cold weather also means that your furry family is indoors longer. The result is more contaminants like carbon dioxide, pet dander, viruses and bacteria.
The best way to help mitigate this is to use air purification methods. These may include a variety of filter options, from high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters to activated carbon, ionization and ultraviolet light purification. Depending on the specific needs of your home, options may range from individual room models to those that install as part of your HVAC system.
Pests: Fleeing the Cold
Pests, like insects and rodents, are always annoying but also contribute to air pollution. The winter is especially problematic as these pests seek warmth inside. Contaminants that these pests bring with them include dander, feces and urine. Further, trying to deal with pest problems can exacerbate air quality problems from pesticides and glues.
The first step to dealing with this is preventing it in the first place. Seal any leaks or cracks that can allow these pests to gain entry into your home. Use natural barriers to further repel these pests from the outside. Use filters and purification devices to help remove the pollutants that make their way inside.
Contact Us Today
People around Hanover trust their home comfort and repairs to the experts at Beltway Air Conditioning, Heating, & Plumbing. Our team proudly provides indoor air quality solutions like air purifiers, humidity control and carbon monoxide detection, heating and cooling installation, maintenance and repair. We also offer a wide range of residential plumbing services like leak detection, plumbing installation and repair and drain cleaning. Call to schedule a consultation with one of our indoor air quality experts to ensure your home is ready for this winter.
