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Winter and your home
Challenges the winter months bring
The main challenge for a home in the wintertime is ventilation. Most homes have enough gaps and cracks around windows and doors to provide some fresh air to be introduced into the home. Especially since during the milder of months it is common to have a window open or to be more active and leaving the home so opening the doors more often.
Then winter is upon us, and everything gets shut down. We are less frequent to open the doors and windows, we even try to seal any gaps or cracks with energy saving devices. Anything to keep the furnace heat from escaping. But if no air is escaping then no air is coming in either. Air during the winter months in a home is stale, dry and old.
Inexpensive ways to improve air quality during the winter
Later I will show options that can be on the more expensive side but here I want to show some ways to improve your air quality without having to spend thousands of dollars.
First- Keep your home clean. Vacuum often using a quality filter to reduce airborne pollutants and when cleaning surfaces use non-toxic chemicals.
Second- Pay attention to your furnace filters. All the air you breath passes through the filter and is recycled back. If you are using a low grade filter, make sure your change them every other month. I would check them every month especially if you are an indoor smoker or if you have pets.
Third- If you are someone who has hobbies or even a home business that produces products stop and think about how you make your product. Woodworking, jewelry making, screen printing and even some paints can be toxic or harmful. Take further precautions that i will talk about next if you are introducing fine particles or chemicals into the air.
Lastly- Add humidity. Buy a 5 dollar gadget that shows humidity levels and make sure your home is at a healthy level. Buy a cheap humidifier and if that doesn't produce the desired results then you may need something more which I will talk about next.
Ways to improve ventilation during the winter that you can invest in
A great way to introduce fresh air to your home that is not that expensive is by adding a fresh air intake vent that is piped directly to your return air supply.
A more complex version and more expensive is a heat recovery ventilator and an energy recovery ventilator. They both facilitate the transfer of fresh air into the home and exhausting of stale air outside of the home while recovering energy from the exhausted air. The main difference between the two is that an ERV transfers heat as well as moisture.
For people who have allergies, compromised immune systems or are just sensitive to air quality I recommend an advanced air quality management system which is separate from your HVAC system. They are effective but can be costly.
Lastly, upgrading your furnace filter housing to a media filter is a great way to improve air quality. They provide a large surface area enabling them to trap unwanted air particles. There is minor labor involved with transitioning to a media filter. Once installed the filters are changed every 6-12 months.