An airtight home will help you save money on energy, but it could also diminish the quality of your indoor air as not enough fresh air can get inside to replace the stuffy, dirty air that accumulates, especially during the winter. One way to combat this is to install a whole home ventilation system. A good ventilation system will be quiet, and should run continuously and automatically. You do not want your whole home ventilation system to raise utility bills significantly, or be noisy or drafty.
So, what do you want?
Quiet
A quiet system will have a ventilation fan with a sone rating of less than 1. If there are fans in remote places of your home, they do not need to be this quiet, but they will need to be installed in a way that minimizes noise and vibrations. A quality fan should run continuously for 10 years, and will carry the EPA Energy Star label.
Controls
Your whole home ventilation system should have controls that are placed in a location in your home that will not make it susceptible to being accidentally shut off. A simple control would be an on/off switch located in your utility closet or basement and should be clearly labeled. You can also get systems with programmable controls that keep the system running on low at all times, but can be programmed to run at a higher ventilation rate when there is more activity in your home,
Distribution
Your ventilation system needs to bring in air from the outside and distribute it to all rooms in your home. This can be a challenge in ventilation system design, and should be tested to ensure the final system delivers air to every room in your home.
Filtration
It's important that your ventilation system can properly filter the air it's drawing in from the outside. The system's fan should be powerful enough to deal with resistance from the filter, even when it's clogged. Ventilation fans and filters should be easy to access for maintenance and cleaning.
For more information on whole home ventilation and other home comfort issues in the Fort Wayne area, please contact us at Hartman Brothers Heating & Air Conditioning.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in New Haven, Indiana and surrounding Fort Wayne area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about whole home ventilation and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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