It’s easy to assume that your home’s HVAC will take care of its air circulation needs on its own. However, it can only do that under the proper operating circumstances. Additionally, your HVAC system can be a costly way to maintain air circulation if used unnecessarily. To help you, here are some of the easiest and most effective ways to improve your home’s air circulation to lower your energy bills and improve indoor air quality.
Open Windows Whenever Possible
Opening windows sounds like obvious advice, but it’s easy to seal up your house against the elements and rely too heavily on your HVAC system. In truth, there are more times than you likely realize that it makes sense to open your home’s windows. Common examples include summer nights, when sundown brings relief from the heat, and fall days when the breeze picks up. Essentially, any time it’s seasonable outside is a great time to open windows.
If you wish, you can even use box fans to improve open-window air circulation further. The best way to do it is to place a box fan blowing out of an open second-floor window. Then, if you open first-floor windows in shaded areas, rising heat will exit your home upstairs, pulling in cool air downstairs.
Install and Use Ceiling Fans
If your home doesn’t already have them, ceiling fans can be an excellent and efficient tool for air circulation. They can even reduce your HVAC operating costs. In the summer, you can run your ceiling fans counterclockwise. That creates a downward breeze that keeps the air in each room well-mixed.
Additionally, it will allow you to increase your home’s thermostat setting by up to four degrees without compromising comfort. In the winter, you can run your fans clockwise. That pulls cool air up from the floor and pushes heated air downward to where you’ll feel it. And it will do so without creating a direct breeze to make you feel chilly.
Consider a Whole-House Fan
Years ago, before central AC became common, homes stayed cool using a more low-tech solution. That solution was a whole-house fan, and they still exist today. What’s more, they’re still among the most economical ways to keep air circulating through your home. A whole-house fan gets installed in your home’s attic. When you turn it on, it pulls in air through a large, centrally located air intake.
If you open windows in shaded areas of your home, it creates a cooling updraft. A modern whole-house fan can exchange all the air in your home four or more times per hour. As a result, a whole-house fan can cut your home’s AC demand by between 50% and 90%, as per the Department of Energy.
Have Your HVAC System Professionally Serviced
No matter what you do, there’s no escaping the need for a performant HVAC during parts of the year. However, if your HVAC goes without maintenance for too long, its ability to provide adequate airflow diminishes. For optimal results, it’s necessary to have two HVAC maintenance visits per year. One should occur before each cooling season to prepare your AC for the upcoming heat.
During a scheduled heating or AC maintenance visit, our HVAC technician will thoroughly clean, inspect, and adjust your AC unit to ensure optimal performance. They’ll also test major components, such as your system’s blower fan. That will ensure it delivers proper cold airflow to every room.
Your second annual maintenance visit should occur in early fall, before heating season. During that visit, our HVAC technician will inspect your heating system and clean its burners, if applicable. That will help your heater deliver enough warm air to the rooms that need it throughout the winter.
Have Your Ducts Inspected and Repaired
Did you know that the average ducted HVAC system suffers up to a 30% efficiency penalty due to leaky ductwork? It means a large portion of the airflow generated by your HVAC may be going to waste inside your home’s walls. To solve the problem, it’s a wise idea to have your ductwork inspected and, if necessary, repaired.
A ductwork inspection involves using a remote camera to look for damage such as punctures and weak joints. If there’s any damage to accessible portions of your ductwork, the technician can make repairs. If they discover punctures or weak joints in inaccessible places, they may turn to duct sealing.
Duct sealing relies on an aerosolized polymer that gets blown into your ductwork. As this happens, the polymer naturally begins to escape through any holes or gaps in the ductwork. When it does, some will adhere to the damaged duct and continue building on itself until sealing the hole. It’s a solution that delivers lasting results and up to a 90% reduction of air leaks.
Open Up Your Vents
If you’re like most homeowners, you’ve likely resorted to fully or partially closing vents to control temperatures in your home. Unfortunately, doing that can make your HVAC’s job much harder. The problem is that closed vents increase the static pressure in your ductwork. To understand the problem, you should imagine your ducts as a drinking straw.
If you take a straw and blow air through it, you’ll feel almost immediate resistance. It happens because you’ve filled the volume of the straw with air, and only a tiny amount can escape at once. Closing vents has the same effect on your HVAC. It will create pressure that pushes back against your HVAC blower fan, harming its output.
It means your home ends up with less total airflow than your HVAC should provide. Therefore, it’s never a good idea to close more than one or two vents in your home at a time. If you need help addressing hot and cold spots, consider having your ductwork air-balanced as a long-term solution.
Upgrade Your Home’s HVAC
Finally, you may want to consider upgrading your home’s HVAC system to enhance your home’s air circulation. For example, you may want to consider upgrading to a two-stage or variable-speed HVAC system. Those can modulate their air output to match your home’s needs.
As a result, your HVAC will operate using longer cycles while running at lower speeds. That will ensure continuous airflow throughout your home. It will also help your home maintain a consistent temperature throughout. And, it will reduce your heating and cooling costs in the process.
Your Local Comfort Experts
You can use any combination of the tips above to ensure your home has adequate air circulation. And if you need your HVAC serviced or upgraded to help things along, Polar Air & Heating, Inc. is the place to turn. We’ve served local homeowners since 1998.
Our HVAC technicians possess the skills and experience to service all makes and models of HVAC systems. We’re also a Lennox Premier Dealer and a Mitsubishi Diamond Dealer. That means we sell and install the latest, high-quality HVAC systems.
If you need help ensuring adequate air circulation in your home, contact our experts at Polar Air & Heating, Inc. immediately!
