Ventilating Fans: You Need Them in Your Living Space, and Could Use One in Your Garage

Proper ventilation in your home is critical for two reasons: It provides a way for fresh air to enter your home and a way for old, stale air to exit. Using ventilating fans is part of a good indoor air quality plan to ensure healthy air.

If your home is sealed and well insulated, you’re likely saving energy and money, but it’s also likely that the air in your home needs a way to cycle out, and ventilating fans can help to ensure that your home has a means to do that. Without ventilation fans, dust, dirt, and other pollutants remain locked in your home’s circulation pattern, continually moving around your home, day in and day out.

Ventilating fans, generally installed in bathrooms and kitchens, are basically exhaust fans and used as part of a ventilation strategy to remove factors that contribute to poor indoor air quality, such as moisture and pollutants. In order to be effective, the fans should:

• Exhaust outside: If the fan exhausts into your attic, it can cause moisture issues and damage.
• Emit low noise levels: If the fan is loud, you’ll be less likely to use it. Fan noise is rated by “sones,” and you should look for a fan with noise emissions below 1.5 sones.

It’s also helpful to install ventilating fans in your garage, as studies have shown that carbon monoxide released by your vehicle, and other chemical components or gas-powered equipment stored in your garage, will enter your living spaces. A ventilating fan will help to exhaust pollutants out of the garage space, before they have a chance to seep into your home.

Ventilating fans are an effective means to ensure fresh air in your home, and along with a whole-house ventilation system and natural ventilation, combine to produce a comprehensive, effective ventilation strategy for your home.

Ventilating fans can help to advance your home’s indoor air quality. To devise a ventilation strategy for your home, or to have ventilating fans installed, contact Acosta Heating, Cooling & Electrical today! We’ve been serving the Greater Charlotte Area as a local family-owned company since 1972.