How Room Design Can Affect Airflow in Your Home

Did you know that your room designs could be hurting your health and your home's energy efficiency? Some designs allow rooms to get more airflow. Good airflow helps prevent the buildup of pollutants and stagnant moisture. As a result, indoor air becomes healthier and feels more comfortable. Additionally, regulating the temperature of your rooms gets much easier and doesn't require you to run your heating or cooling system as often. Let's look at some of the ways a room's design can improve or impede airflow.

Unnecessary Walls

The air current within a room can be stopped quickly if it runs into an unnecessary wall. The fewer walls you have, the better the flow of air will be in your home. While walls are necessary for support and privacy, consider designing your house without the walls that aren't really necessary for your home's structural integrity, especially in the common areas.

Improper Placement of Vents

Vent placement is a critical aspect of room design. Positioning vents correctly ensures that they're not in an area where items like furniture and interior design elements can easily cover them. Closed or blocked vents cause airflow restrictions.

An HVAC company can help you position your vents correctly. For rooms that are already ventilated, try rearranging the furniture to enable smooth airflow and ventilation.

Multiple Windows

Having just a single window in a room will allow you to get a good amount of fresh air. However, if you want to increase airflow in the room, you'll need at least two windows.

In a room with two windows, air flows in through one of the windows and leaves through the other window as a result of convection. This movement of air naturally creates a breeze and allows the room's air to be replaced continuously, making the addition of windows an excellent option for any of your rooms.

Logically placed windows, vents, and walls will facilitate increased airflow in your home. For more information on room design and improvement of airflow, contact us at Air Assurance, proudly serving Broken Arrow's heating, air-conditioning, and indoor-environmental needs.

Air Duct Cleaning & Sealing - Tulsa

AIR DUCT CLEANING - TULSA

At Air Assurance, we provide many indoor air quality solutions. Many homeowners have dealt with allergies, dust, or other problems in their home never realizing that the indoor air quality can be improved. If too little outdoor air enters a home, pollutants such as dust, mold, bacteria, fungi, and other contaminates can accumulate to levels that can pose health and comfort problems. Health concerns, such as allergies, asthma or the hazards of carbon monoxide can often be attributed to a poorly maintained, designed, or installed heating and air conditioning system.

AIR DUCT CLEANING IN TULSA REQUIRED?

Indoor Air Quality is important. Air duct cleaning helps maintain the hygiene of your household. Unclean ducts make the air unfit for breathing. Bad indoor air quality is one of the major causes of many respiratory problems like asthma and allergies. But did you know, you don't always need a duct cleaning? Often times we can help elimnate the source of the duct problem.

The system cleans your air ducts by brushing and removing debris and dirt directly out of your HVAC system and into our hepa filtration silencing box. We can then apply an anti-microbial protectant inside your duct work that kills most germs and microbes on contact for up to an entire year, greatly reducing or eliminating air-borne pathogens.

An HVAC air filter captures only about 7 percent of airborne debris in the average home. That means that roughly 93 percent of the dust in your air keeps circulating through the heat vents and HVAC system. To improve your air quality and protect your costly HVAC equipment from damage, it's wise to have the condition of your ducts checked every two years. When duct cleaning is needed, make sure you hire an experienced professional who adheres to standards established by the National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA) and uses the correct cleaning procedures to safeguard your home and HVAC system.In between checkups, watch for these telltale signs that your ducts need cleaning.

Excessive Amounts of Debris and Dust

If your heating vents are covered with soot, dust or cobwebs and particles are sent floating through the air when the blower is running, there's likely a considerable buildup deep inside the duct system that should be removed. If your home is newly built or you've recently had remodeling done in your older home, you may need the ducts cleaned to clear out any leftover construction debris.

Signs of Pests

When pests invade the ductwork, contaminants like insect parts and rodent droppings can make the air circulating through your home unhealthy to breathe. If you hear to see evidence of insects or vermin in the heating vents, call in an exterminator. Once the infestation has been eradicated, have the duct system professionally sanitized.To learn whether cleaning the heat vents is necessary in your Broken Arrow home, contact us at Air Assurance.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about heat vents and other HVAC topics, call us at 918-615-4677. Credit/Copyright Attribution: “matius/Shutterstock”

The History of Home Ventilation

The History of Home Ventilation

People have known about the need for ventilation in their dwellings since open fires were first used to warm human abodes millennia ago. Today, we have home ventilation guidelines incorporated into our Broken Arrow building codes, but this wasn't always the norm. The understanding of how much fresh air was needed to replace stale, polluted indoor air evolved over centuries of experimentation, trial and error.Here's a look at key advancements in the evolution of ventilation from natural to mechanical means:

17th Century

In 1631, England's King Charles I determined that due to home heating, bad indoor air was causing health problems. He decreed that dwellings in England must have ceilings at least 10 feet high, and windows taller than their width to provide ample natural ventilation.

Early 19th Century

In 1835 when the British Houses of Parliament were rebuilt, a ventilation system was added. Outdoor air entered into a heating chamber, then went across steam pipes before being distributed through the building's ductwork.

Late 19th Century

After completing various studies and analysis, American physician J. Billings recommended in 1893 that a minimum of 30 cfm of ventilation per occupant was needed in buildings, but 60 cfm was ideal. That minimum rate was adopted by ASHVE (American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers) in 1895. This amount of airflow could only be achieved using mechanical ventilation made possible by advancements in the electric power industry.

20th Century

Massachusetts made 30 cfm per occupant of ventilation the law in 1914. By 1925, this minimum was adopted in 22 states. In 1925, ASHRE published the first code of minimum requirements for home heating and ventilation.

21st Century

Nowadays, there are various mechanical ventilation methods used in homes and other buildings, such as:

• Exhaust fans that expel humid kitchen and bathroom air.

• Whole-house fans that draw stale air up and send it out through attic vents.

• Supply systems that introduce outdoor air into the HVAC's return ducting.

• Balanced whole-house systems with dedicated intake and exhaust ducting.

To learn about your home ventilation options for better indoor air quality, contact us at Air Assurance.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about other HVAC topics, call us at 918-217-8273.

Garage Ventilation Needs

While keeping the interior of the home adequately ventilated has proven benefits, the importance of garage ventilation hasn’t received as much attention. However, in a home with an attached garage, healthy air quality in the living spaces can be impacted by the garage environment.

Garage Air vs. House Air

The house wall shared with the garage often isn’t a vapor-proof barrier. Tiny cracks and gaps in the structure can allow fumes originating inside the garage to enter the house. Pollutants include exhaust from vehicles in the garage, as well as vapors from gasoline, solvents, paints and cleaning solutions that are typically stored there. Hot summer temperatures inside an unconditioned garage enhance vaporization of volatile chemicals and increase infiltration into adjacent rooms of the house even more.

Fresh Air In, Toxic Fumes Out

To reduce the accumulation of fumes inside the garage, a powered ventilation fan pulls in fresh outdoor air and flushes out toxic vapors. Usually installed in the roof or one wall of the garage, the fan draws outdoor air in through a passive vent grille in an opposite wall. The cross-ventilating action purges the garage space, exhausting fumes into outdoor air and also generating lower air pressure inside the garage. Lower air pressure, in turn, counteracts the tendency of garage vapors to infiltrate the house.Options to activate a garage ventilation fan include:

• A simple manual on/off switch to run the fan as long as desired.

• A manual "on" switch with an adjustable timer function that runs the fan for a preset interval before shutting it off automatically.

• Sensors installed in the garage door that detect when a vehicle enters the garage and activate the fan, then turn it off automatically.

Variable-speed garage vent fans are also available to adjust to specific circumstances. For example, when activities such as spray painting are underway in the garage, or when high temperatures inside the garage make it uncomfortable to work in.

For more about the benefits of effective garage ventilation, contact Air Assurance.

Areas of Your Home That Need the Most Ventilation

When it comes to home comfort and energy efficiency, ventilation – aka effective air exchange – plays a crucial role. Without adequate fresh air in a home, indoor air quality will suffer, with the environment becoming stale, stuffy and unhealthy.Learn what areas of your home will benefit from effective ventilating strategies, along with why whole-house mechanical air exchange may be necessary as well.

Nowadays, with energy efficiency increasingly stressed in building construction, working mechanical ventilation has become more important than ever. In the past, much of a home’s air-exchange needs were satisfied incidentally, with abundant air exchange through cracks and gaps in the home’s exterior envelope. That’s not the case any longer with the tight home construction of today.

The most common type of mechanical ventilation in a home is the bathroom exhaust fan. Most bathrooms are equipped with this fan, which not only de-fogs the room but also carries away unpleasant and noxious odors and contaminants.Next on the list is the kitchen, which almost always has a stovetop fan that carries away smells from cooking and food preparation, keeping them from spreading through the rest of the house.

One area where many homeowners neglect ventilation is the attic. Yet, effective air exchange is essential in the attic. Without it, during the summer, an attic can get superheated, and that heat eventually will transfer into the living spaces below. During the heating season, an attic without proper venting may help cause ice dams on the roof that can lead to extensive structural damage in a home.

In many homes, mechanical air exchange is necessary on a whole-house basis. Increasingly popular are balanced and supply-only systems, with the most common balanced system being Energy Recovery and Heat Recovery ventilating systems (ERV and HRV, respectively). Using parallel air streams, one blowing out and one blowing in, these systems ensure fresh air while also transferring heat and moisture (in ERVs) to help with home heating and cooling and humidity control.

We can help devise an effective ventilation strategy for your Broken Arrow area home. Please contact us at Air Assurance.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about ventilation and other HVAC topics, call us at 918-217-8273. Credit/Copyright Attribution: “clker-free-vector-images/Pixabay”

Oklahoma Allergy Season Tips

From ragweed to cotton, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma has its share of allergies. When allergy season hits, the itching eyes, stuffy nose, and tickly throat can be almost unbearable. Here are some allergy tips to help you reduce your suffering.

1. Upgrade Your Air Filter

The air filter in your HVAC system traps allergens to keep them from circulating in your home. Filter effectiveness is measured in Minimum Efficiency Recording Value, or MERVs, which range from 1 to 20. If you upgrade your existing filter to a high efficiency one with a MERV rating between 14 and 16, you will have fewer allergens in your home.

2. Remove Debris Around the Outdoor Unit

Plants and other debris around your outdoor unit can impact your indoor allergen levels, because the outdoor unit pulls air through that debris and into your home. Keep the area around your outdoor unit clean and clear.

3. Dust the Registers and Vents

Registers and vents that are dusty blow dust and pollen through your home. Dust these first, then dust the remainder of your home, to remove the dust and other indoor allergens that could be making your allergies worse.

4. Check for Mold

If you have never had your HVAC system checked for mold, schedule an inspection. Mold exasperates allergies and can cause other respiratory concerns. If you do have mold, have it professionally removed to ensure your family can breathe safely.

5. Consider Duct Cleaning

If you are using an efficient filter, have cleaned outside your system and have checked for mold, but you are still struggling with allergies, consider duct cleaning. Removing allergens from the ducts will prevent them from being spread around your home.

One of the best allergy tips, however, is to have your HVAC system professionally inspected and serviced at the start of the allergy season. In Broken Arrow, Air Assurance provides comprehensive HVAC service, including inspections. Contact them today to schedule your HVAC system inspection this allergy season.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “Serhiy Kobyakov/Shutterstock”