A properly ventilated attic can help to keep your Drexel Hill, PA, home at a consistent temperature. It can also regulate the amount of moisture that is in the air. In addition to ensuring that your home is comfortable and free of potential mold or pest damage, adequate ventilation can also help your HVAC system work at peak efficiency.
How Temperature Regulation Helps Your HVAC System
Adequate ventilation will ensure that warmer air that has risen from the kitchen, living room, or other lower floors can escape in a timely manner. If left to linger, the temperatures in your attic can easily exceed 100 degrees on a relatively cool summer day.
The heat from your attic can then radiate back into other indoor spaces, which will make them uncomfortably hot. Ultimately, this forces your air conditioner to work harder than it needs to keep your house cool and dry.
How Moist Air Impacts Your HVAC System
Humid air tends to be warmer, which will also cause your HVAC system to work harder than it needs to keep your home comfortable. However, in addition, humid air that lingers simply becomes moister over time. Eventually, you may notice that wood, insulation, or other items are damp to the touch or that puddles of water have formed on the floor.
You may also notice mold or mildew growth in the attic, which can spread to other parts of the house. In addition to creating indoor air quality issues, moisture and mildew can cause damage to ducts, which can lead to gaps that air can escape through. The air that falls through these gaps is essentially lost to areas of the home that no one occupies. This results in poor system efficiency, which wastes money.
Moisture Can Attract Pests
Moisture can also attract termites, rats, and other pests that want to make your ducts their home. Over time, their waste can accumulate and cause ducts to sag, and they may also try to eat through the ducts to get to other sources of food or water in your home.
In addition, their waste can also produce particulates that can clog ducts or filters. Eventually, it can cover your furnace in a hazardous layer of gunk that will harm your health as well as the health of your heating system.
The Effect of Improper Ventilation on Heating and Cooling Systems
Increased heating and cooling bills are probably your main concern when you hear your furnace or air conditioner running all day. However, you should also be concerned about the long-term impact this can have on your heating and cooling systems. Forcing your furnace to run nonstop may put strain on fans, motors, and other components, which can result in a reduction in its overall useful life.
Premature aging may result in higher maintenance costs as well as higher monthly utility bills. Therefore, it’s critical that you have the attic ventilation in your Drexel Hill home checked as well as schedule routine HVAC inspections. Doing so can help spot issues while they are still relatively easy and inexpensive to fix.
Typically, a furnace will last for about two decades when properly installed and maintained. However, if it is overworked, it might stop working effectively in as little as a decade.
Other Ways Improper Ventilation Can Hurt You Home
If your attic has too much humid air trapped inside of it, the insulation may become too wet or moldy to function properly. This can further exacerbate temperature swings in your home during the summer or winter months. During the winter, warm attic air can cause snow on the roof to melt and freeze often, which can lead to constant expansion and contraction of shingles and other components.
Types of Attic Ventilation
To improve attic ventilation, there are different options available.
Active Ventilation
By using mechanical fans to create optimal air flow and circulation, you can keep humidity, temperatures, and contaminants at bay.
Vents
Vents can help remove old air and replace it with fresh air. It’s a very affordable attic ventilation option that requires minimal to no maintenance. Ridge vents are one such example.
If you need HVAC services, don’t hesitate to get in touch with O'Brien Heating & Air Conditioning today. In addition to installing heaters or repairing air conditioners, we can also help with indoor air quality tests. In addition, our team can install a new water heater to help make your Drexel Hill home comfortable and functional throughout the year.
