AirScaping is cool.
It’s also healthy.
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is an important health issue. Modern buildings, materials and chemicals create real health problems if allowed to accumulate. An important benefit of using a whole house fan is the improvement in IAQ.
Understanding IAQ Issues
Let's start with a little myth-busting. Some folks imagine the air in their home is somehow cleaner than the outside air. Nope, sorry. No matter where you live, or how meticulous a housekeeper you may be, the outside air is almost always cleaner. That's because inside air IS outside air, except with all the added indoor pollutants from cooking, cleaning and off-gassing materials.
If you want to improve your Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and create a cleaner and healthier environment, there are two ways to do it, and they work together.
1. Increase ventilation
Ventilation increases the amount of outdoor air that comes indoors. It removes stale indoor air and indoor air pollutants. Ventilation also helps limit the build-up of indoor moisture, which can contribute to mould growth.
2. Reduce Source contamination
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) are the new and often little-understood chemicals in manufactured goods and building materials that release—or off-gas. Then add cooking compounds, pet dander, mold, fungi, and radon...all natural substances that can deteriorate your IAQ.
Creating a well-ventilated home
In reviewing Universal Building Codes across the country we find the recommended flow rates are, in our opinion, pretty low. Typically, the new building code call for a complete air change every couple of hours. Why not call for more? In a sealed and controlled HVAC environment, introducing fresh unconditioned air is assumed to use extra energy. Building engineers recommend the minimum acceptable level of fresh air in order to minimize energy use and still provide healthy air.
AirScape whole house fans adopt a different philosophy entirely—purposely opening up the building to the outdoor environment and relying on fresh outdoor air for free cooling and fresh clean air.
In contrast to the latest building ventilation codes, which call for 150 cubic feet per minute (CFM) for a 3000 sq ft house; an appropriately sized AirScape whole house fan would pull 2500 CFM, performing a complete air change in minutes rather than hours. This eliminates the ability of VOCs and other pollutants to accumulate. In fact, many users say they often use their AirScape during the off-season to flush out stale air, or remove unwanted odors.
Tips for a healthy indoors
- Open windows and doors
- Turn on kitchen or bathroom exhaust fans These fans remove pollutants directly from the room where they are created
- Keep your home dry. Control humidity levels and fix anything that causes dampness and allows mold to grow
- Make sure that all fuel-burning appliances such as furnaces, fireplaces, gas stoves and water heaters are well maintained and working properly.
- Use a ventilation hood for gas stoves and have all appliances inspected yearly
- Use low-emission alternatives. Paints, cleaning products, glues, insulation, carpets, fabrics and other products are all sources of indoor pollution, and there are low-emission alternatives for most or all of them