The quality of indoor air can be worse than the quality of air outside. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it’s often two to five times worse. Although sealing up air leaks and adding insulation to your Dallas, GA, home creates an efficient envelope, it also traps allergens and contaminants. During the winter months, when locals keep their living spaces sealed tight, indoor air quality (IAQ) can decline sharply. Read on to learn all about common IAQ concerns in winter and how your HVAC system can help alleviate them.
Trapped Allergens and Contaminants
No one runs their heater or heat pump with their windows and doors wide open, or at least, no one should. While you might air out your home in spring, you’re far less likely to do so when the outside temperature plummets. Closed windows and doors throughout the winter months leave homes with heavier concentrations of gaseous chemical contaminants and increased particulate matter. In winter, your living space likely has more dust, dander, pollen, and other allergens floating around than at any other time of year.
Volatile Organic Compounds
Did you know that your home’s building materials and many of your furnishings add gaseous chemical contaminants to your air? Unsealed particle board, synthetic flooring, and certain flooring adhesives off-gas volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for several years. Many indoor paints offgas VOCs as well.
Prolonged VOC exposure can cause unpleasant symptoms, including:
- Recurring headaches
- Dizziness
- Sore throat
- Eye and nose irritation
- Fatigue
If being indoors often makes you feel under the weather, high VOCs and all-around poor IAQ could be the cause.
Gaseous Chemical Contaminants From Fuel-Burning Appliances
If you have a gas-fired furnace, gas water heater, or any other fuel-burning appliance, it can decrease your IAQ, too. Although gas-fired appliances have venting systems that route most of their exhaust outdoors, they often have residual contaminants just around their perimeters. While nominal amounts of appliance exhaust don’t have a major impact on residents in well-ventilated homes, they can cause IAQ problems in poorly ventilated buildings. With limited air exchange, contaminated air isn’t replaced by fresh, incoming air, and gaseous chemical contaminants can build up.
Homes with tightly sealed envelopes and fuel-burning appliances also face the risk of back drafting. This occurs when basic mechanical ventilation, such as range hood vents and bathroom exhaust fans, extract air but never replace it. This creates negative air pressure, which corrects itself by pulling air through all possible openings. Back drafting can pull the exhaust gases from fuel-burning appliances back into living spaces via their exhaust vents.
The risk of back drafting makes IAQ a special concern for some homes in winter. If you have a tight home envelope and a gas furnace, never ignore carbon monoxide alerts. It’s also a good idea to have your home’s mechanical ventilation inspected and add to it as needed.
Increased Humidity
Dallas has a humid subtropical climate. With hot, humid summers and mild winters, Dallas often has high humidity year-round. In winter, relative outdoor humidity can range as high as 87%. Although the outdoor air doesn’t feel heavy and muggy when the temperature is low, the extra moisture still exists.
When outdoor humidity is high, indoor humidity rises as well. Your indoor humidity might rise above the EPA-recommended maximum of 60%. Rising indoor humidity can affect your IAQ in multiple ways. Most commonly, excess humidity causes mold, mildew, and musty odors. These developments can affect the integrity and performance of HVAC systems by blocking heat pump condensate drains and shortening HVAC air filter lifespans among other things.
Increased Indoor Activities
During winter, limited ventilation and reduced air exchange mean that everyday activities can also significantly diminish IAQ. People often add contaminants to their indoor air by:
- Cooking indoors
- Using scented or chemical-laden self-care products
- Discharging chemical cleaning sprays
- Using plug-in air fresheners or room sprays
- Burning incense or candles
When the weather is cool, people also tend to spend more time inside. With more residents taking hot baths and showers, moving around, and cooking, indoor humidity invariably rises.
How Your HVAC System Can Improve Your IAQ in Winter
HVAC systems offer limited air filtration and humidity control. Keeping your HVAC system well-maintained can have a remarkable impact on your IAQ in winter. To prime your HVAC system for the cold season, schedule professional maintenance service. When clean and high-functioning, your HVAC system can reduce airborne particulate matter and make it easier to keep your indoor humidity in check.
Keep Your Air Filter Clean
Among the best ways to keep HVAC systems working as they should be is regularly checking and changing their air filters. In winter, when IAQ is often significantly lower, inspect your air filter every three to four weeks by holding it up to the light. If light can no longer pass through a filter’s mesh, air can’t pass through it. On average, locals should replace their standard air filters every one to three months.
Inspect and Maintain Your Air Vents
Inspect the air vents throughout your home for heavy, lint-like buildups. You can wipe vent covers clean with a damp cloth. You can even unscrew these covers and vacuum behind them. However, if your indoor air smells musty or if you find thick accumulations of lint-like material behind your vent covers, schedule professional HVAC air duct cleaning.
Use Dry Mode Settings
Given just how mild Dallas winters are, many locals use heat pumps for heating instead of gas furnaces. If your indoor air ever feels muggy, heavy, or clammy during the heating season, use your heat pump’s dry mode setting. Heat pumps that have dry mode settings can extract excess humidity year-round. In dry mode, heat pumps circulate air and remove excess moisture, but don’t offer temperature control. You can use this mode until your indoor air feels lighter and cooler. You can then set your heat pump back to heating.
Explore Integrated IAQ Accessories
The most effective IAQ support that central HVAC systems can provide in winter comes from integrated IAQ accessories. These are secondary appliances that HVAC technicians install on or in ducting. They clean and condition the air or regulate its humidity just before distributing it. You might need integrated IAQ support if your IAQ is noticeably low even with routine HVAC maintenance and regular air filter changes.
Options in integrated IAQ accessories include:
- Whole-house air purifiers and air filters
- Air scrubbers
- Sanitizing UV lights
- Whole-house humidifiers and dehumidifiers
- Energy recovery ventilators (ERVs)
Schedule IAQ Services Today!
We’ve proudly served Dallas and the surrounding communities for more than 60 years. As a full-service, family-owned, and family-operated HVAC company, Precision Heating & Air offers comprehensive IAQ solutions. Our team offers enhanced mechanical ventilation, air-cleaning technologies, and whole-house humidity regulation. We also provide HVAC air duct cleaning and comprehensive HVAC maintenance services. For help improving IAQ in your Dallas home this winter, get in touch with Precision Heating & Air today.
