Barron Heating AC Electrical & Plumbing Blog: Archive for the ‘Air Changes’ Category

The Barron Guide to MERV Filters

Wednesday, February 21st, 2024

You’ve probably heard the term “MERV” used before in a variety of contexts, from hospitals to schools. It’s a rating that can help customers understand how powerful or effective their filters are.

If you’ve been interested in air filtration technology or MERV filters in Bellingham, then you’ll want to understand what it means to ensure you’re not getting sold a product that doesn’t work. It can be pretty disappointing to spend money on an air filter, only to find out that the rating isn’t high enough to provide you with important filtration services that you were looking for.

Avoid situations like this and more by walking through MERV technology with us one piece at a time. Then, make sure you call our team for any air quality support you require or concerns you might have.

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BPI CEO: Kids Suffering in Our Unhealthy Homes

Tuesday, July 1st, 2014

Our Homes Suck – And That’s Why Our Kids Have Sinus Problems

By: Larry Zucker (CEO of the Building Performance Institute) 

We all know about how stack effect works in homes, but during presentations, I’m always surprised by how many hands are raised in response to the question: “How many of you think you can make a house too tight and cause problems with indoor air quality?” Generally, at least three-quarters of the room raises their hands. Really? My colleague Joe Kuonen says that getting a house so tight that you need to ventilate is a feat worth celebrating. “Now, we can get fresh air from a place we can trust,” he says. Where do most of our homes get their fresh air? From places we cannot trust, like crawl spaces.

What do we know about crawl spaces? Generally, they are dark and wet. This is a perfect habitat for mold, rodents and insects to thrive – and gain access to the house. Those of you who have spent a lot of time in crawl spaces have horror stories about close encounters with both living and dead creatures. Allison Bailes once published a photo of a dead opossum in a crawl space next to a disconnected return duct!

On the other side of the band joist is the basement where the air handling unit often resides. If there is insulation on the band joist, it is generally discolored by filtering air that passes through the crawl space. Thankfully there is a furnace filter, you might say. If you look at most furnace filters in people’s homes, you’ll generally find them clogged and gross. And with the furnace filter slot at the end of the return duct, the furnace filter is protecting the blower motor from the air that everyone in the house has been breathing. This can’t be good for your health.

Why should we care about the quality of indoor air?

READ MORE HERE…

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Posted in Air Changes, Air Sealing, Blower Door Testing, CHEE, Filtration, Healthy Homes, Home Performance, IAQ, Indoor Air Quality, Mold | Comments Off on BPI CEO: Kids Suffering in Our Unhealthy Homes

Are Windows a Priority?

Friday, December 27th, 2013

One of the first industries to jump onto the energy efficiency bandwagon was the window industry.  Claims of huge energy savings and increased comfort are touted by the industry as advantages to replacing old windows.  While these claims definitely have merit, according to a study done by Michael Blasnik & Associates window replacements fall low on the list of home improvements that will get you the most bang for your buck when it comes to energy savings.

I often hear customers protest, “But I know my windows are leaky.  I can literally feel the cold draft when I am near them!”  I usually reply, “I absolutely agree. But take a deep breath because that’s fresh, clean air!”

Homes need to breathe.  In the average home we like to see the all the air in the home change about 8 times per day (depending on occupancy and cubic footage of the conditioned space).  This air ideally comes from clean, outdoor air as opposed to polluted air that comes into the home after passing through musty crawl spaces, dusty attics and dirty garages.

So, what’s the verdict on replacing windows?  In some cases, such as extremely old, single pane or damaged windows, the expensive replacement may pay off in energy savings over their life time HOWEVER generally our customers find more bang for their buck in terms of CHEE (comfort, health, and energy efficiency) in sealing up leaky ductwork and sealing off air access to crawl spaces and attics.

Want to know more about where your home gets its air and opportunities for improvements to the CHEE of your home?  Read our blog entries on indoor air quality (IAQ), dust, and air sealing or call Barron to schedule a Whole Home Performance Test on your home.

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Posted in Air Changes, Duct Sealing, Home Performance, IAQ, Understanding Energy Efficiency | Comments Off on Are Windows a Priority?

Where Your Boot Meets the Floor

Friday, October 18th, 2013

One key duct component you’ll hear mentioned regularly in the world of home performance is the venerable “floor-to-boot” connection.

It may sound like some obscure honky-tonk dance, but it is really one of the more important points in your home to investigate and seal when it comes to indoor air quality and efficiency. The floor-to-boot connection is the seam where the metal duct meets the subfloor. The included fittings usually consist of a round duct elbow and a rectangular duct box that fits up into the hole cut in your floor. The registers (aka grilles) you see around your house that deliver heat are fit inside this rectangular duct box. From the floor seam to the elbow, leaks at this point are important to address AND can also be the easiest to DIY.

Often, the material or nails that were installed to secure this piece of duct to the floor have been compromised, worn out or damaged. A gap can form around the edge that is a direct leak from the crawl space (yuk!) into the home. This is a passive leak when the furnace is not running and a forced leak point when it is.

This “broken boot” condition can also be a key indicator that other parts of your system may be compromised and a duct performance test is warranted.
See our articles on crawl spaces and duct leakage to find out more.

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Posted in Air Changes, Air Sealing, Allergies, Asthma, Blower Door Testing, CHEE | Comments Off on Where Your Boot Meets the Floor

Home Ventilation Options – Make it Tight, Ventilate Right

Saturday, March 9th, 2013

All the fancy air quality control tools in the world are useless if you don’t have a good ventilation system to circulate air through your home each day. An air filter removes larger particles like dust, dander and pollen, and an electronic air filter removes smaller particles like bacteria, mold, and gases. However, your indoor air will still be poor without a fresh supply of air constantly circulating in from outdoors.

Types of Ventilators

There are a few options here, depending both on the number of contaminants your home has and the amount of heated or cooled air you are willing to lose each day through vents.

The simplest method is an exhaust fan. Fans blow air from your home, creating a negative pressure zone inside. Air inlets then allow new air to enter your home and equalize that pressure. There are also balanced exhaust fans – one fan blowing indoor air out and another fan pulling fresh air in. If you have open flames or gas burning appliances, a balanced exhaust fan is necessary to keep the flames from going out due to the negative pressure caused by a single outlet exhaust fan.

Traditional ventilation, while simple, is also inefficient. In the middle of winter it blows all of your heated air outside and in the summer, it does the same to your cooled air. Your home comfort system likely can keep up with the loss of heat or cooling, so you won’t be less comfortable, but you will certainly pay more on your energy bill.

That’s why heat and energy recovery ventilators are popular in many homes. Especially if you went to the trouble of having your home sealed up tightly to minimize energy loss, these ventilators will save you money.

When air is ventilated through a recovery unit, the energy and heat is transferred between indoor and outdoor air as it passes. In the winter, this means the energy in your indoor air is retained and during the summer, the energy in outdoor air is removed before it enters your home.

Which Method is Best?

The method you choose will depend largely on your current cost of heating and cooling and what types of contaminants you face. Energy recovery ventilators have the added benefit of patching directly into your indoor air quality units, so you won’t need to worry about new contaminants coming in either.

Posted by Wes Diskin

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Posted in ACH, Air Changes, ERV, Home Performance, HRV, Sick House, Ventilation, Whole House Fans | Comments Off on Home Ventilation Options – Make it Tight, Ventilate Right