During extreme temperatures, it’s important to make sure your home is properly sealed. This will help your air conditioner to operate more efficiently. However, a house that remains closed for long periods of time can develop air quality problems because stale, polluted indoor air isn’t being replaced by fresh outside air. You may assume that your air conditioner can pump fresh air into your home. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. To understand what your system can and can’t do, here is a basic guide from Bash Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. about air conditioners and indoor air quality.
Not a Fan
One effective way to cool your home is to place a fan in an open window to allow it to circulate fresh air in a specific room. However, an air conditioner installed by Bash Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. is not a fan. While a fan relies on moving air to cause the air to feel cooler on your skin, an air conditioner actually lowers the temperature of the air itself in a couple of different ways.
One way it lowers the temperature is by circulating cold refrigerant through an indoor unit, called an evaporator coil, over which indoor air is blown by the fan. As the air blows over the coil, the refrigerant absorbs some of the heat in the air, which lowers its temperature. Another way that air conditioners work to keep the air cool is to remove excess humidity. When the air passes over the cold coils, any excess humidity will condense on the metal coils and leave your home through the condensate drain.
In both cooling methods, it is only indoor air that is used to circulate through your HVAC system. The refrigerant remains in a closed tube and has no direct contact with the outside air. Additionally, if you take a look at the exterior of your home where your compressor is located, you’ll notice that there are no large openings through which outside air could enter. This means that air conditioners, though they have components located outside, do not bring in outside air to cool your home.
Keep the Air Flowing
Even though your air conditioner doesn’t bring in outside air, you still want to try and allow fresh air into your home to maintain your indoor air quality. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to do this that won’t make your home uncomfortable or significantly increase your utility bill.
One easy and beautiful way to create fresh air is to place some indoor plants around your home. These plants will work hard for you, taking in carbon dioxide and other indoor pollutants and expelling only fresh, pure oxygen. The best part about using plants is that you don’t have to let in any outside air at all, which prevents any efficiency problems with your air conditioner.
Another way to let in fresh air is to open the windows. Of course, you don’t want to do this during the hottest part of the day, as that would defeat the purpose of having an air conditioner. If there are days, though, that have cooler mornings or evenings, you can open your windows, even for just a few minutes, to lower the concentration of indoor pollutants in your home.
The important thing to remember is that no home is 100% airtight. A professional can do a lot to improve the efficiency of your home, but there will still be plenty of tiny cracks that are large enough for air to flow through. This natural air exchange will help to keep your home’s indoor air quality somewhat in-check, even when you can’t open your windows for several days in a row.
Service and Experience
For over 60 years, Bash Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. has been serving the Champaign community with expert HVAC service. We believe that our customers deserve to be informed when it comes to their HVAC systems. This is why we go the extra mile to explain what we’re doing while we’re at your home.
We can take care of furnaces and air conditioners of all sizes and brands, whether you need maintenance, repair, or installation. We also offer sheet metal fabrication services, allowing you to have customized ductwork to help make your HVAC system even more efficient. For more information about your HVAC system, don’t hesitate to contact us at Bash Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. today.
