Letting Your House "Breathe"
 

We all know that an airtight house isn't good if absolutely no outside air circulates in. With winter in full swing though, how do you keep the house "breathing" while not running up your heating bill at the same time?

The way my kids are about closing doors....my house gets plenty of fresh air.

Airing your home out for half an hour, if the doors do not open and close a lot, will not make that much difference in the HVAC bill.

Homes used to leak enough air that they stayed healthy in winter. I lived in a brand new building that was so airlocked it was sick albeit nicely designed otherwise. My aunt and uncle live in a lovely place on the Wisconsin/Minnesota border with a patented, adjustable flow through venitlation system. If we are going to wrap homes tight in Tyvek or whatever that is what we should include in the design.

If your house is that sealed it should have a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) installed and it must be run all the time.

I think the breathing concept is way overrated. Like the "need to change the air" concept. Its another sacred cow.

Its as if changing the air will prevent the Bubonic Plague. Dont worry about it very much.....

I don't think the idea to change air is to avoid the plague, it's just that some common contaminants are accumulatory, like CO and CO2. Frequent headaches or sinus problems or upper respiratory problems could be very caused by sacred cow patties.

I think you are missing a great opportunity to live better if you don't ventilate an airtight house. I'm talking those that are under 2 ACH@50, or maybe even 3. We have way too much plastic crap in our lives, like furniture fabric, rugs, toys, blah, blah. Besides, who wants to smell the dog farts all day? "Build tight, ventilate right." No, you won't see or feel the difference, but your lungs, etc, may. People who smoke don't feel their lungs filling w/ tar, either; same concept w/ ventilating, lesser degree.

When we built our house about 7 years ago, the HVAC contractor installed an intake vent on the rim joist and connected a 6" round duct to the return air duct. There's a balancing damper at the intake so you can adjust how much fresh air comes in when the furnace runs.

In theory it works fine, however, I found that I would get condensation on the ductwork when temps would drop below 0F. I closed the damper and haven't noticed any ill effects since. No need to pay to heat outside air if my home has enough leakage already.

We have 100% electric heat, so no air exchange there. We also have a Venmar air exchange unit with its own duct work that runs on low all winter. We push a button and it goes on high for 20 min. It removes moisture from the air, and exchanges inside air for outside air. It has an inline heater that will heat the incoming air if need. Without AC, summer is another issue:furious:

The condensation means it was working and you just shut it off. That was a make up air damper used to bring in air that your appliances and bath vents exhausted. You did your home and family a disservice by blocking it off. A little duct insulation will stop the condensating.

The straight air intake is heat/cool waster. The fresh air just comes in and needs to be conditioned. With an HRV the fresh air picks up the heat from the the stale air. Reverse in the summer. It picks up up the cool.