The family budget sits better with a timer-based bathroom fan.
Lifestyle changes have transformed the outside recess into a daylong hibernation indoors. Both adults and children spend more time surfing the web and gaming with little need to embark on an adventure outside the home. Consequently, the indoor comfort levels, especially with air quality and ventilation has become a paramount concern for Home Energy Auditors. Case in point, the bathroom fan explains how the ramifications of unhealthy air has negative consequences not only in air freshness, but in overall home “peace and quiet.”
For one, ventilating the house will cut down on allergens such as dust, cleaning fumes, and even stored chemicals from the attic, seeping down into the living quarters. Air sealing and insulating the attic and penetrations will alleviate this concern, but what about the complaints from the family as they get sick from unhealthy air? Yes, the peace and quiet will quickly fill the house with complaints like, “It’s stuffy in here. I can’t breathe right!” The CDC reports that more and more children and adults stay at home with the modern technology entertaining them and illnesses like asthma have overtaken their health. Coupled with a lack of Vitamin D from not spending time in the sun, the stale air has cultured a young generation with an increase in asthma from 7.4% in 2001 to 7.7% in 2021. An increase of about 5 million children developed this illness of inflamed and narrowed airways in the lungs. A home energy audit can stop this trend in its tracks.
Secondly, an expert in home energy audits studies all trends within the industry for standards that makes the home safe and comfortable. Empower Maryland and the Ashrae Standards from 2013 equip Energy Efficiency Experts with the guidelines to raise the air qualities in the home. The infiltration or natural air flow from the outside to inside may read at safe levels in the winter, but in the summer, a home requires more infiltration that takes down air pressure. The guidelines direct a crew to achieve 1560.118703 CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute). To arrive at this standard, air sealing, coupled with proper ventilations, including the bathroom fan will make the entire family breathe easily. Complaints of a stuffy house will chorus into, “It feels fresh in here!” In some cases, based on blower door tests that read home air pressure, a 150 CFM programmable fan that powers on with the lights and turns off with a timer or simply a timed fanning every hour will prove as a home improvement success. While the crew addresses air quality, the sound of the fan is also worth talking about. A fan with .3 Sones, barely audible will do the trick. To measure this comfort level, the following guide may help. A refrigerator reads 1 Sones, an office setting 2 Sones, and traffic from the road 8 Sones. An energy audit keeps all comforts of living in mind when suggesting an action plan for your “Home Sweet Home!”
Finally, the family budget sits better with a timer-based bathroom fan. In fact, the savings can reach impressive levels since a fan that runs continuously can cause a house fire. Yes, a fire will eat up a budget rather quickly with all the cleanup and replacement. Likewise, mold and mildew can cause pain for the wallet. Ultimately, structural issues from rotting supporting beams can also lead to some costly bills. Even cabinetry and wallpaper stand to lose with warping, peeling, and deteriorating from humid conditions caused from a lack of ceiling fan. Stack the benefits of none of these issues taking place, along with energy cost savings with a periodically running fan, and an efficient HVAC unit with all air sealing and proper ventilation, you will hear the homeowner declare, “The initial cost was certainly a small price to pay compared to the exuberant amount of savings!” Time to breathe easily. Test your home’s air pressure with a home energy audit and create the perfect comfort level.
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