It’s unfortunate that not many homeowners understand the significant effect that good airflow alone can have on home comfort. Airflow is critical to the performance and efficiency of your HVAC system. Read on to get a better understanding of how air typically moves through your home.
The Basics of Airflow
Air naturally flows from an area of high pressure to an area with lower pressure. Your HVAC system has equipment that conditions the air before delivering it to different rooms in your home. It has a fan that creates pressure, causing air to flow to the open end of your ductwork that has lower pressure.
Ideally, when your heating and cooling system delivers air into a room, an equal quantity of air has to be removed from the space and transported back to your system for reheating or cooling. If the two amounts aren’t equal, you’ll experience an unbalanced flow of air.
Positive and Negative Pressure
Positive pressure occurs when there’s more air added than removed from an enclosed space. Negative pressure is created when the air that’s removed is more than the amount that’s been supplied. It causes your home to pull in make-up air, resulting in infiltration of outdoor air.
Several factors can throw airflow out of balance. For example, leaky ductwork in your attic creates negative pressure in your home and allows air to infiltrate your home through the crawl space, floors, or walls. A substantial negative pressure can trigger backdrafting of dangerous exhaust fumes. A broken window can let in a strong wind that pressurizes your home and causes damage. Closing a door to a room with supply registers delivering conditioned air but without a return grille causes positive pressure in the room but negative pressure in the area that has the return grille.
As you maintain your HVAC system, make sure you prioritize airflow optimization to avoid inconsistent temperatures and inefficient HVAC performance. If you need help with balancing the flow of air through your home or any other home comfort needs in the Dayton area, contact the professionals at Ace Hardware Home Services.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Dayton, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).
