It’s crucial to balance the air pressure in your home to maximize comfortability. The goal when it comes to air pressure is to keep the interior and exterior air separated as much as possible. This helps to balance the humidity, air quality, temperature, and energy consumption within the environment.
Positive and Negative Air Pressure
Neither negative or positive air pressure in a home is good. They both put pressure on the building envelope that promotes air leakage. They will have different impacts and effects depending on what season it is, the humidity levels, and temperatures.
- Negative air pressure in a home during summer will draw in warm air and will increase your cooling costs as you unit will need to run more frequently to cool your home down. There’s also a minor durability issue that humid, warm outside air may cause condensation when it enters a cool surface. The greater the difference between indoor and outdoor temperature, the greater the concern.
- Negative air pressure in a home during winter will draw in cold air. This leaves you with your home feeling drafty and an increase in energy costs. This is an issue for both your comfortability and your increased energy costs.
- Positive air pressure in a home during summer will force cool air out. This leaves you once again uncomfortable and with high energy bills.
- Positive air pressure in a home during winter is a big issue. This is due to the massive difference between indoor and outdoor temperature during the winter season. The positive pressure will force warm, humid air from inside your home out through the smallest openings in your walls where the air can condense and deposit moisture. This causes mold and wood rot deep in the structure.
Causes of air pressure differences
The wind creates either negative or positive air pressure on a particular side of a home. This leaves air being forced in on one side and being forced out on the other side. The best thing you can do to combat this issue is by sealing up your home and preventing leaks as best you can. This may include a lot of insulation!
The stack or chimney effect is the same battle; however, it’s happening 24/7 not just on certain days. As warm air rises it creates more pressure and pushes air out. To make up for this, air will be drawn in on lower levels. Here are some things you can do to try and resolve this issue as best you can.
- Duct Leakage. Air leaking into or out either the exhaust ducts or intake will the affect the balance of air pressure and will likely produce a positive or negative indoor environment. This is an area where the issue can be fixed easily. Ducts can be resealed so they are well-sealed and don’t leak.
- Combustion Appliances. Anything that burns fuel in your home such as fireplaces or gas stoves removes oxygen and requires makeup air. If your home is air tight and has negative air pressure issues, it may cause flue gases to backdraft into your home. This can be a major issue.
- Bathroom Fans. If they are designed to run off a humidistat, then they aren’t running unnecessarily by just being left on and then forgotten. Having these fans wired on the same circuit as the bathroom light is not used wisely.
- Stove Hoods. Run these on as low of a speed as you can.
Contact your local HVAC experts
It’s important to note that with negative air pressure your heating and cooling costs are going to increase. Leaving you feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Leave it to your Sioux City HVAC experts to help you with this issue. You can give us a call at 712-252-3007 or fill out this form online and we’ll be in touch soon. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook where we post many HVAC tips and tricks! We look forward to serving you!