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Okay, it's getting cold here now and time to shut all the windows and turn on the furnace.
Personally I'm a huge "open all the windows" person. I hate the thought of co2, gas appliance off gassing and just the accumulation of "pollutants" indoors.
But today I turned on the furnace. It's just getting too cold to open the windows.
It will be months of cold with all windows and doors shut.
How bad does the air quality indoors get?
Does the accumulation of our expelled co2 make the indoor air worse?
How about all the gas appliances running (furnace, stove, water heater, etc)?
Am I paranoid or does indoor air in a typical small house get bad in the Wintertime?
There is no carbon dioxide expelled into the indoor air. If anything there would be carbon monoxide but that's why we have carbon monoxide detectors.
There's not really anything to worry about from indoor air, besides radon if you live in a susceptible area with a basement area that doesn't have mitigation, but even that that's not something most people even think about.
Get a carbon monoxide detector installed. Test the radon levels in your basement.
This is one of those things that is mostly paranoia spread through social media, often to sell you expensive solutions to this rather nonexistent problem.
We live in rural Maine and we have two wood stoves in our house as our only source of winter heat.
We have heatpumps that cool our home in summer and they can take some of the chill off in Spring or Autumn, but once Winter settles in, they are no longer capable of heating our home.
We find a thin layer of soot or ash on everything in our home. As a result, we are now using a whole house air filter to reduce that.
I also prefer open windows. I have always kept lots of indoor plants by the sunny windows. From google:
Raising plants indoors is a home-healthy move because of their ability to clean the air of carbon dioxide, but their benefits don't stop there. According to several studies, the average houseplant can remove formaldehyde, benzene, and a host of other toxins that plague typical indoor air.
The reality is, homes that use gas usually have somewhat poorer air-quality compared to those that do not. Are those air-quality levels dangerous/unhealthy, for the most part, probably not.
Of course air-quality will vary depending on many factors; how well your flue is sealed, if you have systems with/without pilot-lights, how much ventilation your home has, if you have newer, clean-burning gas-appliances/heating, etc, etc.
I much prefer electric-powered appliances and heating......in every single place that I have lived that had gas, I could smell the difference in the air compared to places I lived with no gas.
That would be too cold for me to open the windows, lol. Last time I went through that was in the 90's, one week of -20. Blankets in the windows. No one went out.
I moved to where it was warmer shortly after that.
This is one of those "how long is a piece of string" questions OP. Too many variables, not to mention your description of "typical small house" doesn't really mean much.
FWIW, my house is relatively small: 1280 sq ft. It's less than 10 years old, very energy efficient and tight. Gas appliances and primary heat. Windows really aren't opened for about 6 months of the year due to the climate. Do people open doors and let "fresh" air in as they go in or out? Of course they do! None of this means the air quality has to be bad. The house also has an HRV recirculation system. I can adjust the airflow and frequency of cycles from continuous to intermittent or I can shut it down entirely. Do I use vent fans while showering or cooking? Of course I do. There are no musty corners, trouble with mildew, mold or odors. I also keep tiny cage birds; true life canaries in a coal mine. If there was an air quality problem, most likely they're going to show the effects much sooner than I do. They don't.
Last edited by Parnassia; 10-14-2023 at 05:08 PM..
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