If your home has an attached garage, as most single-family homes in Yuma do, your indoor air could contain some hazardous compounds not healthy to breathe. It’s likely your kitchen has an exhaust fan, but few think about adding exhaust fans to the garage, where they can actually do a lot of good.
If you park your car in your garage, the combustion byproducts can enter the house when you enter the house. This occurs as a result of poorly sealed walls between the house and the attached garage, and the fact that the typically lower air pressure in your house will draw in dirty air from the garage. Storing swimming pool chemicals, especially chlorine tablets, can be hazardous, as well as paints, thinners or finishes. Keeping yard chemicals in the garage also decreases your indoor air quality.
Exhaust fans effectively remove the buildup of gases in your garage, helping your indoor air quality. Each time your air handler indoors turns on, it’s capable of bringing in air from an attached garage. Even when you run an exhaust fan in the kitchen or bathroom, you bring in garage air, so countering that with a fan in the garage helps keep your indoor air clean.
How long and often you run the fan is a decision to make based on what you keep in the garage and how often you park your vehicles inside. Exhaust fans use little electricity, and if your garage has a lot of products that give off hazardous fumes, running it full-time assures that your indoor air will be cleaner.
Suitable fans include kitchen or bath ventilating fans that use little electricity. If your garage is large, however, you may need a more powerful fan for effective exhaustion. If you are not comfortable with installing a fan, contact Hansberger Refrigeration and Electric Company for assistance. We are a licensed HVAC company located in Yuma and can help you keep your indoor air cleaner.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about exhaust fans and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Hansberger Refrigeration & Electric Co services the Yuma area in Arizona. Visit our website to see our special offers and get started today!
