Ventilation – Aladdin Heating

Is a Whole-House Fan a Good Choice for Your Home?

Aladdin — Tue, 12 May 2015 09:00:21 +0000

If you’re tired of paying big energy bills to stay comfortable during the cooling season, you should consider installing a whole-house fan. There are different types of these fans available, but they all work on the same premise — drawing in cooler outdoor air through open windows to replace warmer indoor air. The fan circulates air through the living areas and up to the attic where it’s exhausted through roof and attic vents.

How to Benefit From a Whole-House Fan

You can lower your cooling-related energy bills by up to 90 percent by operating a whole-house fan whenever it’s cooler outdoors than inside your home, and when outdoor temperatures don’t exceed 85 degrees. Here’s how to use the fan as a complement to the A/C during the warmer months:

In the late spring, early fall and on milder summer days, open your windows and run the fan all night, then close up the house during the day and you may not need the A/C at all.
In the summer, run the fan for a half-hour early in the morning and again after dark to clear out stifling hot air and reduce the A/C’s work load during the day.

Not only can this type of ventilation save on energy costs, it also cools down the attic so it can help extend the life of your roof. Since it gives the air conditioner a break, a whole-house fan can also help prolong its service life. Best of all, it’s a greener home cooling alternative that reduces your carbon footprint.

Fan Installation Considerations

To ensure you choose the right size and type of fan, hire an experienced HVAC contractor to handle the installation. A pro can also ensure proper placement and attic ventilation so the fan operates efficiently and issues with air quality and combustion fume backdrafts are prevented. Since whole-house fans can introduce outdoor allergens like pollen and dust into the home, they’re not a good choice for allergy sufferers.

To learn whether a whole-house fan is a good choice for your Grosse Pointe or Auburn Hills home, contact the experts at Aladdin Heating & Cooling.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Warren, Michigan about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about whole-house fans and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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How to Install Rooftop Dryer Vents to Protect Your Michigan Home

Aladdin — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 09:00:47 +0000

When in use, dryer releases hot gases. These gases can cause damage to your home so they should be vented out of the house if the dryer is kept indoors. The most common way of getting these gases out is by installing rooftop vents. It may sound like a daunting task to install rooftop dryer vents which should be left to experts but in reality it is an easy task which can be done by anyone.

Start by choosing the location for the vent opening. This should not be more than 25 feet from the dryer because most dryers can only handle a maximum of 25 feet vent. Trace the size of vent on the ceiling using a pencil then use a saw to make a hole in the ceiling wide enough for the duct to slide through. Trace again on the rooftop and make the hole.

Climb on the roof and make finer cuttings on the hole you made from the inside. On the perimeter of the hole spread roofing tar and insert the pipe which is connected to the vent in the hole. The vent flashing should be worked under the raised shingles which are then let to fall on it. The flashing should be nailed to the roof using the 1-inch roofing nails. Connect the vent cap.

Connect 4-inch elbow to the vent at the back of the dryer then position it facing the roof vent and then clamp it to secure it. Use 4-inch metal pipe duct to connect the dryer to the vent pipe on the roof. Remember to insulate the part of the vent that comes into contact with the attic. Secure the insulation using metal foil. The importance of using insulation is to avoid gases condensing on that section of the vent went temperatures outside are low causing lint which can block the vent.

For more expert advice on how you can install rooftop dryer vents and any other home related issues please contact us at Aladdin Heating & Cooling. We have been serving the Southeast Michigan, Detroit Metro Area for 70 years.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Warren, Michigan about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about rooftop dryer vents and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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Three Strategies for Improved Ventilation

Aladdin — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 09:00:30 +0000

As temperatures and humidity levels rise during the summer months here in the Warren and Troy areas, proper ventilation strategies can greatly improve your home’s indoor comfort level while reducing energy usage and utility bills.

Installing appropriate attic, kitchen and bathroom ventilation systems can significantly reduce the buildup of heat and humidity within your home.

A well ventilated attic is generally equipped with the following features:

Rafter and soffit vents which are kept open and not covered with insulation to allow natural airflow to enter a hot attic at the base of the roof eaves and exit the attic through the top gable or ridge vent.
Tight insulation keeping the conditioned air within the lower living spaces of your home instead of being lost to attic space.
An attic fan for use during the evening hours to draw in cooler outdoor air and push hot attic air outside through the gable or ridge vent.

Mechanical kitchen ventilation systems are designed to remove hot, humid air from the cooking area of your home. By mounting a fan inside your kitchen range hood and sending the stale, humid kitchen air directly outdoors, unpleasant odors will be removed while the indoor air quality (IAQ) of your entire home is improved.

Another critical area of the home where excess heat and humidity are generated is your bathroom. By installing an additional mechanical ventilation unit within each bathroom, you will be able to help prevent the growth of mold, mildew and other microorganisms on and within your home’s walls, leading to improved health conditions for all household members.

Homeowners in Southeastern Michigan interested in learning more about improving the comfort and efficiency of their homes can contact the professional staff at Aladdin Heating & Cooling. We offer emergency service 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, and have been serving the area since 1945!

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Warren, Michigan about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about ventilation and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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Any of These 4 Basic Types of Ventilation Can Freshen Your Air

Aladdin — Tue, 20 May 2014 09:00:11 +0000

Modern homes are well insulated for efficient heating and cooling but need ventilation from the outside to prevent stale indoor air, often described as “stuffiness”.

Any of the following mechanical systems will improve your indoor air quality, bringing the outdoors inside:

Exhaust ventilation systems use a fan to force indoor air outdoors through installed vents, lowering the pressure inside your home and drawing outdoor air in through leaks and/or installed vents. Although inexpensive to install and most appropriate in cold climates, they raise heating and cooling costs and also draw pollutants indoors (including fumes from an attached garage).
Supply ventilation systems draw outdoor air inside through vents, pressurizing your home and forcing indoor air out through leaks and/or installed vents. Also inexpensive, these are appropriate in hot climates, yet still raise heating and cooling costs. They do allow filtration of outdoor air before it enters your home.
Balanced ventilation systems use two fans to keep the pressure inside balanced with the outdoors; one fan draws air into your living room and bedrooms through vents, the other forces indoor air out, usually though vents in your kitchen or bathrooms. These systems cost more to install and do raise heating and cooling costs but are appropriate in all climates and allow filtration of outdoor pollutants as well.
Energy recovery ventilation systems mix filtered, incoming outdoor air with indoor air to minimize any increase in heating and cooling costs. Although most appropriate for moderate climates, finding a capable installer can be challenging and systems are more costly to install than others.

When choosing and designing a system, homeowners should look for the following features:

Quiet fan motors, as a noisy unit is much more likely to be underutilized.
Control knobs that are easily accessible
Proper distribution of fresh outdoor air where you need it, mainly bedrooms and your living room
Adequate filtration of outdoor air before entry into your home

Homeowners interested in improving indoor air quality can contact the professionals at Aladdin Heating and Cooling; with three offices in Warren, Lake Orion, and Novi, we have been serving southeast Michigan since 1945!

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Why Exhaust Ventilation Is So Important to Your Indoor Comfort

Aladdin — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 09:00:47 +0000

Most of us have an idea of the importance of good insulation: your home is kept warm and you save money. Especially here in towns like Novi and Bloomfield Hills, winters are harsh and insulation valued. Less understood is the vital importance of exhaust ventilation in a well-insulated house. Because insulation restricts air flow in and out of the home, you need good exhaust fan ventilation to guarantee healthy air.

Exhaust fans are mechanical devices typically affixed to the exterior of your house, pulling stale air out of your home and allowing fresh air to take its place. Adequate exhaust ventilation circulates out pollutants including smoke, pet dander, dust mites, mold and mildew. Exhaust ventilation also prevents common activities such as showering, cooking and washing clothes from dramatically increasing indoor humidity. High humidity, of course, is uncomfortable and can damage furniture.

There are several exhaust fan options:

Ceiling-mounted exhaust fans are often used for ventilation, drawing stale air through the roof and expelling it out of the home via a duct connecting to an external vent.
Another option is an inline exhaust fan, installed in rooms without access to a nearby external vent – the air is pushed through a duct for longer and is eventually forced out of the home. Inline exhaust fans are a good alternative when a ceiling fan is impractical.
Fans are also commonly installed above a kitchen stove or even outside the home. In choosing exhaust fan location, consider how often the room is used and whether there is already considerable air circulation due to a door or window.

For expert help assessing and improving your home’s exhaust ventilation, contact us here at Aladdin Heating and Cooling, proudly serving metro Detroit for more than 50 years.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Warren, Michigan about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about exhaust ventilation and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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Ventilation System Goals: Study This Advice Before You Choose

Aladdin — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 09:00:42 +0000

Your energy-efficient Michigan home requires mechanical ventilation to maintain optimum indoor air quality. A whole-house ventilation system should be quiet, offer good controls, great air distribution to the places you need it most, and quality filtration mechanisms. There are four types of mechanical whole-house ventilation systems you can install in your Beverly Hills or Farmington home—exhaust, supply, balanced, and energy recovery. Here is what you should know about each before choosing the best approach for your household.

Exhaust Ventilation
This ventilation system utilizes a fan to remove indoor air from your house. It is most effective in houses where depressurization does not pose a health, safety or structural durability risk, such as a tight home with an open floor plan. It is well suited for houses in cold climates and is relative inexpensive, but it may not be the best long-term option. It has poor filtration capabilities and can increase your home’s heating and cooling costs.

Supply Ventilation
This system’s fan draws incoming air from an uncontaminated location and filters it, making it a better choice for people with allergies, asthma or chemical sensitivities. The air is routed through your main HVAC return duct, allowing your heating and cooling system to heat or cool the air before it circulates through the home. Exhaust fans are additionally included in your kitchen and bath for the removal of excess moisture and odors.

Balanced Ventilation
This is a more versatile system that equally exchanges air between the inside and outside of your home. In the summer, the system transfers the heat from your incoming air to your outgoing air, reducing the load on your air conditioner. In the winter, it does the opposite, reducing the load on your central heating system.

Energy-Recovery Ventilation
Similar to the balanced system, the energy-recovery system goes one step further and transfers incoming moisture in addition to incoming heat. This reduces the amount your air conditioner has to dehumidify air, and prevents your home from becoming too dry during winter.

For more information on choosing the right ventilation system for your household needs, contact your local HVAC experts at Aladdin Heating & Cooling.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Detroit, Michigan about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about ventilation systems and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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Ventilation: Use These 3 Approaches To Ensure Better Air Quality

Aladdin — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:00:08 +0000

When a home is very tight, less energy waste occurs, leading to lower utility bills and coveted energy savings. However, a negative result also occurs when the home’s exterior shell is airtight: a lack of ventilation, which leads to poor indoor air quality. In the past, when energy efficiency wasn’t a concern, and when the technologies didn’t exist to improve it, natural ventilation in the form of cracks and gaps in the home allowed for proper air circulation and air exchange in the home. Today, in the worst-case scenarios, “sick building” syndrome occurs when the building is tight but lacks proper ventilation.

Depending on your home and the season, you can choose from three primary ventilation options to improve air quality.HRV

Natural ventilation – In between the winter and summer seasons, when temperatures are moderate, you can use natural ventilation in the form of open doors and windows to allow sufficient air exchange, giving indoor pollutants a chance to escape. In fact, this form of ventilation is recommended when performing home remodeling or painting projects.
Spot ventilation – Keeping humidity, mold and odors under control involves using spot ventilation in the form of exhaust fans. You should install a fan in every bathroom and in the kitchen, and run them during and after cooking or bathing to usher odors and humidity out of the spaces, and to prevent mold growth.
Whole-house ventilation – For comprehensive air circulation regardless of the season, choose a whole-house ventilation system like a heat recovery ventilator (HRV). Using a heat exchanger, fans and vents, the HRV draws outdoor air into the home, while a separate vent exhausts stale indoor air. The two airstreams pass through the HRV without mixing, while the heat exchanger draws energy (either heated or cooled air) from the outgoing air stream, and moves it to the incoming airstream. As a result, the HRV’s operating costs are low, while advancing air circulation and improving indoor air quality.

Aladdin Heating & Cooling is proud to have served Macomb, Farmington Hills, and Southfield since 1945. Contact us today to talk home ventilation, and to improve your home’s air quality.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Detroit, Michigan about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about Ventilation and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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Whole-House Ventilation Keeps The Air In Your SE Michigan Home Fresh

Aladdin — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 09:00:39 +0000

With winter quickly approaching, it’s time to reconsider the importance of whole-house ventilation. When the seasons transition and the weather turns pleasant in Dearborn and the surrounding areas, you may throw your windows wide open and enjoy the fresh air. However, when it gets bitter outside, you close the windows tightly and pollutants become trapped inside.

Common pollutants that can accumulate in your home include:

Mold spores
Pollen
Dust and dead skin
Pet dander
Household chemicals
Bacteria
Viruses
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from paint, glue and other building materials

While there are multiple types of ventilation available to help get rid of built-up pollutants, whole-house ventilation is the most thorough and dependable.

How whole-house ventilation works

The best type of whole-house ventilation is a balanced, energy-recovery system that preheats cold incoming air with warm outgoing air. This saves the most on energy bills while providing the ventilation your home needs to maintain high indoor air quality.

The system consists of exterior air intakes and exhausts, ducts running to the return side of the HVAC system, dampers to control air intake, and electronic controls to ensure proper operation.

Benefits of whole-house ventilation

Cleaner indoor air: This is the most important reason to invest in a whole-house ventilation system. Such a system continually replaces stale indoor air with fresh air from outside.
Energy savings: The goal of sealing the external envelope of your home is to enjoy energy savings. An energy-recovery ventilation system helps this goal remain a reality without allowing indoor air quality to suffer.
Fewer allergies and illnesses: Being stuck in your tightly sealed home all winter could result in more than just cabin fever. The constant exposure to bacteria, viruses, allergens and other contaminants could result in actual physical illness. Cleaner air helps prevent this.

If you’ve ever come home in the winter and smelled a musty, stale odor in the interior, you know for sure that you could benefit from whole-house ventilation. Please contact Aladdin Heating & Cooling today to learn more. We serve customers in Shelby Township, Birmingham, Rochester Hills and the surrounding areas.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about ventilation and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Aladdin Heating services Novi, Farmington, Farmington Hills, Southfield, Oak Park, Ferndale, Beverly Hills, Berkley, Royal Oak, Birmingham, Bloomfield Twp., Bloomfield Hills, West Bloomfield, Madison Heights, Clawson, Sterling Heights, Warren, Troy, St. Clair Shores, Grosse Pointe, Grosse Pointe Woods, Grosse Pointe Farms, Grosse Pointe Park, Detroit, Utica, Shelby Twp., Rochester, Rochester Hills, Auburn Hills, Lake Orion, Oxford, and Clarkston.

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Attic Ventilation And Insulation: 2 Key Factors In Home Energy Efficiency

Aladdin — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 09:00:27 +0000

Oddly, one of the keys to an energy-efficient home is perfect combination of ventilation and insulation. This is why it’s very important that Metro-Detroit-area homeowners don’t block the flow of air around the eaves when installing attic insulation.

Benefits of ventilation and insulation

In the summer, a well-ventilated attic helps to exhaust hot air and moisture, while proper insulation prevents heat from transferring into the house. During the winter, outdoor air enters and cools the attic, which helps prevent snow from melting and ice dams from forming and damaging the roof. Meanwhile, attic insulation keeps your winter heating from rising through the ceiling.

Using an attic fan

An attic fan can be a great choice for improving ventilation, but only under the right conditions. If your attic vents are blocked or if your attic isn’t properly sealed, an attic fan can draw conditioned air out of your home and into the attic. This results in your HVAC system having to work harder to provide cooling and heating, which translates to higher energy bills. The best way to prevent this is through proper attic ventilation and insulation.

Adequate insulation

Unfortunately, many homes today still don’t have a sufficient amount of properly-installed insulation. This can account for your upstairs rooms being too hot, as the heat in your attic can turn your ceiling into a giant heat generator. In our area, Energy Star recommends attics be insulated with a minimum R-value (thermal resistance) of 49.

It’s equally important that your attic ductwork is properly insulated. If the many joints found on the ducts aren’t properly sealed and insulated, the ductwork will actually be the same temperature as the attic and will create conditions opposite from the intended effect.

If you have questions regarding your attic ventilation and insulation, contact us today! Aladdin Heating and Cooling serves Ferndale, Rochester and the Metro-Detroit area.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about energy efficiency and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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Ventilation Strategies To Control Your Cooling Costs

Aladdin — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 09:00:30 +0000

Proper home ventilation is essential to maintaining good indoor air quality, but it also helps you reduce the energy costs of your Metro Detroit area home. Circulating the air inside your home reduces your cooling load and the frequency with which you need to run your air conditioner. However, to maximize this benefit, it’s essential that you understand how to optimize ventilation strategies. While you can install whole-house ventilation equipment as part of your HVAC system, there are also easy, natural ways to circulate and exchange air.

Whole-house ventilation equipment takes advantage of your home’s ducts, vents and registers to promote air exchange between the indoors and the outdoors and improve indoor air quality. Proper rates of air exchange depend on the size of your home and the number of people living in it, but whole-house systems can be precisely calibrated to ensure that air exchange requirements are met during all seasons and in all weather conditions.

Spot ventilation is similar in that it uses ducts and vents to move indoor air outdoors, but it is not linked to your HVAC system and is limited to a localized area. A common example of spot ventilation is the exhaust fan on a range hood, which sucks up odors and expels carbon monoxide by-products. It’s commonly used in areas with combustion appliances, like your kitchen and boiler room, and in rooms where humidity levels get high, including your laundry room and bathrooms.

Finally, natural ventilation provides uncontrolled but effective air exchange. A combination of open windows and strategically placed fans promotes the flow of air through your home. However, it also has limitations, particularly because you have no control over the amount, temperature, quality or humidity level of the air exchanged.

If you need further advice on ventilation strategies, or if you have any other home comfort concerns, contact us at Aladdin Heating & Cooling. We serve customers throughout St. Clair Shores and Ferndale areas, offering expert advice and service at affordable prices.