Some Easy Air Balancing Tips

When many people hear the term air balancing, they usually assume it’s something much more complicated than it actually is. Actual in-depth air balancing tests can become quite involved and complicated, but air balancing itself is the practice of ensuring that your heating and cooling hits every part of your residence or business. You don’t want to have a house or business that’s nicely heated or cooled and then walk into a side room and have it feel like the outdoors. We’re going to give you some steps you can take now, before having us do an air balancing evaluation, so both you and we can better understand your property’s HVAC system.

Don’t Block System Vents

Vents are the bread and butter of your heating and cooling system! That being said, you should look to lower your thermostat before you ever block a vent. If you have a small child and you don’t want them to get cold, raise the thermostat and try to conserve cooling. Otherwise, you’re putting extra strain on your system. Closing vents can also obstruct proper air flow and result in the accumulation of ice on your HVAC system, so beware!

Don’t Close Doors, If You Can

Doors are a huge denizen for air balancing. Doors can be well-sealed and, when they are closed, they can cut off the heating or cooling from the rest of the house. Whenever possible, try to leave doors open. This, of course, doesn’t apply to your front or back door, or doors leading to rooms with broken windows.

Don’t Leave Air Vents On

In the event of smoke, gas leaks or bad odors, vents can be extremely efficient at draining air from a room. Whether leaving them on as a courtesy in bathrooms, or trying to vent heat and smoke from the kitchen, turn these off after 15 minutes or when they’re no longer needed.

Control Heat Sources

Whether it’s a lamp or an oven, you should make sure to control heat sources and don’t let them go rampant. Lights, ovens and other heat-generating appliances, like computers and televisions, should be left off as often as possible in order to keep them from generating heat. This seems like an obvious tip, but many people overlook it, especially in the case of computers—which generate a fair amount of heat.

Close Windows

This is a tough one for a lot of people to abide by all the time, especially if you live with kids, pets or smokers. If you have open the window to air out a room, just don’t forget about it. One cracked or poorly insulated window can throw your whole air balancing out of whack.

We hope these tips have helped in some way. For more information on air balancing, please call us today at 215.695.4170.