from Lori in Appleton, WI:
#737
Is there such a thing as "stale air?" I have a cottage and every time we go up with my parents, they insist you have to open up all the windows and doors to get rid of stale air because you can't heat it. Is this true?
"Stale air" is no harder to heat than "fresh air”.
You can have "stale air", or air that has a high concentration of indoor contaminates. These contaminates may include odors, volatile organic compounds(VOC's), moisture, etc. People often will say the house is "stuffy" and open the windows to exchange the indoor air for "fresh" outdoor air.
Two things to think about:
1. "Stale air" is no harder to heat than "fresh air". In fact if the air outside is colder than the air inside, ventilation is just going to increase the amount of energy (and money) needed to bring the cottage to a comfortable temperature.
2. The air outside will have its own contaminates (spores, pollens, moisture) so different air may not always be better air. See if you can determine why the air is stale. There may be a better solution than opening the windows. You can check out some indoor air contaminates, what causes them and how to reduce them on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Web site.
Published Monday, March 15, 2010