Properly air in winter - Instructions with tips & PDF

• Humidity in winter: table
• Ventilate properly in winter: Instructions

Properly ventilating is important throughout the year in order to balance the of humidity and fresh air, so that a pleasant room climate can be created. While the humid outside air is shut off in the summer, you benefit from the cold air during the cold season, which immediately draws moisture from the room. However, depending on the room, there are differences in the way you ventilate properly.

When winter arrives and more time is spent in the home, proper airing is essential to avoid high humidity. Not only the type of ventilation is important, but also the space that is ventilated. A bathroom must be ventilated according to different than the general living spaces, which should be noted. Since each room needs a different humidity, the ventilation must be adjusted to it, for example, in terms of duration, so that not too much cold air enters the premises.

Humidity in winter: table

Before you start to ventilate, you should first determine the humidity in the room. Based on the humidity, you can see if the exchange of air and moisture is optimal or needs to be optimized. During the year indoor air humidity has to be adapted to the seasons as not only the outdoor temperature but also the water in the air changes. In winter, dry rooms often dominate, as no moist, warm air enters the apartment from outside. However, it can quickly come to a high humidity, for example by the breath. An overview of the typical values ​​can be found in the following table:

	Too low	optimum	In the winter	Too high
living rooms	below 39%	40% to 60%	40% to 45%	from 60%
bedroom	below 39%	40% to 60%	40% to 45%	from 60%
nursery	below 39%	40% to 60%	40% to 45%	from 60%
study	below 39%	40% to 60%	40% to 45%	from 60%
kitchen	below 49%	50% to 60%	50% to 53%	from 60%
bath	below 49%	50% to 70%	50% to 53%	from 70%
basement, cellar	below 49%	50% to 65%	50% to 53%	from 65%
attic	below 39%	40% to 60%	40% to 45%	from 60%

All of these values ​​are guidelines only and may be influenced by a variety of different factors. For example, if the attic is not insulated, it often results in a relative humidity of over 80 percent, which can naturally lead to mold growth. In this case, it would be necessary to leave the windows open much longer during the wintertime so that the cool air pulls the excess moisture out of the room.

Furthermore, the temperature in the room can contribute to the humidity. Ideally, the following temperatures are recommended, although many people prefer other areas:

• Living rooms: 20 ° C
• Bedroom: 16 ° C to 18 ° C
• Children's room: 20 ° C to 22 ° C
• Study: 20 ° C
• Kitchen: 18 ° C
• Bath: 23 ° C
• Basement: 10 to 15 ° C
• Attic: depending on whether used or unused

If you have a temperature of 20 ° C throughout the living space, ventilation is very easy. However, if you like it cooler, in most cases you will have to expect humidity to increase because moisture will not evaporate as easily as at higher temperatures. In the worst case this can lead to mold growth. At higher temperatures, it is usually too dry, which leads to irritation of the skin, eyes and mucous membranes. It is often the case that the humidity is highest in the evening and immediately after getting up, as people and animals have been adding moisture to the air over a period of several hours due to their breath. You should therefore measure the relative humidity at noon, because at this time not all the air was enriched. For measuring you only need one hygrometer:

• Place the hygrometer in the room to be measured
• if you have a digital hygrometer, you must turn it on before
• analog hygrometers measure by themselves (learn how to set an analog hygrometer correctly: calibrate hygrometer)
• read the value

The humidity determines whether you need to take measures to dehumidify, for example, the use of a dehumidifier. Similarly, the result indicates whether it is too dry in the room. Do not be surprised, conservatories often have a very high humidity, which makes ventilating properly in these rooms also necessary. Typically, the values ​​are between 80 and 90 percent, as conservatories are equipped with large windows that are rarely completely insulated. Do not forget to measure the humidity, as this is an indicator of the quality of the air. The higher, the more important the airing is to create a pleasant room climate.

Tip: You will find the information about humidity again handy listed in the PDF with the information about airing. So you have the right humidity for all rooms with the right temperatures available, which is essential for ventilation.

Ventilate properly in winter: Instructions

With the information about the humidity you can ventilate properly, without leaving too much or too little moisture in the room. The guide, also included in the PDF, focuses not only on ventilating the living space, but also on bathrooms, kitchens and special rooms such as the basement, which must be ventilated in a very different way as the rest of the house. Properly ventilate over the wintertime ensures the necessary exchange of moist, spent air with fresh, cool and dry air. Proper ventilation saves heating costs through proper use. When airing, proceed as follows:

Step 1: Always turn off the heater before venting. This will save you a lot of energy, because even short airing can severely burden your account when you have the heating running. It is also important not to let the heater cool down, as otherwise they will have to spend more energy until they can absorb the heating power again.

Step 2: The best time to air is in the morning after getting up and in the evening when you are out of the house and nobody is at home. Depending on the duration of use of the rooms, for example, if you spend the entire day in the study, you have to ventilate a total of three to five times a day. The reason for this is the high consumption of fresh air with the windows closed. At this point open all windows completely. The tilt position consumes unnecessarily much energy, since the cool air is previously heated and so the exchange between fresh and used air can take place only slightly.

3rd step: The best result when ventilating is achieved by using the cross-ventilation. In cross-ventilation, you open two windows that are directly opposite each other, for example in two rooms separated by a door or passage. Open the door and the windows at the same time. This allows the air to move quickly and effectively through the rooms without gathering in one corner of the room. For apartments, this is often harder to implement. Here you should open as many windows as possible, especially if it is windy. In the wind, a lot of air enters the room, which promotes circulation, especially if all your windows are aligned on one side only.

4th step: The ventilation time is strongly dependent on the room. On average, you should not be left open for more than ten minutes, which in most cases is completely sufficient. Nevertheless, there are different ventilation times for the individual rooms:

• Living, dining and guest rooms: 5 - 8 min
• Living, dining and guest rooms (first floor): 10 min
• Living, dining and guest rooms (basement): open 5 minutes, maximum two or three times a day
• Premises in poorly insulated old buildings: maximum 5 minutes twice a day
• Bedroom: after getting up 5 min, before going to bed 10 to 15 min, in mild winters even 20 min
• Kitchen: after every cooking 5 to 10 min
• Bathroom: after every shower or bath up to 10 min
• Attic: 10 min
• inhabited cellar: 5 - 8 min

Uninhabited basement is an exception. Since this part of the house is usually the coolest over the winter, you have to provide a lot of fresh air here. Keep the window open all day in tilt position and close it overnight. This allows even moldy air to circulate for several hours with fresh air and be replaced. The same applies to the conservatory, which is very cold.

Step 5: After you have aired, close the windows. Do not leave them tilted as this would only consume energy unnecessarily. An exception is of course the cellar.

Step 6: Now turn your heater back on.

Step 7: Finally, check the humidity with your hygrometer. This allows you to determine exactly if the ventilation was sufficient.

With this information you can ventilate properly without consuming too much energy. The instructions and table on airing in winter are summarized once more clearly in the PDF for you: Ventilate properly in winter - PDF

Tip: please note that during the winter months the windows remain closed overnight. The only exception is the bedroom, which you can open intermittently every now and then.