Edit: Context behind this question is because my parents always tell me to shut the windows all the way and I kinda feel like I’m suffocating… literally… (it’s Winter here)
Like I just struggle to breathe with windows closed…
So I’m just curious, how do y’all not suffocate while trying to keep house warm and spend less on heating?
I open the windows during winter even when it’s like -30c, at some point the air gets stale and circulation is needed. The stuffy air also makes my headspace feel weird, like something is irritating me but I can’t tell what it is.
Then at some point I open the windows, I also run a huge fan to circulate air around.
German here: yes. 24/7
LÜFTEN
Austrian here: STOSSLÜFTEN!
Southern US, windows are only open in winter, basically whenever it’s comfortable outside. Never in the summer. The A/C runs basically 24hrs a day during the hottest 2 months of the year.
Windows on the car are basically left cracked for the opposite time. Rain deflector are installed to allow for this without rain getting in.
The four days out of the year that it’s comfortable weather in Texas, I’ll open the window. But only with the screen still on, or mosquitoes get in.
Edit: “comfortable” = between 75-80°F
Windows? not often, but I leave my wooden door open, so the kitties can look out and see the birds and stuff.
Northern Spain here, they remain closed all winter except the few times I open them to ventilate. Next month I’ll probably start opening them during the day and at some point in May or June they’ll remain open until the end of September or so.
Dane here. I open all windows for five minutes two times a day, also in the winter.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HNq-De_wCx0
In the winter, Stoßlüften, especially to get moisture out in winter, to reduce and clear out condensed water on windows and prevent mold. I guess bathroom after a shower more than other rooms either way. In the summer, full night, none during the day.
Sometimes not for a few days, sometimes multiple times a day, sometimes open all day. Depends on the season and a few other things.
Almost never. I lived in a bad neighborhood for too long, so I doubt that habit will change.
bad neighborhood
I remember when I was in China we used to have 防盗网 (“Anti-Theft Nets”) all over our windows… I mean it also prevents us kids from falling out of windows I guess.
I remember my old apartment in Guangzhou, there was a sofa next the the window, the TV is on the opposide of the sofa. And behind the sofa was the window, that looked down straight to the alleyway (not a street, cars can’t get in, the main road is like 10-20 minutes of walking distance away)…
Like sometimes as kids you play around and climb the sofa and then the top of the sofa (like the thing where you lean you back against) is the same height of the window.
So you could accidentally play around and if the window was open, you could, you know how kids be, peek out the window out of curiousity and fall out and die.
Like the only thing standing in the way is the Anti-Theft Net thingy.
This is what it looks like (random image found online):
I was always told to “be careful or you can fall out of there and DIE” and jeez… kid-me got so terrified of heights.
The stairs also have a bare-minimum concrete/cement barrier, you can get drunk, accidentally hop over it, and fall down to your death…
Come to think of it you could literally murder someone and pretend they accidentally fell. (Russian Dissidents have joined the chat 👀)
I remember when I visited one of my aunts apartment… it was like 16 floors high in the middle of Manhattan… OMG I got so scared… but I wanna look outside the window but I immediately just feel like I have a panic attack like “OMG what if I fall out?”…
I remember having a sleepover there with my family and literally every moment awake I was like Window = Scary
But yea I asked my parents “why not install those like we had in China”, but apparantly most cities in the US have city ordinances against these things, you need a permit for it… and then since it’s not the norm in the US, you’d just get targeted since people would think: “Ooh they must be rich / hiding a lot of valuables” so yea we don’t have those anti-theft nets here in the US.
Honestly. I used to always keep my window open* over the night. This winter was the first I have regularly not opened my window and just opened it for a bit during the day (yes stoßlüften), which I of course did before as well, since I’m German 😅
* when I say “open” I mean my window would usually be tilted open (“gekippt”) not fully opened wide
Where I live, there’s usually 3-4 months out of the year that it’s better to open the windows to let the air in than to use central air. Cheaper as well. In the winter we usually get a day or two where it’s warm enough to open up to let air circulate. But swamp ass summer and deep winter here suck eggs to be opening the windows.
I got a Technoline WL1030 meter for my room and whenever it reaches 1500 ppm CO2 I open the window until its back down below about 600-700, then I close it to not waste more heat than necessary
Edit: To give some more context, my room is 14 m^2 and about 2.50m high so roughly 35 m^3 of air minus some occupied by furniture call it 30 m^3 maybe. It is a modern house with good insulation and energy retention rating (built to the “Minergie” standard we have here in Switzerland), but without forced air, so not much air is exchanged when the windows are closed. With this I end up roughly having to exchange the air every three hours or so.
When we taste the air is a bit a stale, we open the all the windows and sliding doors to exchange the air during all seasons.
Never, I switched to Debian…
Mostly just the spring and fall, but occasionally the summer if it’s nice out and rarely the winter if it is unseasonably nice. Sometimes crack a window for a short time if the toddler makes a really smelly bm
Only when it’s cold. Windows are open most of the year.
