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?
Daily, all year roun,for a short time.
Let me introduce you to Stoßlüften.
Stale air contains high levels of CO₂, which can make you feel tired
Oh… no wonder why my circadian rhythm is fucked up… I feel so tired in the day and now its 1AM and I’m wide awake… 🫠
Lpt: if your residence has central heating/ac and was made within the last 50 years then your house is probably getting sufficient airflow.
Central heating, no AC.
Heat is not carried by air, but by those pipes with hot water running to radiators… so I don’t know if there’s any airflow.
Built before 1978, might have lead paint under there… but it was painted over once before we moved in so its probably lead safe(? I hope lol, i’d be lame to lose a few iq points to something stupid like lead)
Ah, then no forced air through ventilation ducts to move air around.
My current house doesn’t have vents either, but I have fans that move air around the important bits that get occupied the most. With my dogs needing to go out, and work, the doors are open enough, and there’s enough leakage to not worry about co2 levels. Except my wife sometimes trips the sensor in the hallway when she takes a long bath while burning multiple candles…
isnt also the lack of sunlight too during winter makes you depressed, less VITAMIN D more depression.
How old is stoßlüften? I know people that are always opening windows and telling their kids to go outside to “blow the stink off” and while they have german ancestry it would be from over a hundred years ago.
Neat, that was a fun read! I’ll have to try it!
I try to open my bedroom window as little as possible because the air outside is usually poor quality and I have an active air filter monitoring my room and removing crud from it. I LOVE living in a car centric city in a country who’s government has been partly captured by oil companies and dealerships at all levels.
I like to think the plants I have in my room help with the CO₂, but I don’t feel they make that much of a difference.
same here. you probably need alot of plants to make a difference, or larger ones. monstera, dracaena, rubber tree fig
Sadly my upstairs and downstairs neighbours are chain smokers. They close their windows and the balcony doors and I get all the (pot) smoke. Why does Germany have so many smokers?
As a foreigner living in Germany, I just knew this would be the main response. Germans LOVE to air out rooms
This foreigner made a video out of their experience
(I was looking for a different one I thought they made, but this is where I ended up.)
Dies ist der einzigste Weg.
This is the only way
Wenn schon, dann auch the onliest way.
Oh wise German Airbender, what do I do if I live in a small apartment with no windows across from each other to create a cross draft? My windows in are in two rooms on the same side of the apartment. Save me from ventilation sin!
For real tho if you have any ideas I love fresh air and would love to hear them!
Northern part of a Nordic country: never during winter; never closed during summer, unless raining.
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.
I use linux
Maybe you could get a dehumidifyer, measure the humidity first to figure out if it’s necessary
I live in a forested countryside in the Northern Midwest. Leaving the windows open invites in bugs and other small critters. Even with screens on the windows, insects crawl through the cracks, and I’ve definitely had several field mice chew their way through screens. I also have rabbits and possums who tend to nest up against the foundation of my house, and if a lower window is left open for prolonged periods, I sometimes find babies nesting in the window frame.
If I open my windows, it’s for a limited time to get some fresh air moving through the house. I’ll turn on strategically placed fans in various rooms to encourage rapid airflow through the house so I can close the windows sooner.
I only open windows in the winter if I need to cool a room quickly. For instance, I’m renting my first floor to a friend and I live on the second floor. But I only have one HVAC unit and thermostat for the entire house. The first floor always stays a few degrees cooler than the second floor (heat rises), so I keep it a little extra hot upstairs to ensure I’m not freezing out my friend. But I’m always hot in general, so I’ll either have fans on me all winter, or I’ll occasionally shut myself in a bedroom and open the window for 15-20 minutes, just to lower my body temp a bit and help me tolerate the hot house.
There have been a few winter nights where my wife and I have left the bedroom window open to cool down our bedroom, while burying ourselves in thick blankets. We don’t sleep well if we’re sweaty and stuck to the bed. I usually get up a few hours later and close the window, so we don’t freeze overnight.
I live on the Chesapeake Bay, so during the late spring into late Fall, I open my windows pretty much daily on the weekends and whenever I am home during the week.
Spring into early summer and autumn. In the summer, I may open them early on, but it’s best not to let the crazy humidity in.
I hate Windows
Joke:
“How did the Russian dissident survive the assassination attempt?”
“He went to an Apple Store”
(Sorry if this joke is dumb lol)
I’m sorry, I don’t get it. I feel dumb lol.
Russian dissidents often “mysteriously” “fall out of a window” and its commonly speculated that the FSB shoved them out of the window.
The joke is that an “Apple Store” wouldn’t have any “Windows” because they only have Macs so the FSB couldn’t shove them out of a window.
(yes I know they have VX and Polonium, but then that ruins the joke)
Ohhhhhhh. I should have gotten that. That’s pretty funny. Thank you! Unfortunately for Mr. Putin I am a Linux user.
Only close them if it’s raining
Our place is ventilated well enough that I don’t need to open the windows for ventilation or to manage humidity per se, but I am fortunate enough to live in an area with good quality air, so I often do in spring/summer/fall just because it feels fresher.
In winter, I don’t want to freeze or waste energy, so I usually keep them closed. But once in a while, if I have my computer running for a long time and the heat is also on for the rest of our place, I may crack the window a bit just to keep that room from becoming unbearably hot.
