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?
Whenever it’s vomfy
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 runna huge flan to circulate air around.
My building is on an old chiller system, so my AC is off ~5 months out of the year. My windows are open the entire time, and I usually have fans set up too to try and keep things cool.
When my AC is on, absolutely never. It is hot here like 7 months out of the year.
I rarely ever open windows unless someone asks me to. I get a lot of complaints during the summer of how hot it is indoors, but I adore the heat.
I adore the heat
Satan is that you?
I’ve been called a great many things over the millenia and that is one yes
A lot less than I want and need to. My social anxiety is ridiculous with small stuff like this, just opening the windows easily gives me anxiety because I hear people outside. It sucks but I often manage to do it for a while before I have visitors, just so the air fresher.
German here: yes. 24/7
LÜFTEN
Austrian here: STOSSLÜFTEN!
Paris here, we sleep usually windows (slightly) open, yes even now in winter
Windows open just a bit in winter is wonderful. Such good sleep!
Spain, in winter at least 15 minutes in the morning after waking up and 15 minutes in the evening. In Summer I try not to open the windows during the day only at night because I will be naked alive otherwise
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.
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.
I find that I need to open them 2-3 times a day.
I open them when humidity goes above 60% in my room, and keep it open until it reaches under 50.
This usually means opening them 2-3 times daily.
Otherwise I get the same suffocating feeling.
This definitely varies by region.
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.
Daily, all year roun,for a short time.
Let me introduce you to Stoßlüften.
Stoßlüften!!
(aside from rooms having ac, those don’t need it)
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.)
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.
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… 🫠
isnt also the lack of sunlight too during winter makes you depressed, less VITAMIN D more depression.
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…
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?
Neat, that was a fun read! I’ll have to try it!
Dies ist der einzigste Weg.
This is the only way
Wenn schon, dann auch the onliest way.
Only when it’s cold. Windows are open most of the year.
Rarely, I just have my AC on to make it hot or cold and the solar panels make it almost free.
Window open means bugs get in, and they tend to like lights like my computer screen and I’m sick of cleaning bug goo off the screen.
Window open means bugs get in
No window screens? 🤔
I thought that was the standard for every window… never even saw a window without the window screen thing
