As a homeowner, keeping your property in peak condition is an essential but challenging part of your life. It can be easy to misinterpret or misuse common features of your home. A failure to appreciate what these features do can make it harder for you to get the most out of your investment. Take, for example, trickle air vents for windows. These are common yet often misunderstood features.
Vents for windows are found in almost every modern property in the UK. However, if you do not know what they are, you might never use them, thereby missing out on the benefits they provide. To help you appreciate the value of trickle air vents for windows, we asked Lock & Key Bradford – a specialist in locksmithing and window security – what these vents offer. What did we learn?
Read on for a beginner-friendly guide to window trickle vents so you can make the most of them.
Trickle Vents: Commonly Installed, Often Misunderstood
If you don’t know whether you have trickle air vents for windows in your home, take a look above your windows and doors. Do you happen to see a small vent-like structure? It’s often made of plastic or a plastic-like material. At the moment, it might look like a small closed-over object.
If they are closed over, pull the switch and open them up. Can you now see (or already see) a small vent? These are your trickle-air vents for the windows. These trickle vents help bring in slow, steady airflow into the room. By slowly removing the air in the room and replacing it with fresh air from outside, trickle vents for windows help to keep the rooms of your home well-populated with new air.
Cool, fresh air from outside is what every room needs. Yet, if we open our windows – especially in the bitter UK winter – you can find the room temperature plummets. By leaving windows open with vents, you can gradually draw in fresh air from outside, helping keep your rooms dry and fresh. It can also help with other issues, such as condensation.
Now, many homeowners in the UK have never engaged with their trickle vents. They did not realise what these little vents for windows did, and perhaps worried it would lead to needless heat and energy loss. However, they are the opposite: they help refresh the room’s air supply without sucking out enough heat, and heated air costs energy to create, leaving the room feeling cold.
These are often one of the most underutilised and misunderstood appliances in a UK household. If you have never opened your trickle air vents for windows, now is the time to change that!
What New Users Should Know About Trickle Vents For Windows
We hope that you can appreciate what trickle air vents for windows are and what they provide. Let’s take a look at some other crucial details that were relayed to us by Lock & Key. This should help you to get even more out of your trickle vents for windows.
Your Trickle Vents Are At The Top Of Your Window
Unless you have a very unique window design, your trickle air vents will be at the top. Simply look out for the feature we touched on above.
Trickle Vents Should Open & Close Easily
Most trickle vents are operated by pulling back a little guard that exposes the vents and lets them go to work. They do not need any power to operate. Simply open the vent by unshielding it.
Trickle Vents Require Some Cleaning
Maintenance for trickle vents is minimal, but check them every few months to spot signs of dirt buildup. Give them a quick clean down, and you should get full performance again.
Vents For Windows Keep Your Rooms Free From Stale Air
The first benefit of having trickle vents for windows is their ability to combat stale air. Do you ever walk into a room and find that it smells a little ‘off’ – as if the air needed replacing?
That’s common, especially in airtight homes and especially in rooms that already have little ventilation. Your cupboards and walk-in wardrobes can be affected by this problem. So, too, can smaller bedrooms – particularly teenagers’ bedrooms. The air can begin to smell a little stale, so you’ll need to open the window or set up an extractor fan to get rid of the stale smell.
Or, you could open your trickle air vents for windows. These allow for slow but steady removal of that stale air, replacing it with fresh, odourless air from outside. It’s the best way to get rid of stale air smells without resorting to more drastic measures.
Trickle Vents For Windows Can Prevent Humidity Build-Up & Condensation
Another benefit of these small but significant window vents is their ability to keep rooms dry. Wet, humid air is common, especially in bathrooms and kitchens. Drying rooms can also be impacted by humid air. If left to fester, humid air can turn to dampness, especially around windows and other areas.
That’s a serious problem, because dampness eventually forms into mould. Mould impacts the quality of our air and can even lead to respiratory illnesses. You want to avoid these problems, of course. However, especially in winter, it can be too cold to keep your windows open for too long or too wide. That allows the dampness and humidity to linger, though, leading to the issues mentioned.
By opening your trickle air vents for windows, you can quickly address that problem. This lets you expel that humid, damp air and replace it with cool, fresh air that leaves rooms dry and limits the ability for condensation and dampness to form.
Make The Most Of Your Trickle Vents For Windows
Now you can appreciate their value and function. Make sure you open all your trickle vents for windows. Leave them open year-round, too; they are supposed to stay open to allow steady airflow and ventilation.
If your window vents are not working or appear to be ineffective, you could replace or upgrade them. If you do not already have vents for windows fitted, contact a professional in your area and have them installed ASAP – they are one of the most effective ways to keep your home dry and fresh!