Your home’s HVAC systems can have an impact on indoor radon levels, though not a significant one. Both heating and air conditioning may cause radon levels to fluctuate but if you’re considering this as an alternative to proper radon mitigation, know that it won’t yield noticeable results. However, you also don’t need to worry about AC and heating significantly increasing radon levels; they won’t.

Radon levels naturally fluctuate with the seasons in Minnesota, and your heating and air conditioning can play a role in this. You may notice a rise in radon levels during winter, but your heater isn’t truly to blame. During winter, homes are more tightly sealed up, which can trap more radon gas inside. Warm air rising also creates something known as the “stack effect”: a slight vacuum in the lower levels of your home, which can pull more radon up from the soil. Your heating system may contribute to the stack effect but it isn’t the cause.

AC systems can have mixed effects on radon levels in Twin Cities homes. On the one hand, air conditioning circulates air and may slightly dilute radon concentrations. On the other hand, keeping windows closed and running AC can allow radon to accumulate unless there’s a mitigation system actively removing it.

The bottom line is that heating and air conditioning may have a slight impact on radon levels but they are neither a solution to a radon problem nor something that will substantially worsen the issue. As long as you have a radon mitigation system installed in your Twin Cities home, you should be able to run your HVAC systems normally without worrying about radon levels.Connect with One Day Radon today if you’re interested in our high-quality radon mitigation system installation services in the Twin Cities metro area!