Settle an argument between me and DH (bit boring!)

[SuzanneSays]

Sorry to bore you all but DH has demanded we settle this through mumsnet jury...we live abroad, it's about 22 degrees outside, not hot but not freezing however temp drops in the evening so we light a fire to keep it cosy.

Every morning I fling the doors and windows open to air the house as otherwise it gets stinky. DH then goes around closing them all saying why heat the house up every night just to cool it down in the morning.

Help-who is right? Do you even care??? Ha!

[Katedotness1963]

Open the windows! I open them year round as soon as the kids have gone to school. Everything is closed up and warm again when they get home.

[mamabambi21]

My mum used to air the house all the time when I was a teenager and I hated it but now I'm a mum I think its handy as the cold air helps wake you up! (didn't need to be woken up as a teenager so I stand by 15yo me)

[middlings]

OP, he regrets asking the MN jury now, doesn't he .

[CheesyNachos]

Another airer here.

[TondelayaDellaVentamiglia]

definitely air the house, he's talking NONSENSE!

[Nonnainglese]

Definitely an airer here; open windows every morning for half an hour at least.

[gleam]

Air, definitely.

[LeaLeander]

I air every day year-round. HIBU

[HaydeeofMonteCristo]

You are right.

[StarkyTheDirewolf]

I air the house in the morning, If DH is up I'll fling windows open whilst singing badly but boldly the hills are aliiiive with the sound of music.

My dad always aired the house, he says its to stop the air getting fousty and to kill the germs.

DH also likes to air the house (not sure what his reasons are, but the last time there was a thunderstorm he tried to open the front and back door, when questioned as to why there was a gale blowing in the kitchen "because then the lightening passes through the house and doesn't hit it"....apparently this is faultless logic. I shut that shit down quick smart!)

[hellsbellsmelons]

Now I live in a warm flat I open windows every morning and it's about 10 degrees here.
22 degrees!!??? Blimey, get that lovey warm air flowing through!

[TondelayaDellaVentamiglia]

starky ...it's only going to pass through if he has covered all the mirrors and done something to the cutlery.

I can't quite remember the cutlery thing....maybe it's not allowed to be on the table in a storm??

[DadDadDad]

An open fire will not deplete oxygen nor increase carbon dioxide, rather it creates airflow

I know a house is not airtight, Hirples, but is this right? By my simple chemistry where you are burning hydrocarbons with roughly two hydrogen atoms to every carbon atom, you are going to produce 1 carbon dioxide molecule for every 3 oxygen molecules you take out of the air (and produce 1 water molecule). So if you consume 300 oxygen molecules, you produce 100 carbon dioxide molecules, and the other 200 molecules will come from airflow. But that airflow will be made up roughly 160 nitrogen molecules, 40 oxygen molecules (other gases too small to worry about). So the net result is air around the fire with a small fraction of the oxygen it started with, and a large amount of CO2. I'm sure much of this will go up the chimney, but surely the overall effect is a reduction in oxygen and increase of CO2 in the room.

[StarkyTheDirewolf]

TondelayaDellaVentamiglia I can't tell him that, he will start thinking he's right again, and will hide the cuttlery. I love him to bits but this is the same man who thought a Terra cotta and a panna cotta were various species of tortoise.

[Chattymummyhere]

All houses need airing. Our bedroom and bathroom window are constantly open part way. I then open random windows in the house throughout the day to air each room.

[HirplesWithHaggis]

I'm far too long out of school to question your chemistry Dad, but simple logic tells me that if an open fire has a "small fraction of the oxygen it started out with, and a large amount of co2", said fire will go out.

Yes, it all goes up the lum, along with most of the heat, and fresh air (draughts at floor level) replaces it. I always laugh at the "romantic" scenes in front of a roaring fire when I know the reality is one side of you gets toasted while the other freezes...

[Jux]

Definitely air the house.

Your poor dh!

[SuzanneSays]

Somehow he is still insisting he is right! Arghhhhh

[DadDadDad]

hirples - er, the CO2 doesn't stay round the fire, it diffuses through the open space. But I know how you feel, it's 29 years since my chemistry O level, so maybe someone with more recent knowledge can sort us out!

[ragged]

How cold does it get at night? I wouldn't light the fire I suspect.

[AryaOfWinterfell]

A house needs to air or else it ends up all horrid smelling. I open all the windows upstairs whilst I'm getting dressed and then when I come down I open the kitchen window whilst I'm getting breakfast.
My ex was the same as your dh he thought I was mental and 'letting all the warm air out'