# How often to open the doors and windows for oxygen replenishment? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579 "2014-10-17T13:25:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IMfez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@IMfez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMfez)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/1 "2014-10-17T13:25:04Z")
Right now I live in a climate with extreme humidity (Bangkok, Thailand). Closing the windows and doors helps keep out the sticky/moist air and raise the comfort level, but I’m concerned that I might be depriving my brain of oxygen especially during my night hours. The room is fairly small, I would guess about 180 square feet. Is running low on oxygen a real concern if I close all the windows and doors for say 16 hours? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/2 "2014-10-17T13:30:43Z")
How tight do your doors and windows seal? ---
**Author:** ![IMfez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@IMfez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMfez)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/3 "2014-10-17T13:49:21Z")
I’m not sure how to quantify it to be honest. I think they are about standard for a house ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/4 "2014-10-17T13:50:54Z")
About 40 cubic meters of volume for the room,[11 cubic meters of air per day/person](http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/respiratory/question98.htm), I’d say no, you won’t suffocate. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/5 "2014-10-17T13:54:46Z")
Houses aren’t air tight, so no, you won’t have a problem. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/6 "2014-10-17T14:12:38Z")
If you’re in doubt, put a potted plant in there to convert your outgassed carbon dioxide back into oxygen. Or, learn to live in a hot climate with a ceiling fan. My wife and I lived in a room smaller than that in Indonesia, with no AC, we never closed the doors or windows. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/7 "2014-10-17T15:39:19Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > If you’re in doubt, put a potted plant in there to convert your outgassed carbon dioxide back into oxygen. Or, learn to live in a hot climate with a ceiling fan. My wife and I lived in a room smaller than that in Indonesia, with no AC, we never closed the doors or windows. A potted plant is [not going](http://io9.com/5955071/how-many-plants-would-you-need-to-generate-oxygen-for-yourself-in-an-airlock) to cut it. Your house is not airtight. I have never heard of anyone suffocating because they didn’t open up windows or doors (unless they were in South Korea and a fan was involved, of course) ---
**Author:** ![IMfez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@IMfez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMfez)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/8 "2014-10-17T15:56:46Z")
I don’t think this has to be a binary discussion around suffocating or not suffocating. Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me can comment on air quality and whether it goes down if the windows aren’t open. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/9 "2014-10-17T16:09:38Z")
No no no! No fans! Haven’t you heard of Fan Death? [Fan death - Wikipedia](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/10 "2014-10-17T16:35:56Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > No no no! No fans! Haven’t you heard of Fan Death? [Fan death - Wikipedia](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death) Which wiki article includes a reference to a SD column. Go Cecil! ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/11 "2014-10-17T16:43:51Z")
> [@IMfez](#): > > Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me can comment on air quality and whether it goes down if the windows aren’t open. The room is not sealed, so air from outside will enter the room and replace oxygen used up by your breathing. It may be down slightly but will soon establish a stable level. Define air quality? There will be sufficient oxygen for you to breath. It may start smelling a bit rank over time. ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/12 "2014-10-17T17:13:28Z")
I’m afraid “air quality” is completely subjective, but I think knowing the actual numbers helps better understand what’s involved. NASA, figures their astronauts need 0.84 kg/day of oxygen to perform their duties. The air in your room is .3 kg/m3 so you you only need about 3 cubic meters worth of air to supply your oxygen needs. It looks like your room is probably something like 40 m3 of air, so you’re well above NASA standards for oxygen. I would think most other issues of “air quality” would be self apparent. For example, the feeling of suffocating is triggered by a build up of CO2, not from a lack of O2, so if the CO2 levels of the room were getting too high, you would feel it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/13 "2014-10-17T17:30:35Z")
The real issue is carbon dioxide not oxygen. You’ll suffer ill effects from too high a concentration of carbon dioxide in the air you’re breathing before you suffer any effects from too low a concentration of oxygen. So ventilation is more about decreasing excess carbon dioxide rather than increasing oxygen. This [post](https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/how-long-can-one-live-in-a-sealed-room.685796/) shows the rate at which carbon dioxide builds up. Their bottom line is you’d die in about twelve days in a 4800 cubic foot sealed room. This [post](http://io9.com/5861679/how-long-would-you-survive-in-an-airlock) uses a smaller 1000 cubic foot sealed room and says you’d have about twelve hours. But it’s worth noting that both of these posts are assuming the room is sealed. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/14 "2014-10-17T20:44:17Z")
What the hell is “[en.m.wikipedia.org](http://en.m.wikipedia.org)”? Googling that expression yields no hits, and the pages linked above are not in standard Wikipedia format. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/15 "2014-10-17T20:54:10Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > What the hell is “[en.m.wikipedia.org](http://en.m.wikipedia.org)”? Googling that expression yields no hits, and the pages linked above are not in standard Wikipedia format. Mobile format for tablets and phones. Regular: [Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Main_Page&mobileaction=toggle_view_desktop) Mobile: [Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/16 "2014-10-17T21:27:43Z")
Get a canary. They are friendly and pretty birds. When the canary falls over, you should open a window. > **[What Does It Mean to Be a "Canary in a Coal Mine"?](https://www.aboutmechanics.com/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-canary-in-a-coal-mine.htm)** > > To be a canary in a coal mine is to serve as a warning to others. The term got its start when miners actually used canaries to... ---
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/17 "2014-10-17T22:19:26Z")
If closing the doors and windows makes it less sticky inside, then you must have air conditioning, which will either suck out air or blow in air, so there’s nothing to worry about. However, I have often felt that in classrooms the oxygen gets depleted and it’s hard to concentrate. (Air condition was/is rare here.) It would be interesting to test carbon dioxide and oxygen levels in various rooms over time. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/18 "2014-10-18T00:24:20Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Which wiki article includes a reference to a SD column. Go Cecil! Is linking to a Wiki article that quotes a Cecil column circular reasoning? ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/19 "2014-10-18T02:17:52Z")
> [@iljitsch](#): > > If closing the doors and windows makes it less sticky inside, then you must have air conditioning, which will either suck out air or blow in air, so there’s nothing to worry about. > > However, I have often felt that in classrooms the oxygen gets depleted and it’s hard to concentrate. (Air condition was/is rare here.) It would be interesting to test carbon dioxide and oxygen levels in various rooms over time. Home A/C recirculates the air inside the room, the piping going to the compressor outside is for the heat exchanging fluid that soaks up heat from the air inside and dumps it outside, there’s no air exchange. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579/20 "2014-10-18T12:53:29Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > Is linking to a Wiki article that quotes a Cecil column circular reasoning? Not yet. Because we don’t have a link from Cecil’s column to this thread. Right now we only have semi-circular reasoning. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-to-open-the-doors-and-windows-for-oxygen-replenishment/701579.md?page=2)