What is Luften and Why Do Many Europeans Embrace It?
You might know the famous German airline “Lufthansa”. “Luft” is the German word for “air”, so “luften” could be translated “ventilation” or “airing out”.
Manually ventilating homes is an old German tradition, and from the comments on this video, other countries like Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Poland and Sweden do it too (in Sweden it is called “vädra”). Many homeowners in these countries open all the windows wide open first thing in the morning for 5-10 minutes, and then again later in the day. A small number of people do it hourly, and some people leave their windows partially open (on “kipp” all day or all night). I can appreciate this, as my mother and grandmother like to sleep with the windows open in their rooms!
This kind of ventilation is not done frequently in the US, and our homes and climates sometimes make it difficult to do. First of all, there are the windows. German window hinges are sophisticated in order to accommodate various ways of opening them. Tilting them inward allows the window to stay open without being a security hazard (except for cats. It was pointed out that leaving the windows on kipp (tilted open) is dangerous to cats, because they may try to jump out and get caught in the “V”.) This type of opening allows the windows to be open even during a light rain, because the rain hits the window and runs out, not in. American windows typically open up and down, sometimes from side to side, so most don’t have this option to leave them safely cracked. There are several methods: you can “querluft”
“Stoßlüften” (schtossluften) means “shock ventilation” by opening the windows wide in a room to let a rush of air completely change the room in a short period of time. “Querluften” is translated as cross-ventilation, when one opens windows across from each other to get good airflow, or all the windows in the home at one time. “Kipp” is leaving the window tilted open for a longer time or all day or all night.
German homes construction is generally more airtight than American homes, and mainly lacks central air conditioning. Without automatic ventilation, Germans take matters into their own hands and just let the fresh air in and “stale” air out. Many German rental agreements will warn tenants that if they do not “luften”, then they are responsible for mold that occurs because the apartment becomes too humid.
In the US, we aren’t programmed to luften… in fact most parents warn their children to “close the door behind you” and “keep the windows closed” because of central air conditioning or heating. However, this could be changing as more people are becoming cognizant of high CO2 in their office or homes (see our article here). Could luften actually help our health? It’s possible, especially during major disease epidemics or pandemics like COVID, because manually ventilating dilutes pollutants and germs in the air. “Luften” was part of the national acronym for preventing illness during COVID in Germany: AHACL (the “L” is for “luften”).
There’s no question that ventilation is super-important in your home in order to get VOCs, particulates and odors out and clean, fresh air in. If it’s not built with automatic ventilation, then by all means embrace luften as your way of “doing” ventilation. You may unwittingly start a new tradition in your household!
Photo by Diana Deaver on Unsplash
