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A must have if
hiring a contractor!
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Reduce Your Heating Bills
This Winter - Overlooked Sources of Heat Loss in the Home
By Mark D. Tyrol, P.E.,
Batticdoor
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Imagine leaving a window open all winter long – the heat loss, cold drafts,
and wasted energy! Well if your home has a folding attic stair, a fireplace,
and/or a clothes dryer, that may be just what is occurring in your home!
These often overlooked sources of heat loss and air leakage can cause your heat
pour out and the cold outside air pour in – costing you higher heating bills,
causing cold drafts, and wasting energy.
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Air leaks are the largest source of heating and cooling loss in the home. Air
leaks occur through the small cracks around doors, windows, pipes, etc. We apply
caulk and weather-stripping to these areas to minimize heat loss and cold
drafts.
But what can you do about the three largest “holes” in your home – the folding
attic stair, the fireplace, and the clothes dryer? Here are some tips and
techniques that can easily, quickly and inexpensively seal and insulate these
holes.
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Attic Stairs:
Do you have a folding attic stairway in your house? When attic stairs are
installed, a large hole (approximately 10 square feet!) is created in your
ceiling. The ceiling and insulation that were there have to be removed. And what
is installed to cover this opening? A thin, unsealed, un-insulated sheet of
plywood!
Did you know that your attic space is ventilated directly to the outdoors? In
the winter, the attic space can be very cold, and in the summer it can be very
hot. And what is separating your conditioned house from your unconditioned
attic? That thin sheet of plywood!
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Often a gap can be observed around the perimeter of the door. Try this yourself:
at night when it is dark, turn on the attic light and shut the attic stairway
door - do you see any light coming through? These are gaps - which add up to a
large opening where your heated/cooled air leaks out 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week, 52 weeks a year! This is like leaving a window open all year round!
An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add an attic stair cover. An
attic stair cover provides an air seal, reducing the air leaks. Add the desired
amount of insulation over the cover to restore the insulation removed from the
ceiling.
Fireplaces:
Approximately 100 million homes in North America are constructed with wood or
gas burning fireplaces. Unfortunately there are negative side effects that the
fireplace brings to a home especially during the winter home-heating season.
Fireplaces are energy losers!
Researchers have studied this to determine the amount of heat loss through a
fireplace, and the results are amazing! One remarkable research study showed
that an open damper on an unused fireplace in a well-insulated house can raise
overall heating energy consumption by 30%!
A recent study showed that for many consumers, their heating bills may be more
than $500 higher per winter just due to the air leakage and wasted energy caused
by fireplaces!
Why Does a Home With a Fireplace Have Higher Heating Bills? Hot air rises! Your
heated air leaks out any exit it can find, and when your warm heated air is
drawn out of your home, cold outside air is drawn in to make up for it. The
fireplace is like a giant straw - sucking the heated air from your house. This
is like leaving a window open all year round!
An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a fireplace draftstopper. A
fireplace draftstopper is an inflatable pillow that seals the damper,
eliminating any air leaks. The pillow removed whenever the fireplace is used,
then reinserted after.
Clothes Dryer Exhaust Ducts:
Have you ever noticed that the room containing your clothes dryer is the coldest
room in your house? Ever wonder why? Your clothes dryer is connected to an
exhaust duct that is open to the outdoors. In the winter, cold air leaks in
through the duct, through your dryer and into your house, while your heated air
just pours right out!
Dryer vents use a sheet metal flapper to try to reduce this air leakage. This is
very primitive technology that does not provide a positive seal to stop the air
leakage. Compounding the problem is that over time, lint clogs the flapper valve
causing it to stay open. This is like leaving a window open all year round!
An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a dryer vent seal! A dryer
vent seal will reduce unwanted air infiltration, and keep out pests, bees and
rodents as well. The vent will remain closed unless the dryer is in use. When
the dryer is in use, a floating shuttle rises to allow warm air, lint, and
moisture to escape.
If your home has a folding attic stair, a fireplace, and/or a clothes dryer, you
can easily, quickly and inexpensively seal and insulate these holes. At Battic
Door, we have developed low-cost, green solutions to these and other
energy-conservation related issues. For more information please visit our
website www.batticdoor.com or send a S.A.S.E. to P.O. Box 15, Mansfield, MA
02048.
Tankless instantaneous water heaters save money and are more energy efficient than tank type water heaters. Click here to find out more.
About the Author : We manufacture and distribute low-cost, high-value, air-leakage control
energy conservation products for the three largest intentional openings in the
house - the fireplace, the pull-down attic stair, and the clothes dryer exhaust
duct.
Our customers are homeowners, weatherization firms and programs, municipals,
utilities and contractors. We also sell our product at a wholesale discount to
distributors.
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