Reduce Your Heating Bills This Winter -
Overlooked Sources of Heat Loss in the Home
by Mark D. Tyrol, P.E., www.batticdoor.com - September 2004
Imagine leaving a window open all winter long -- the heat loss, cold drafts and wasted energy! If your home has a folding attic stair, fireplace or clothes dryer, that may be just what is occurring in your home every day.
These often overlooked sources of heat loss and air leakage can cause heat to pour out and the cold outside air to rush in -- costing you higher heating bills.
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. Most homeowners are well aware of the benefits caulk and weatherstripping provide 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.
Attic Stairs
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, leaving only a thin, unsealed, sheet of plywood.
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.
Often a gap can be observed around the perimeter of the door. Try this
yourself: at night, turn on the attic light and shut the attic stairway
door -- do you see any light coming through? These are gaps add up to a large
opening where your heated/cooled air leaks out 24 hours a day. 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
Sixty-five percent, or approximately 100 million homes, in
Researchers have
studied this to determine the amount of heat loss through a fireplace, and the
results are amazing. One research study showed that an open damper on an unused
fireplace in a well-insulated house can raise overall heating-energy
consumption by 30 percent.
A recent study showed that for many consumers, their heating bills may be more
than $500 higher per winter 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 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.
An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a fireplace draftstopper. Available from Battic Door, a company known for their energy conservation products, a fireplace draftstopper is an inflatable pillow that seals the damper, eliminating any air leaks. The pillow is removed whenever the fireplace is used, then reinserted after.
Clothes Dryer Exhaust Ducts
In many homes, the room with the clothes dryer is the coldest room in the
house. 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.
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.
An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a dryer vent seal. This
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 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