Money Saving Tips to Cut Heating Costs

Ready for winter?  Like it or not it's the time of year homeowners should be making sure their homes are buttoned up for another winter heating season. With this in mind the focus on this post will be on how reducing air-leakage and heat loss can help you make your home more comfortable and less expensive to heat with as little as a few bucks worth of caulk and some added insulation.

 

Pathways of air infiltration and leakage



In general, air-leakage is a common performance problem that can be attributed to as much as 20% to 30% of a typical home's heating cost and, the culprit often behind many other winter related problems such as cold drafty rooms, frozen pipes, and ice dams. Fortunately, air leaks are one of the easiest forms of heat loss to correct and when compared to other energy efficient  improvements  offers the highest return on investment in energy savings.

Where to start? The first step in any successful plan to cut heating costs begins by conducting a thorough inspection of your home for air leaks and deficient or damaged insulation. For this we recommend hiring a profession consultant, but if you're handy around the house and know what to look for you can do a pretty good yourself.

Where to look? In most cases, the air leaks that typically have the greatest impact on energy bills are found in basements and crawlspaces, around window and door frames, and hidden under the insulation inside your wall, floor and ceiling cavities. A good rule of thumb is to start off by sealing air leaks in your attic and basement or crawlspace first, then move to the exterior walls to seal the smaller leaks that can be found around electrical outlets, plumbing fixtures, ventilation ducts, and alongside window and door frames - wherever air might infiltrate or escape. Listed below are some common performance problems to be on the look out for that can significantly increase your heating and cooling costs.



Air Washing

Attic insulation: Measure the thickness of attic insulation and lift areas that appear darkened or dirty to look for air leaks. For the Hudson Valley region the DOE currently recommends R-49, which is approximately 16.5" of insulation.

Common air leaks: Lift attic insulation to identify and seal holes commonly found around wiring chases, vent pipes, and other penetrations found in the attic floor with a fire proof caulking.

Soffits: Make sure rafter vents are properly installed to provide a channel for outside air to flow from the soffits into the attic without compromising the insulation. Air movement through insulation (air washing) can reduce the rated R-value of insulation by as much as 50% - clearly visible by the cooler purplish areas in the thermal image above of a typical ceiling that wasn't properly vented.

 Attics access: If not already,weather-strip the edges of access hole and insulate the back side of hatch panel with 2" foam board .

Air-leakage from cold basement

Basements: The two most costly sources of heat loss in basements are cold masonry walls and, air leaks from sill plates and band joists into the wall cavities of conditioned living space - illustrated by the cooler dark blue and purplish areas in the thermal image on the left of wall cavity air leakage and compromised insulation. To mitigate these condition we suggest sealing up all penetrations between the basement and living space above with a fire proof caulking, using spray foam to air seal and insulate your sill plates and band joists, and insulating either the basement ceiling or foundation walls depending upon how the area is to be utilized or if there is any history of moisture issues.

In short, substantial amounts of heat energy is wasted when cold outside air is allowed to infiltrate your home through leaky window and door frames, in attics where roof rafters meet exteriors walls, along the top of foundation walls, and from numerous other cracks and openings that can be found in a typical building envelope from penetrations and normal aging. The good news is by initiating a simple, low cost air sealing campaign you can greatly improve the comfort and energy efficiency of your home with little more than a few bucks worth of caulking and some time well spent.

For more information about these energy saving tips or on thermal imaging you can contact Infrared Diagnostics at http://www.infrareddiagnostics.com/