Air Infiltration and Unwanted Outside Air Migration
Reducing the amount of air that is freely moving into or out of your home is a vital step in lowering your heating and cooling energy costs. There are a few quick and painless ways to seal unnecessary leaks.
Seal cracks around windows, door openings, pipe and electrical penetrations.
Caulking - By selecting a good grade outdoor silicon caulk, you could inspect all around the perimeter of your home and seal cracks around windows, door openings, pipe and electrical penetrations. The frames of windows on the second floor and attic should also be sealed. Whether you do it yourself or hire a professional, your savings could be substantial.
For windows or doors that don't seal well when they close, weather stripping could be used, but this often makes the item difficult to fully close and is then sometimes left open. To resolve bad fitting window and door seals, open the door or window and place a good bead of caulk along the unmovable wall area that the door or window hits when it closes, then place plastic wrap over the caulk and close the window or door. Wait at least two hours (24 hours is best) and then open the door or window and pull off the plastic wrap. You now have a perfect seal!
Awareness - Certain items in your home require air to be exhausted in order to work properly, such as bathroom exhaust vents, cooking vents, dryer vents, fireplaces and coal, oil or gas furnaces and water heaters. Depending upon how cold it is outside, you could change a few habits to help reduce the amount of air that must be pulled into the house, only to be forced out through your chimney.
On extremely cold days or most winter nights, don't run your drier unless absolutely necessary. Choosing to run the drier during the day could make a difference of pulling in 32 degree air verses pulling in 8 degree air. The 8 degree air will take 4 times the amount of energy to re-heat. As an extra seal against outside air infiltration, install a clothes dryer vent seal which ensures the dryer vent cap is closed when the dryer is not in use.
If you have a fireplace, consider installing outdoor fresh air intakes close to the firebox if they are not already present. Be sure to close these vents tightly when not in use.
Cooking vents above the stove should only be used in the winter if you have smoke issues and not just steam issues. Actually, the steam could help to humidify your home to some degree and indirectly help increase the efficiency of your heating system.
Your fossil fuel furnace, oil, gas, coal requires fresh air to operate. The best alternative is to replace the furnace with a non-fossil fuel source...we'll discuss this later, but short of that, consider installing a fresh air intake near the furnace that operates automatically when the furnace turns on. This helps to localize the air coming in to the immediate furnace area in the basement or garage and helps to eliminate drafts and prevent much of your heated air from being sucked out of the house.
This Window and Door Caulking Kit help you to quickly order just the right collection of products necessary to weatherize your window and door cracks in your home for winter.
A Clothes Dryer Vent Seal reduces unwanted air infiltration, and keep out pests, bees and rodents as well. The vent will remain closed unless the dryer is in use.
Seals out drafts, eliminates energy loss and prevents pest infiltration. Will not overexpand like polyurethane foam and is the best choice for sealing around windows and doors during installation.
