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Reduce Your Heating Bills This Winter - Overlooked Sources of Heat Loss in the Home Home Repair Articles | November 10 Leonard Fournette Elite Jersey , 2004
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 ... andor a clothes dryer, that may be just what i


Imagine leaving a window open all winter long ? the heat loss, cold drafts Taven Bryan Elite Jersey , and wasted energy! Well if your home has a folding attic stair, a fireplace, andor 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.

Air leaks are the largest source of heating and cooling loss in the home. Air leaks occur through the small cracks around doors Jalen Ramsey Elite Jersey , windows, pipes, etc. We apply caulk and weatherstripping 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.


Attic Stairs:

Do you have a folding attic stairway in your house? When attic stairs are installed Telvin Smith Elite Jersey , 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!

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 heatedcooled air leaks out 24 hours a day Nick Foles Elite Jersey , 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 Gardner Minshew II Jersey , 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 Ryquell Armstead Jersey , 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 l