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Reduce Your Heating Bills This Winter:
Overlooked Sources of Heat Loss In The Home
by Mark D. Tyrol, P.E.
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, leading to 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, 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
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
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 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
65% or 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
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
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 solutions to these and other energy-conservation related
issues. For more information please visit our website
send a self-addressed stamped envelope to
Battic Door Attic Stair Covers
P.O. Box 15
Mansfield, MA 02048
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