Want to stop wasting money on energy use in your home that you don’t benefit from? Sealing air leaks around your home will put a stop to this unnecessary energy loss. It’s a low-cost measure that will help you save for many years to come.
Here’s what happens when your home’s exterior leaks air:
During the summer, your air conditioner is hard at work producing cooled air. But air leaks give “nature” an easy access point for heat to move through. Warmer air will always move toward cooler air, so when your home is chilled, hot outside air makes its way into your home through the leaky points. As a result, the temperature inside your home will rise, causing your air conditioner to run longer cycles, consume more energy, and ultimately raise your utility bills.
The process works in reverse during the winter, but with the same effect. When it’s cold outside, the warmer air inside your home will leak out of cracks and gaps in the home, cooling down the space, and causing the same cycle of unnecessary energy consumption, forcing your furnace to work overtime to heat the air over and over again.
As you can see, air leaks are a serious concern. The good news is that it’s fairly easy for homeowners to rectify the situation. With some simple caulk and weatherstripping purchased from your local home-improvement store, you can identify leaks that commonly occur around windows and doors, openings made in the exterior for plumbing pipes, cables and wiring, basement rim joists, and more. Run a generous bead of caulk over the leaks, ensuring that the caulk gets deep into the crack. Weatherstripping should be applied around leak-prone doors and windows to create a tight seal and prevent air from moving through gaps.
Don’t let air leaks cause you to pay for heated and cooled air that doesn’t actually contribute to a comfortable home. For more information about energy efficiency and energy savings, contact Mowery Heating, Air Conditioning and Plumbing. We’ve been providing quality HVAC services to homeowners in the greater Indianapolis area for more than 40 years.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Brownsburg, Indiana and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
