Air leaks waste tons of energy. When trying to make your home comfortable, the more untreated air that is leaking into your home from outside, the longer your HVAC system has to run to make you comfortable. Therefore, air sealing is essential. Go through your house, find any and all places where there are leaks, and seal them up. So how do you do it? It depends on the leak. Here are several types of sealants and the situations they’re used for.
- Caulking. Made from a variety of materials, including acrylic latex and silicone, caulking is used for sealing seams and joints. They make caulking that’s heat-resistant, ideal for flue vents and furnaces, and caulking that’s waterproof, making it perfect for bathtubs and sinks.
- Spray foam. Used for air sealing larger holes or gaps in your home, you fill the leak with foam, and the foam expands to fill the leak completely.
- Weatherstripping. Particularly helpful in winter, weatherstripping is used around doors and windows to keep air from getting in through the gaps.
- Metal tape. Metal tape is often used to seal up small, pinhole leaks in ductwork to keep treated air from getting out before it reaches your home.
There are several ways of locating leaks in your home. If you want to do it yourself, you can wait for a windy day and take a candle around to all the places where leaks are commonly found: doors and windows, electrical outlets, baseboards, etc. Hold the candle next to each: if the smoke is horizontal, then air is leaking in.
You can also hire a professional to perform a blower door test. A giant fan is placed over your front door, which sucks the air out of your home, lowering the pressure. Then your HVAC technician can go through and find leaks more easily. Whatever method you use, if you find and seal the leaks in your home, you’ll be more comfortable and save energy throughout the year.
To learn more about air sealing your home, contact us at Mowery Heating, Cooling, and Plumbing. We’re the trusted source for high-quality HVAC solutions in the Indianapolis area.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Brownsburg, Indiana and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).
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