Is your heating system on, but your home is still chilly? Are you turning the heat up higher than usual? If you’ve experienced this, your home could be losing heat. When your home loses heat, it causes your heating system to work harder than it should. This article will tell you how to easily detect heat loss in a house.
Don’t let yourself pay for heat that continues to escape. Learn how to detect heat loss in a house so you can take action and fix them.
High heating bill
Is your heating bill much higher than average? If so, this could be a sign your heat is escaping. It could be escaping through your roof or cracks in the doors or windows. Feel around your home for a cold draft and stop the culprit.
Cold draft
If you get cold sitting next to windows in your home or feeling cold air, you lose your warm air. Your warm air is going out the window, allowing cold air to enter. You can fix windows and doors by applying new weather stripping. Consider installing storm windows or applying a plastic covering to your windows. Using a draft stopper or door sweep at the bottom of your door will keep warm and cold air in.
Air movement from turned-off registers
A leaky duct can be responsible for cold drafts entering your home from your register. The leaky duct will pull your warm air out and bring cold air into your home. A leaky duct can be fixed by being resealed.
Cold spots
Have you noticed that certain spots in your home are colder than others? Cold air is entering through a gap in your home somewhere. The gap can be located by a simple eye and feel test. Look for cracks in the space where the wall is connected to the floor outside your home. Exterior cracks can be fixed with caulking. Electrical outlets can also be the source. To stop the cold draft from entering through your electrical outlets, install a foam panel (which acts as installation) underneath your outlet cover.
Ice damming or icicles
If your home has a lot of icicles hanging off of your roof or gutters, this is a sign that your heat is escaping through your roof. Heat rises and slips through any crack to cooler air. The escaped heat heats the roof, causing the snow on top to melt. The melted snow gathers and cools in gutters, and the bottom edge of the roof or roof eves and turns into ice. This means your attic might need to be properly insulated. The proper insulation will keep your heat from escaping.
The Department of Energy says that only about 20% of homes built before 1980 have the right insulation.
If you find none of these problems applies to your home, the problem could be your heating system. If you detect heat loss in a house but can’t figure out where the air is escaping, it’s time to call in a pro. A licensed technician who is also an accredited thermographer can bring his thermal imaging camera to help you figure out exactly where you’re losing heat in the house.
