Common Air Leaks In Your Home That Waste Your Money

Posted on: November 21, 2017
Heating Sorrento Valley systems and air sealing

Heating Sorrento Valley systems and air sealing The majority of your monthly energy expenditure goes to warm or cool your home. Prepare for the winter by determining whether your house has air leaks, so that you can have them sealed. This issue may sound minor, but consider the following: would you leave a trap door open 24 hours a day? How about a small window? No? Well, it’s possible that all the leaks in your house combined amount to an opening of those dimensions. What a chilly thought. If you are getting surprisingly high utility bills, it may not be your heating Sorrento Valley system that is failing you. The culprit may be the invisible air leaks around you.

Where to look for air leaks?

Cold and windy weather makes air leaks most noticeable. We usually say that a house is drafty, but what that actually means is that there are many air leaks in it, allowing warm air to escape, and cold air to enter the house. Even though it’s easiest to feel air leaks around windows and doors, the most significant air leaks are usually in the attic and basement.

In general, troublesome areas are places where two building materials meet and wherever there are visible cracks and gaps. Here are the specific areas that Energy Star and other expert sources warn about:

  • In the attic: kneewalls, the hatch
  • Open soffit (where recessed lights are)
  • Basement rim joists
  • Dryer vent
  • Crawl space
  • Plumbing vent stack
  • Flue and fireplace dampers
  • Duct chaseway (or wall chase)
  • Duct registers
  • Window and door frames
  • Wiring holes
  • Electrical outlets and switch plates

What can you do about it?

By plugging air leaks around your home, you could bring your monthly energy costs by 30%. Here are some ideas:

  • Caulk and weatherstrip doors and windows
  • Caulk holes where wiring, plumbing or ducting goes through walls, floors and ceiling.
  • Use foam gaskets for outlets and switch plates.
  • Use expanding foam to seal larger gaps around windows, doors and baseboards.
  • Cover kitchen exhaust fan when it’s not in use.
  • Add pliable sealing gaskets to door frames.
  • Use sheet metal, sheetrock or fireplace cement caulk to seal gaps around chimneys and fireplaces.

Action AC, Heating & Solar offers duct sealing services to the home and business owners in San Diego metro area. With our emergency service available 24/7, we always have your back.

When your heating Sorrento Valley system is the problem

If you suspect that the reason why your heating bills are much higher lie with your heating system rather than air leaks, give us a call! Action AC will diagnose the problem and suggest solutions, based on decades of experience and leading marketing presence. For all your heating Sorrento Valley needs (and elsewhere in San Diego), Action AC is your go-to HVAC contractor.