The HVAC system in your St. Louis home is designed to maintain a comfortable interior temperature any time of year. Unfortunately, there may be situations where this task becomes rather difficult. For example, it may need to cool your home on an unbearably hot day, or it may need to provide heating when the weather outside is bitingly cold. While there is not that much that can be done in those types of situations, there are things that a home owner can do, so that the HVAC system does not have to work extra hard.
This includes taking special car to detect air leaks in your home and plug them. It is important to detect air leaks because these allow exterior air to penetrate into your home, as well as allowing the cooled or warmed air inside your home to escape. This diminishes the effect of what your HVAC system is doing, and over time, this will lead to higher utility bills and more quickly wear out your air conditioners and furnaces.
Detect Air Leaks Yourself
There are some steps that you can take to detect and seal air leaks on your own, without needing special equipment or tools.
For example, you can attempt to detect air leaks visually. This entails looking over the various places in your home where gaps or cracks may form allowing air to escape or intrude. Pay close attention to windows, doors, chimneys, exhaust fans, vents, and other areas that are typically subjected to weatherproofing or caulking. Also, check for gaps around any air conditioning units.
Once you have identified problem areas, you can address them by sealing air leaks with caulk or weatherproofing materials. Generally, caulk is used to close gaps in places that do not move. For those areas where there is usually movement, such as windows and doors, weatherproofing is the way to go.
Unfortunately, it may be difficult to visually detect air leaks, if the gaps or cracks involved are quite small. There are other methods that can be tried in these situations, which are still DIY-friendly. At night, use a bright flashlight to illuminate interior walls and surfaces, while a friend or family member stays outside. If there is a gap, the person outside may be able to see the light shining through it.
For an even more sensitive way to detect air leaks, you can perform a DIY pressure test. The basic idea here is that you will attempt to reduce the pressure inside your home, relative to the air pressure outside. This will cause outside air to make its way into your home more forcefully, making this moving air easier to detect.
To detect air leaks like this, try to do it on day where the temperature is relatively cool. If the wind outside is blowing hard, that would be even better. Shut down any heaters or furnaces that rely on combustion. Then, try to make your home as airtight as possible by shutting exterior windows, doors, vents and the like. Once that is done, turn on all the fans in your home that force air into the outside, such as fans in your bathrooms or in your kitchen. This is what will reduce the pressure in your home. Then, take a lit stick of incense and position it in places where gaps may exist. The smoke will make it easier to see if there is any air moving in or out in those areas and detect any air leaks.
Detect Air Leaks with a Blower Door Test
While it is possible to detect air leaks using DIY methods, nothing beats the sensitivity and accuracy of an actual blower door test. Here, professionals will come in and install special equipment on an external doorway of your St. Louis home. The equipment seals most of the doorway, while also containing a strong fan that efficiently sucks air from inside the house, moving it outside. The blower door also comes with devices for accurately measuring differences in pressure between the inside and outside of the home. Using this equipment, the professionals will be able to quickly and efficiently determine whether air is escaping or intruding into your home.
Learn More About How to Detect Air Leaks
If you would like to learn more about how to detect air leaks in your St. Louis home, get in touch with us at Galmiche & Sons in St. Louis by phone at 314-993-1110. Our staff would be happy to answer your questions about detecting air leaks or heating & air conditioning in general.
