Heat loss is frustrating when you are trying to warm up your house as the chilly St. Louis winter sets in. Typically, you might assume that an improperly sealed window or a poorly framed door is the culprit. However, you may need to consider that another potential source of heat loss in your home can be your exhaust fans.
Exhaust fans are a necessary part of your home’s ventilation system. They remove unwanted airborne particles and moisture from the room and send them outside into the air. The exhaust duct should only operate as a one-way traffic route for these particles. However, our cold St. Louis winter weather may find itself able to stealthily creep in the wrong way, causing heat loss.
The Importance of Exhaust Fans
As mentioned, your home’s exhaust fans serve important purposes. In kitchens, they are the mechanism that helps rid the room of smoke, oil, and particularly strong odors. Your kitchen exhaust also has the duty of carrying the steam from your pots of boiling water away, which is vital to protecting the walls and ceiling near your stove from moisture damage. If you are cooking on a gas range, your kitchen exhaust also helps draw away the fumes from lighting the stove. Additionally, a helpful hint for the summer is that your exhaust fan can draw hot air out, letting your air conditioner run with a bit less constraint.
In the bathroom, the exhaust fan serves as a prime function for mold and mildew prevention. Its main job is to remove the warm, moist air from the room after a hot shower or bath, thereby making it harder for mold or mildew to thrive and protecting your walls from moisture damage. It can even allow you to get out of the shower to a clearer mirror, void of an abundance of fog, if the fan is properly sized for the bathroom.
Preventing Heat Loss by Your Home’s Exhaust Fans
Though more modern exhaust fans are being created with technology that features timers or heaters to limit heat loss, many homes still have regular fans. However, it is possible to keep that undesirable stale or humid air out of your home, and minimize heat loss without purchasing an expensive fan.
Here are some of the steps you can take to prevent heat loss:
- Insulate exhaust pipes that go through the attic from a second story or top floor to prevent heat loss
- Ensure your exhaust fans have a backdraft damper installed at the location of the exhaust duct’s exit either on an exterior wall or the roof
- Regularly check dampers for broken pieces and flaps, especially after a serious storm
- If you notice a particular cold spot near an exhaust fan despite a lack of damaged parts, you may wish to consider installing a higher quality system
Concerned About Exhaust Fans Contributing to Heat Loss in Your Home?
At Galmiche & Sons Heating & Cooling, we want to help you make your home as comfortable as possible and your system as efficient as possible, with minimal heat loss. Please contact our St. Louis heating & air conditioning experts online or by phone at (314) 993-1110 to learn more about heat loss in your home and what steps you can take to make your heating and cooling system more energy efficient.
