what is the best way to insulate a room thats losing its cool air through the windows
This time of year all many of us can recall nearly is keeping cool. But escaping the searing oestrus that blankets entire swathes of the country comes at a cost. In my 130 year sometime Victorian, summertime utility bills are stratospheric. But where does a person turn for help making decisions nearly cooling off when it seems like everyone has something to sell? Roofs, windows, air conditioning systems, insulation — companies making and selling these products all accept their claims near cooling and energy savings. And how do you separate fact from myth when it comes to adages near keeping a home cool and keeping a lid on the utility bill?
Fortunately a couple of experts weighed in for NBC Amend with some tips for how you tin can keep absurd and carry on this summer. Lauren Urbanek is a senior programme advocate, Center for Energy Efficiency Standards, Climate & Make clean Energy Programme at the Natural Resource Defense force Council. And Robert Daguillard is a spokesperson for the U.South. Environmental Protection Agency. They helped the states intermission down some cooling essentials.
Start with your windows
It sounds bones, Urbanek said, but "if dominicus comes in through your windows information technology's going to brand your house warm. Using things like window coverings to their full advantage in the heart of the day [can] keep your business firm cooler by keeping that sunlight from coming in, particularly if you lot are gone during day, and in rooms that face westward or due south."
Everyone else'southward grandma do that back before air conditioning was ubiquitous? She knew what was what.
So what's best for window covering? Looking for a product similar a thermal curtain that's designed for that purpose is generally a pretty condom bet, Urbanek said. "The thought is to go along the low-cal and heat from coming through." That could fifty-fifty mean having a thicker curtain vs. something sheer. Of course there are besides thermal shades (nosotros use those on s and west facing windows and they make a dramatic deviation), actual blackout curtains, even interior shutters.
Yeah, you might be giving upward light and a view, only isn't information technology squeamish to be absurd?
Hot air is probable coming in from everywhere
If you were to add up all the picayune cracks and places in your house where warm air gets in, the average house would have a hole the size of a basketball game, Urbanek said. "If you had a basketball sized hole in your wall you'd take care of it right away." What people often don't know, she said, is how many places you can take hot air coming in: call up around windows, door frames, and crawl spaces, even effectually recessed lights.
If you were to add upwardly all the little cracks and places in your house where warm air gets in, the boilerplate house would have a hole the size of a basketball.
A great resource for finding all those footling culprits, she said, is your local utility visitor. Many can provide a home energy audit and some even offer rebates if you lot take their advice. "You lot become a professional to do some diagnostic testing and they will give you a list, generally with information well-nigh what makes the most sense to invest in," she said. (Don't await; I called mine weeks ago and the soonest they could come is mid-August.)
Insulation is key year-circular
All those cute photos you can find on Pinterest of glorious exposed rafters still, insulation is a must, Urbankek said. She lives in a century-old firm herself, and although "it's non something fun to spend money on — even as somebody who knew this was the right thing," calculation insulation to the walls and attic was one of her first priorities. "It's not equally fun as new countertop just it volition save you money and make yous more comfortable in your house."
How exactly does insulation work? "The way thermodynamics piece of work is heat flows from a hotter place to a cooler place," Urbanek explained. "Non having insulation means rut is seeping into your house and your air conditioner is having to work a lot harder."
Or, to use the words of the insulation contractor who came to our firm to take thermal images, "heat is screaming in through your ceiling."
When and how to run your air conditioner
Information technology'south an historic period old debate: is it meliorate to leave your air running all day and so the house stays absurd and it doesn't have to work and so difficult to go dorsum downwards to a comfy temperature? Or should you gear up your thermostat a few degrees higher when you're not dwelling house?
Information technology's all about equilibrium, Urbanek said. "Heat is going to flow from a hotter environment to a cooler one. So in this example the heat will want to come from outside into your nice cool house. If you lot set your thermostat higher so information technology's warmer in mean solar day there's going to be less air flow. If it's 85 out and you set it to 65, the air conditioner has to work harder. At present if y'all gear up it to 78 during the solar day and ready it back [lower] when you lot become home information technology may accept to work a piffling harder and run longer ... just at the same time it'due south not going to exist running all mean solar day."
This also speaks to importance of a programmable thermostat, she said. "That allows you to set your temperatures and forget almost information technology." This is some other surface area to check with your utility visitor to see if they have thermostat rebates, she said. Of course what's really prissy is a wifi thermostat you can control with your phone so you can cool your house earlier you lot go dorsum home.
The same rule of pollex applies with window unit air conditioners, Urbanek said. Turn them off or to a higher temperature while you're gone. I've learned that the difficult way when letting a cooling system run too hard for too long (a new mini dissever in my third floor in a typical Kentucky summer) fried the fan motor. (Aye, I'g getting new insulation.)
How to shop for an A/C unit
What if yous accept a window unit that can't go on upward? "You may not have a correctly-sized unit for your room," said Daguillard. Tempted to go big? "An oversized air conditioner is actually less effective — and wastes energy at the same time. Air conditioners remove both estrus and humidity from the air. If the unit of measurement is too big, it will cool the room rapidly, but only remove some of the humidity. This leaves the room with a damp, clammy feeling."
And of class look for an Energy STAR certified air conditioner. They utilize 10% less free energy, and on average, cost $seventy per year to run, Daguillard said. Then be sure the unit of measurement is installed correctly. "An improperly installed room air conditioner leaks every bit much air as a 6 square inch hole, increasing energy costs and making your home less comfortable," he said.
A better mode to beat out the oestrus
One of the simplest solutions of all, Urbanek said, is to focus more than on what the air feels similar than the actual temperature. "If you have ceiling fans make sure you're using them — and the right way, making sure the direction is set correctly. Every bit you're standing under information technology looking up, it should exist running counterclockwise … information technology pulls cooler air from ground and blows it back on y'all." Just the air from the fan "on your skin can make a room experience ten degrees cooler," she said. And no need to run it if the room is empty, she added. "It does cipher but utilise free energy."
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Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/better/business/how-keep-your-house-cool-without-running-your-utility-bill-ncna887321
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