Even With a Mild Winter, Heat Loss Should Be Minimized

Even though Corpus Christi winters are generally short and mild, whatever you can do to prevent heat loss from occurring in your home during the cold weather will also benefit you during the summer months. Heat energy naturally seeks a cooler environment, which means warm air produced by your furnace will attempt to escape your living area through any leaks around:

• Doors and windows
• Electrical outlets and switches
• Plumbing chases and TV cable/computer wall or ceiling penetrations
• Foundations
• Areas where walls meet with other walls, floors or the foundation

These are only a few of the many areas where you may be experiencing air leaks in your home. The nice thing about fixing these problems by installing appropriate weather-stripping or caulk to seal the gaps that promote leaking is that your home will not only stay warmer in winter but also cooler in summer. Places where heat escapes during cold weather are also places where heat comes in during air conditioning season. Stopping ongoing heat loss will not only significantly improve your indoor air comfort level but also reduce the year-round load on your HVAC equipment.

There’s also heat loss attributable to areas besides just the outside envelop of your home. Heat loss from your water heater, for example, may be responsible for as much as 10-15 percent higher costs for heating your water. To prevent these higher energy costs, a thermal insulating blanket should be installed on your water heater and all exposed hot water pipes should be covered with proper insulating tape.

 Air ducts that deliver cooled air throughout your home may also have developed air leaks over time, meaning that hot or cold air your HVAC equipment is supposed to be providing throughout your living space may be going into attics, crawl-spaces, basements, or garages, wherever your leaky air ducts are located.

Mathews CCAC Air Conditioning, Inc. has been “Constantly Concerned About Customers” in the Corpus Christi area since 1979, engaged in all facets of indoor air comfort and quality sales, installation and service. Contact us for more information on heat loss or any other air comfort/quality topics.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Corpus Christi, Texas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about heat loss and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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