Having your HVAC system inspected on a regular basis is a great way to keep your Los Angeles-area home as efficient as possible. However, that efficiency can go to waste if your home is leaking air. Sealing your home’s air leaks will help cut down on energy losses, resulting in energy savings.
Finding air leaks
Finding the source of your home’s air leaks can be tough. They are often in hard-to-reach places, and are often hard to spot. Follow these tips in order to find your home’s air leaks.
- On a day that is relatively windy, turn off all of your fans and walk around your home with a lit incense stick. Be sure to walk by all of your doors, windows, outlets and any other spots that may have air leaks. The smoke from the incense should move horizontally towards any air leaks that you pass by.
- Look for dirty spots in your insulation, your ceiling and your carpet. These could be a result of air leaks.
- Consider having a professional energy audit that includes a blower door test to help pinpoint leakage that the average homeowner can’t find on their own.
Sealing your home’s air leaks
Once you have found air leaks in your home, you need to seal them. While sealing your home’s air leaks can be a do-it-yourself project, a professional service will be able to do a more thorough job.
Here is a list of common leaks and solutions:
- Any air leaks that you find in your windows, ducts, ceilings, floors or where your plumbing or electrical wiring comes through your walls should be sealed with caulking.
- Use fire-resistant materials such as furnace cement caulk, sheet metal or sheetrock to seal any air leaks that you find around your furnace, water heater or fireplace chimney.
- Improve the seal around windows and doors with weatherstripping.
- Use a low-expansion spray foam to seal any leaks that you find in your insulation, and use foam gaskets behind any outlets or switch plates located on your walls.
These are a few ways of finding and sealing your home’s air leaks. For professional help, contact Around the Clock Air Conditioning & Heating. We serve residents of the Los Angeles area.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Los Angeles, North Hollywood and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about air leaks and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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