Tacking this winter’s energy costs

Monday, October 13th, 2008

With the economy as lousy as it is these days, the cost of heating our homes for the winter is on the forefront on a lot of people’s minds.  I touched upon locking in heating oil rates in an earlier post, but now I am getting into energy savings that you may not of heard of in regular publications.

Everyone is encouraging you to buy weather stripping to put around your doors, fluorescent light bulbs instead of the incandescent varieties, caulking around windows, insulating everything, etc.  Personally, I find the repetition of suggestions a bit exhausting.  And honestly, I know it is useful, but I hate weatherstripping.  It eventually falls apart after a couple of years and I am lousy at sticking it on straight.  So then sometimes I have to buy more because it doesn’t stick properly.

When it comes to energy efficiency, though, it’s important to be aware of some of the less-discussed “phantom air leaks” around your house. 

One of the best websites I have found with the most helpful staff is http://www.batticdoor.com/.  They have a whole selection of insulating and energy efficient products at reasonable prices for areas that you wouldn’t think of as problematic, such as attic stairs, clothes dryer vents, attic & whole house fans, and fireplaces. And many of their items are easy to install even for novice handy-ladies.

A big energy loss can be your fireplace and chimney, if you have them.  We also have a wood-burning stove left by the prior owners that is not ducted correctly; thus, we are afraid to use it.  We are finally getting around to installing a chimney cap to discourage the local wildlife, limit heat loss in the winter, and protect the opening from rain and snow. 

However, we also found out that the damper at the base of the chimney isn’t really doing its job at all.  Okay, so we kind of knew this because sometimes we’d hear raindrops in the fireplace.  But we figured the damper was stopping most of the problem. 

Turns out, not so much.  Playing detective revealed that not only were some raindrops coming down the chimney, a good amount of hot air from the house was going out during the winter.  And, from the top of the chimney, you can see the light coming from the room below! That damper is definitely not doing its job–and that $3.75/gallon heating oil is sure keeping the roof warm.

 Thus, we are going to install a chase cover in addition to the chimney cover.  You can get chase covers with or without holes (with a hole if you plan to use your chimney) so that we can add a layer of protection to the lousy damper.  Some good sites to try for both chimney caps and chase covers are http://www.chimneydepotsupply.com/ and http://www.fireplace-chimneystore.com. 

 So I am off to dealing with weatherstripping…which hopefully Nicolas won’t decide to chew on first!

Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.

Tags: energy efficiency, heating, weatherstripping
Posted in Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time | No Comments »