Green homes
How many post start out which stove should I buy, or I just picked up x stove. The intent is the same, create heat and lessen the dependency demand for fossil fuel usage. Wood, pellet, and coal are part of freeing up our appetite for imported fuel. Equally important is addressing the ability of keeping in the heat we create. I see saving energy paying less to heat our homes two fold auxiliary heat source and insulating and draft stopping. What can the DIY home owner do.
Draft stopping:
# Notorious leakage at the sill plate and foundation contact.
# Windows sills: simple applications of self stick weather stripping on the windows sills.
#Weather stripping applied to exterior doors
# Every electrical receptacle located on an exterior wall should have a Styrofoam b draft stopper.
# It would not hurt to weather strip your cellar door or bulkhead door.
Additional Insulation.
The greatest heat loss occurs in your ceiling. Best bang for the $$$ is increasing your attic ceiling R- value up to R-30 or 38. Another area that should be insulated is your attic access.
The next areas to address are not usually handled by the weekend warriors
If residing your home it makes sense to either have blown wall cavity insulation or a insulating siding backer installed. Replacement windows work if the basic window casing and frame is in good condition. If not the entire window should be replaced. This is where a lot of money is spent. its not a cheap solution.
Some have had some success with plastic draft stopping window treatment. Finally many cellar ceiling cavities have no insulation at all. Insulating them prevent heat loss and keeps you floor warmer my suggestion is R-19
Oil burner:
If you haven’t already gotten it cleaned and tuned its time. There are a few enhancements that can save energy even with 25-year-old boilers. Many posters here have found out that the boiler fires off when not needed. This is the process of keeping the combustion chamber up to temp and heating the flue.
There is a way to hold heat in that chamber longer. By installing a motorized damper it closes after firing and prevents heat loss up the chimney. The way the oil is delivered to the combustion chamber can be altered with changing the nozzle head to a different spray pattern and angle. A flame retentioner can also aide to efficiency.
Delivery systems: so you have a new wood stove the burner does not cycle as often. This is good you are saving energy. Well maybe
not so good, you have reduced water circulation in your FHW heating system. All it takes is one small sliver of cold draft to begin the freezing process. My stoves worked so well at supplying heat, that I have had 4 freeze ups in my 30 years in this home. Finally feed up, I charged the system with glycol antifreeze. What about heat loss from those exposed pipes in your cellar or adding freeze prevention
Modern code requires them to be insulated to an R_5.0 or greater value. The pipe insulation, I’m talking about is not the cheapy ¼ -3/8” home depot type, but ¾” to 1” thick type R-5.0 or more.. Insulation should start at your first elbow above the boiler.
Hot water heaters: have you considered an additional insulation blanket? Holding heat in and preventing heat loss, aids to your overall hot water efficiency. Just like you hot water delivery piping, exposed pipes loose a lot of energy in transmission, These pipes should be insulated like you FHW pipes, R5.0 or greater
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How many post start out which stove should I buy, or I just picked up x stove. The intent is the same, create heat and lessen the dependency demand for fossil fuel usage. Wood, pellet, and coal are part of freeing up our appetite for imported fuel. Equally important is addressing the ability of keeping in the heat we create. I see saving energy paying less to heat our homes two fold auxiliary heat source and insulating and draft stopping. What can the DIY home owner do.
Draft stopping:
# Notorious leakage at the sill plate and foundation contact.
# Windows sills: simple applications of self stick weather stripping on the windows sills.
#Weather stripping applied to exterior doors
# Every electrical receptacle located on an exterior wall should have a Styrofoam b draft stopper.
# It would not hurt to weather strip your cellar door or bulkhead door.
Additional Insulation.
The greatest heat loss occurs in your ceiling. Best bang for the $$$ is increasing your attic ceiling R- value up to R-30 or 38. Another area that should be insulated is your attic access.
The next areas to address are not usually handled by the weekend warriors
If residing your home it makes sense to either have blown wall cavity insulation or a insulating siding backer installed. Replacement windows work if the basic window casing and frame is in good condition. If not the entire window should be replaced. This is where a lot of money is spent. its not a cheap solution.
Some have had some success with plastic draft stopping window treatment. Finally many cellar ceiling cavities have no insulation at all. Insulating them prevent heat loss and keeps you floor warmer my suggestion is R-19
Oil burner:
If you haven’t already gotten it cleaned and tuned its time. There are a few enhancements that can save energy even with 25-year-old boilers. Many posters here have found out that the boiler fires off when not needed. This is the process of keeping the combustion chamber up to temp and heating the flue.
There is a way to hold heat in that chamber longer. By installing a motorized damper it closes after firing and prevents heat loss up the chimney. The way the oil is delivered to the combustion chamber can be altered with changing the nozzle head to a different spray pattern and angle. A flame retentioner can also aide to efficiency.
Delivery systems: so you have a new wood stove the burner does not cycle as often. This is good you are saving energy. Well maybe
not so good, you have reduced water circulation in your FHW heating system. All it takes is one small sliver of cold draft to begin the freezing process. My stoves worked so well at supplying heat, that I have had 4 freeze ups in my 30 years in this home. Finally feed up, I charged the system with glycol antifreeze. What about heat loss from those exposed pipes in your cellar or adding freeze prevention
Modern code requires them to be insulated to an R_5.0 or greater value. The pipe insulation, I’m talking about is not the cheapy ¼ -3/8” home depot type, but ¾” to 1” thick type R-5.0 or more.. Insulation should start at your first elbow above the boiler.
Hot water heaters: have you considered an additional insulation blanket? Holding heat in and preventing heat loss, aids to your overall hot water efficiency. Just like you hot water delivery piping, exposed pipes loose a lot of energy in transmission, These pipes should be insulated like you FHW pipes, R5.0 or greater
continued
