Heating the outdoors (unintentionally)

[peakbagger]

A reminder that's its time to switch to winter mode.

In recent weeks the temps have been dropping and the temps in my second floor have been lower than normal. If its sunny out, once the sun comes in the windows, things return to normal in an hour or two and if not sunny I use a small electric heater. The outside temps were 30 deg F this AM and the office was decidedly cool. While waiting for the computer to boot I took a quick walk around and found the culprit. I have a whole house fan which is about 30 x30, it has louvers on it but it vents out into my cold attic. When I had energy upgrades done a few years ago they installed a short box on the outlet and dropped in 4" of Isoboard foam with a couple of removable cross straps to keep it in place. The foam is removed for summer use and was off until I went up after the discovery and reinstalled it. Within a half hour the second floor started heating up.

Boy if all heating issues with so simple!

 

[begreen]

Yes, I will need to close off the crawlspace vents in a couple weeks. Getting to be that time of year.

 

[mustash29]

LOL, same deal here.

I have a 30x30 attic access hatch in the master BR walk in closet. Switching between the insulation cover and the whole house fan gets tiring at times. Fan for decent weather, insulation package for bad heat / humidity (when A/C is on) & cold temps.

My fan is a simple 3 speed 20" box fan mounted to a 30x30 piece of 1/4" plywood, wired to the attic light socket, bulb removed, light switch replaced with a 12 hr countdown timer. Works awesome.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Pulled the last 6k btu window ac out tonight. I'd rather have the solar gain from the window and ventilation from the screen. I haven't used it much this year.

 

[begreen]

We dozens of people a year heating outdoors unintentionally through their uninsulated basement walls.