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As summer rolls into autumn it’s that time of year once again when homeowners begin to prepare for colder weather and winter storms. Cleaning gutters, checking seals on doors and windows and generally ‘battening down the hatches’ in preparation for rain and wind, or snow, ice and wind are all part of the annual ritual of keeping a home in good repair.
Ensuring a home is properly insulated and protected from the winter cold is a major part of that job for many. Often the single largest expense after the mortgage, particularly in northern regions, heating costs can be dramatically reduced with proper insulation, weatherization and preparation.
According to a U.S. Department of Energy publication,
“Reducing air leakage by air sealing, properly insulating your home, and replacing or improving your heating system are the three major ways of reducing your heating bills…
Newer homes generally are better insulated than older, unimproved homes because building energy codes have been getting progressively stricter over the years. If you have an older home, you probably know that you need to better insulate your home. Do you know, however, that unless you are one of the lucky few whose home was constructed with special attention to energy efficiency, adding insulation to “new” or “newer” homes will probably reduce your utility bills?”
So clearly, no matter the age of a home, checking for leaks and gaps in insulation can offer real cost savings. An easy way to begin the search is to look for drafty or generally colder than normal areas in the home.
A non-contact infrared surface thermometer can make it easy to identify cold spots in exterior walls and around window and door frames where insulation, flashing or other barrier materials may need replacement or be missing.
The instrument measures surface temperatures of walls, floors, doors and windows using infrared sensor technology. Temperature readings appear on the digital display. Using a scanning feature, it is easy to see where temperatures fluctuate across any interior surface in the home. Sudden dips or drops in temperature across the inside of an exterior wall may indicate an unsealed vent, missing insulation or a break in a vapor barrier.
“The ennoLogic eT650D infrared thermometer has become very popular among homeowners for trouble-shooting the location of such areas where heat loss occurs,” according to Chris Johnston, spokesman for the small family owned company out of Eugene, Oregon, which sells the devices.
“We’ve been hearing from a lot of customers about their success with our eT650D dual laser infrared thermometer in this application,” says Johnston. “Homeowners have reported that by finding these problem areas and increasing insulation values in walls, under floors and above ceilings, they are dramatically reducing heat loss and improving cost efficiency of winter heating.”
Supporting studs and framing, electrical outlet and switch boxes, around and under windows and doors are the areas where heat loss can most effectively be prevented. Making repairs in these spaces reduces heating costs significantly, according to national weatherization experts.
“We think the temperature gun is popular because it is so easy to use and makes identifying these problem areas very simple to do. The homeowner can just aim and press the trigger to get laser pointer guided visual accuracy and instant surface temperature readings anywhere in the home. This makes is a fairly simple operation to locate and map out the areas of greatest heat loss in a home.” stated Johnston.
The ennoLogic infrared thermometer has generated a number of five star customer reviews from customers on Amazon.com for its performance in detecting cold spots for homeowners, according to Johnston, who states that the instrument is available at Amazon.com and on the ennoLogic brand web site.
Weatherizing a home pays off all year long in reduced heating and cooling expenses, and there’s no question the weather has provided homeowners with plenty of inspiration to improve weatherization on their homes in recent years.
About ennoLogic
EnnoLogic is a brand of high-quality electronics products with a focus on measurement and test instruments. The brand’s goal is to offer reliable, accurate, high-quality technology products at affordable prices.
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