Why Is My House So Cold?
Brrrrrr! It’s not just cold right now—it’s Chicago cold. The Midwestern breeze can slice through the best parka or wool socks, and it can certainly break into your home. But how, exactly, does all that cold air get inside? Why is it that your house always seems cold, even when you’re cranking up the heat? In this blog, the Chicago HVAC professionals at Aircor will take a look at steps you can take to keep your house warm. Spoiler alert: you’re probably overlooking at least two thirds of these steps. Take care of these tasks, and your home will become warmer instantly, which will increase your level of comfort and lower your energy bill to boot!
Step 1 - Check Your Windows & Doors
If your home was built before 1990, it probably doesn’t have any sort of energy efficient windows or doors—and that could be a big reason why your home is seemingly cold all the time. Doors and windows with poor seals can let cold air in and warm air out, which makes your crank up your heater, and in turn, your energy bill—you’ll need to seal up these areas in order to keep all that hard-earned warm air you paid for inside of your home. While a complete window replacement would be the most effective option, replacing the seals on the bottoms of your windows and using thermal curtains will help slow down the rate at which cold air enters your home, and it’ll make sure you don’t have to turn up your heat quite as high when things cool off in the evenings. Be sure to realign your doors and replace their weatherstirpping as well—a drafty door is the most common culprit for air leakage in the home.
Step 2 - Close Your Fireplace Damper
Your fireplace damper opens and shuts to direct the flow of air from the inside to the outside—so when you leave it all the way open when you don’t have a fire in your firebox, all of the warm air in your home is literally being pulled up and out of your chimney. Easy solution here: go ahead and shut that damper all the way—but don’t forget to open it back up whenever you’re about to make a fire. Otherwise, you’ll be in for a smoky surprise.
Step 3 - Change Up Your Ceiling Fans
What if we told you that you could change the direction of your ceiling fans? Would you believe us? You should—changing the direction of your fans has a direct effect on how heat is dispersed throughout your home. Turn your fans clockwise, and you’ll push your warm air straight up toward the ceiling—not ideal when you’re trying get warm in your bed. But turn that bad boy to counterclockwise, and the blades will push your hot air down exactly where you want it. Mmmm… warm. So how do you achieve the magical feat of switching the direction of your ceiling fans? It’s easier than you think: just take a look at the middle of your fan, find the tiny switch, and flip it between clockwise and counterclockwise. Easy AND breezy.
Step 4 - Install a Whole House Humidifier
Your home should rest at around 40-45 percent humidity during the winter—but oftentimes, your heating system can suck the moisture out of your indoor air, which can actually make cold temperatures feel even colder. To solve this problem, place humidifiers throughout your home, or even better, have a whole house humidifier installed to make sure your home is perfectly humid in every room.
That’s it for Part 1 of our series on why your house is so cold. Stay tuned for Part 2, and check out our other blog posts in the meantime!