The Electrical Blog

How Insulation and Air Sealing Boosts Your Commercial Electrical Savings in Colorado Springs

Posted by James Rockhill on Fri, Sep 18, 2015

how-insulation-and-air-sealing-boosts-your-commercial-electrical-savings-in-colorado-springsIt's very easy for energy dollars to fly out of your business if you haven't insulated your building correctly. You can keep your windows and doors closed, adjust your thermostat to the most efficient level, and even buy energy efficient appliances, but the greatest power loss you'll have is heating and air conditioning leaking through insulation cracks in the building. Beef up your R factor to keep in more of the air you've already heated or cooled, and you'll see a big difference in your monthly power bill.

How Insulation Saves Money

Your HVAC system heats or cools the air inside your building, depending on the season, to a comfortable level for a workplace. Every time the air temperature inside rises or lowers, the system will go on until the air temperature has been stabilized again. The better your insulation and air sealing in the building, the longer your air will stay the same temperature. If you've got cold air leaking in around your windows or heat baking the upper floors of the building, your system will have to work that much harder to get the air inside back to a comfortable lever. And every time it has to do that, it costs you more money.

How to Find Air Sealing Leaks

Temperature changes can occur any time the weather outside is extreme, but windy days are the worst. Fortunately, they're the best days for finding out exactly where the leaks are happening in your building. Light a stick of smoky incense and walk around inside the building. Hold the stick near the edges of your windows, around the doorjamb, near the ceiling, and near any spot where wiring or ductwork comes through the wall from the outside. Every place that has an air leak will make the delicate smoke from the incense stick waver or blow around. Each of these spots is a place where you need to add insulation or improve your air sealing methods.

Most Common Air Leak Spots

Air leaks happen most often when two materials are joined on an outside wall. When windows are installed, doors are put into place, or ducts are fitted, a tiny amount of space might be left where air can transfer from the outdoors inside. Some of the most common are: 

  • Doors and windows that need caulking and weather-stripping on the outside edges
  • Breaks in walls where ducts or electric wiring have gone through
  • Around electrical outlets and switch plates
  • Single pane windows
  • Exhaust fans 

For most leaks, simple weather-stripping or foam sealant will do the job. Check with your electrical contractor for more elaborate jobs.

If you've got a working fireplace, you may be leaking a large amount of air through a damaged flue. Fireplaces are already great consumers of electrical power, because they're impossible to seal airtight, but damage to the flue pipe can mean even more heat or air conditioning lost through the roof. 

 New Call-to-action

Topics: commercial electrical contractors, energy savings, insulation values