Heat Loss in Boilers

The truth is that boilers would not have this problem is radiators were installed in the center of every room in the home. But, this would not only be inconvenient for furniture placement but also horribly unattractive. No matter which type of radiator you have in your home, vertical, horizontal, baseboards, ect…, odds are it is smashed up against a wall in the corner of each of the rooms in your home. This is where the problem comes in.

The radiator uses convection to distribute heat throughout the rooms in your home. When the hot water generated by the boiler enters the radiator, the air surrounding the radiator is warmed. As the air gets hotter, it rises and forces cooler air down towards to radiator. Over a short amount of time, the entire room is warmed through this passive form of air circulation. When the radiator heats up, both sides emit heat into the room. The side of the radiator that is facing the wall distributes most of its heat into the wall. If that wall has poor insulation and is an exterior wall, you could have a problem on your hands.

As that radiator heats the wall behind it, the heat is being released into the outdoors instead of being circulated through the room. Unless you have put up a reflective panel, you could be losing large amounts of heat every time the radiator heats up. When heat is lost, the boiler has to run for longer periods of time in order to get the temperature in the home to the desired level. When you waste energy running the boiler for longer than necessary, you waste money.

Do-it-Yourself Reflective Panels

If your home is over 20 years old, the insulation is probably minimal. When you have the funds to do so, you should consider re-insulating the walls and attic. Nevertheless, not everyone has that kind of money on hand especially in this tough economy, so we need a quick, cheap fix. Reflective panels are that cheap fix. When a reflective surface is placed behind the radiator, the heat that is generated by that side of the radiator will be reflected back into the room instead of through the wall. Tin foil is the most basic way to achieve this, but it is not as efficient or attractive as some of the other methods that are out there.

We recommend using either rigid foam insulation with a reflective coating or foil faced bubble wrap. Both can be cut down to size and fit snugly behind nearly any type of radiator. The benefit of these types over tin foil is that they have insulating qualities to absorb the heat that they reflect so that it isn’t lost to the wall that the panel is attached to. The implementation of either of these methods could save you 10% or more on your energy bills and increase the overall comfort of the rooms of your home. So, head out to your local hardware store, grab a measuring tape and some scissors, and start saving.

The Leaking Faucet

Leaks in faucets can vary in intensity from a slight drip to a steady stream. The longer you allow a leak to exist, the worse it will get, and the more water you will waste. Even if your faucet drip doesn’t seem that serious, you would be surprised by how much water you are actually loosing. For example, a faucet that leaks 60 drops per minute wastes 150 gallons of water a month! That’s a lot of water and that’s only if your faucet leaks one drop a second. What if you have a faster leak, or multiple faucets with this problem? You could be paying extra every month for a problem that is easily solved. This problem can be taken care of by simply repairing or replacing the faucet. If the faucet is old, your best bet would be to replace it. Nowadays they offer low-flow faucets that can be installed on sinks and shower heads. They help you conserve water and eliminate leaks.

The Toilet

The biggest problem with toilet leaks is that you could have one and not even know about it! Toilet leaks can waste around 300 gallons of water a day if they are not taken care of swiftly. Most leaks are caused by the flush valve system. When this system doesn’t work properly water leaks into the bowl and is wasted. In order to find out if you have this type of leak:

• Place food coloring in the tank and stir it around to disperse the color evenly
• Wait 15 to 20 minutes
• Check the toilet bowl
• If the water in the bowl is colored, you have a leak and now it need to be repaired

There is another type of toilet leak that can often be noticed. Does your toilet sound like there is water constantly running through it? If so, you may have a “running toilet.” This type of toilet leak can waste up to 2 gallons of water a minute!

The Impact

If you have a toilet leak, you might as well start flushing your hard earned money down to toilet with all of the water that you are wasting. A severe toilet leak could be costing you upwards from $500 more every year on your water bills. That’s roughly an extra $40 dollars a month. Put that money back in your wallet and have your toilet or faucet repaired or replaced as soon as possible.

Many people might like to think that water is a resource that will never run out. However, they are wrong. Think of the amount of energy that is spent daily at water treatment plants to clean the water that enters our homes. If everyone replaced their leaky faucets and toilets with low- flow and low- flush options, we could save tens of thousands of gallons of water. When you save water you save energy, and you save the Earth. Take the time to check out the faucets and toilets in your home, and do your part to stop any leaks that may be present in your home today.

the scartown of r22

your current cooling system most likely uses r22, a type of refrigerant that is no longer produced, and is therefore much more expensive than the new r410a refrigerant that is used in newer energy efficient cooling systems. the only r22 left out there is refrigerant that was produced seasons ago or has been reclaimed from ancient cooling systems. the cost of this refrigerant has doubled over the past season and the prices are only going to continue to rise.

a good reason to upgrade

one of the more frequent cooling system issues are leaks. leaks in the system allow refrigerant to leak out and if enough escapes, the system will not work properly. refilling an r22 system will cost you a pretty penny and investing that much cash in a system that will most likely only last a few more seasons is clearly a waste. invest that cash instead in a new cooling system. r410a is much cheaper to replace down the line, and the energy savings will make the investment well worth the trouble. make every penny count this summer and upgrade to a r410a cooling system.

what can a healthy climate system do?

• allergen removal: depending on the system you choose for your house, lennox healthy climate products can remove anywhere from 85-99.97% of the dust, mancient spores, pollen, and other allergens and pollutants that may be circulating in the air of your house.
• banish bioaerosols: some of these systems also attack organic bioaerosols like viruses and bacteria with up to 99.97% efficiency down to .01 micron in size.
• activated carbon: this option makes a great addition to many of the lennox healthy climate products and it is designed to assist your heating and cooling remove not only allergens but also odors. pets, cooking, and cigarettes all can leave lasting odors in the air, but an activated carbon filter could trap these smells leaving your house smelling fresh.
• energy efficiency: some houseowners install several portable systems all over the house in order to achieve the same results that are produced by just one lennox healthy climate whole house air cleaning system. the major issue with this is the quantity of energy you waste in the process. the energy cost of running several portable systems can add up, but luckily, you could upgrade to a lennox system from a professional. the majority of these systems use no power at all and simply allow the warmthing to circulate air through the filter. the systems that do use an additional power source are extremely energy efficient with the energy they do consume.

these systems can be incorporated into any make and model of warmthing or air handling system.  a a professional installation crew can install the system in just a couple of hours and by the end of the day you will be well on your way to allergy relief.