Maximize Your Chimney to Save
Your wallet will invariably seem like it could use a little extra padding following the end of the holiday shopping season and the beginning of tax season. Some folks clip coupons or limit the number of times they eat out. There are a lot of individuals who don’t give much thought to what they could modify around their houses or how much money they could save by doing so. The first things to do in order to improve one’s energy efficiency are to do routine maintenance and cleanings.
What are some of the ways that a home’s energy might be wasted?
Your chimney may be wasting a significant amount of energy, even if you are unaware of the problem. The chimney of a fireplace that burns wood is where virtually all of the heat escapes, which is unfortunate. Additionally, an open fireplace draws air in from the surrounding environment. One technique to reduce energy waste is to ensure that the draft in your chimney is operating as efficiently as possible.
Additionally, your electric cost might be driven up by the use of your clothes dryer. According to the findings of certain studies, they account for around five percent of the total annual energy use in a house. An older dryer will use a little bit more electricity than a newer model, but there are no dryers that are specifically designed to be energy efficient.
In order to reduce the amount of energy used, what modifications may be made to the units?
There are a number of modifications that may be done to your fireplace and chimney in order to enhance the amount of usable energy. When elements aren’t functioning properly, heat is wasted, therefore it’s important to make sure you perform regular sweeps and inspections to ensure that everything is operating as it should. The expert may suggest that you have a flue sealer installed in your chimney. This is a removable stopper that is installed in the chimney to prevent air from escaping. They are not costly and are straightforward to set up. Before installing the sealant, your chimney should be cleaned to ensure you get the most out of it.
If you want to get the most use out of your dryer, get the vents cleaned once a year at the very least. The most crucial reason for doing this is to put out any fires that could start. However, when there is less to clog the vent, dryers are able to perform more efficiently, allowing them to dry clothing in fewer cycles and in a shorter amount of time.
In order to ensure that you get the most out of your fireplace and chimney this winter, here are a few pointers to keep in mind:
Unless there is already a fire in the fireplace, the damper should remain closed. It is easy to forget to shut the damper once the fire has been out, but doing so might result in drafts and a loss of heat throughout the rest of the home if it is left open. However, you should exercise caution because it may also be simple to forget to open it before starting a fire.
Install doors made of tempered glass and a heat-air exchange system that recycles warm air into the space it was taken from.
Check the seals that are located around the flue damper in your fireplace; if the seals are not secure, you may be allowing heat to escape from your home through the chimney.
Put some insulation in your chimney. Your fireplace’s effectiveness may suffer if the exhaust is allowed to escape down the chimney, since this can lead to the accumulation of creosote. Liners allow your chimney to function at its highest possible efficiency and protect the brickwork from the corrosive consequences of the flue gases.
Your chimney should have a thorough inspection once a year, preferably before it gets too cold, by a qualified specialist who has been certified by the Chimney Safety Institute of America. A qualified chimney inspector will be able to provide you with guidance to assist you in ensuring that all of the components of your fireplace and chimney are operating in an effective and secure manner.
Last but not least, and this may appear to be something that goes without saying, but if you don’t use your fireplace, you should consult an expert and have the chimney flue blocked and sealed.
In support of knowing these essential information, it is for the best that you also have a company you can count on to help you with Chimney Cleaning Friant and repairing like Local Chimney Sweep Cleaning.
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