Crawlspace vents can cause Moisture Problems
Opening and closing the crawlspace vents and understanding moisture control is one of the most conufusing topics for homeowners. So, what should you do when you need information? Google it! Well I’ve done this I can see how it could get very confusing. There are too many opinions and some are too technical to understand. So we need some simplified tips.
Why is Precision Comfort Systems interested in this? As your Indianapolis area comfort specialists (serving all of Central Indiana) we are expected to control the humidity in our customer’s homes. You need a source that understands moisture science. Here are some important clarifications.
- First and most important… liquid water is different than water vapor. If any part of your home has liquid water problems, you need some help from experts in drainage, plumbing, pumping, water proofing and maybe all of the above. Fix all liquid problems first! Then you can read the rest of this post.
- Next, if you have air conditioning and if any part of your cooling system is in the crawlspace, you have even more reason to understand moisture. If you live in a humid summer climate, you cannot allow humid air to come in contact with your cooled surfaces. This will cause condensation and voila… now your have a liquid water problem.
- Here is the simplest way I know to help you understand and visualize what to do with your crawlspace: TREAT YOUR CRAWLSPACE AS A CONDITIONED BASEMENT. By “conditioned” I mean heated, cooled, dehumidified, insulated and closed off from the outside. Treat this area under your home just as you would treat an extravagant basement entertainment room in a luxury home. Would you open a window to this area on a hot summer day and expect to stay comfortable? No. The outside air is the source of moisture in the summer.
- A legitimate question is: “So why does my crawlspace have vents? I close them in winter and now you suggest I close them in the summer.” The answer is, crawlspace venting is a leftover design from a time with little air conditioning or perhaps a design borrowed from a drier climate. In fact, even in Central Indiana we do have a few summer days that could be considered drying days and then a little fresh air could benefit this area. But most summer days have enough moisture in the air that as soon as it passes into the cool crawlspace, the air temperature decreases, the moisture content is now closer to 100% saturation and much of the masonary and wood surfaces in your crawlspace are cool enough to condense the water vapor to liquid.
- And then you turn on the AC to help comfort your home and your problems increase by creating very cold AC system parts. After a few days of continuous condensation your basement may look and smell like
this…
I could go into more science on specific humidity, dew point, wet bulb temperature, etc., but the above is really all you need to know. Close and seal the vents in your crawlspace walls. Condition the crawlspace area as if it were a short little basement entertainment area. You may need to add a dehumidifier to help out the air conditioner. I will go into this topic in my next post. Check back soon.
Geothermal Home Show in Zionsville
Watch this video to learn more about the geothermal systems installed in the Homes of Distinction home show in Zionsville.
Honest furnace repair in Indianapolis area
If you are looking for honest furnace repair in the Indianapolis area during the Christmas holidays, you would think it should be as easy as reading the advertisements and calling any one of the many HVAC contractors who claim to be the most trustworthy, reliable, honest and overall best heating contractor in Central Indiana. It should be this easy to find honesty, especially during the holidays! But unfortunately, there are a few sales motivated individuals that cause false alarm and thus cast a bit of suspicion across the entire trade.
But first thing is first. If your furnace is not working properly, please have someone check it now. Think about it. What other appliance do you depend on for so much comfort and safety? It must work properly. So if it’s broke, get it fixed!
Now, assuming you have someone in your home for furnace repair, you may be surprised when they say the furnace needs to be replaced. This diagnosis changes a furnace repair bill of a few hundred dollars to a furnace replacement of several thousand dollars. This is not an uncommon occurrence. But are they telling the truth? Most people never know. What should you do?
Precision Comfort Systems recommends getting a second opinion. Our experienced technicians each have many stories about inspecting a supposedly condemned furnace and finding nothing wrong. This is unfortunate, but there are some individuals who think that any furnace over a certain age is not reliable. These technicians who are pressured for sales quotas, create just enough alarm to pressure customers into a purchase that may not have been needed.
Precision Comfort System has no charge for a second opinion. We have been to many homes in the Westfield, Noblesville, Fishers, Carmel and Zionsville area that did not really have a furnace about to blow up. You would be amazed at how many loyal customers we have acquired by simply giving them an honest answer. We would much rather impress you with our honesty today, and then have the opportunity to impress you with our installation skills in the future.
Go Green in Indy with Geothermal
We all want to Go Green in Indianapolis, but which is the best route? Truthfully, the “go green” habit changes that cost nothing and help you consume less are the best. But if you are also looking to go green on a larger scale, a geothermal heating and cooling system is your best investment.
I included a picture in this post of what we have to look forward to with our upcoming Central Indiana winter weather. This is part of a current ad we are running for Precision Comfort Systems, but it also is a great way to get a feel for what geothermal energy really accomplishes.
You wake up on a cold winter morning but your home is probably warm. Even when you go green, you never escape the seemingly endless need for winter heating. It’s automatic. The thermostat clicks on and the home demands heat.
What are your choices? You can go out and harvest some wood. You can move to the tropics. You can purchase heat with traditional gas, oil and electric heating systems. Or, you can can really go green with geothermal and harvest (actually borrow) some heat from your backyard. Of course moving the heat inside will still use some electricity, but only a fraction of the amount compared to a standard electric furnace.
Green Geothermal heating uses the heat stored in the ground. This is actually solar heat since the sun is what warms the ground. Think of your yard as a very convenient, maintenance free solar collector and heat storage device all in one. Talk about going green! It turns out all of us with some kind of yard have a giant solar energy system just waiting for a geothermal system to connect the heat to the home!
Call Precision Comfort Systems the geothermal specialists. We serve Westfield, Fishers, Noblesville, Carmel, Zionsville, Hamilton County and all of Central Indiana.
Savings?!! Portable Electric Heater Review
Here is the 2011 version of my perennial, portable electric heater review. Since Precision Comfort Systems in Westfield is known as the heating and cooling specialists in Indianapolis, we get many questions about the energy savings claimed by full page ads featuring plug in portable electric heaters. Despite giving you enough text for a long breakfast read, most of these claims are not accurate. In fact, for most families, these plug in portable heaters will actually raise their energy bill.
Here’s the truth. When you create heat with electricity, you have only a few options. Most whole house electric heating systems in the Indianapolis area are heat pumps. Heat pumps and especially geothermal heat pumps are fantastic! The only other electric heat option is to put electricity into some type of “resistant conductor” and this causes the conductor to glow warm and thus gives off some type of heat. You are already familiar with this type of electric heat. It’s in your toaster, your hair dryer, electric stove top and oven, electric clothes dryer, incandescent light bulb, heat lamp… you get the idea. I like to call it toaster heat.
Here’s the science. All electric resistance toaster heat is exactly the same (poor) efficiency. You will always get (a relatively small amount) 3413 units of heat (BTUs) for each unit of electricity (kWh) you put in. No variations. Compare this to a heat pump at 2 to 3 times the efficiency or a geothermal heat pump at 3 to 5 times the efficiency. So adding one of these units normally increases energy costs.
There could be one exception. If you can tolerate your home at a low (example) 55 to 60 degree temperature and then use a portable electric heater in a single, small room kept at 70, you might save some money. But this depends on the type of heating fuel and heating system you use. You may only break even for all the discomfort of a cold home.
One more comment. By code, if the advertised portable electric heater plugs into a normal wall outlet, it can only be 1500 watts maximum. So it is never “more powerful” than the same 1500 watt unit you can buy at the local discount store for as little as $12.00. If you really need a little “spot heat” in your home and do not mind a little increase in your energy costs, look over the choices in the discount store and upgrade to a heater that includes several built-in safety devices. Read more on Portable Electric Heater Safety.
Or, your best solution for any home comfort problem, call Precision Comfort Systems. We are the heating specialists that tell the truth.
This has been my annual portable electric heater review and now I will file it away until next year. With the outrageous profits being made in this scam, I’m sure the ads will continue.
Time to close crawl space vents
When I drive through neighborhoods in the winter, I cannot help but notice how many homes still have their crawl space vents open. This is a huge mistake in terms of trying to keep your home comfortable and your energy bills low. Here’s the scoop.
Home foundations are typically a basement, concrete slab or a crawl space. Of these, normally the crawl space is the only one with vents to the outside. Venting the crawl space is no longer a good idea in our energy efficient homes with heating and air conditioning ducts in the crawl space. These spaces under the home should be considered a “conditioned space” which means they are heated in the winter and “conditioned” in the summer. This post deals primarily with winter heating but here is another post about summer.
Think of your crawl space as a short basement. It should be insulated around the perimeter on the inside of the crawl space walls. Now this space will be a warm space in the winter. Many homes with a crawl space will have the heating ducts in this area and these ducts perform best when they are in a warm space in the winter. Crawl space vents need to be closed, sealed and insulated to keep the cold winter air out of this area. Note that simply closing the louvers from the outside will seldom seal this opening properly. In addition to closing the louvers, you should go into the crawl space and seal the opening with a tight fitting plug and then add insulation.
Allowing cold air into an otherwise conditioned space can increase energy costs, cause the heated air in the ducts to be cooled, create cold floors and even add to the dryness of your home. If you close your crawl space vents and you are still having comfort issues, call Precision Comfort Systems. We are the home comfort experts in Noblesville, Westfield, Carmel and all other Indianapolis area communities. We discover the real reasons you are not comfortable!
What should you do with these vents in the summer? Check back in May and I will tell you the truth about sealing up these vents forever. Wouldn’t that be great to eliminate the twice per year chore of going into the crawl space?
Comfort Insights: new site for home comfort info
Of all the Indianapolis heating and cooling contractors, there is one I would like to tell you about!
Hi, I am Energy Man Dan and I have just opened our new website and the new Comfort Insights blog for Precision Comfort Systems. I hope you will add the Comfort Insights blog to your favorites and come back frequently. This is the place to get the best information about home comfort.
Precision Comfort Systems is known as one of the best Indianapolis and Central Indiana heating contractors. How can you know this is true? First, read our website to see how we are the heating and air conditioning contractor you are looking for. (In the future this will be even more obvious as I add more information about how to keep your home and family comfortable and be energy efficient at the same time.) Then, make the Precision Decision and let us prove to you that we stand behind our claims.
Welcome to the new Comfort Insights blog. I hope you browse our new website for the best energy efficiency information. If you have any contacts, send us a message!
We are here to keep you warm…
To keep your family warm during the cold Indiana winters, Precision Comfort Systems offers the newest in technology with gas furnaces, heat pumps, boilers, radiant heat and geothermal systems. Our goal is simple; to deliver reliable and economical warmth for every room in your home. Our furnaces have efficiency ratings from an economical 80% to almost 100% efficiency and many models are also ENERGY STAR® qualified. The high efficiency models can significantly lower your utility bills and may qualify for tax incentives or rebates from your electric company. Call us with any of your energy efficiency or home comfort questions.
Zionsville AC Repair
Precision Comfort Systems, an Angie’s List Super Service Award Winner for 2010, provides Zionsville, Indiana with affordable and energy efficient heating, ventilations, and air conditioner services. Located in Westfield, Indiana, Precision Comfort Systems makes frequent trips to Zionsville since this area of Boone County demands the best in terms of heating and cooling specialists.
Here is an interesting note about Zionsville. In 2009, Zionsville was rated as Indiana’s “Best Affordable Suburb” by BusinessWeek.
Precision Comfort Systems offers our Zoinsville cutomers air conditioner repair, maintenance, and installation. We will work with you to make sure you get the best services for your investment. Precision Comfort Systems guarantees the satisfaction of all our Central Indiana customers and we offer warranties with all of our air conditioner repairs. Making sure your furnace and air conditioner provides superior comfort at a reasonable price is our #1 mission.
If you are in need of a Zionsville air conditioner repair company, call us @ 317.867.2665 today!
Comfort Insights
Comfort Insights is the name of Precision Comfort’s blog where Energy Man Dan shares his home comfort tips. Below you will find the best advice on energy efficiency, home heating and air conditioning and tips to lower your energy bills. Precision Comfort Systems, Inc. is the heating and cooling specialist in Central Indiana and we’re here to help with all your home comfort needs.
