Reduce heat loss - save money. How to Reduce Heat Loss in Your Home in Winter Useful Tricks to Keep Warm

Question:

Please briefly describe the main ways of heat loss in the house

Answer:

Heat loss in the house occur mainly in three ways.

Direct heat transfer through walls, floors and ceilings. Due to the difference between the internal and external temperatures, heat exchange occurs. Heat is transferred from the room to the outside. This method of heat loss is very important in concrete structures. Other buildings are dominated by other paths heat leakage. The fact is that wood, brick, foam block, etc. have a fairly low thermal conductivity, namely, the thermal conductivity of the material of the walls, floor and ceiling determines the level of heat loss. To reduce this type of loss, thermal insulation is used - materials with low thermal conductivity are laid in the walls, ceiling and floor. Usually it is mineral or glass wool, polystyrene foam, polyurethane foam, expanded clay. Usually a layer of 5 - 10 cm is enough.

Infrared radiation. All objects in the room are heated to room temperature. They emit infrared radiation, which penetrates the outside, taking heat with it. The main way to combat this type of loss is to use a film that reflects thermal radiation along the thermal contour of the house, usually based on aluminum. Such a film not only helps to retain heat in the winter, but also reduces the heating of the room in the summer in the heat.

air currents. Air from the room, heated to room temperature, leaves the building and is replaced by cold air from the street. If such losses are intensive, then drafts are observed in the house. It is impossible to completely exclude air exchange with the outside world, it is necessary to maintain a normal level of humidity and the content of oxygen and carbon dioxide. But this process must be manageable, depending on our will, and not on the temperature of the air overboard and the wind. This is achieved by carefully sealing the room and making special overlapping ventilation openings.

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It is well known that the world reserves of natural resources of oil, gas, coal are gradually drying up. This leads to an increase in the cost of energy.

The direct relationship between the amount of heat and the value of the payment for heating makes many people think about reducing heat losses.

The question of how to reduce heat loss is especially relevant during the preparation for winter. Moreover, he worries both owners of private houses and residents of high-rise buildings.

In practice, there are two ways to reduce heat loss in a house or apartment.

Simple ways - minimum costs

1. installation of a heat-reflecting (foil) screen near the radiator. The screen will allow you to reflect the heat and direct it into the house, and not to heat the outer wall.

2. closing windows and doors. The easiest way to keep the heat in the house is to tightly close windows and doors.

3. insulation of windows and doors. Sealing where the glass is attached to the wooden frame, installing seals or simply pasting the cracks in the windows will significantly reduce heat loss.

4. elimination of window shading. The window allows up to 95% of the sun's rays to pass through and allows you to accumulate heat inside the house. No wonder most greenhouses are made of glass.

5. proper ventilation. Ventilation is necessary to maintain a normal microclimate. But in order to save money, you need to ventilate not once a day for an hour, but several times for 15 minutes.

6. replacement of incandescent lamps with energy-saving or LED. Thermal radiation of 85 BTU/hour does not compensate for their high cost of operation.

7. pipe insulation if the heater is outside the house. Actual for private houses.

8. sealing cracks in the wall with polyurethane sealants. They are flexible, "play" depending on the temperature, frost-resistant, penetrate deep into the crack and do not exfoliate over time.

Radical or capital-intensive ways

This type combines all the ways to save money that require a significant initial investment.

1. total warming. Relevant for operated buildings. Since, according to the first law of thermodynamics, heat from a heated house always goes into a colder environment, it is necessary to create an additional barrier to heat loss in the form of a heat-insulating material. At the same time, walls, roofs, foundations and openings need insulation.

As you can see, the greatest amount of heat escapes through the walls. It is understandable, because the walls occupy a large area in relation to other surfaces. You also need to insulate the walls wisely. Therefore, it is better to give preference to external insulation. So you protect the walls from freezing. The second most important direction is to highlight the insulation of the basement and attic or floor / ceiling.

Insulating all this at one time is expensive and difficult, and it may turn out that the insulation will be unnecessary. To understand what to do first, you need to identify those areas of the house through which heat escapes. A thermal imager is used for diagnostics. This tool will allow you to identify those areas in the house through which heat loss is most significant. This is where it is worth starting work on warming the house.

In a multi-storey building, the wall is, in fact, the only source of loss, if it is not the first and last floors.

2. replacement of double-glazed windows. significantly reduce heat loss. Especially if they are multilayer, i.e. have several chambers inside the profile and double-glazed windows.

3. replacement of radiators or heating systems. For example, among others, cast-iron radiators have the highest heat transfer. Installing more advanced appliances will reduce heat loss.

Many people know that living in a poorly insulated home results in huge energy bills. But our ancestors knew many ways to keep the heat and comfort in the room without extra spending. Thanks to modern infrared cameras and advances in physics, we can determine how these methods work and how effective they are.

The house cools down mainly not from air convection, but from the radiation of heat into the environment. Therefore, even central heating can be a weak helper. The air in the room has time to heat up, but the walls do not. As a result, you continue to shiver from the cold.

Fortunately, there are five easy ways to overcome this problem and minimize your energy costs.

Close the curtains for the night

During the day, windows repel more radiation energy than they let in. Freely through the glass penetrates only sunlight. For infrared rays, this material becomes an obstacle. At night, thin single-layer double-glazed windows can cause extreme cold. Even if you try to keep the air temperature in the apartment at around 20 ° C every day, with the advent of darkness and a sharp drop in the street, this value can drop to 7 ° C.

Double-glazed windows are also not always able to keep the heat in the house. Even a small drop in temperature, up to 14 ° C, will lead to energy losses of about 50-100 W per square meter.

The best way to prevent this sudden loss of stored heat is to close the curtains just after sunset. This will provide an additional barrier to radiant energy in the room. In addition, curtains will protect against drafts and partially isolate the room.

Hang the walls of the room

Solid brick or stone walls are better insulators than glass, but they still release a lot of heat from the room. Therefore, it will not hurt to take measures to provide them with additional protection. You can reduce energy losses by simply covering the walls with paintings or mirrors. Even an ordinary poster will be able to raise the air temperature in the room by about 1 °C. The most effective option is to hang carpets on the walls. Even if you are not a Russian oligarch, or you simply do not like this interior design, you should not immediately abandon this idea. Trust me, it's really worth it.

Another option is to place bookshelves along the wall. Old books can not only decorate your room, but also act as excellent insulators.

Insulate your front door

Of course, it all depends on the material from which the door to your apartment is made. But, it is likely that it is she who is the culprit of most of the heat loss. In summer, you may not notice this, but winter always brings frost and drafts with it. Just imagine how much cold can penetrate through the cracks in the doorway and the door itself. Attach a curtain at the entrance to eliminate excess air circulation. Try to make sure that the curtain covers the entire doorway and the wall surrounding it.

Use heat shields

Even if you can't limit all heat loss through exterior walls, you can still try to insulate yourself from the cold. Our ancestors used wooden screens for this purpose. They placed them behind them, sitting by the fire. The screens absorbed some of the heat, thereby warming people's backs. You could try doing the same in your home. This will be a great way to dissipate heat so it's evenly distributed throughout the room. Often such screens are placed near radiators or heaters. At least this way you don't have to constantly huddle in the warmest corner of the room.

Arrange furniture correctly

Despite the fact that the air temperature is the same throughout the room, a person feels it differently when moving around the dwelling. So, the warmest feeling is felt near the walls, which are closer to the inside of the house. Outer walls carry more cold. Try to use this information. Arrange the furniture so that it is located against the inner wall.

Of course, to concentrate all the components of the interior in one part of the room would be inappropriate. For example, you put the bed against the inner wall, and the table is opposite. Then the second piece of furniture will automatically be in the cold zone. You can fix it with improvised means. In order not to freeze your feet, try to cover the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe wall under the table with a sheet of cardboard. And right above your head you can hang a shelf.

Nowadays, home insulation is increasingly becoming a necessity. Insufficient thermal insulation causes heat loss, even if you use the most economical electric convector, as a result, heating costs increase, and there is a risk of damage to the walls due to frequent freezing.

However, the topic of insulation is very complex. One of the possible common solutions is to insulate the exterior walls of the house with the help of external heat-insulating contact systems. External thermal insulation systems currently occupy one of the main places in the insulation. Their advantage is a large functional variety, which makes it possible to manufacture a system for a specific building object in accordance with customer requirements and local conditions.

Almost everyone is increasingly asking themselves: How to reduce heating costs at home? Can something be saved? Then we have a solution for you. Predominantly more buildings (private or multi-apartment) are considered to experience significant heat losses due to their insufficient thermal insulation. The lack of thermal insulation (warming) entails not only large heat losses and ever-increasing heating costs, but also causes a greater likelihood of wall destruction from freezing.

Should you insulate your home?

One of the big advantages is a significant reduction in heat loss through the walls. By reducing heat losses, you will reduce the costs of your family budget.
External insulation of the house will prevent the walls from freezing, and the influence of temperature fluctuations will be limited. Insulating your home will extend the life of your home. In the cold season, the surfaces of insulated walls will have a higher internal temperature and will cool much more slowly. Conversely, in summer the walls will not get very hot, which will provide you with coolness and comfort in hot weather. The room temperature will improve. By insulating your home, you prevent hypothermia of the walls and the appearance of condensation on them.

In not the most insulated house, an expressive loss of heat occurs. Walls freeze - the freezing point is approximately in the middle of the wall thickness.

The internal insulation of the house will limit heat loss, but such insulation will not prevent the walls from freezing. Such a system, without accumulating properties, with such warming of the room heats up quickly, but also cools down quickly. In addition, condensation can form between the wall and the insulation, which can lead to mold.

With external insulation, the freezing point is insulated, so the walls do not freeze through. With external insulation, the walls heat up and have the ability to accumulate heat, while heat loss is minimal.

Keywords: How to reduce heat loss, winter time, Insufficient thermal insulation, functional diversity, destruction of walls from freezing, the appearance of mold, accumulate heat, hypothermia of walls, condensation

Everyone knows the expression: heat is not where it is well heated, but where it is cherished. From this we can conclude that the question of how to keep the heat in the house is by no means idle, but requires a serious approach. Analysis of heat loss in the house showed the following results:

• Losses through walls are 15-20%.
• 10-20% of heat escapes through the roof.
• Windows allow 20-30% of heated air to pass through.
• Through improperly equipped ventilation, 30-35% of heat “disappears”.
• Doors account for only 1-5%, but this cannot be neglected, because every percent of the lost heat is money thrown to the wind.

The problems of heat loss in the house must be taken seriously also because the cost of storing thermal energy in winter will pay off in summer with a reduction in air conditioning costs.

Eliminate heat loss through walls

Scheme of insulation of facade walls

If the heating in the room works at the maximum allowable limits, and the temperature barely exceeds +18 ºС, then it already gives reason to think about it and identify the cause, which may be in the old boiler, leaky windows, doors, however, you need to start with checking the insulation of the facade. When the air in the room is heated to a temperature of + 18 ºС to + 22 ºС, the walls should warm up to + 16 - 20 ºС. If the temperature is below the permissible level, this indicates a problem area that requires additional insulation. Another sign indicating a problem is an increase in humidity, the formation of condensate in a chilled area.

There are many ways to increase the energy saving of cold sections of walls. It is possible, for example, to insulate facades, taking into account the various characteristics of the thermal insulation material and choosing the one that suits you. At the same time, it should be taken into account that mineral wool insulation is effective only in a dry state, therefore, such a heater should be located between hydro and vapor barrier films. Especially it concerns . It should be noted that when insulating the walls with mineral wool from the inside of the walls, a mistake is made, since in this case condensation may occur on the walls as a result of the difference in air temperatures in the room and the temperature of the wall.

Of all building materials, walls made of a thickness of 440 mm or more and - a thickness of 350 mm or more are not subject to insulation. If you are planning to build a new house, then you need to make walls from materials with increased resistance to heat transfer. This will save you money in the future, as heat prices, unfortunately, are constantly rising. In some cases, it is more rational to build thin walls with their subsequent insulation.

Insulation of facade walls

To insulate the walls from the outside, basalt or fiberglass mineral wool is used, as well as expanded polystyrene, the thickness of which is determined by a specialist. This takes into account the characteristics of the material from which the walls are laid, wind loads, the location of the house, the purpose of the interior.

Insulation of external walls can occur in different ways. But most often the so-called wet technology is used, in which, on the insulation fixed on the wall, a reinforcing layer is mounted, with plaster then applied to it. The “dry” technology method is also used - when a frame is made on the wall, to which the facing material (plastic panels, etc.) is then attached. The remaining gap between the wall and the cladding ensures the circulation of an air flow that accumulates warm air in the gap.

There are situations when a house, already insulated earlier, requires local repair of walls in places where condensation is observed. In this case, all layers of thermal insulation are removed, the quality of the walls is checked and the problem area is re-insulated. When examining walls, special attention is paid to the corners of the joining of the outer walls, because these places are exposed to cold air from two sides. You can prevent this trouble by installing a heating riser in the corner or rounding off the corners.

Eliminate heat loss through the roof

Roof insulation

Of course, less heat escapes through the roof structure than through the walls, but they are still significant. A very important point in this situation is a routine inspection of the entire roof, both outside and inside in the attic. From the outside, check the integrity of the coating, its fit to the ridge. Inside, the surface is carefully examined for the presence of mold and fungi. Deficiencies can also be detected by the appearance of wet spots on the ceiling and walls of the last floor of the building.

Work to eliminate the shortcomings is first carried out from the inside: the skin, the heat-insulating layer are removed, the insulation itself is checked. If wet and deformed plates are found, they are replaced and protected with a new waterproofing film. It happens that no defects were found, but the ceiling gets wet and a lot of heat escapes through the roof. In this case, the thermal insulation is insufficient and everything must be practically replaced, of course, except for the finishing coating in the form of metal tiles, etc. And there are cases, especially in old buildings, that there is no insulation at all, then it will need to be equipped from scratch ".

Roof heat loss is closely related to wall problems, so make sure you don't have a problem with the roof before you tackle the walls.

Eliminate heat loss through windows and doors

Window insulation

If the roof and walls are at rest, then the same cannot be said about doors and windows that are constantly opening and closing, as a result of which cold air enters the room. To clarify the problems, you need to carefully examine the sections of the walls near the doors and windows for wet spots, and also make sure that there are no gaps.

In the discovered cracks, you need to blow out the mounting foam and cover these places with plaster. If the foam is not protected with plaster or at least putty, then as a result of atmospheric influences it will lose its thermal insulation properties. However, a more correct way is to seal the openings of windows and doors with a waterproofing tape, on which foam plastic or expanded polystyrene is attached with glue, which in turn is covered with a plaster mesh and plastered.

Particular attention should be paid to the correct installation and finishing of slopes, because if they are poorly executed, then even the best ones will not help. Slopes are finished with plastic, moisture-resistant drywall or simply plastered. However, in all cases, it is necessary to correctly fulfill all the conditions for external waterproofing. For a tighter fit of the slopes to the window, special profiles are used.

After resolving issues with slopes, they proceed to checking the condition of the windows and doors themselves, where special attention is paid to the quality of rubber seals, sagging of window sashes and door panels. If necessary, tighten the hinges, handles and other fasteners.

Often the reason for the formation of condensate around the slopes of windows and doors is the incorrect installation of the window sill, which covers a significant part of the heating element, if not all. This installation of the window sill prevents the circulation of warm air in the room and, as a rule, wet spots form around the slopes, and eventually mold.

Elimination of heat loss through ventilation

Creating a favorable indoor climate is a guarantee of the health of not only its inhabitants, but also the preservation of the integrity of building structures. Modern double-glazed windows and window blocks are completely airtight in the closed position, so if there are only exhaust ducts in the room, and there is no supply ventilation, then this deficiency must be made up by opening and closing windows several times a day.

However, this is a double-edged sword, because with the advent of fresh air, warm air leaves the home at the same time. If you are faced with the task of effectively ventilating the room, then this is achieved by short-term and frequent manipulations with opening windows. Prolonged ventilation will lead to a significant decrease in the temperature in the room and to an increase in energy costs.

The way out for effective optimization of room ventilation is the use of automated supply and exhaust ventilation. Structurally, it consists of a supply unit, a fan, ventilation ducts and a heat exchanger, in which fresh and exhaust air is mixed. The use of this system allows you to keep warm in winter and cool in summer. The installation of automated supply and exhaust ventilation requires significant financial costs, however, they are worth it, since the installation of a heat exchanger allows you to save heat in your home by 50-60%.

It is possible to more effectively identify places that require correction with the help of a thermal imaging survey, which can only be performed by specialists. Having a device called a “thermal imager” on their hands, they can easily determine from the picture on the monitor of the device where the heat is leaving. High speed of work, accuracy of results - all this speaks in favor of the device.