Attic Air Leaks Into House

Air leaking into your attic could be costing you money up to 30 of a home s heating and cooling energy is lost due to air leaks.

Attic air leaks into house.

Find and seal air leaks. This causes moisture issues when they run. If you notice water under your indoor air handler turn off the air conditioner at the breaker box and either call a professional or follow these. Depending on the way your house was framed a lot of warm air can escape into the attic through the partition.

Most are installed incorrectly don t work properly leak air and let hot air into your house. Here are eight places to start. In the average home small openings in the outer shell of a house account for almost 30 of total heat lost. How to find air leaks.

Anything that causes unbalanced room air pressures can cause bad air from the attic to mix with good air in the house. Hidden air leaks cause some of the largest heat losses in older homes. Your home s central air conditioning than soffit. While these powered vents do effectively draw out the heat they will pull more cool air from any air leaks in the ceiling of the house read.

Then tackle the basement to prevent cold air that enters there from being sucked into upstairs rooms. Recessed can lights no easy solution cut a 6 in. Finally seal air leaks in the rest of the house. If you pressurize the house with a window fan you may be able to feel the leaks with your hand as the air finds its way into the attic.

From below your attic check the ceilings and note the locations of all light fixtures ceiling fans and electrical outlets. If there are ducts in the attic and the return ducts have holes in them attic air can also be sucked into the house through those duct leaks. It also allows the hot air in the attic to be pushed into the bathroom through the vent tube when not in use. See image 2 below which shows an unsealed return plenum in an attic.

Leaking air conditioners can destroy ceilings walls and anything else around it. With these systems condensate leaks can lead to a big mess but it s nothing compared to a condensate leak that occurs at an air conditioner in an attic or really any place that has finished. Vent humid air from kitchens and bathrooms to the outside instead of the attic to avoid this problem. Here are some pointers.

1 insulate around recessed lights. They must be vented to the outside and not just dump into the attic. If you find an air conditioning leak address the issue immediately before you have a real problem on your hand. Attic condensation is due to humid air leaking or vented into the attic.