Videos
Your Local Contractor is:
Mid-State Home Services
Change Location
Your Local Contractor is:
Mid-State Home Services
Change Location
In this job, Dr. Energy Saver opted for installing the SuperAttic™ System, because it will prevent enormous energy losses from the ducts and HVAC unit housed in the attic. As a result, this home is now healthier, quieter and more energy efficient. A properly insulated and air sealed attic is one of the main components of a green, energy efficient home. Because the heated air in a house tends to rise and escape through openings in the upper levels of the building, attics need to be sealed to prevent air leakage. Air leaks in attics are the source of many problems, including ice damming on the roof, and mold. In addition, inadequate insulation causes drastic variations in attic temperatures throughout the year. Scorching attic temperatures during the summer or freezing temperatures during winter make your heating and cooling system work harder to keep your home comfortable. If you have HVAC and ducts running through the attic, the energy loss is even more significant.
Today we are in this attic of this large home and when we came in here to evaluate how to make this house more energy efficient the attic is our A priority. When we look at an attic we want to stop air from coming up through the ceiling from the condition space, the heat from getting in to the attic and being lost because this is a vented attic like most attics are it has saw fit vents and ridge vents and so the outside air can get right into this attic.
Well the conventional approach might be to seal all the holes in the ceilings, seal the cam light, seal the ducts, insulate the ducts add insulation to the pipes, add insulation to the attic take care of the attic access hole and a variety of other strategies to make this energy efficient, however, because this attic has a wooden deck that is nailed down and hides many of the things that we would try to get too to seal and all these ducts that are installed right on the deck that would have to be moved in order to get underneath air to seal everything properly we have decided to go with the top of the line system and that is SuperAttic.
Here we have a bath fan exhaust duct and it used to go along the floor and out there as you can see and it just dived into saw fit and so what we want to do is bring it outside through the side wall of the gable in. When the bath exhaust goes into the saw fit the airflow and the saw fit is from bottom to top and we have isolated that airflow into one rafter bay with the SuperAttic that we are installing and so that moist air can go right up in that rafter bay and condense because it is going to be cold in that rafter bay and cause moisture and so forth so we want to run it right out the side wall that is our best priority for a bath fan exhaust is out the side wall the gable end.
So we have a vented roof but un-vented attic. The attic is conditioned space; the air boundary for the house is the SuperAttic material the SilverGlo foam and so as the insulation boundary. So they are perfectly aligned. There are no gaps, the house is air tight and it has made a dramatic difference in the overall leakiness of this house by stopping air leaking out at the top of the house we stopped air leaking in at the bottom to replace the air that left and you will feel less drafts at the bottom of the house.
Read Full Video Transcript Below:
Hi. I'm Larry Janesky from Dr. Energy Saver. Today we are in this attic of this large home and when we came in here to evaluate how to make this house more energy efficient the attic is our A priority. When we look at an attic we want to stop air from coming up through the ceiling from the condition space, the heat from getting in to the attic and being lost because this is a vented attic like most attics are it has saw fit vents and ridge vents and so the outside air can get right into this attic.
Today it is 36 out and in this attic is 39 also very cold but a little bit warmer. Why is it warmer in the attic? Well, we have heat escaping from the house from the ducts, here we have air handlers that are hydro coils that have hot water pipe to them. We have conductive heat loses from the gaps in the insulation and through cam lights and so forth that are heating this attic and that heat is then lost. So what do we do? Well the conventional approach might be to seal all the holes in the ceilings, seal the cam light, seal the ducts, insulate the ducts add insulation to the pipes, add insulation to the attic take care of the attic access hole and a variety of other strategies to make this energy efficient, however, because this attic has a wooden deck that is nailed down and hides many of the things that we would try to get too to seal and all these ducts that are installed right on the deck that would have to be moved in order to get underneath air to seal everything properly we have decided to go with the top of the line system and that is SuperAttic.
The SuperAttic system will convert this attic from a vented unconditioned attic to an un-vented conditioned attic while still maintaining a vented roof. What are the advantages? Well, all this duct work caries warm air in the winter time to the rooms that is serving and cool air from the air conditioning in the summer time and this duct work leaks at all these joints it is not sealed. In addition, there is some insulation on this duct work but not a lot and we have conductive heat losses for example if I feel this duct it is warm, it is 39 in this attic that duct my thermal imaging camera says the duct there is 63 so we have approximately 25 degree temperature difference between the duct and the attic on this day and that means we will be losing heat with pay to heat the air, send it through the ducts and then it is some of the heat is lost on its way to the room we intended for it to go to. Once the heat gets in the attic it is lost. We also have many can light fixtures which are very common and popular but they leak like crazy and air goes around that bulb and leaks into the attic and is lost.
The SuperAttic system puts the air boundary of the house on the bottom of the roof instead of the attic floor. It also puts the thermal boundary of the house here as well so this is where the air will stop or stopping the air from leaking out of the house and this is the insulation boundary of the house. We still have a vented roof because we have open rafter base which allow air to flow from the sockets to the ridge vent which makes that ventilation much more efficient because we are only venting the roof space not the whole attic and we are venting out excess heat in the summer time and we are keeping a cold roof in the winter by letting that cold air from outside get in this rafter base still to prevent ice damming and so we are not going to have the escaping heat from the house melting snow on the roof only to run down the top of the roof and then refreeze at the eve because this roof will be nice and cold and totally isolated from the heat source that is the house. Here we have a bath fan exhaust duct and it used to go along the floor and out there as you can see and it just dived into saw fit and so what we want to do is bring it outside through the side wall of the gable in. When the bath exhaust goes into the saw fit the airflow and the saw fit is from bottom to top and we have isolated that airflow into one rafter bay with the SuperAttic that we are installing and so that moist air can go right up in that rafter bay and condense because it is going to be cold in that rafter bay and cause moisture and so forth so we want to run it right out the side wall that is our best priority for a bath fan exhaust is out the side wall the gable end. Well we are all done with the SuperAttic system and I can tell you it is February 15th today very cold outside and up here in the attic it is room temperature. I mean very comfortable.
So we have a vented roof but un-vented attic. The attic is conditioned space; the air boundary for the house is the SuperAttic material the SilverGlo foam and so as the insulation boundary. So they are perfectly aligned. There are no gaps, the house is air tight and it has made a dramatic difference in the overall leakiness of this house by stopping air leaking out at the top of the house we stopped air leaking in at the bottom to replace the air that left and you will feel less drafts at the bottom of the house.
This air handling unit which is a heater and an air conditioner and it is associated duct work is now in a friendly environment instead of a hostile environment. Before the SuperAttic was installed this attic was very hot in the summer. I mean 130 degrees and we are trying to make 55 degree air with our air conditioning coil inside this duct work and blowing that 55 air through sheet metal ducts in 130 degrees attic. It made no sense but now the attic will be cooler in the summer. In fact, it won't be much more than maybe 10 degrees warmer than downstairs and this duct work will feel the benefits that leave a lot less dust in the house and the house is a lot quieter with the homeowner already commented on.
If you have a house that you like to have made more energy efficient and more comfortable call Dr. Energy Saver, we would love to help you. Contact Dr. Energy Saver for a home energy evaluation and written estimate.
