Monday, May 28, 2007 16:54

This will be my first post with pictures. So I have no idea how they will look or how easy they will be to download. I do know that from past experience that these computer things are usually never as easy as they appear to be at first. The pictures should be put in a different order but I have little control over pictures in this blog. I may have to look for another format. You would think Google would make things a little easier to put pictures in a easy format.

As I mentioned in the last post the air infiltration from all sorts of cracks from your building structure are what cause the greatest heat lost on your home. Seal as many cracks as you can and you will lower your heating and cooling bill significantly.

One of the worst places for leaks is your plug and light switch boxes. In most cases the insulation is pushed away from the box and air is allowed to infiltrate because of the lack of insulation around the boxes. Often there is NO insulation at all behind the boxes. So when the wind blows air comes pouring in (hot or cold) and you then have to heat the cool air or cool the hot air.

All the materials can be found at your local home improvement stores except for the gaskets and the insulated plug plates. These have to be ordered from specialty stores like BeUtilityFree, Inc.

The tools needed to do the job:
1. Caulking gun
2. Hax saw blade - to rim the dry foam
3. Gloves
4. Flat head screw driver

The materials needed:
1. Can of foam (Great Stuff brand is best)
2. Caulk
3. Foam gaskets - plug and light switch
4. Insulated plug plates (retrofit)

Here are the steps to reduce your air infiltration from your plug and light outlets:

Step 1: Remove all cover plates

Step 2: Put your gloves on and screw on the plastic straw and put this in the space between your plug outlet case and the drywall. most of the time there is plenty of room to slip this straw in. Slide the straw back about 5 or 6 inches and apply foam form can. Slowly bring the straw forward and exit the area. Do this on all four sides of the box is you can.

Step 3: Let the foam dry for at least 24 hours. If you cannot foam the sides then apply Acrylic caulking with a very thin bead of caulk. If that does not work then the only thing you can do is apply foam gaskets to reduce the air infiltration. If you use foam gaskets then you should also use Baby safety plug that plug directly into the outlet. If you use foam then the Baby safety plugs are usually not necessary at all because the foam is all around the box.

Step 4: Once the foam has dried it will or should come out of the sides because the foam expands in place. Trim off the excess foam with the hax saw blade and put the covers back on.
That is it!

The next time the wind blows hard you can put your hand over the plate and feel no air movement if the box is foamed properly.

Some foam may go inside the box but that is not a big concern. Remember the foam is or should be OUTSIDE the box and not inside of it. Unless you have an Xray vision you have to just use your best guess as to how much foam you need per box. Err on the side of to much!

I just recently got my last electric bill and it keeps dropping. I will share with you what I have done to keep the bill dropping. The goal is to drop it to zero by disconnecting from the grid.
Until I install the wind generator and the solar PV modules I will have to get my electricity from the utility.