Quote:
Originally Posted by island911
If you want to see where the heat is going get a thermal imagining camera .
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Or get a $30 infrared thermometer from harbor freight.
Or better yet, spend $1-200 on an energy audit(blower door to check leaking aka air exchange + thermal camera)
There are all kinds of spray foams, some DIY:
-Open cell (flammable and needs fire coating)
-Spraycrete brand(no experience but looked promising)
-Slow-Rise for sealed walls (drill a series of small holes and inject)
Ducts sometimes have adjustable stop flaps in the basement which can be tuned for the most-used spaces, but if they are under sized for the run to a specific space no amount of sealing will change a bad design.
I'm kind of under the impression that a little interior leaking is not necessarily a bad thing.
If it warms the inside of walls and floors, much like radiant heat, it cuts down the hot-cold cycling of the furnace which only heats the air.
The cycling is where the bills and wear pile up, I've been told.
Cleaning ducts should be done once a decade IMO.
Last year I got an old-house rental done, and one of them was completely clogged with a mouse nest.
I had it redone again this year.
I also used traps/steel wool/foam/vent covers to keep the critters out.
Spent 4 hours shop vacuuming every inch of the basement.