Are you ready for winter? Have you figured out how to keep the energy bills down? Is the house all bundled up to stop the cold from getting in?

If the answers are no, you might want to consider doing a DIY home energy audit to check for air leaks. After all, plugging any leaks can increase your home energy efficiency by up to 30% a year.

It’s easy to do. Wander around the house looking at the seals around all the windows and doors and repair any that is cracked or crumbling. Then take a leaf out of the professional energy auditor’s book and do a smoke test to ensure that you’ve found all the leaks.

In the past, homeowners have done this using a lit incense stick, candle or match, looking for evidence of leaks whenever the smoke wavered. But it’s a pretty primitive and somewhat dangerous way of checking for leaks.

Using a smoke pencil stick is a much better and safer means of testing for leaks. The smoke pencil, which generates smoke similar to that used by toy trains, offers a safe and effective means of detecting air leaks. What’s more, with the smoke being  a mixture of water, propylene glycol, and glycerin, it is non-toxic and leaves no lingering odor.

But windows and doors, however,  are only part of the air leakage story, as anyone with an open fireplace will attest. Fireplaces are wonderful when lit. When not used, however,  they offer a major gateway for cold drafts.

Luckily, there is a cheap and easy way of dealing with this problem – balloons. To be specific, a chimney balloon fireplace damper that fits under the flue and blocks the cold draft. It’s the perfect solution, as long as you remember to remove it each time before you light the fire. Otherwise, the balloon will be no more!

Image: clairity

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