louie wrote:

Adding 6" of cellulose to the attic will help tremendously, so long as
the soffit vents are kept open with some baffles. You'll add an
average R value of 3.5 per inch of the cellulose so you'll increase
your attic insulation from R-19 to R-40.

Which is what, about 3% difference in heat loss?

Other things you can do is move around your house with an incense stick
looking for drafts. Seal up as many drafts and leaks as you can.
There are professional services that will install a temporary blower
into a doorway and will actually pull air from the house, creating a
slight vacuum. Then they will actually test how much negative pressure
is created and how much air volume is moving through the fan and from
that determine how "leaky" your house is. They usually go around with
a smoke pencil looking for leaks while this is happening too.



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CJT wrote:

louie wrote:

Adding 6" of cellulose to the attic will help tremendously, so long as
the soffit vents are kept open with some baffles. You'll add an
average R value of 3.5 per inch of the cellulose so you'll increase
your attic insulation from R-19 to R-40.


Which is what, about 3% difference in heat loss?

Oh, and that's the heat loss through the attic, which is only a
fraction of the whole-house heat loss.

As you can probably tell, I'm skeptical.


Other things you can do is move around your house with an incense stick
looking for drafts. Seal up as many drafts and leaks as you can.
There are professional services that will install a temporary blower
into a doorway and will actually pull air from the house, creating a
slight vacuum. Then they will actually test how much negative pressure
is created and how much air volume is moving through the fan and from
that determine how "leaky" your house is. They usually go around with
a smoke pencil looking for leaks while this is happening too.





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"CJT" wrote in message
...
CJT wrote:

louie wrote:

Adding 6" of cellulose to the attic will help tremendously, so long as
the soffit vents are kept open with some baffles. You'll add an
average R value of 3.5 per inch of the cellulose so you'll increase
your attic insulation from R-19 to R-40.


Which is what, about 3% difference in heat loss?

Oh, and that's the heat loss through the attic, which is only a
fraction of the whole-house heat loss.

As you can probably tell, I'm skeptical.

Comfort is related to how quickly heat is being lost, and that's difficult
to quantify. But, what if this mysterious comfort goal lies somewhere in
that 3%? It would be a shame not to try.

Doug Kanter wrote:

"CJT" wrote in message
...

CJT wrote:


louie wrote:


Adding 6" of cellulose to the attic will help tremendously, so long as
the soffit vents are kept open with some baffles. You'll add an
average R value of 3.5 per inch of the cellulose so you'll increase
your attic insulation from R-19 to R-40.


Which is what, about 3% difference in heat loss?

Oh, and that's the heat loss through the attic, which is only a
fraction of the whole-house heat loss.

As you can probably tell, I'm skeptical.


Comfort is related to how quickly heat is being lost, and that's difficult
to quantify. But, what if this mysterious comfort goal lies somewhere in
that 3%? It would be a shame not to try.


It's only money ...

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Heat rises, insulating an attic is the cheapest way to save. 3% or
whatever loss you figure you save on utilities and increase resale
value.
Adding 6" or R 21, well next year it will have settled 15-20% and be R
18. I put in R 100 it settled to R 80, an R figure that is optimal not
what your local Minimum codes require. Through all I did I cut Ng by
60%, everything has a payback when it comes to insulation since
standards do not reflect 1.70 a therm Ng, they are outdated from the
50s.

CJT wrote:
CJT wrote:

louie wrote:

Adding 6" of cellulose to the attic will help tremendously, so long as
the soffit vents are kept open with some baffles. You'll add an
average R value of 3.5 per inch of the cellulose so you'll increase
your attic insulation from R-19 to R-40.



Which is what, about 3% difference in heat loss?


Oh, and that's the heat loss through the attic, which is only a
fraction of the whole-house heat loss.

As you can probably tell, I'm skeptical.






But you are wrong. Since heat rises, especially in hot air heated houses,

the temp differential is much higher on the ceiling than on the wall.
There is absolutely a point of diminishing returns, but if you do a real
heat loss analysis on your house[it is not difficult, a pocket
calculator is helpful, but not required] you will find that half the
heat goes out the windows, and half the remaining goes out the roof.
SO if you take that[gross] generalization, and you burn 1000 gallons of
oil a season, figure 250 of it goes out the ceiling. At 2.50 a gallon
that is 625 A SEASON. Are you betting on a return to 90 cent a gallon
oil? I'm not. lets say with these made up numbers you have r20 in the
attic, the numbers tell you that it should save you 125 gallons a year
by going to r40.

CJT wrote:
CJT wrote:

louie wrote:

Adding 6" of cellulose to the attic will help tremendously, so long as
the soffit vents are kept open with some baffles. You'll add an
average R value of 3.5 per inch of the cellulose so you'll increase
your attic insulation from R-19 to R-40.



Which is what, about 3% difference in heat loss?


Oh, and that's the heat loss through the attic, which is only a
fraction of the whole-house heat loss.

As you can probably tell, I'm skeptical.



Other things you can do is move around your house with an incense stick
looking for drafts. Seal up as many drafts and leaks as you can.
There are professional services that will install a temporary blower
into a doorway and will actually pull air from the house, creating a
slight vacuum. Then they will actually test how much negative pressure
is created and how much air volume is moving through the fan and from
that determine how "leaky" your house is. They usually go around with
a smoke pencil looking for leaks while this is happening too.


I think it will be more than a 3% saving. Say the temp difference from
inside to outside is 50 degrees. The heat flow with R19 insulation is
50/19 = 2.6 in some arbitrary units like BTUs per fornight. With R34
the loss flow will be 50/34 = 1.8 in the same units. So in some amount
of time the heat lost will be (2.6-1.8)/2.6 = 0.31 or 31 per cent less.

Stubby wrote:

CJT wrote:

CJT wrote:

louie wrote:

Adding 6" of cellulose to the attic will help tremendously, so long as
the soffit vents are kept open with some baffles. You'll add an
average R value of 3.5 per inch of the cellulose so you'll increase
your attic insulation from R-19 to R-40.




Which is what, about 3% difference in heat loss?



Oh, and that's the heat loss through the attic, which is only a
fraction of the whole-house heat loss.

As you can probably tell, I'm skeptical.



Other things you can do is move around your house with an incense stick
looking for drafts. Seal up as many drafts and leaks as you can.
There are professional services that will install a temporary blower
into a doorway and will actually pull air from the house, creating a
slight vacuum. Then they will actually test how much negative pressure
is created and how much air volume is moving through the fan and from
that determine how "leaky" your house is. They usually go around with
a smoke pencil looking for leaks while this is happening too.


I think it will be more than a 3% saving. Say the temp difference from
inside to outside is 50 degrees. The heat flow with R19 insulation is
50/19 = 2.6 in some arbitrary units like BTUs per fornight. With R34
the loss flow will be 50/34 = 1.8 in the same units. So in some amount
of time the heat lost will be (2.6-1.8)/2.6 = 0.31 or 31 per cent less.

That's what I get for trying to do the calculation in my head.

Thanks for the correction.

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