When designing or maintaining an energy-efficient HVAC system, it’s crucial to consider your home’s insulation R-values, particularly since avoiding summer’s heat and winter’s cold in the average American household accounts for more than 50 percent (even as high as 70 percent) of our country’s energy consumption. It therefore makes good sense to consider ways of reducing overall energy output. An examination of the efficiency of each of the different components of your HVAC system should also include an evaluation of your home’s insulation R-values.
Insulation R-Values
R-values are numbers used to describe how long it takes for heat energy to move through insulating materials. The higher the R-value, the better its ability to stop the transfer of heat through it. So for example, insulation labelled R-20 will stop the transfer of heat energy better than one labelled R-9. The function of insulation is not to hinder or stop air movement; rather, its purpose is to stop the transfer of heat energy; heat energy that seeks to equalize temperature differences by pressing to the outside in winter, or to the indoors in summer.
Getting R-Values Right
Climate is a key factor to consider when selecting insulation R-values since across the United States individual HVAC systems vary greatly, as do installation and energy costs. Climates with extreme temperatures in the summer or winter require higher insulation R-values to stop the transfer of heat energy from coming inside in summer or transferring to the outside in winter. Selecting appropriate insulation is important because if R-values are too low for your particular climate, much of your HVAC’s efforts will be lost, leading to higher energy costs and an overworked HVAC system, which invariably requires premature servicing and may shorten the life of your equipment. On the other hand, in areas with more moderate climates, selecting insulation with too high an R-value means you’re spending money on the more expensive higher R-value unnecessarily.
If you would like further information on insulation related issues or if you have any other home comfort questions, please contact the experts at Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning. We’ve been serving Lorain County and area for over 30 years.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Lorain, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about insulation r-values and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning
1 (440) 246-5440
Serving the Lorain, OH Area