Cooling Down Weather—Is Your Home Insulation In Good Shape?

Cooling Down Weather—Is Your Home Insulation In Good Shape?

This has been a hot October. Air conditioners put in serious overtime deep into fall to handle the major heat waves we’ve experienced. But we’re finally getting a break, with temperatures set to drop into the high 70s. For people in other parts of the country, it may sound bizarre to hear us call this cooling down, but life is different in the Southern California deserts.

Whatever else the temperatures are like in other places, you need to be focused on your heating and cooling needs. We’ve already discussed the need for heating maintenance (yes, even here, it’s important). Today we want to address another part of your house that may need improvement to help handle the change in seasons: the insulation.

Insulation and Making Sure Your Heater Has to Do Little Work

The job of insulation in a home is to slow down the movement of heat from one place to another. During cooler days, this means trapping as much heat inside your home as possible. In general, your home is warmer than the outdoors during colder weather: the heat created by human bodies, appliances, and lights all generate warmth. This warmth will rapidly escape to the outside if the insulation around the home is insufficient. When the house loses heat, you’ll feel a draft, and you may have to turn on the heating system to replace the lost heat.

If you have effective insulation, however, you can often enjoy the right warm comfort inside your house on cool days without needing to turn the heating system on. This is one of the big advantages of living in a warm climate: on most winter days, you’ll have sufficient warmth trapped inside the house that you don’t need any additional help from a heating system.

Unfortunately, older homes often have inferior insulation with the incorrect R-values (a rating of how well the insulation stops heat movement of), leading to bad drafts during the winter and having to put more energy into running the heating system. This poor insulation isn’t good during our long summers, either, since it allows heat to rapidly enter the home and put more strain on the AC. If your house is drafty, it’s time to do something about it! Arrange for new insulation with our experts.

Duct Insulation

Ensuring the ducts in a home have proper insulation is also important. The escape of heat through duct walls can account for a significant loss of warmth in your home when you do need to run the heater. Insulating the ducts is beneficial for the air conditioning system as well, stopping heat from raising the temperature of the cooled air. You’re probably going to be using the AC again soon during a surprise heat wave, so having your ducts effectively insulated is important no matter the time of year.

If you are looking for a service to install new insulation in Cathedral City, CA, contact us. We also offer ductwork insulation to help make your HVAC system as efficient as possible.

Russell’s Heating & Air Conditioning serves the Inland Empire and the Desert Communities. We’re open 24 hours to see to your needs.