Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine January 2026

HVACR NewsMagazine January 2026

Energy Talk

HVAC equipment. A quarter inch gap, the width of a door allowing attic air into the envelope can make all the difference in HVAC performance. The next time you have the opportunity, switch your central fan on then hold the back of your hand next to your kitchen sink cabinet or lavatory doors. You will likely feel air pulled from the wall via the plumbing space open to the attic. When we are uncomfortable in our homes, the first thing we blame is the HVAC system. Insulation upgrades While insulation is a quick way to drive down energy consumption, each individual home should be evaluated correctly. Homes should have the insulation levels reviewed every fifteen to twenty years or more often if work has been done in the attic. Electrical upgrades or repair, communication cabling, duct modification or repair or even having a new roof installed can degrad insulation values to a great degree. Rodent infestation can destroy insulation values in short order. New insulation value is measured by calculating R Value per inch of the installed products. Various products will have differing values making it important to select products carefully. Over time and left undisturbed, insulation will settle with the help of gravity and air flow in ventilated attics. Another point is the fact that measuring performance of insulation is not a linear calculation. If I insulate a room that is 10’ x 10’ to a R -30 value, and it has an attic access hatch of 24” x24”, (4% of the ceiling space) and I fail to insulate the hatch, the effective R value of the entire room is degraded to R-17. That is a reduction of almost 50% just by

missing a small quantity. Another example: If we measure overall performance of a home of 1500 square feet, with an R-30 attic and it has a 300 square foot living room ceiling that is inaccessible and insulated to R-13, the most the home can be improved without major reconstruction is approximately an R-17. For clarification if you were to perform one single action to increase efficiency for your home, you would be sure no thermal bypasses exist and then add insulation provided it was below R 25, which is about 8 to 10 inches of existing insulation depending upon the type. If you want to take an educated guess at your existing values, simply measure the insulation at the lowest point and multiply by 2. 8 inches of fiber glass insulation will give a little over an R-16. Thermal bypasses are areas of construction that allow attic heat beneath upper floors or in-between walls. If improvements are done that require a permit, you may be requested to meet current insulation code requirements. When it comes to adding foam to better insulate, please refer to the paragraph titled Foam as an upgrade below. Window upgrades Window upgrades are most often sold with bold claims of energy savings. Technically the claims are valid as energy savings are related to window types and models, especially when you compare old windows to new windows. The fact is, “ windows make terrible walls.” For this reason, windows do not use the same terminology when measuring efficiency as walls do. Wall construction efficiency value is advertised by R Value, and