Cold Air Coming Through Wall Outlets

Even in newer homes where building inspectors generally enforce fire codes that require those holes to be air sealed attic air still gets into the wall from the gap.

Cold air coming through wall outlets.

Think of the amount of heat you d lose. Remove the cover of all the electrical outlets that are on outside walls. Hole in your ceiling. It s winter and your home is closed up tight to keep out the cold air but you still feel a draft.

Electrical outlets fitted to an outside wall can allow cold air to leak into your home so you need to stop it. Air infiltration occurs when outside air finds its way inside your house. The reason for this is simple. Most people notice this in the winter when cold air blows through a wall outlet on an exterior wall.

Sometimes especially in older homes and on exterior walls light switch boxes and electrical outlets can let in outside air if they are not insulated properly according to the u s. When that moisture vapor gets into the stud cavity the vapor turns to water ice dependent on the wall cavity temperature and condenses on the first surface that allows it. In older homes those holes weren t sealed. Where could it be coming from.

You can expect higher heating and cooling bills if you have a lot of air infiltrating into your home. What you dont feel is the warm moist air leaving your hose thru the outlets and switches on the negative side carrying warm air and moisture vapor. The items you should buy are foam wall plate insulators outlet gaskets and child safety outlet plugs as shown in this image. The small air gaps around electrical boxes on exterior walls and ceilings leak more air than you might imagine.

Even if a wall or ceiling is sufficiently insulated the insulation may have been cut away to make room for the electrical boxes which means these spots become conduits for cold air to pass through from the outside. Department of energy s doe oak ridge national laboratory. And on walls where there is no insulation or insufficient insulation cold air circulating inside the wall finds a perfect pathway into living. If you want to see just how much cold air is entering your house through an electrical outlet hold a paper tissue over one to check.

When you combine that with the. Or in the summer when the hot 100 f air finds its way into your cool inside living space. Gap around just six ceiling boxes is the equivalent of cutting a 4 in. If the tissue flaps or moves around it is because there is a draft coming through the outlet.

While it s still just cool weather this is a good time to stock up on supplies before the prices jump and stores run out of them. Because the wires that came to that switch or outlet probably came through holes drilled through the top or bottom of that wall. In fact a mere 1 8 in.