Home Window plastic thermal barrier... Questions...

Also grab a tube of caulk, a dripless caulk gun, and start sealing around the windows.

Took me about an hour to do 20 windows in my house, and there were a ton of drafts!

The window film doesn’t look bad if you do it right. I have one window that leaks really bad, that the film started blowing up like a balloon then fell off.

New windows in the spring time for sure…

The lower of my duplex was 135 dollars last month, we keep it at 58 when at work, and 62-64 when home.

Also switch your energy provider, I’m saving almost 20 bucks a month (not much, but yours will be more)…

you may also want to check your furnace. check the filter to make sure it is clean, and watch the burners as they are running. the flame should be blue, if it is yellow/orange it may need some adjustments.

damn, in my drafty 1900sq ft house i only pay a tad over 200/month. yer shits crazy high!

The plastic heats easily. If you have any air leaks in or out of the air “pocket” then the cold air can get in there, and it is really not that efficient at that point. The whole idea behind the sealed air space is to make the heat transfer process take longer.

Normal sealed thermal glass

Roomside heat heats up the interior window pane
window pane heats up the air
air heats the next window pane
window pane loses heat to the outside.

If you have any air leaks

Roomside heat heats up the interior window pane
window pane heats up the air that leaks outside.

That’s why they use Argon/Krypton gas between panes of modern windows because that air is more dense and takes longer to heat, and slows down the heat transfer process (you can’t really eliminate it)

All in all the plastic stops the drafts.

X…

You guys are missing the point. When my furnace kicks on it runs at full blast non-stop until the program switches to 50. Even if i let it get down to 30, it wouldn’t make a difference.

then your house leaks like a sieve.

where is the tstat itself located?

the furnace should run until the tstat warms up to set temp, then shutoff. if the tstat is next to an open window, it’ll run constantly.

does the apt actually warm up or do you have a POS tstat?

same here; I’m ~1700sqft though…

Damn $300 just for heat is crazy. I live in ATL and have a 775sqft apartment that is all electric. I keep the temp at 72 all day ever day and my bill was $58 for last month. My mom used to use the plastic on the windows and she says it helps.

How old is your house? A lot of the older ones don’t have any insulation in the walls.

It’s old and it’s a carriage house…

Well talk to your landlord and get him to do something about it. I was looking at investment properties about six months ago, A 2800 sq ft double would have cost me about 2 grand to insulate with blown in. Does he live there too?

Just cause your gas bill is $300 doesn’t mean it is all for heating the house. Unless your furnace is the only thing in your house that runs on gas.

I just put 40 rolls of insulation in the attic to help a little…
New windows are next…

plastic is for poor people. x2

If it leaks that bad, move out.

X…

We did it at the house we are renting. It helped a bunch.
Looks ghetto but we keep the blinds shut anyways so who cares.

Heating is a good chunk of it. Insulating the walls will help if they’re empty right now.

Seriously… My buddy was paying huge money for an allentown apartment for years, and his heating bill was insane.

Very old houses…

not too mention all of the moiture capture and impending mold.

I would not be surprised if your heating bills become more than your rent, that would be a red flag to get out

Not totally true, alot of old insulation sags and often falls down within the walls, plus back then the R value of insulation isnt where it is theses days.

6 out of the 8 houses that I looked at in South Buffalo had none. I’m talking about houses that were built a century ago.