By A Renewable Energy Enthusiast

Many home owners do not know this, the power outlets on your home are actually air leaks. The amount of air leakage may be small, but multiplied by the number of power outlets at your home, the amount can be substantial.

During cold weather, you may not be able to feel the cold air coming in through the power outlets, but your thermostat will feel it.

In order to maintain the ambient temperature, the thermostat will make the heater run longer and harder thus costing you money.

When a house is built, throughout the power outlet electrical boxes, the insulation goes around it and there’s only about 2 inches thick. That is not enough to retain much heat.

How do you check for air leaks from power outlets?

You’ll need to get the TLD100 thermal detection device from Black & Decker.

Shine the TLD100 about 1 foot away from the power outlet to get a temperature reference. Go around the outlet cover and see where the light turns blue. That shows the area is colder due to cold air seeping in.

Note down what is the temperature difference. If it is more than 3 to 5 degree, you’ll need to seal it.

How do you prevent air from coming in through the power outlet?

You can solve that problem very easily and cheaply.

Get some of those baby safety plugs that you put into the outlet holes so babies won’t be able to put their fingers in and get electrocuted.

Believe it or not, putting the plugs into the outlet really do help to prevent air seepage. These safety plugs are very cheap. You can get them from Amazon.com.

When you’ve sealed the outlet, use the TLD100 again and check the temperature difference. There shouldn’t be much temperature variance now.

Where can you get the Black & Decker TLD100?

You can get it also from Amazon.com with free shipping.

Related web pages:

1) Earth4 Energy Scam – Is The Earth4Energy E-book A Fraud?

Here a tip on fixing air leaks at your house. Do you have a microwave up on a wall or cabinet with a vent that blows air out? Guess what, it is costing you money even when it is not turned on!

How could that happened?

During cold winter days, the warm air in the room is seeping out the vent. The worst thing is, cold air from the outside is being blown into the house through the vent!

To check whether your microwave is an air leak in your house is simple. Get the Black & Decker TLD100 and use it to check the temperature of the microwave and its surrounding area.

Most probably, you will find the surrounding area is much warmer that the microwave. If the temperature difference is very big, you’ll have a problem there. This basically means there is a big gaping hole where the hot air is escaping.

The microwave using a vent that is blowing off all the cooking smoke will come out off one of the vents by the side of your house. The problem is, the vent is not very well insulated. If you were to look closely, it is just a piece of flimsy tin cover.

When there is a strong gasp of wind, the cover will open and letting the cold air into your warm room.

Guess what? You may not be able to feel the cold air coming it, but the thermostat will sense it.

The thermostat will then keep the heater running harder and longer. That is how the wall microwave will cost you money even though it is switched off.

How do you fix this problem?

Sadly, there is not a lot you can do to fix this issue. What you can do is seal all the surrounding area around the microwave to make sure no hot air is getting out and no cold air is getting in.

When you’ve finished with the seal, use the Black & Decker TLD100 again to check the surface temperature.

Looking for leaks around the windows, doors and areas around your house you would never check?

There’s a very cool gadget I just got from Amazon.com, it is the Black & Decker TLD100. It is such a cool tool you’ll think it is a device from Star Trek!

It uses laser technology to detect temperature. Well, laser temperature detection gadgets have been around for quite awhile. So, what’s different about the Black & Decker TLD100? Check this out…

First, you point it at the area you are looking for the temperature. Let’s take a door as an example. You switch on the TLD100 and point it at the door. It will give you a reference temperature. You will see a green light on the door. The green light will indicate the reference temperature of the door.

In the front of the device, there is a “selector” to choose either a 1 degree hotter or colder, the light emitted by the device will change. A blue light will indicate the surface is 1 degree colder than the reference temperature. The red light indicates it is 1 degree hotter. It is that simple.

You can choose the selector to 1, 5 or 10 degree settings. At 1 degree, the device is already very sensitive which is great if you are checking for minute temperature differences.

How do you use the TLD100?

You start of by pointing it to the surface of the door and you will get the temperature. What we want to check are air leaks around the door. Move the light to the crack of the door and if you see the light turns blue, it means the temperature is lower because air is seeping in. The device will also indicate the exact temperature of the door crack area. Awesome!

Move the light all the way around the door jam and mark any area with a blue light shined on it. Cold air is seeping into your house and you have to seal it.

You may not be able to feel the cold air coming into the room through the door, but the thermostat will feel it and it will let the heater go on and spiking your electricity bill.

If you were to seal the sides of the door, it may cost you maybe $4 to $5 and it would definitely worth your while to put it in. The amount of money you save on the long run will be substantial.

What you can do now is take the TLD100 around your house and look for other air leaks. It is fun and it’ll save you money.

Where can you get the Black & Decker TLD100?

I got it from Amazon.com with free shipping included. Click on the link below for more information.