Specification Sheet

Fireplaces
Glass doors don’t stop the drafts either. The fireplace is like a giant straw sucking your expensive heated or air-
conditioned air right out of your house!
An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a Fireplace Plug to your fireplace. Available from Battic Door, a
company known for their energy conservation products, the Fireplace Plug is an inflatable pillow that seals the
fireplace damper, eliminating drafts, odors, and noise. The pillow is removed whenever the fireplace is used, then
reinserted after.
Clothes Dryer Exhaust Ducts
For more information on Battic Door’s energy conservation solutions and products for your home, visit
www.batticdoor.com or, to request a free catalog, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to P.O. Box 15,
Mansfield, MA 02048.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Mark D. Tyrol is a Professional Engineer specializing in cause and origin of construction defects. He
developed several residential energy conservation products including an attic stair cover and an attic access door. Battic Door is
the US distributor of the fireplace plug. To learn more visit www.batticdoor.com
Over 100 million homes, in North
America are constructed with wood or
gas burning fireplaces. Unfortunately
there are negative side effects that the
fireplace brings to a home, especially
during the winter heating season.
Fireplaces are energy losers.
Researchers have studied this to
determine the amount of heat loss
through a fireplace, and the results are
amazing. One research study showed
that an open damper on an unused
fireplace in a well-insulated house can
raise overall heating-energy consumption
by 30 percent.
A recent study showed that for many
consumers, their heating bills may be
more than $500 higher per winter due to
the drafts and wasted energy caused by
fireplaces.
Why does a home with a fireplace have
higher energy bills? Your chimney is an
opening that leads directly outdoors --
just like an open window. Even if the
damper is shut, it is not airtight.
In many homes, the room with the clothes dryer is the coldest room in the house. Your clothes
dryer is connected to an exhaust duct that is open to the outdoors. In the winter, cold drafts in
through the duct, through your dryer and into your house.
Dryer vents use a sheet-metal flapper to try to reduce these drafts. This is very primitive
technology that does not provide a positive seal to stop the drafts. Compounding the problem
is that over time, lint clogs the flapper valve causing it to stay open.
An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a dryer vent seal. This will reduce
unwanted drafts, and also keeps out pests, bees and rodents. The vent will remain closed
unless the dryer is in use. When the dryer is in use, a floating shuttle rises to allow warm air,
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