Addressing heat loss#
Addressing the heat loss in a building before putting in a new heating system may reduce your installation costs because you’ll be able to get away with a smaller system. It will also reduce your running costs. The measures that reduce draughts both reduce your costs and make people comfortable at a lower temperature.
You have to be careful when you take heat loss measures to make sure there is still adequate ventilation. This keeps the building dry and the people in it healthy.
Do we need an air tightness test?
Air tightness is a big part of addressing heat loss. There are companies that can measure air tightness using a blower door to reduce the air pressure in the building and see how fast air from outside leaks in. However, this will only tell you how leaky the building is, not where the leaks are. It might be useful if there’s a lot of uncertainty, for instance, about the size of heat pump you need, but they’re mostly used for checking the quality of new buildings.
A more general energy efficiency survey might be more useful to you, as might thermography done well - using a thermal imaging camera to identify the areas with the biggest heat loss.