BY Adam Wasch, Energy Outreach Consultant for CCHRC and UAF CES
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner January 15th, 2009, Section A3
The latest cold snap in Fairbanks has created some interesting ice formations, particularly around door jams, windows, and roofs. Huge differences between indoor and outdoor temperatures cause poorly sealed homes to act like big chimneys, drawing cold air in through cracks and gaps lower down in a house and pushing warmer, vapor-laden air out the top through roof joints and other openings – a phenomenon called vapor drive. Ice forms wherever super-cold air meets with the relatively warm moist air of our indoor living spaces, whether around front doors or under eaves. One troubling ice formation in my house looks like Béla Lugosi. My cat hisses at its shadow. Continue reading