Cheers for the info, I had some insulating cell foil left over in the shed from my roof. I popped the vents out, trace around the vent, cut it slightly bigger than the vent. These then fitted perfectly in behind the vents. 6 vents all done with an hour at no cost. Excellent, Cheers :)
I use a potentially cheaper, reusable solution. I bought a sheet of 10mm plywood, and cut 4 squares the same size as the 4 louver parts of the vent. Then all you need to do in the winter, is remove the 4 louver's and put in the plywood squares in their place. You can even store the louvers on top of the plywood squares, if you fit 3 of the squares, and then place the 4 louvers on top of them, inside the duct tube. Then fit the last square The only minor downside of this, is that the squares of plywood don't fit reasonably snugly, and its very very windy, the squares lift up when there is really big gust of wind. But this only happens once or twice during the winter, so is not a big deal. You can paint the plywood squares white to match the vent, or just leave them unpainted like I do, as I like the effect.
Try cutting the squares of plywood on an angle say 80 degrees add some soft rubber and wedge it into place. If the vent is metal try adding some magnets.
If you take each vent out, cut a piece of cardboard to fit inside it and then wrap the cardboard in kitchen foil. You can make four for each ceiling vent in minutes. Much cheaper than buying the big cover and much more 'invisible' than the contact method.
Love it. I''l do another video another time - and i imagine a bit of bubble-wrap on the foil covered cardboard would also work to add extra insulation over the hole. Thanks for sharing the idea
I stole this idea - took us a couple hours to do our whole house. We got the pieces to fit pretty tightly, but there will still be a small amount of leakage. I still expect it to be much better than it was. I'm surprised by the lack of insulation and double glazing in Australia. I wonder if it's worth fitting insulation into our roof cavity. There's nothing between our concrete roof tiles and the roof cavity.
I've been using bin bags, to to shape, and Frog Tape (the best painter's tape) for years. I also found cardboard is even easier. I cut to just slightly larger than the four vents, leaving most of the outer vent fame exposed and hold it in place with the same Frog Tape. I've tried literally every brand of painter's tape I can find in every shop that sells it (there's only about ten types), but I found Frog Tape to be the best. It stays in place for months, without doing any damage. My reason to cover the vents is not to keep heat in. I do it because I have a-hole neighbours who have smoke illegally billowing from their chimneys. Covering the vents works helps, but smoke gets in through exhaust fans, toilet room vents and even from around sliding windows, so I use painter's tape all over the place. It keeps most of it out, but not all of it.
Thanks for the tip .. and that sounds super frustrating. It's a problem all over. Nice to be in front of the fire but terrible to be in the smoke-stream.
Heat cover seems like a great idea, I've been looking for something like this as it looks much better than the vents with movable bars. Up till now I've taken the opportunity of weather change to take all the vents down and give them a good clean. A very cheap option I use is to cut pieces of cardboard (from old unwanted cardboard boxes available free-of- charge from Bunnings) and placed these inside each square vent. This seems to work very well and all it costs is a little elbow grease to clean the vents and cut the cardboard to size. Come summer you just remove the cardboard and the vent is active. At the same time, you could insert cardboard squares inside the heating duct vents to minimize hot air coming through the system. Has anyone else tried this?
I did the same as you BUT had the cardboard on top of the vent grills. the first day with a bit of wind & the covers started moving up and down , sounded like a ghost in the roof. I changed it by the putting White cardboard under the vents. It works well.
Great video. I brought covers for all the vents in my home. To improve their performance I put bubble wrap in the space between the vent cover and the vents, you have about 40mm of space to do this. This creates an extra layer of installation. I noticed when I installed the covers that cold air was actually blowing down the ducts when the wind was blowing. The evaporative unit on the roof was acting like a giant funnel. So with open vents not only will heat escape but cold air could be blowing into the room your trying to heat or keep warm. I'm thinking of leaving them all summer if I can get away with it (eg Not turning on the air con). Some may say that leaving the vents open in summer will cool a room but surely if the air is hotter in the roof cavity during summer hot air will actually push into the room not escape. So air conditioning vent covers are a great idea with bubble wrap installation they're even better :)
Velcro works the best white in color in each corner with nice card board and a trash bag folded so you can't see it very nice n cheap I created it Velcro the card board also in each corner......
You can try wrapping them in a layer of bubble wrap so they wedge in a bit better. The magnetic covers come from HeatSaver in Australia. Well worth the investment. We've got ours on now and it's a huge difference. They are made to measure for different vent sizes but they will happily give you a quote. Around $40/cover I think.
Theoretically you could tape the plastic on the inside of the vent, unscrew the vent cover, place the plastic inside on top of the vent cover and it will do the same thing minus the appearance aspect.
I use thick plastic to seal the cooler from the outside. Next I stuff pillows or foam inside the cooler to cut further down on the wind that leaks through. Then I put more ugly plastic material on the inside of my house. I like your way better.
It really works and is a bit easier. Although the clear contact sticky stuff can get stuck in your hair! I think the investment in the covers is a pretty good one. Ours have shown so sign of wear after 5 years.
The technical services department should have provided a proper platform for the lady to make her demonstration . It must have hurt her something awful to be scrunched up against the ceiling like that.
That's a good point but I've never had any trouble - maybe the contact I used was pretty un-sticky or the vent louvers were pretty dusty but other contact might be different.
Cheers for the info, I had some insulating cell foil left over in the shed from my roof. I popped the vents out, trace around the vent, cut it slightly bigger than the vent. These then fitted perfectly in behind the vents. 6 vents all done with an hour at no cost. Excellent, Cheers :)
Brilliant idea. Hope it's making a difference.
WHAT IS THE NAME OF THIS MANUFACTURER ?
I use a potentially cheaper, reusable solution.
I bought a sheet of 10mm plywood, and cut 4 squares the same size as the 4 louver parts of the vent.
Then all you need to do in the winter, is remove the 4 louver's and put in the plywood squares in their place.
You can even store the louvers on top of the plywood squares, if you fit 3 of the squares, and then place the 4 louvers on top of them, inside the duct tube. Then fit the last square
The only minor downside of this, is that the squares of plywood don't fit reasonably snugly, and its very very windy, the squares lift up when there is really big gust of wind. But this only happens once or twice during the winter, so is not a big deal.
You can paint the plywood squares white to match the vent, or just leave them unpainted like I do, as I like the effect.
Try cutting the squares of plywood on an angle say 80 degrees add some soft rubber and wedge it into place. If the vent is metal try adding some magnets.
I got mine (heat saver) this winter and they are great!
Great to hear. They really make a huge difference don't they.
@@GIYGreenItYourself yes I love them! Super easy
Where do you get them?
Fabulous - thank you! Will be investing in some covers. Look nice and modern.
They are slick and will make a huge difference I hope. If not ...onto other draught-proofing jobs as well.
WHAT IA THE NAME OF THIS MANUFACTURER ?
If you take each vent out, cut a piece of cardboard to fit inside it and then wrap the cardboard in kitchen foil. You can make four for each ceiling vent in minutes. Much cheaper than buying the big cover and much more 'invisible' than the contact method.
Love it. I''l do another video another time - and i imagine a bit of bubble-wrap on the foil covered cardboard would also work to add extra insulation over the hole. Thanks for sharing the idea
I stole this idea - took us a couple hours to do our whole house. We got the pieces to fit pretty tightly, but there will still be a small amount of leakage. I still expect it to be much better than it was. I'm surprised by the lack of insulation and double glazing in Australia. I wonder if it's worth fitting insulation into our roof cavity. There's nothing between our concrete roof tiles and the roof cavity.
PopGerald
I've been using bin bags, to to shape, and Frog Tape (the best painter's tape) for years. I also found cardboard is even easier. I cut to just slightly larger than the four vents, leaving most of the outer vent fame exposed and hold it in place with the same Frog Tape. I've tried literally every brand of painter's tape I can find in every shop that sells it (there's only about ten types), but I found Frog Tape to be the best. It stays in place for months, without doing any damage.
My reason to cover the vents is not to keep heat in. I do it because I have a-hole neighbours who have smoke illegally billowing from their chimneys. Covering the vents works helps, but smoke gets in through exhaust fans, toilet room vents and even from around sliding windows, so I use painter's tape all over the place. It keeps most of it out, but not all of it.
Thanks for the tip .. and that sounds super frustrating. It's a problem all over. Nice to be in front of the fire but terrible to be in the smoke-stream.
Heat cover seems like a great idea, I've been looking for something like this as it looks much better than the vents with movable bars. Up till now I've taken the opportunity of weather change to take all the vents down and give them a good clean. A very cheap option I use is to cut pieces of cardboard (from old unwanted cardboard boxes available free-of- charge from Bunnings) and placed these inside each square vent. This seems to work very well and all it costs is a little elbow grease to clean the vents and cut the cardboard to size. Come summer you just remove the cardboard and the vent is active. At the same time, you could insert cardboard squares inside the heating duct vents to minimize hot air coming through the system. Has anyone else tried this?
I did the same as you BUT had the cardboard on top of the vent grills. the first day with a bit of wind & the covers started moving up and down , sounded like a ghost in the roof. I changed it by the putting White cardboard under the vents. It works well.
WHAT IS THE NAME OF THIS MANUFACTURER ?
@@micwatz2361 same. i cut up stirofoam squares and as soon as the wind picks up they giggle around
Great video. I brought covers for all the vents in my home. To improve their performance I put bubble wrap in the space between the vent cover and the vents, you have about 40mm of space to do this. This creates an extra layer of installation. I noticed when I installed the covers that cold air was actually blowing down the ducts when the wind was blowing. The evaporative unit on the roof was acting like a giant funnel. So with open vents not only will heat escape but cold air could be blowing into the room your trying to heat or keep warm.
I'm thinking of leaving them all summer if I can get away with it (eg Not turning on the air con). Some may say that leaving the vents open in summer will cool a room but surely if the air is hotter in the roof cavity during summer hot air will actually push into the room not escape. So air conditioning vent covers are a great idea with bubble wrap installation they're even better :)
Melb Green Ideas Great idea. I'll let everyone know in my next newsletter.
Velcro works the best white in color in each corner with nice card board and a trash bag folded so you can't see it very nice n cheap I created it Velcro the card board also in each corner......
Where do u buy those covers ?
WHAT IS THE NAME OF THIS MANUFACTURER ?
Where do you get them?
How very very very helpful! Thank you!
We've done the square cut-outs but find they flap around in the wind. Where can I get these magnetic covers from and how much are they?
You can try wrapping them in a layer of bubble wrap so they wedge in a bit better. The magnetic covers come from HeatSaver in Australia. Well worth the investment. We've got ours on now and it's a huge difference. They are made to measure for different vent sizes but they will happily give you a quote. Around $40/cover I think.
heatsaver.com.au/ , I'm just about to install mine.
I know this is a old video, but is the product still availible, i see heatsaver website is down?
Sadly I think they've shut up shop. I'll see if I can find another supplier
Theoretically you could tape the plastic on the inside of the vent, unscrew the vent cover, place the plastic inside on top of the vent cover and it will do the same thing minus the appearance aspect.
Awesome, $5 for 5 metres of that stuff at officeworks, did the whole house easy. It won't gunk your covers either, easy as.
WHAT IS THE NAME OF THIS MANUFACTURER ?
Heat Saver Vents (although sadly I think they are retiring and haven't found anyone to buy their business.)
Thanks very informative
Glad it was helpful!
I use thick plastic to seal the cooler from the outside. Next I stuff pillows or foam inside the cooler to cut further down on the wind that leaks through. Then I put more ugly plastic material on the inside of my house. I like your way better.
It really works and is a bit easier. Although the clear contact sticky stuff can get stuck in your hair! I think the investment in the covers is a pretty good one. Ours have shown so sign of wear after 5 years.
You can buy magnetic sheets
I'll have to look into that. Have you got a ink?
The technical services department should have provided a proper platform for the lady to make her demonstration . It must have hurt her something awful to be scrunched up against the ceiling like that.
I'll pass it on ... the technical services department is busy washing dishes at the moment!
Even easier is to use an AC Draftshield - only take seconds to install and take off - www.acdraftshield.com.au
www.acdraftshields.com.au/
It is good. I'm yet to do a video on it and test them out with the blower door test but they look like they should work.
You are too expensive, your product costs you $3.00 to make and you are selling it for $30.00. That’s not smart
Good luck removing all the sticky gunk off the grill from the contact...
That's a good point but I've never had any trouble - maybe the contact I used was pretty un-sticky or the vent louvers were pretty dusty but other contact might be different.
Wait i have this at home
Do it - make as huge difference with EVAPORATIVE coolers. (not for your standard Air Con though)