SHOCKING Savings ! - Air Sealing Outlets and Switches -

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Күн бұрын

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@dolfinwriter5389 11 ай бұрын

Retired career Navy electrician here--The dirt down in those switches brings up something I've found in my current house that's 45 YO as I'm replacing every outlet and switch in the house. I break open the old ones to scrap out the brass in them, and they are all filled with dust bunnies. I consider that a fire hazard, and this video gave me a great idea of inserting those child proofing caps into every unused outlet. If your outlets are old, I recommend you replace them before you do this, or while you're at it.

@flannelguydiy6458 11 ай бұрын

Thank you for the helpful comment. Yes my recommendation at the end of the video was to replace them.

@dolfinwriter5389 11 ай бұрын

@@flannelguydiy6458 I was watching this late last night, and I think I fell asleep on it before I got to the end. I HAD to replace a lot of mine because they were so worn out that if you plugged something in, the plug would just fall out on the floor. I knew that was also a potential high resistance connection even if it stayed plugged in. On doing this, I have found some wires got hot--my guess is they were overloaded by plug extensions and such. I'm not sure why they needed to do that with 4 outlets in every room, but maybe because of the ones that were worn out. I just got a thermal imaging attachment for my phone, so I can plug in a 1500 watt heater and do that check on all of them under load. Plus previous owner had somebody spray paint the yuckiest color inside--EVERYTHING--walls, trim, door frames, outlets, switches. They did take off the cover plates so all the wires got a good coat of paint inside the boxes too. I have to sand the paint off of the ground wires in all of them. Every switch and outlet in this house is backstabbed too, which I'm also remedying. That reminds me, in my last house and in this house I always find the boxes with a bunch of previous remodeling debris in them, so I always vacuum them out while I'm at it. Now you've given me another chore to go around and seal up all of these boxes! I'm going to airseal the attic at the tops of all the walls too, but every little bit...!

@mannys9130 9 ай бұрын

Ooooo that's a good point sparky. I always turn my things off with switches before unplugging them or plugging them in, but sometimes that isn't possible and some people don't do that (too much work, lazy society). So each time a plug is inserted into the receptacle full of dust, there's a small spark as the load instantaneously meets the line and becomes live right away. That spark could start a fire. Your worn out receptacles are yet another equally scary possibility, as you already correctly pointed out the poor connection was causing excessive resistance and heat buildup at the prongs of the plug. Housefires are one of my worst nightmares. Losing everything (including my cat if he ends up stuck inside) and being homeless scares me to death and I'd be utterly hopeless. I'd probably puke if my little cat was burned up too. :( I don't even buy cheap Chinese wall wart transformers anymore for phone charging etc because they have such terrible engineering and risk a fire when nobody is home. I'd almost rather just die in the fire and be gone, it's THAT traumatizing of an experience to go through. My elementary school friend went through it. It was heartbreaking to hear the bully say "You stink! Are those the only clothes you own or does Daddy not love you enough to buy you new ones?" She cried. I know now it was because they had no washing machine, shower, or spare money to buy new clothes or go to the Laundromat. The Red Cross couldn't keep them in a shelter forever... :(

@dolfinwriter5389 9 ай бұрын

@@mannys9130 Very sad about your grade school friend. I despise bullies. I hope your friend has been able to move on from that tragedy and travesty to a better life.

@thursdaythought7201 5 ай бұрын

New outlets have child safety gates that block the outlets when not in use. I imagine it helps prevent dust bunnies from getting inside.

@rogercarroll1663 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the "university of my garage" line. I laughed out loud.

@flannelguydiy6458 Жыл бұрын

Glad you liked it!

@matthewboatman705 11 ай бұрын

I recently renovated my attached garage walls from a 1980's home I purchased. Two of them are shared with the house. After demo I discovered that electrical boxes in the garage walls were passing air to the electrical boxes in my living room. The pink fiberglass insulation between them was stained dark purple and black from the airflow depositing dirt and dust from the air and onto the fiberglass like an air filter. But that's not the worst! In the crawl space under my house, I discovered a 9X14 inch opening under the furnace that opened to the return air flow. It was hidden by the R-19 fiberglass floor insulation bats. The 14-foot bat was stained a pretty lavender to black for 9 feet of its length! This dated back to the original construction of the house in 1986. Which meant that about 1/3 of the return air going back into the furnace and into the house was air from the vented crawl space. The previous owner had complained about air quality issues. I wonder why!?! I am the 5th owner of this property, and this was not spotted by at least 4 home inspections. A 3-inch-thick layer of foam board and spray foam fixed it.

@flannelguydiy6458 10 ай бұрын

It is good that you found it. I am sure there are more cavities in your home that you did not find yet. Horrible building practices

@incognitotorpedo42 13 күн бұрын

That's the kind of repair that gives you the most satisfaction.

@thepimento 10 ай бұрын

Like with child safety caps, if you have a permanently plugged item (e.g. lamp) you can use the knockout gasket on the plug. Great content and ideas.

@Lughnerson Жыл бұрын

I did every outlet, light switch, and cable pass, everywhere with caulk around the side, not foam. A slight side benefit is that the house seems a bit quieter on the high frequency noises, but not the bass. Some will argue it has no sound effect, but I disagree. Just survey your house, count how many you need, then buy a big box of the covers and start.

@OleGit1497 10 ай бұрын

Here is what I found. It' was caused by the vapour barrier behind the box and in front of the insulation not being sealed. I pulled the recepticals out and sprayed foam in through the gaps/openings in the back of the metal boxes to resolve. Good idea to shut the power off to the outlet, first. Wait for foam to set/cure, trim any that may come through inside the box or around into the room. The put recepticles back and power up.

@incognitotorpedo42 13 күн бұрын

This one scares me a little, because now when the wires are heavily loaded, they can't shed heat because they are insulated. The cured foam is probably flammable too, and you don't want flammable stuff in the box.

@Jan2010new 2 жыл бұрын

@9:36-10:02 Thanks for the tip about using the knockouts under the child safety caps. 👍 Makes it easier to remove the caps when you need to, too.

@flannelguydiy6458 2 жыл бұрын

Glad it helped....now you can help me by sharing this video on Facebook

@BerniBernsify 11 ай бұрын

Awesome 👍 I have cold air blowing in my light switches. I'm going to take care of these and use the saftey covers I found. I thought they were useless since there aren't children. Glad I didn't immediately toss them

@flannelguydiy6458 11 ай бұрын

Glad I could help

@TheGreatConstantini 6 ай бұрын

We own a condo. When I replaced all of the sockets and switches I could feel a lot of air and I mean a lot. Especially on the inside walls between units. We are in a middle unit. Turns out the dryers are vented at the ends of walls to the outside and they did not seal well around the venting. So not only did have a lot of air but moisture. Sealed the sockets and sealed the dryer vent at both ends. Mucho better.

@michaelfranks341 2 жыл бұрын

Best to hold the spray foam upside down when spraying it

@shawn6374 2 жыл бұрын

When I seen that I knew he has no clue what he’s doing including the mess he made cause you have total control of that stuff.

@TrollEater 10 ай бұрын

@@shawn6374Yeah, having just gone through six cans sealing my attic it was pretty cringy watching him try to do this.

@edwardluth7740 Жыл бұрын

Air in the winter can also blow in those outlets. I’ve worked on all of mine and it is tedious time consuming.

@flannelguydiy6458 Жыл бұрын

thanks for watching!

@AJ_Lyon46 26 күн бұрын

Worth noting that pulling the outlets is best and using the blue can of foam for windows and doors that doesnt expand like a paycho! Good info here

@nathanbennett9025 10 ай бұрын

He’s not crazy I do hvac and every time the hvac is on it’s pulling air from around all the light fixtures plugs and light switches as long as it has a gap your hvac will pull air everytime the hvac is running

@flannelguydiy6458 10 ай бұрын

yep! Now can you convince my wife that I am not crazy?

@clarefolson1134 Жыл бұрын

Great video. My only note is that it’s not advisable to use expanding spray foam. It’s flammable and even if you scrap it off if the tiniest bit gets inside it could ignite a fire. Otherwise we’ll dine

@spencerd1079 Жыл бұрын

It literally says on the companies website you can use it in this manner and that it is fire retardant.

@kristoffMR 11 ай бұрын

Whole damn house is flammable!

@TheGreatConstantini 6 ай бұрын

Our dimmers get hot. Is it good idea to seal them? They would get hotter wouldn’t they.

@mengvaj87 2 жыл бұрын

Oh I believe it, that air can and could come through the outlet. Not just air can but smokes air, I had these two old couple that live in a unit and I was in the next door unit during work... all the time when I walk into the room I can smell the smoke air coming through the outlet and that was the only outlet between the unit and my temporary unit. It was so bad that I have to seal up the floor and outlet. They where mad because I was making so much noise but i told them to stop smoking inside their unit so it doesn't come into my side.

@evezford 2 жыл бұрын

I live above smokers. I second hand smoke several packs a day now, lol. I'm going to try to seal all the gaps around the outlets and anywhere else that needs it. The building wasn't made that well and the walls are hollow so of course we all get to share our indoor air. Buildings should be made better so people can do as they will without impacting others. I don't blame the smokers. I do wish I'd known before buying my unit, though.

@mengvaj87 2 жыл бұрын

@@evezford yes it sucks a lot dealing with smoker, I don't know how you feel but it's like being in a Casino for an hour and that's all you smell. It sucks too because when I opened the window and they'll have their door cracked open and all the smoke that is stuck inside their unit will come inside the window too. 🙄 will I'm happy that I'm not in that unit anymore and at a better location 😌

@pizzanpepsi 2 жыл бұрын

@@evezford I would blame the landloard and it would be real hard not to put any blame at all on the smokers, but thats why I wouldnt be able to rent anymore!

@JB-ro7kv Жыл бұрын

haha no kidding while I was watching this I got a thin peice of plastci held it over my outlet.. and watched the cold air blowing in :) well I guess I add this to the bucketlist and start saving up the 10-20$ :) then again live in zone 5 with lath and plaster house no wall insullation and just a thin coat the the blown lint stuff in the ceiling - have big dreams to insullate some day LOL... thanks for the tip

@Herogaze Жыл бұрын

Bro forget trying to fix up that house, you gotta get to a better country where you can make more money.

@dianealbrecht718 11 ай бұрын

Turn power off ! Drill holes next to box same diameter as spray noozle, insert noozle into holes the same depth of the box and spay . If nessary pull plug out off the box if foam comes into box. Let foam dry 24 hours, scrape any dried foam out of box and off wires ! Foam is easily removed. Living room is 15 degrees warmer ! Yay !

@flannelguydiy6458 11 ай бұрын

15 degrees?????? what the hell? what kind of holes did you have in that room?

@AJ_Lyon46 26 күн бұрын

@@flannelguydiy6458I live in a 1700s house, every single time we do any improvement I gain multiple degrees in any given room. It's pretty incredible

@gregolas597 Жыл бұрын

PSA: ALWAYS wear gloves when handling any foam products no matter how small of a job. That stuff is highly toxic when wet and should be respected!!

@cmilosevich8796 Жыл бұрын

I’m replacing screw-in outlet wall plates with Leviton’s screwless/snap-on wall plates (e.g. Leviton 80301-SW). Has anyone found a foam weatherproof gasket for these? They are slimmer and the snap-on mechanism adds complexity to weatherproofing. Thanks.

@flannelguydiy6458 Жыл бұрын

I have not

@s.h.5726 2 жыл бұрын

Anyone see an improvement in heating or heating bill go down any?

@coblaze1 2 жыл бұрын

no. the improvement is marginal

@GiraffeChaser 2 жыл бұрын

The top review on the amazon link you provided shows how flammable it is. Does this worry you?

@KaeganThornhillTheCyberRaven 2 жыл бұрын

It's only should be an issue if you place it inside the box or on the wires their-selves. But the way he shows only tell you to fill in the space Around the box a little bit and Not to pump it in deep. So there should be no worries unless the Box is faulty or if the fiberglass in the wall catches fire first.

@flannelguydiy6458 2 жыл бұрын

it is commonly used in new construction to prevent air leaks and to pass the blow test. You can spray it outside of the box, but not in the box

@mehmd1913 7 ай бұрын

Why not use some spackle for around the outlets and use the foam pads?

@NDcompetitiveshooter 5 ай бұрын

Good question. The flexible caulk is less likely to break the air seal when repeatedly plugging and unplugging things from the outlet. The spackle against the box may crack and leak under the stress of using the outlet.

@fullsend1854 2 жыл бұрын

Hello and thanks. What can you spray or apply inside the box where the wires come through and knockouts exist etc? Fire foam or silicone caulk?

@securitysam 2 жыл бұрын

Nothing. I made this mistake and had to clean the mess. It took hours. Learn from my mistake. This would be a fire hazard. When wires pass current they heat up. Research done on wires with current showed that foam making contact with the wire significantly increased the temperature of the wire. But his instruction was spot on. I loved the deal of the foam seal around the outlet. Hadn’t considered doing that before. I’m honestly pretty sure it’s going to work for my usecase without the spray or foam.

@wellsnapyeah 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the tips

@kaerzesavoy4018 2 жыл бұрын

Looked on your channel, we have a huge amount of weather sealing to do, and I need to get it all done before our cool season ends, live down in the SW, temps up to 120! That’s wnen we ‘hibernatecan’t find those videos on your site.

@evezford 2 жыл бұрын

Dear Flannel Guy, do you have a video where you seal a circuit breaker panel like the one in back of you at the beginning of this video? I live in a second floor apartment above another unit. We all have hollow walls and the panel lets in a lot of cigarette smoke from the downstairs neighbor. I'm buying those outlet sealers and thank you so much for the instructions!

@flannelguydiy6458 2 жыл бұрын

you can buy a tube of fire caulk and seal up the holes