Our first home was a duplex with fairly decent windows then we bought our turn of the century home. It had old wood windows with no locks on them and storm windows to make them a bit more energy efficient. By storm windows, I mean storm windows. We took the glass storms off when the nicer weather hit, replacing them with screens and visa versa when the cooler weather hit. Now this was the way it was when I was growing up so I thought that was the norm. We lived there for eleven years, tolerating all of the drafts. When we bought our next house, a back-split in a nice subdivision, I discovered windows don't need to be drafty. Fast forward to this house, built in 1994. The windows have built-in locks.
Window locks are more than providing security. I have a lot of problems with my ears so aside of the intense itching, certain noises seriously hurt my ears and they don't have to be loud either. Think, the low hum of the refrigerator or that low whistling of air coming in a window just cracked open. Shortly after moving in, we had the AC on and all the windows shut. I could hear a whistling that almost drove me nuts trying to find where it was coming from. Eventually I tracked it down to our bedroom where we had shut but not locked the window. What was happening is the AC was causing a small amount of air to be sucked in that window. I locked the window and the noise went away. Most would not ever have noticed the slight whistle but because my ears are so sensitive, I noticed it.
Locking your windows when using your HVAC system saves you money. The lock pulls the window tighter, creating a more effective seal preventing air leakage or air infiltration. If your windows do not have locks and they should for security purposes, it is quite an easy and inexpensive DIY project. So do take advantage of window locks to help save a bit of energy and money using your HVAC system.
Garden Gnome
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