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I’ve been busy scurrying around the attic air sealing anything that’s got a gap. Got a few ceiling light electrical boxes and been thinking of ways to air seal them so no air from the rooms leak up into the attic.
Filling the box from the room side with foam doesn’t seem like the way to go, although it would be air sealed shut.
Thought about using a tupperware bowl (or coolwhip bowl) from the attic side. Glue it down over the electrical box with a notch for wires, and seal the notch. Dump cells over the whole thing. Anyone see any problems with this idea, code-wise or other-wise? It’s not a recessed light, so no extra heat. Just wires for ceiling fan.
Is there an easier way than a flipped over plastic bowl?
TIA, Phil
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Hi Fred,
Did you get my e-mail in response to yours? Haven't heard back from you.
Steve
*On the house I am building, I plugged up the holes in/around my ceiling electrical boxes using some fire rated caulk (from the top side). The stuff dries to about the consistency of silicone. I was thinking about going around the edges of the exterior wall receptacle boxes and switch boxes with the same. I already did the backs of them, as best I could, before the drywall was installed.It seems like electrical box manufacturers don't give a hoot about air leakage.The ones I haven't quite figured out yet are the bath fans. They have about 4 of what look like vent slots in the sides - each about 1" x 1/4". Maybe they are there for a reason??Could I just tape over them? I have some really good duct tape that has a plastic backing that you peal to expose the adhesive. Very sticky stuff!
*I sealed the bath fan up tight regardless, and sealed the perimeter to the plaster with spray foam. the expensive $99 gun Freddy alludes to can be avoided if you buy the $19 gun that lasts only about 6 mos. (mine). A big can of foam is $15 from http://www.efi.org. The difference from those disposable areosol cans is night and day, you'll never go back -- the gun gives you so much control. There are also airtight boxes available from efi, don't know how well they work. Check the website or give them a call, they're nice folks. Had a chat a few days ago, and the fellow admitted that is was useless to talk about "payback" with an HRV, it was more an air quality issue.The best air seal would be a surface mount ceiling box with just a wire penetration behind it! Or, for the fanatic (Gene Leger), surface conduit too.P.S. If Microsoft built bath fans, it would be the dominant fan on the market, aside from a fruitcake fan company that everyone insisted wouldn't be in business for long. A new MS fan wouldn't work without 10 hours of tinkering. Then they would run in reverse. By the time you got them to function properly, you'd have to buy an upgrade with unnecessary features to get the necessary performance. But even then the fan would periodically refuse to exhaust for no apparent reason, requiring you to reinstall it from scratch. And don't even ask why they put a video camera in the damn things, it'll just make your FBI file thicker. :)
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I've been busy scurrying around the attic air sealing anything that's got a gap. Got a few ceiling light electrical boxes and been thinking of ways to air seal them so no air from the rooms leak up into the attic.
Filling the box from the room side with foam doesn't seem like the way to go, although it would be air sealed shut.
Thought about using a tupperware bowl (or coolwhip bowl) from the attic side. Glue it down over the electrical box with a notch for wires, and seal the notch. Dump cells over the whole thing. Anyone see any problems with this idea, code-wise or other-wise? It's not a recessed light, so no extra heat. Just wires for ceiling fan.
Is there an easier way than a flipped over plastic bowl?
TIA, Phil