Seal All Those Cooler Vents for $5.37

NOB HILL--Probably the most overlooked heat waster is that vent on your wall or ceiling for your swamp cooler. Now if your cooler uses the same ductwork as your heater, forget about it. But if you have a separate vent for that swamper on your roof, then maybe you can save a lot of money very quickly.

The problem is that an uncovered vent in your ceiling means there is nothing keeping the heat in your house except the canvas cover on your cooler. Even if your duct has a "cookie sheet" to cut off air flow, it really is a big, big loser. One way to fix it is to remove the grate and stuff insulation or your kid's stuffed panda into the duct. Unfortunately in many of the older houses in Albuquerque, the screws holding the grate up are barely hanging on to the plaster or sheetrock. You just can't be taking the grill off every year and have everything hold together. My old house with its home-made plenum and plastered walls is a case in point. Half the screws have already fallen out because there is absolutely nothing for them to screw into. And to make matters worse, I have three cooler vents.

There are magnetic vent covers. They work on floor vents. They don't work on walls or ceilings--they just fall off..

So I looked for another solution: something that would seal the vent effectively without pulling the grill off the wall. I won't tell you about my failures. (Please ignore those unusual looking holes in the middle of one vent cover). Here's what worked.

Materials
• A sheet of foam board
• A roll of 1/4 in. x 1/2 in. foam tape
• A box of "sticky back" Velcro squares

Tools
• Knife
• Straight edge
• Ruler (A framing square will work for both the straight edge and the ruler).

Procedure
Cut a piece of foam board that covers the louvers and about half an inch beyond. You don't want it to extend beyond the grate. Also it should be small enough to not cover the screws holding the grate.

You will notice that the louvers are not flush with the surrounding frame; they stick up a little bit. So do those screws. Because of this the foam board will not sit snugly on the grate without running a piece of weatherstripping around the outside of it. Make sure you leave an empty space for a Velcro square on each corner. Attach the fuzzy side of the Velcro squares to the corners. Finally, peel off the protective tape on the weatherstripping.

Now put the other half of the Velcro squares in the corners of the grate.

Stick the foam on the grill. Press firmly. The stickum on the back of the Velcro squares does not fully dry for 24 hours so resist the temptation to demonstrate ease of use to the rest of the family until tomorrow.

Cost
I got a 20x30" foam board at Hobby Lobby for $1.99.
The foam tape is $2.99 anywhere.
Velcro squares are $2.69 at Office Depot.
That totals out to $7.67 plus tax.

Anyway, for the truly cost conscious, I there is a 30% tax credit for energy products. In that case total net cost is $5.37. Not bad for something that might save you close to $100 this winter.