Is Your Home Losing Heat Without You Knowing It?

If your home feels cozy one minute and drafty the next, it’s not your imagination — it’s your heat sneaking out through tiny gaps, cracks, and leaks you can’t even see. Across Oregon and Washington, especially in older Gorge and Gresham-area homes, invisible heat loss is one of the biggest reasons winter energy bills skyrocket.

At A&E Plumbing, Heating and Air, we’ve spent more than 17 years helping homeowners throughout the Columbia River Gorge and Portland Metro track down and fix these hidden energy drains. We know exactly where heat likes to escape and how to stop it.

By the end of this article, you’ll know how to find hidden drafts using simple, low-cost methods — and when it’s time to call in a professional to keep every bit of warmth where it belongs: inside your home.

Our Expertise Along the Columbia River Gorge

At A&E Plumbing, Heating and Air, we’ve spent more than 17 years serving homeowners throughout Oregon and Washington — from historic houses in Hood River to new builds in Gresham and Troutdale. Our team specializes in finding and fixing the small details that make a big difference: sealing ductwork, improving airflow, upgrading insulation, and tuning HVAC systems for maximum efficiency.

When you live in the Pacific Northwest, you can’t control the rain, the wind, or the cold, but you can control how your home holds its heat.

Why Heat Loss Happens (and How It’s Sneakier Than You Think)

Heat loss isn’t always obvious. It’s not just the big cracks or gaps you can see — it’s the slow, quiet drift of warmth through spaces you’d never think to check. In homes across Gresham, Hood River, The Dalles, and the Portland Metro, this hidden energy loss shows up every winter as rooms that never quite warm up, uneven temperatures, or heating bills that keep climbing.

Here’s where heat escapes most often — and why it matters:

• Attic gaps and poor insulation: Warm air rises, and if your attic isn’t sealed or insulated properly, that expensive heat just keeps floating upward and out. Even small openings around vents, ducts, or recessed lighting can add up to hundreds of dollars a year in lost energy.
  
  
• Drafty windows and doors: Over time, caulk dries out, weatherstripping wears down, and frames shift. A tiny gap around your window can leak as much air as a small vent — and it works both ways, letting cold air in while your furnace fights to keep up.
  
  
• Unsealed outlets and switches: Most people never consider these. Electrical boxes in exterior walls often have open space behind them, allowing outdoor air to travel straight into your living areas.
  
  
• Old or compacted insulation: Insulation doesn’t last forever. As it settles or absorbs moisture, it loses effectiveness, meaning your home might not be as “insulated” as you think.

Think of your house like a puffy winter coat — even if it looks thick, one open zipper or torn seam can let the cold in faster than you can say “turn up the heat.”

Simple, Low-Cost Ways to Find Hidden Drafts

You don’t need an energy auditor or a fancy camera system to start spotting where your warmth is escaping. You can run a few simple tests with things you already have around the house. These small checks often reveal surprising results — the kind that make you wonder how long your furnace has been fighting an uphill battle.

1. The Candle Flicker Test

Turn off your furnace or heat pump for a few minutes so air isn’t circulating. Light a candle and slowly move it around common problem spots like window corners, door frames, baseboards, and outlets. If the flame bends or wavers, that means air is moving.

Why it works: Air currents disturb the flame, showing you where pressure differences are pulling warm air out or cold air in.

Where to try it: Along sliding doors, old window seals, attic hatches, and anywhere your wall meets the floor or ceiling.

2. The Incense Smoke Trick

If you prefer something less messy, try incense. The steady stream of smoke acts like a visual tracer — any draft will pull or bend it. It’s especially helpful in corners or near trim, where leaks are often invisible.

3. The Phone Thermal App

Technology can make this even easier. Many smartphones now support thermal imaging apps or clip-on attachments that show temperature differences on your walls and ceilings. Cooler spots appear blue or purple; warmer areas glow orange or red.

This tool is especially useful for: spotting missing insulation in walls, identifying cold window panes, or seeing how evenly your HVAC system is distributing warm air.

4. The Feel Test

On a cold, windy day, use your hands — they’re surprisingly sensitive to temperature differences. Run your palm slowly around window sills, baseboards, and door frames. If you feel cool air or a slight “breeze,” you’ve just found a draft.

If you’re unsure, hold a damp hand near the surface — moisture makes your skin more sensitive to air movement.

Why Fixing Drafts Matters

It’s easy to ignore a little draft, especially when you’re busy and everything else in the house feels fine. But those small leaks do more than make one room chilly — they affect your entire home’s efficiency.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that most households lose up to 30% of their heating and cooling energy through tiny air leaks and poor insulation. In the Gorge and Portland Metro area, where cold winds and damp air are part of winter life, that percentage can be even higher.

Here’s what that really means for you:

• Uneven comfort: One room is toasty while another always feels 10 degrees cooler.
  
  
• Constant thermostat adjustments: You keep turning up the heat, but it never quite feels warm enough.
  
  
• Dry air and static shocks: Air leaks draw out humidity, making your skin and sinuses miserable.
  
  
• Added wear on your HVAC system: Your furnace or heat pump works overtime to make up for what’s being lost, shortening its lifespan and increasing repair costs.

The good news is that most of these issues are fixable — often with weatherstripping, insulation updates, or small sealing projects. And if you uncover drafts you can’t quite pin down or seal effectively, that’s a sign it might not just be a window issue — it could be pointing to larger insulation gaps or HVAC inefficiencies.

Keep the Warmth In

When you started reading, you might’ve just wanted to understand why certain rooms never seem to stay warm or why your heating bill keeps climbing.

The good news is that spotting them doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. A few simple checks can reveal a lot about how your home holds heat and where it could use a little attention. Take it one step at a time, trust what you notice, and make the small fixes that feel doable. Even a little effort can make your home feel cozier and your heating system work a bit less hard through the colder months.

If you want to dig deeper into the exact spots where homes tend to lose the most heat, this guide is a great next step: Top 7 Places Your Home Is Leaking Heat.