There are a few components to accomplishing a conditioned crawl space successfully; conditioned air circulation and
proper crawl space insulation. To understand the proper way to insulate the crawl space you should first know how and why to circulate the conditioned air into the crawl space. The benefits of conditioned air in the crawl space are; clean dry crawl space, warm floors, lower heating bills, cleaner air in the home and a more comfortable home. This is how it works. Air from the home, usually supplied by the furnace, is delivered to the crawl space as if it were any other part of the home. A source for return air is also installed to keep the crawl space from being pressurized. When the air that is delivered is heated, in the winter months, the object is not to heat the crawl space but to deliver heat to the home one level lower that it currently is. The advantage to doing this, since the vents are now closed, is the heat in the crawl space stays in the home. Heat naturally rises so it will, without other interference, pass through the floor and enter the living area. When the warm air passes through the floor it will leave the floor warm and comfortable. This alone will make the investment worth it. The heat continues to rise to the ceiling and on its way there it will help warm the living space that is occupied by the family. When the heat comes out of the registers on the main level it immediately heads to the ceiling without restriction. The lowest part of the room, the floor, gets the heat last because the heat must build up at the ceiling in order to be felt in the lower part of the home. With heat passing through the floors the home has a longer heat retention cycle than without it. In other words once the furnace is off and no other heat is being delivered to the room, the heat from the crawl space will continue to make its way up into the house. This leaves the area in the home (below six feet), that our bodies occupy, warmer longer because the heat in the crawl space is restricted by the floor which slows down the rise to the ceiling. In turn this reduces the amount of heating cycles, the furnace runs less and the heat bills are lower.