About HeatFluxHome

Small, focused tools that answer real questions about heat in your home — with the physics shown, not hidden.

Who builds this

I'm a building physics student at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) in Estonia. My studies cover exactly what happens to heat and moisture inside walls, roofs, crawl spaces and pipes: conduction through materials, convection at surfaces, air leakage, and what happens when water freezes. Estonian winters bring long stretches below freezing and cold snaps down to 0 °F and beyond, so frozen pipes and heat loss are everyday engineering problems here, not textbook ones.

HeatFluxHome is where I turn that coursework into free tools for homeowners and renters in the United States. Most online calculators either give a single rule of thumb or hide how they reach their answer. I want to do the opposite.

Why you can trust the numbers

• Established methods. The models follow the heat-transfer approach used in the ASHRAE Handbook — Fundamentals and standard engineering texts: thermal resistance networks, lumped heat capacity, and latent heat of fusion for freezing.
• Published assumptions. Every formula, material property and simplification is listed on themethodology page, so anyone — including engineers — can check the work.
• Conservative by default. Where an input is uncertain, the tools lean toward the safer answer: a colder forecast, no credit for effects that only sometimes help.
• Authoritative data. Weather comes from the US National Weather Service; ZIP code locations from GeoNames.

What these tools are not

The results are estimates for general guidance. Every house is different, and a model cannot see the draft behind your sink or the furnace duct next to your pipe. For repairs, code questions or anything safety-critical, talk to a licensed plumber, electrician or engineer.

Get in touch

Found an error, or have an idea for a tool? Email contact@heatfluxhome.com. Corrections are always welcome — see the contact page.