We are in for a very cold week. In fact, the rest of the month looks pretty cold.

If you're looking to cut down on your heating bills and drafty doors and windows, you may be interested in the Twin Draft Guard.

It claims to keep the warm air in and the cold air out. But would we warm up to it in our "As Seen on TV” test?

The Twin Draft Guard is really pretty simple. You have four pieces of tubular styrofoam that fit together for each side of your door. This will work for doors as wide as 36 inches. It will work on windows as well.

It comes with a two-sided cloth sleeve that the styrofoam tubes just slide right down into. There is a v-shaped part that fits under the door. One part goes on the outside and another on the inside.

The claim is that it keeps the cold air out and the warm air in. I've decided to use my back door area as a perfect example of where the Twin Draft Guard might be handy. I have a dual thermometer, which said that the back foyer area was 64 degrees. I have an outside temperature line to the bottom of the door with cold air. I can feel the cold air coming in, and the temperature difference is 25, 26 degrees. I've taped newspaper to the bottom of the door and you can see the cold air just blowing in.

You're going to need a couple of things: a tape measure and scissors. The door was 29 inches. You want to cut the tubes a half inch shorter than that, so I want to cut it to 28 and a half. So you push it all the way down to the end and then you fold one end into a "v." Then you strap it to the velcro strip. Now, unfortunately, the velcro strip is not long enough. Note to the manufacturer: make the velcro strip longer.

Take a piece of duct tape and tape that down, slide it under all the way to the end. Alright, let's try the wind test again. I don't see any movement and do not feel any cold air coming through. We've had the Twin Draft Guard on there for two minutes and already the temperature has gone almost up twenty degrees.

One of my concerns is would this be somewhat of an obstruction, would it come apart, would it jam the door? For the most part, it stays in place. It even goes over that rug I've got there.

Now I do have one caveat if you're going to buy one of these things. Despite what the manufacturer might infer, this is not a one-size-fits-all. And I can tell you how I discovered it. I have a high threshold here on this side door. The Twin Guard does not seem to work as well if you have a high threshold. It just won't close.

And besides doors, you can use the Twin Draft Guard on drafty windows as well. Same deal, you just measure the window, cut the styrofoam tubes, and place it right where it should go. It makes a nice firm seal.
So my overall impression of the Twin Draft Guard is that it's a pretty good product, with the caveat that if you have doors with high thresholds you may have a little bit of trouble. You may want to measure before you go out and buy one of these things. But in terms of reducing your heating bills, cutting down on drafts, I think it works pretty well and we're going to give it the thumbs up.

I bought my Twin Draft Guard at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $10, but you can find it on the internet as well. For more information, visit the web site listed below.