Are You Wasting Money on Energy? (edit/delete)
ARE YOU WASTING MONEY ON ENERGY?
With energy costs soaring, every effort should be made to conserve the heat or cooling that you pay for. Energy efficiency is high on the list for saving money. Is your home energy efficient? Have you recently upgraded things like weather stripping, dual pane windows, attic insulation etc. How do you know if you actually got what you paid for?
I live in a rental house in Southern California. Recently, we have been experiencing a triple digit heat wave. This house was remodeled recently, including full attic insulation. Or so I thought. I have looked and there is insulation up there. As it turns out, it was poorly installed but I did not know this until I did a Thermal Scan of the walls and ceilings on a 100 degree day. I was shocked! They missed so many places it was ridiculous! I was loosing money trying to cool the house while the attic was pumping heat right back into the living space. Here are some of the thermal scans I took.
Ceiling can light
Can Light
These are scans of the can lights in the ceiling of my living room.(the lights were NOT on at the time) Notice the temperature of the target spot. The surrounding darker areas are where there is some insulation. The dark areas are 15-20 degrees cooler. Insulation really does work!
Missing insulation
More missing insulation
Here we see the effects of missing batt type ceiling insulation. Here the temperature difference is about 10 degrees.
Un-insulated Attic Hatch
This is the un-insulated attic access hatch. Notice the bar graph on the right side of the picture showing the temperature by color. Parts of this single layer drywall hatch cover were were about 106 degrees! Given that heat moves to cold, this was like running an electric heater in the ceiling while I was trying to cool the house with the A/C! No wonder my electric bill is so high!
Have you just had new insulation installed? Do you need more insulation? A Thermal Scan will tell you right away. Many insulation installers are sloppy and do a poor job. Hold their feet to the fire with the proof of a Thermal Scan to show where they did a crappy job and force them to do it right. Get what you paid for!
IMHO, blown in type insulation gives better coverage than often poorly installed batt type. Blown in has its issues too. Attics need ventilation. This is usually accomplished with peak or gable end vents and soffet or eve vents to provide flow through. The blown-in insulation can be improperly placed so as to block the soffet vents thus stopping the air flow. Sheet metal barriers are typically used to hold the insulation back from the vents to allow the proper air flow. TIP: install a thermostatically controlled power attic fan. These can drop the attic temperature by 20+ degrees on a hot day.
Another problem area for both batt and blown-in is can lights. Not all can lights are designed to be covered with insulation. Covering these can be a fire hazard and I often call this out during my home inspections. The sheet metal barriers are use here too to hold the insulation back 12 inches. This leads to the result you see in the first pictures above. The can lights leak heat into the conditioned space. The only fix for this is to replace the cans with a style that can be insulated.
Contact a local Thermographer and have a Thermal Scan of your interior walls and ceilings. Add insulation and then have the Thermographer scan again to verify that the job was actually done properly.
I hope this was useful information.
Thermal Guy
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Are You Wasting Money on Energy?
thermal inspection los angeles
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How To Reduce Your Energy Bills / Energy Conservation Begins at Home
Imagine leaving a window open all winter long -- the heat loss, cold drafts and wasted energy! If your home has a folding attic stair, a whole house fan or AC Return, a fireplace or a clothes dryer, that may be just what is occurring in your home every day.
These often overlooked sources of heat loss and air leakage can cause heat to pour out and the cold outside air to rush in -- costing you higher heating bills.
Air leaks are the largest source of heating and cooling loss in the home. Air leaks occur through the small cracks around doors, windows, pipes, etc. Most homeowners are well aware of the benefits caulk and weatherstripping provide to minimize heat loss and cold drafts.
But what can you do about the four largest “holes” in your home -- the folding attic stair, the whole house fan or AC return, the fireplace, and the clothes dryer? Here are some tips and techniques that can easily, quickly and inexpensively seal and insulate these holes.
Attic Stairs
An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add an attic stair cover. An attic stair cover provides an air seal, reducing the air leaks. Add the desired amount of insulation over the cover to restore the insulation removed from the ceiling.
Whole House Fans and AC Returns
An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a whole house fan cover. Installed from the attic side, the whole house fan cover is invisible. Cover the fan to reduce heating and air-conditioning loss, remove it when use of the fan is desired.
Fireplaces
A recent study showed that for many consumers, their heating bills may be more than $500 higher per winter due to the air leakage and wasted energy caused by fireplaces.
An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a fireplace draftstopper. Available from Battic Door, a company known for their energy conservation products, a fireplace draftstopper is an inflatable pillow that seals the damper, eliminating any air leaks. The pillow is removed whenever the fireplace is used, then reinserted after.
Clothes Dryer Exhaust Ducts
An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a dryer vent seal. This will reduce unwanted air infiltration, and keep out pests, bees and rodents as well. The vent will remain closed unless the dryer is in use. When the dryer is in use, a floating shuttle rises to allow warm air, lint and moisture to escape.
If your home has a folding attic stair, a whole house fan, an AC return, a fireplace, and/or a clothes dryer, you can easily, quickly and inexpensively seal and insulate these holes.
Mark D. Tyrol is a Professional Engineer specializing in cause and origin of construction defects. He developed several residential energy conservation products including an attic stair cover, an attic access door, and is the U.S. distributor of the fireplace draftstopper. To learn more visit www.batticdoor.com
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