Home Energy Audit

techeddy · Post by **techeddy** » Sun. Mar. 20, 2011 10:55 pm

Anybody consider having a Home Energy Audit done on their home? Is it worth it?

Post by **coaledsweat** » Sun. Mar. 20, 2011 11:20 pm

A friend of mine had one done by the power company. He was quite happy. It cost him $110 I think and they plugged a big fan in the door and went around the house sealing leaks. They checked the water heater and boiler, just about everything you can think of. They did a very detailed report and gave him about $900 for a $1000 insulation job in the attic and that made his day.

freetown fred · Post by **freetown fred** » Mon. Mar. 21, 2011 7:07 am

Counsel on ageing called & asked if I wanted one done for free,so of course I said,YUP

I ended up with blown in insul. in the attic, new energy effic. fridge, freezer & hot water heater. I guess this getting older has some bennies after all.

I've had a real noticable drop in utilities & coal usage. Yes, that big fan in the door was pretty cool--they used a heat sensored thingy around all the windows & pretty much the whole house--a worth while venture. Just one old guys humble opinion

AA130FIREMAN · Post by **AA130FIREMAN** » Mon. Mar. 21, 2011 8:06 am

Sounds like a good idea, but in my case ,I believe the first thing they would say is new windows, I still like the origional anderson windows, with storm windows.

qbwebb · Post by **qbwebb** » Mon. Mar. 21, 2011 8:52 am

I have one scheduled for 2 weeks from now, $75 from CL&P, I will report back. I was skeptical at first, but a friend recently had it done, 2 guys working for 2 hrs and they did all his exterior door seals + applied a considerable amount of spray foam and gave him CFL's. They do the air test when they first arrive and after they leave to get a certain % decrease in the homes air loss.

coalnewbie · Post by **coalnewbie** » Mon. Mar. 21, 2011 8:02 pm

I use this - works well:

http://www.amazon.com/DECKER-Tld100-Thermal-Detec ... B0048LS4EQ

AA130FIREMAN · Post by **AA130FIREMAN** » Mon. Mar. 21, 2011 10:51 pm

coalnewbie wrote:I use this - works well:

http://www.amazon.com/DECKER-Tld100-Thermal-Detec ... B0048LS4EQ

Does that give a wide area view or just a pinpoint. I'd like to see a tester like the military uses to see the whole scope of things.

SMITTY · Post by **SMITTY** » Mon. Mar. 21, 2011 11:04 pm

Don't need no fancy electronics in this place! Just stand near one of my windows. You'll know pretty quick that it's not sealing well. And when your on the can, that frigid cold air across your legs will tell you there is Z E R O insulation in the bathroom below sink level.

I had one of those audits done several years back, because it was free. They did nothing ... except hand me 4 pages of stuff that I already knew.

qbwebb · Post by **qbwebb** » Tue. Mar. 22, 2011 8:25 am

IT's a pretty wide area up to 1ft from the surface, then the FOV is supposedly the size of a quarter. I used it on some upstairs windows the other day, it was about 30 deg outside, 65 deg in the room and the glass surface with masking tape on it was coming in at 55-57 deg. The directions say to use masking tape or something on window surfaces, I think because glass does not have a surface emissivity.

Anyone know how much cooler the inner glass surface temp should be on high end windows w/ the temps I stated above? I have aluminum clad wood HURD windows circa 1996 (dual pane, no low e coating) w/ just a tiny bit of batt insulation between the window frame & stud. I am presently ripping trim off and filling the gap w/ spray foam. Also considering adding that low e window film.

AA130FIREMAN wrote:
coalnewbie wrote:I use this - works well:

http://www.amazon.com/DECKER-Tld100-Thermal-Detec ... B0048LS4EQ
Does that give a wide area view or just a pinpoint. I'd like to see a tester like the military uses to see the whole scope of things.

dlj · Post by **dlj** » Thu. Mar. 31, 2011 10:23 pm

I had an energy audit on my house done two years ago. There were several things I knew before the guy came, but he found some other things that would have taken me a couple winters to figure out at least...Plus he checked my antique oil furnace and showed how efficient it was running - not as good as one of the new ones, but darned good. I sure don't need to replace it. Of course now I hardly use it at all... Coal stove does the heating... But still good to know. Overall, very worth while...

dj

qbwebb · Post by **qbwebb** » Sat. Apr. 02, 2011 11:22 am

I just had an audit done for $75 this morning. I have to say for me it was marginally worth it, but that is only because the house is in good shape already, I would have benefited more had I needed some sealing/door seal service done. My door blower test revealed a tad bit over sealed, and they recommended to do no more so the house can breathe. Other than replace some faucets with low flow aerators and added dimmable recessed can light bulbs I didn't get too much for the service. They also tested my furnace ducts for leakage and reported that they were in good shape for a 4ton AC system. I have to say the dimmable CFL's are pretty good though, I tried them once and thought they sucked, but I guess the trick is to let them warm up un dimmed, then dim them down. The phillips brands the guys installed are pretty good. On the plus side I feel better about my windows etc, and am not going to worry too much about trying to do more sealing etc, I think I will focus my efforts this spring/summer on outdoor bulk coal storage.

So in conclusion to decide if the service is worth it, do you need CFL's, could your house benefit from new door weather stripping, do you want to have your ducts checked etc.? If you know your pretty air tight already don't bother, but if you have some drafts its pretty worthwhile.