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Home Performance Solutions Home Energy Audit!
Are you currently experiencing high utility bills and would like to get some insight on how to lower them without shutting down your furnace or air conditioner? Typically, most homes have air leakage issues well beyond doors and windows and also pressure issues with house design. You can also have duct leakage issues that can cost you a lot of $$$ in your attic, basement or crawlspace. Or, some homes are just uncomfortable in certain areas,....kids rooms, living room, room above the garage or sometimes and entire upstairs area. Is your air conditioner undersized? Probably not, we can see issues that HVAC techs cannot see with our specialized equipment.
Blower Door Leakage testing
- The Blower Door Testing is crucial when trying to find where air leakage points occur. We can determine how leaky the home is overall and know how it compares to an air tight home, leaky home or average home. If a home is too tight with no ventilation, we will know when the test is done and can prescribe proper ventilation strategies to prevent Mold, excess moisture and lowered indoor air quality.The Blower Door depressurizes the house to Negative 50 Pascals which all homes are measured. The Cubic Feet Per Minute flow is measured across the fan to determine air flow of the home after the Cubic Footage of the home is calculated.After the home is considered "leaky" we then travel around the entire home and find construction gaps, cracks, voids in insulation, failed caulking areas, innadequately sealed fireplaces etc... Every Home is different and will show more or less what can be done to reduce major leakage to reduce Heating and Cooling losses. Air leaks can also cause moisture condensation areas leading to saturated wood, insulation and Mold.We then report on those air leaks with digital photographs and describe in detail what air sealing products to use to seal those areas
Duct blaster leakage testing
- Duct Blaster testing uses a calibrated fan to pressurize the duct systems in new and existing homes to let the Energy Rater know how much heating and cooling losses due to air leakage at joints, main plenum, connections throughout the system. If leakage is prominent in the system, rooms in the home can lack air flows making it uncomfortable in the room with lacking air flow.When ducts are located outside of the Building envelope (in attics or crawlspaces), it can cause energy heating and cooling loses to the attic space. This also creates a negative pressure within living space causing air from outside to be sucked into the house since the HVAC is starved of the lost air in the attic space or crawl space. That's why it's critical that ducts are sealed properly for efficiency, comfort and indoor air quality.
Room to room airflow
comfort testing
comfort testing
- Air Flow Testing is performed to determine room to room air flows for Energystar Version 3.0 or just figuring out comfort issues in older homes which can show the over air flows to all rooms and the returns in the duct system. It also shows rooms that have overflowing CFM's (Cubic Feet Per Minute of Air) which can be addressed when assessing air flow issues. A Baffle/Damper report can be used to show where air flows can be re-directed to make the system flow properly.
Thermal Camera Analysis
- Thoroughly analyzing wall and ceiling system can only be done efficiently with a Thermal Camera. We use High-Tech cameras to see where heat loss is throughout the home. With temperature differentials that can be seen in a full color spectrum, non-destructive testing can be done without ripping off drywall to see if insulation is installed, odd air transfer issues behind walls can also be seen with exaggerated pressure induced with blower door testing.
Rem/Rate Analysis
- REM/RATE software when used in conjunction with a HPS Energy Audit is a powerful tool in deciphering cost-effective building upgrades. We will input the exact design and construction of your home with wall/window/door dimensions and square footages, calculating heat loads based on how much and type of insulation is installed, overall building leakage and HVAC duct leakage. Once the Base model for the home is built, we can simulate the upgrades into multiple simulations and show payback in terms of Dollars per year savings, payback could be 5,7 or 20 years. Of course, we'll only recommend feasible upgrades if you plan on selling in the near future or long-term upgrades with payback if you plan on living in your home the rest of your life. The REM/Analysis report is very thorough and will provide ample data to make a calculated decision on upgrades for Energy Efficiency!