I gathered up my auditing equipment and headed off to a neighboring community to perform a home energy audit that was constructed in 1901. Before I head out of the office and leave the comfort of my desk computer, I look up the home through County Records to determine about what year the home was constructed, about how big the home is, and if records show any remodel years.

When records indicate construction in 1901, I know that I will be dealing with a very old home that has had some degree of care over the years or it wouldn’t even be standing. I know that the home was originally heated with a wood fireplace or two and that some sort of up-dated heating source has been added. Also, I’m guessing if the foundation has not been replaced, the foundation is going to be a little shaky.

This home energy audit was a team effort. We took two vehicles, my partner would carry the equipment in one rig and I would meet him there in another rig. This way, since it is Friday afternoon, I can take a short cut home after the audit.

Why is it that I like my own unruly dog, but I don’t have much use for other peoples unruly dog. After greeting the lady of the house and her 3 year old son at the front door, I have to fight my way into the house past the offensive nose of  a big dog. I must have some real interesting smells on me, the dog won’t let up.

About this time, the dog owner see’s I’m being treated like a sniff-and-scratch and, with raised voice, commands the dog to get back and go lie down – which the dog pays no attention to and just goes right on vacuuming my denim.

The husband has taken off work early to be here during the home energy audit. The gentleman of the house arrives and my partner finally shows up with the equipment. The first order of business is to ask the homeowner to take us on a tour of the house.

1.  Remodel and additions:

The homeowner does not know for sure, but I suspect this home has been added onto twice. Looks like a back porch area was added as living space at some point and then an addition with a master bedroom and bath was added on behind the porch.

The whole interior of the house has under gone major upgrades. Standing in the kitchen on the wood laminate flooring, looking at the granite counter tops and all stainless steel appliances, one would not suspect this home has been here for 111 years.

The interior walls have been replaced with drywall and freshly painted. The exterior walls have been replaced with t1-11 and also freshly painted.

2.  Electrical system:

The attic still has signs of the original knob and tube electrical wiring. Today, the electrical system has all been upgraded to romex wiring and a grounded, 200 amp circuit breaker panel. All electric outlets, light switches, and fixtures have been replaced.

3.  Plumbing System:

Water fixtures and faucets have all been upgraded recently. The old iron pipes remain and seem to carry plenty of water pressure. A modern gas water heater sits in the utility room closet next to the furnace.

4.  Heating system:

In the old part of the house, both supply and return heating ducts are in the floor. In the master bedroom addition, both are in the ceiling. A 90% efficient gas furnace sits with the water heater in the utility room closet. There is no air conditioning.

5.  Insulation:

The underfloor of the main house has black visqueen attached to the bottom of the floor joist. However, only about 50% of the floor has fiberglass batt insulation. The newer addition with the master bedroom and bath has no floor insulation.

R-13 batt insulation was added to the exterior walls when the exterior siding was replaced. The infrared camera tells me there is a few small areas that were missed.

The upstairs has two unfinished rooms – at least they are unfinished at this time and the roof trusses are exposed. The homeowner tells us that this was his bedroom when he was growing up. The homeowner is in the process of remodeling the upstairs and has removed all the interior wall covering. Insulation was never added to this part of the home.

6.  Windows and Doors.

Doors and windows have been replaced. The front door is metal with 1/2 glass and a storm door. The utility room door is metal and the master bedroom has a vinyl framed, double glass, sliding door.

All the windows have been upgraded to vinyl framed, double glass units. I suspect U-35 with some Low-E glazing.

Homeowner Concerns and Wish List

The homeowner would like to use their available weatherization funds to help insulate the upstairs remodeling project. By using the funds to install the insulation, their remodeling budget can be spent on drywall and floor coverings.

Also of concern to the homeowners is the cool spots in the living room and the warm spot in the master bedroom. The living room has two supply registers located near interior walls and two return registers located under the living room windows. They find that there is noticeable cool air that comes out of the return registers, so they have placed the dogs sleeping mat over on of them and a fluffy pillow over the other.

Because of the cool air that rises from the return registers, they have effectively closed them off. The only working return air register is in the master bedroom. I asked them why the return air grill in the ceiling of the bedroom was dented and was informed that the register would rattle when the furnace was on so he struck it with his hand until it stopped rattling.

The Blower Door and Air Infiltration

1.  First blower door test is with all interior doors open.

Blower door was set up in the front door opening and the house was prepared for the test. With all interior doors open, the air leakage was 4,100 CFM ( cubic feet per minute ). I believe for this home, this represents around 9 air changes per hour.

2.  Second test is with the door at the top of the stairs taped off. This takes the upstairs air leakage out of the equation. However, there is leakage from the recessed lights in the kitchen, bathroom, and hallway which means the downstairs is still connected, air leakage wise, to the upstairs. Second leakage test was 3,200 CFM.

3.  Third test was done after the ducts were taped off in preparation for the duct blaster. This should eliminate duct leakage from the overall house air leakage figure – this reduced the house leakage to 2,300 CFM.

By eliminating both the upstairs and the heating ducts from the air leakage, the home is at about 4.5 air changes per hour.

The Duct Blaster and Heating Duct Leakage

The duct blaster fan is placed over one of the return air grills in the living room and the rest of the supply and return registers are taped off. The fan is cranked up and air is forced into the ducts. In this case, air leaks out of the ducts as fast as the fan can put air in. The ducts are so leaky, no reading is possible.

More About This Home Energy Audit and Heating Ducts

A sign of things to come was visible while we were taping of the return air registers in the living room. The return air ducts were formed by attaching sheet metal to the bottom of the floor joists. By removing the register, you can see that the metal has become very rusty and has rusted through. I can look through the rusty hole and see the crawl space below. No wonder the duct leakage is so much.

There is decent head room in the crawl space. In the normal confusion of leaving the office, I have forgotten my coveralls, boots, masks, and head light. Oh well, the show must go on – at least I have a flashlight.

The heating ducts under the old part of the house.

1.  The return air ducts.

As I mentioned earlier, the return ducts are formed by attaching sheet metal to the bottom of a couple floor joist. In several places, I can see where time and rust has caused the sheet metal to fail leaving very noticeable holes. The largest holes are directly under the floor registers.

2.  The supply heating ducts.

The supply ducts are 6 inch round metal ducts wrapped in asbestos. They attach to a central metal plenum that is located directly under the furnace.

How to decide on the best energy saving measures.

As we begin to remove the tape from the registers and put away the blower door, my partner and I begin to discuss with the homeowner how can you conserve energy in this 111 year old home.

It is always a  discussion that centers on the several factors.

1.  What is the most cost-effective energy saving measure?

2.  How much money is available to spend on energy saving measures right now and how much might be available in the future?

3.  Which energy saving measures need to be done by a contractor and what can be a do-it-yourself project?

4.  Are any of the energy saving measure directly or indirectly connected to home safety.

5.  Are some energy saving measures more connected to home comfort than others?

What should be done to save energy as a result of this home energy audit?

The audit of this home has provided valuable information concerning what needs to be done with this home to save energy. Without the audit and the data provided by the blower door and the duct blaster, the acute failure of the heating duct system would not of been realized by the homeowner.

1.  Uncover return air supply registers:

Do not cover the two return air registers in the living room. This restricts the flow of air back to the furnace and causes the air flow to be out of balance. In affect, the furnace is starving for air which increases the energy needed to heat the home. No cost associated with removing the doggie bed from the top of the register.

2. Air seal heating supply and return plenum:

From underneath the home, open up the heating plenum that is under the furnace and air seal all connections and joints with duct mastic. Mastic, gloves and labor,  $65

3.  Install a new return air register and duct:

Increase the size of the supply register that is located next to the interior wall in the living room and make it a larger return air register. Connect this register to the return air plenum connected to the furnace.Now the return air register is located in the center of the home. Estimated cost $300

4. Install two new supply registers:

The two return air registers that are located under the windows need to be connected as supply registers. To keep from cutting new holes in the floor, have a sheet metal contractor build two new supply boots to be placed in the current floor cutouts. Connect these new boots to the supply plenum that is located at the furnace. Estimated cost $600

5.  Replace all supply ducts in the old part of the home.

Carefully remove and bag the asbestos covering that is around the old metal ducts. I believe the homeowner can do this himself, otherwise a licensed Asbestos Remediation Contractor will need to be used. Need to check your local jurisdiction concerning the procedures for removing asbestos.

Replace all old metal supply ducts with new duct material. Flex duct is good and so is appropriately air sealed metal ducts. If using round metal ducts, wrap with insulation according to local building codes. Estimated cost $800

6.  Insulate the attic.

Install a 2×2 furring strip to the exposed 2×4 roof rafters. This will increase the depth of the rafter space and allow for the installation of high density fiberglass R-21 insulation batts. Before installing the insulation, air seal the cavities.

If funds are available, this is an ideal application for using spray foam insulation.

Estimated cost with fiberglass, including 2×2 furring, $1,800. Estimated cost using spray foam, $4,000.

7.  Insulate the floor.

Remove the black visqueen from the bottom of the floor joists. Air seal the floor with insulating spray foam. Install high density R-25 fiberglass batts. Install an air barrier to the bottom of the floor joists like Typar or Tyvek house wrap.

Thanks for coming along on this home energy audit that is 111 years old. Please feel free to leave a comment or two concerning your thoughts on the success of this audit. Drop by Detect Energy again real soon, but I won’t leave the light on for you…

Energy Savings and Home Energy Audit’s take some specialized equipment to test and gather data. This screen cast will introduce you to a couple of the Auditors main tools.

Thanks for stopping by Detect Energy, hope you come back soon, but I won’t leave the light on for you…

Today’s Power Trip – Sweet Energy Savings – Energy Audit Too Good to Pass Up

by Don Ames

Today’s Power Trip is my way of sharing my day-to-day adventures in home energy savings, in-a-way, you could say I have an slight energy conservation addiction.

My e-Newsletter, the Energy Spy Insider,  hits the emailing list about three times a week and brings you the latest news, tips, methods, and stories concerning the broad subject of energy conservation, energy politics, and renewable energy. If you found this “Power Trip” and have not signed-up for my eNewsletter, just look around, there is a sign-up form here somewhere, just add your email address and hit submit.

I really appreciate your comments and ideas, so be sure and leave me some of your wisdom at the end of every article. Follow me on twitter and facebook @detectenergy.

I would like to share with you the fact that Detect Energy will be up-grading the old website once again. Visitors will still be able to access all the great “energy saving” articles, but, in addition, there will be a wealth of “How To” checklists and ebooks to choose from. Perhaps you would be interested in being a contributing writer – just let me know.

Excellent Energy Audit, Too Many Things to Count

This was an auditors dream job, a home so needy it was easy to count the ways to save energy. I even had a summer intern helper with me so I didn’t even have to set up the blower door or tape off all the floor registers.

Let me give you a little back ground on this home:

• Constructed in an urban housing development in 1984. Three members in household and one big dog.
• Current owner has lived there 17 years
• 400 sq. ft. addition added in 1990 to the back of the house.
• All electric home, combination heat pump and air handler sits outside.
• Both return and supply heating ducts are under the floor.
• Newer water heater with water temperature at 139 degrees.
• All Aluminum frame, double pane windows.
• House is neat and very nicely furnished.

( More about the heating source and then continue below )

I always ask if my shoes are OK to be worn in the house, since it is a nice dry day, my shoes are clean and I received permission to leave them on. Homeowner ( the lady of the house ) and her daughter greet us. Homeowner seems a little nervous and I suspect some cleaning up of the house has been done for our visit. I would guess that this homeowner feels a little uncomfortable having two strangers romping through her home. I try to make it quick and painless.

Evaluation of the home yelds plenty of areas where energy saving measures will bring that old power bill down.

• Attic insulation is R-19 of blown fiberglass with areas tromped down and compressed by the TV cable guys, etc.
• There is no underfloor insulation, 4 x 6 post and beam construction.
• The windows are aluminum double pane.
• The heat pump is the original heating source installed during the construction of the home and is estimated to be an 8 SEER unit.
• Hot water temperature nearly 139 degrees.
• No energy star appliances in sight.

My recommendations for this home are fairly easy to add up.

• Air seal the attic floor and add 12 inches blown fiberglass for an R-40.
• Air seal the underfloor deck, cover the ground with 6-mil black Visqueen and install R-25 batt insulation.
• Install a new combination heat pump/air handler and increase the SEER rating to 14 or better.
• Replace all the windows with vinyl frame windows, U-30 or better.
• Lower the hot water temperature to 120 degrees.
• Keep looking for some great deals on energy star rated appliances.

For all you energy auditor types out there, I will throw out the following test information.

• Blower door depressurization was 1,900 CFM/50 with a home square footage of 1,800.
• Duct Blaster test indicated 1,250 CFM/50 total and 225 to the outside. ( my intern forgot to tape off the vent in the bathroom, dah )

With this program, the homeowners have $3,500 in grant funds to use plus they can add personal funding to the project. I left my report with the lady-of-the-house and she was going to discuss my recommendations with her better half.

So, what do you think the homeowners should choose to do first to save energy and reduce the power bill at their home? For you, what is the most cost effective and what provides the most cost savings over time?

Love to hear from you, thanks for stopping by Detect Energy, come back soon, but I won’t be leaving a light on for you…

Energy Conservation

Todays Power Trip - High Power Bill and Where To Save Energy

by Don Ames

When your reviewing your home energy bill and become  concerned about a rising power costs and energy conservation, don’t overlook the possibility of a malfunctioning thermostat. Rising home power costs can often times be the result of an older thermostat or a thermostat that is not wired correctly. To save energy, the thermostat needs to be matched to the heating and cooling system and needs to be wired correctly.

Recently, I visited a home where the homeowner was concerned with rising power costs. About 6 years ago, a heat pump was added to his electric furnace and within the last four months the power bill had shown significant increases.

Homeowner complaints included:

• Rising power bill reaching just over $300.
• Furnace that blows cool air from the heating registers.
• Furnace fan that seems to run often and long.

A week before I visited the home, the homeowner became concerned that the thermostat might be the problem. He changed the thermostat, replacing an older style, mercury bulb thermostat, with a new programmable digital model.  Proud of himself and increased energy conservation, he showed me the old mercury switch and I reminded him to dispose of it in an appropriate recycle facility. Don’t mess around with mercury.

I am concerned about whether or not the thermostat is wired correctly. Sometimes the older mechanical thermostats didn’t have as many wires connected to them as a newer digital thermostat requires.

Recommendation:

In order to keep your furnace and heat pump working efficiently, have them checked and serviced once a year.

• Have a Heating and Cooling contractor service the heating system.
• Check for efficient operation of both the heat pump and the furnace.
• Check to see that the thermostat is wired correctly.

Heating duct air leakage

To follow up on other causes of high heating costs,  I got out the blower door and duct blaster. The blower door will tell us how much air is leaking into and out of the house and the duct blaster will tell us how much air is leaking out of the heating ducts. Stopping air leakage from the heating ducts is one of the most cost effect, power saving measures we can do for a home.

The blower door test indicated 825 CFM house air leakage. Since the home is about 1400 square feet of living space, this amount of air leakage is OK. If the home was air sealed and the air leakage was reduced, the home might begin to feel stuffy or stale. A home needs to breath in order to have fresh air for the household.

The duct blaster registered 520 CFM total leakage with 315 CFM leakage to the outside of the home. The figure of 315 CFM to the outside is the important figure. I would like to see  this reading below 100 CFM. It will be beneficial to have a contractor seal the heating system to save energy.

Recommendation – Free heating duct sealing provided

Since this is a manufactured home and since the power company feels sealing heating ducts is a productive, cost effective way to save energy, a contractor can come and seal the heating ducts and the power company will pay for it 100%. Now there is a good deal.

For this home and this power trip, I will recommend that a heating contractor service the furnace and heat pump and check to see that the thermostat is wired and working correctly. I will also help the homeowner schedule a duct sealing contractor that is approved by the power company to test and seal the heating ducts.

I’m looking forward to learning if the work being done to this home will lower the power usage and the power bill. Thanks for checking out Today’s Power Trip, come back to detect energy soon, but I won’t leave the light on for you…

Home Energy Audit With Rodents

Today’s Power Trip – Where the rats once roamed. Rats are hard on our efforts to save energy.

by Don Ames

I had visited the home about 5 years earlier. At first I didn’t recognize the address, but when I saw the house the memories came rushing back. Previously, the homeowner had contacted me because the kitchen floor was swelling and changing colors – sure sign of moisture damage. The surprise was discovering where the moisture was coming from – more on that later. Today I visit the home for an energy audit. Today the homeowner is interested in fixing the home up and would like to know where they can save energy.

The home is a 1995 manufactured home, double wide with about 1100 sq ft, housing two dogs, Grandma, two daughters and a grand baby on legs. The home has a good roof, newer exterior paint and is in really good condition.

Oh, ya – the moisture damaged floor. Where was the moisture coming from? Seems there was a food share building next door that stored food for the low income and, of course, rats are considered low income, so they moved right in. Rats got under the home and enjoyed the warmth and privacy so much they decided to chew some holes in the plastic water lines. Need I say more. Floor Covering, floor sheathing and floor trusses needed to be replaced along with insulation and numerous water lines. A heavy dose of a good exterminator and the moving of the food share business has got the rat patrol in check, at least, I hope so.

This home is all electric and has a monthly electric bill of $100 to $200 dollars depending on the seasonal outside temperature. No air conditioning is used. The homeowner says she sets the thermostat on 66 degrees and does not touch it. The blower door test was high at 1800 cfm. This means that 1800 cubic feet of air can pass - into or out of - the home every minute. Now, remember, a cubic foot of air is about the volume of air in a basketball. So, 1800 basketballs is a lot of air. For a house this size, with four people, I would like to see about 900 cfm for healthy indoor air quality and reasonable energy efficiency.

I left the blower door fan running and traveled around the house to find where all the basketballs were coming from. Five main areas of air infiltration were discovered. First was all the ceiling exhaust fans. Fan wise - there was one in each of two bathrooms and one in the ceiling of the hallway used as a whole house fan. Exhaust fans are noted for not having their back flow flappers working properly. They are kind of like small chimneys that just constantly allow a nice flow of warm air to the great outdoors. Second were the holes drilled by the plumber next to the water heater to run the water lines under the floor. One hole for each line and a couple more for good measure. This is also a good way to invite mice and rats to come visiting right inside the home. Third was the back door weatherstripping. Folks, you just cannot have your puppy friends beg to get in the house by pawing at the door. Doggie ruins weatherstripping. Fourth is the dryer duct that is no longer connected to the back of the dryer. This also explains the massive amount of dust bunnies floating around the utility room. Fifth is the holes left under the kitchen and bathroom sinks by the plumber which have the sink drain lines running through but also need to have the oversize hole size filled in.

While giving the blower door fan a rest, I set up the duct blaster. Had to move a couple beds and a couch to get the registers all taped off. Stuck the blaster fan right on top of the furnace plenum after removing the fan housing. Cranked up the blaster and found that the heating ducts were loosing nearly 450 cubic feet of basketballs per minute. Now, this is not good. I would sure like to see the number under 100 cfm. Looks like we can save a lot of energy by sealing up the heating ducts.

Well, the time has come to face the inevitable. I go out on the back porch and pull on my coveralls, slip on a disposable face mask and pull off the cover to the underfloor area. You see, a double wide manufactured home has a crossover duct that carries the heat from the furnace side of the home to the other half of the home. With a duct leakage test of 450 cfm, it’s my duty and my previlege to go under the home and inspect the duct. Memories of all the previous rat activity are running through my mind, so I load up a sling shot and take the plunge.

I am pleasantly surprised to see that the rat population is no where to be found and that the cross over duct seems to be intact. There is, however, a number of areas where the road barrier has been torn or cut and the insulation has fallen down to the ground. The cross over duct appears newer and was most likely replaced during the previous floor repair work. I unload my sling shot and make my way to fresher air.

Sitting down with the homeowner, I recommend the following measures to help this home become more energy efficient.

1. Have a duct sealing contractor seal the heating ducts. I will locate a contractor that is familiar with the incentive program offered by the power company and then I can get the heating ducts sealed at no cost to the homeowner. The contractor will perform a duct blaster test just like I did - both before the work and after the work. This contractor can also repair the underfloor insulation and the road barrier.

2. Replace the weatherstripping on both the front and back doors and have the puppies nails clipped.

3. Install new ceiling exhaust fans in both bathrooms with timer switches. After the old steamy shower, the fan can stay on for 20 minutes and then shut itself off. Sure helps with mold and mildew.

4. Have the whole house fan in the hallway ceiling disconnected and blocked off. If the homeowner feels they need a little fresh air, they can open a window.

5. Have the homeowner pick up a can of spray foam insulation and take care of the plumbing holes under the sinks and beside the water heater.

6. Have the dryer vent duct cleaned and then reattached to the dryer.

7. Upgrade the furnace system by adding a heat pump and programmable thermostat. The heat pump efficiency rating will be selected by considering the power company incentives and the State and Federal tax credits.

Well, there you have it, another power trip. This one holds promise of making a real reduction in the power bill. By the way, the homeowner indicates that the exterminator is still on the payroll for once a year visits.

Thanks for stopping by for todays Power Trip, come back soon, but I won’t leave the light on for you…

PS. I see some homemade looking wind generators across the alley in a neighbors back yard, I think I will stop by and see if anyone’s home I can shoot the breeze with.

I have been looking forward to this home audit every since I put it on my schedule. You see, this house and I have a history. This will be the third go round with this house and so far I am batting 500. The first visited was to replace the rather large back deck and get it replaced before one of the kids fell threw the rotten boards. I figure the deck was a win.

The second go round was the first home audit that left me scratching my head wondering how the heating duct system could leak so bad without being able to find where all the air was going. I figure that was a defeat. Now, here I am heading out for the third go round. I feel like an old Mohammad Ali fight. I have tried to stack the deck in my favor.

I don’t like losing. On this trip, I have invited another Energy Spy Detective named Jay and I have an apprentice Energy Spy Detective named Nathan joining me on the hunt.

The day is beautiful and inspiring. Unusual to see the sky so blue and feel the weather so warm where the surf meets the sand. The highlight of the day will be lunch time when I plan to celebrate a home energy victory with a real, award winning bowl of clam chowder and some fresh buttered garlic bread. It will be worth the wait. Jay, Nathan, and I discuss the up coming challenge during the hour ride. We set forth a plan of attack and get our sleeves rolled up. I am not sure what Nathan is thinking, but he does mention food every once in a while.

The homeowner called me a few days after she had a visit from a gentleman from the power company. Like most of us, she had some concerns about the high electric bills. The power company guy did a duct blaster test and found that the ducts leaked so bad that he would not be able to provide any hands-on work to help out. The company auditor felt that all the duct leakage was to the inside of the house and, therefore, not really a concern.

The news that a power company auditor had evaluated the home and left with his hands in the air had sparked my competitive nature. Yes, it’s true, in the world of heating duct pressure testing, ducts are evaluated on their measured air leakage both to the outside of the house and to the inside of the house. If the ducts are leaking to the inside of the house, oh well, that is where you want the air anyway. If the ducts are leaking to the outside of the house, oh my goodness, now we are trying to heat or cool the great outdoors and that is very of hard on the pocketbook.

On arriving at the house, the first thing I did was ask to see the offending electric bill. I wanted to see what the total monthly killowatt hour usage was along with the daily average and I wanted to compare the current monthly usage with the usage a year earlier. The next thing I heard is something I simply do not understand.

The owner said,”I don’t have a bill, I throw them all away.” Ouch! Folks, we need to make friends with our power bills and learn how to gather valuable, energy saving information from them. Read them like a good book. Instead of throwing them away, keep the old friends around a few years. Better yet, get the bills electronically and let the computer save them for you.

The three Energy Spy amigos take a quick tour of the home. It is a two story home with the front entrance halfway between the upstairs and the downstairs. Step in the front door and you have your choice – take the stairs down to the lower level - two bedrooms, bath, office and laundry. Take the stairs up to the main floor - two bedrooms, bath, kitchen, and living room. The home has a two car garage on the lower level. The office and one bedroom have been added by stealing room from the garage. The electric furnace is in a closet in the downstairs office. There is a return air register in the upstairs hallway ceiling and there is a smaller one at the bottom of the stairs in the downstairs hallway ceiling.

One thing that is unusual about the heating ducts in this home, along with the toys and cheerios, there are damper valves in the round metal heating ducts just inside the upstairs floor registers. Usually I only see damper valves in a commercial system. During my second and unsuccessful visit, one thing I did was open the damper valves by placing my hand down the heating ducts. The homeowner did not know the dampers were there. Opening the damper valve on one of the living room ducts increased the air flow from 625 cfm to 1200 cfm. ( I have a box with a flow meter attached, one of my energy spy gadgets)

Access to the attic is in the master bedroom closet. Nathan unloads the equipment and starts setting up the blower door. Jay grabs a screw driver and works his way into the furnace inclosure and I set up a ladder below the attic access. With the ladder in place, I invite Jay and Nathan to join me in the attic, I have a surprise for them that involves the attic insulation. Boy does that sound exciting or what! In this attic you will find the best case of trailblazing and fort construction that I have ever seen.

The insulation is packed down in a system of little trails that look like the march of the penguins took place right here. Noticeable larger round depressions appear to be resting or sleeping areas. I can remember going snow skiing and traveling a road that had 6 feet of snow stacked on both sides of the roadway. I felt like I was traveling through a tunnel without a roof. Thats what the attic insulation looked like. Little tunnel roadways without a roof.

Investigation on the outside of the house, under the eves, reveals an area over the deck, next to a  deck post, that has missing bird blocks. The family cat ( or cats ) had no problem climbing the post and entering the attic space. Let the trailblazing begin. We will see, later on, how this attic even provided a warm place for fort construction.

Nathan fires up the blower door and the monometer indicates an air infiltration measure of 2,800 cubic feet per minute. This is way too much. I would like to see a reading between 1000 and 1,400 cfm. Remember, too much air infiltration and we are heating or cooling the great outdoors. Too little air infiltration and the house might feel stale or muggy.

We walk around the house while the blower door fan is on and look and feel for areas where air is entering the house. Back door and garage door need new weatherstripping – storage area under the stairs needs sealing off – attic access lid needs weatherstripping, etc. What is of particular interest to me is the amount of cool air coming down on my bald head from the return air register in the hallway ceiling. This is a very good indication that the duct system has a leak to the outside of the home. I think the Energy Spy Pros are on to something.

We get busy setting up for the duct blaster test. For this, all the heating registers are taped off and a fan is connected to the return air register in the ceiling of the hallway. We are going to blow air into the duct system, both supply and return ducts are included in this test. The fan is turned on and increased slowly to eventually reach top speed. Well, thats a fine howdy do. Seems the ducts are so leaky that the monometer will not even begin to provide a reading. This means that total duct leakage, both to the inside and to the outside, is off the charts. I see energy savings in this homes future.

By combining the blower door with the duct blaster, we can run a test that will separate out duct leakage to the inside from duct leakage to the outside. Just because we did not get a reading on total duct leakage does not mean we can not get a reading on duct leakage to the outside. The blower door fan is set on reverse so we can blow air into the house. The duct blaster is readjusted and bingo, a measure of duct leakage to the outside of the house measures 880 cfm. I can taste that clam chowder now. Nathan does away with his levis and sports a nifty pair of basketball shorts.

To continue our quest to locate the leak, we head down to the furnace and tape off the furnace filter and stick it back in the furnace. Now we can perform the duct blaster test again and test just the return air ducts for the leak. By taping off the furnace filter, we separated the return air ducts from the supply air ducts. We can now test them separately for leakage. Testing just the return duct, the duct blaster, once again indicated a leak so large that a measurement figure was not given.

We left the duct blaster fan running and headed out to inspect the return air duct system with a fine tooth comb. It was not long before Jay, who had gone back into the attic, was setting off leftover fireworks. He knew how much I was looking forward to that clam chowder.

The return air duct went from the ceiling register to a metal box that sat over an open chase that went from the attic downward, behind the bathtub wall, to the basement, where it connected back up with the furnace. Most of the air from the duct blaster was coming back up into the attic from that open vertical wall space. The heating contactor, when the house was built, used the framing space behind the bathtub wall as a return air duct. He did this without sealing the top of the wall cavity or the plumbing access holes. So for years, the homeowners have been heating the attic and providing a warm place for a cat or two to build an ever expanding trail system. Bring on the Clams.

When we have a contractor seal the top of the chase around the metal return air box and stop the air from escaping to the attic, we will see the reward of a lower electric bill and a more efficient, comfortable home. Sealing a homes heating ducts is recognized as one of the most cost effective measures to a lower power bill. With the heating ducts performing like they should, I will recommend the addition of an efficient heat pump for this home. There is no use adding a heat pump and then just blowing your savings into the attic. Additional insulation will be recommended for the cat trails in the attic as well.

Ok, before I can wrap up Todays Power Trip and look a clam in the eye, let’s take a look at this leaking return air duct and consider what is happening when the furnace is off. When the furnace is off, the duct acts like an open fireplace chimney. Warm air rises, so the warmer air in the house slowly rises up and finds its way into the return air duct and flows through the hole in the duct and into the attic. Warm attic means warm cat.

When the furnace is on and the furnace fan is trying to bring air from the house back to the furnace so it can be reheated and returned to the house - what is actually happening is the furnace is bringing cold, moist, dirty cat hair from the attic, reheating it the best it can, and blowing it back into the house. The whole senareo points to one conclusion. Seal the duct.

It’s time to head for some clam chowder – I feel like I have really earned it. The score is now one loss and two wins.

I have been looking forward to this home audit every since I put it on my schedule. You see, this house and I have a history. This will be the third go round with this house and so far I am batting 500. The first visited was to replace the rather large back deck and get it replaced before one of the kids fell threw the rotten boards. I figure the deck was a win.

The second go round was the first home audit that left me scratching my head wondering how the heating duct system could leak so bad without being able to find where all the air was going. I figure that was a defeat. Now, here I am heading out for the third go round. I feel like an old Mohammad Ali fight. I have tried to stack the deck in my favor. I don’t like losing. On this trip, I have invited another Energy Spy Detective named Jay to join me and I have an apprentice Energy Spy Detective named Nathan joining us on the hunt.

The day is beautiful and inspiring. Unusual to see the sky so blue and feel the weather so warm where the surf meets the sand. The highlight of the day will be lunch time when I plan to celebrate a home energy victory with a real, award winning bowl of clam chowder and some fresh buttered garlic bread. It will be worth the wait. Jay, Nathan, and I discuss the up coming challenge during the hour ride. We set forth a plan of attack and get our sleeves rolled up. I am not sure what Nathan is thinking, but he does mention food every once in a while.

The homeowner called me a few days after she had a visit from a gentleman from the power company. Like most of us, she had some concerns about the high electric bills. The power company guy did a duct blaster test and found that the ducts leaked so bad that he would not be able to provide any hands-on work to help out. The company auditor felt that all the duct leakage was to the inside of the house and, therefore, not really a concern. The news that a power company auditor had evaluated the home and left with his hands in the air had sparked my competitive nature.

Yes, it’s true, in the world of heating duct pressure testing, ducts are evaluated on their measured air leakage both to the outside of the house and to the inside of the house. If the ducts are leaking to the inside of the house, oh well, that is where you want the air anyway. If the ducts are leaking to the outside of the house, oh my goodness, now we are trying to heat or cool the great outdoors and that is very of hard on the pocketbook.

On arriving at the house, the first thing I did was ask to see the offending electric bill. I wanted to see what the total monthly killowatt hour usage was along with the daily average and I wanted to compare the current monthly usage with the usage a year earlier. The next thing I heard is something I simply do not understand. The owner said,”I don’t have a bill, I throw them all away.” Ouch! Folks, we need to make friends with our power bills and learn how to gather valuable, energy saving information from them. Read them like a good book. Instead of throwing them away, keep the old friends around a few years. Better yet, get the bills electronically and let the computer save them for you.

The three Energy Spy amigos take a quick tour of the home. It is a two story home with the front entrance halfway between the upstairs and the downstairs. Step in the front door and you have your choice – take the stairs down to the lower level - two bedrooms, bath, office and laundry. Take the stairs up to the main floor - two bedrooms, bath, kitchen, and living room. The home has a two car garage on the lower level.

The office and one bedroom have been added by stealing room from the garage. The electric furnace is in a closet in the downstairs office. There is a return air register in the upstairs hallway ceiling and there is a smaller one at the bottom of the stairs in the downstairs hallway ceiling.

One thing that is unusual about the heating ducts in this home, along with the toys and cheerios, there are damper valves in the round metal heating ducts just inside the upstairs floor registers. Usually I only see damper valves in a commercial system. During my second and unsuccessful visit, one thing I did was open the damper valves by placing my hand down the heating ducts. The homeowner did not know the dampers were there. Opening the damper valve on one of the living room ducts increased the air flow from 625 cfm to 1200 cfm. ( I have a box with a flow meter attached, one of my energy spy gadgets)

Access to the attic is in the master bedroom closet. Nathan unloads the equipment and starts setting up the blower door. Jay grabs a screw driver and works his way into the furnace inclosure and I set up a ladder below the attic access. With the ladder in place, I invite Jay and Nathan to join me in the attic, I have a surprise for them that involves the attic insulation. Boy does that sound exciting or what! In this attic you will find the best case of trailblazing and fort construction that I have ever seen.

The insulation is packed down in a system of little trails that look like the march of the penguins took place right here. Noticeable larger round depressions appear to be resting or sleeping areas. I can remember going snow skiing and traveling a road that had 6 feet of snow stacked on both sides of the roadway. I felt like I was traveling through a tunnel without a roof. Thats what the attic insulation looked like. Little tunnel roadways without a roof.

Investigation on the outside of the house, under the eves, reveals an area over the deck, next to a  deck post, that has missing bird blocks. The family cat ( or cats ) had no problem climbing the post and entering the attic space. Let the trailblazing begin. We will see, later on, how this attic even provided a warm place for fort construction.

Nathan fires up the blower door and the monometer indicates an air infiltration measure of 2,800 cubic feet per minute. This is way too much. I would like to see a reading between 1000 and 1,400 cfm. Remember, too much air infiltration and we are heating or cooling the great outdoors. Too little air infiltration and the house might feel stale or muggy.

We walk around the house while the blower door fan is on and look and feel for areas where air is entering the house. Back door and garage door need new weatherstripping – storage area under the stairs needs sealing off – attic access lid needs weatherstripping, etc. What is of particular interest to me is the amount of cool air coming down on my bald head from the return air register in the hallway ceiling. This is a very good indication that the duct system has a leak to the outside of the home. I think the Energy Spy Pros are on to something.

We get busy setting up for the duct blaster test. For this, all the heating registers are taped off and a fan is connected to the return air register in the ceiling of the hallway. We are going to blow air into the duct system, both supply and return ducts are included in this test. The fan is turned on and increased slowly to eventually reach top speed. Well, thats a fine howdy do. Seems the ducts are so leaky that the monometer will not even begin to provide a reading. This means that total duct leakage, both to the inside and to the outside, is off the charts. I see energy savings in this homes future.

By combining the blower door with the duct blaster, we can run a test that will separate out duct leakage to the inside from duct leakage to the outside. Just because we did not get a reading on total duct leakage does not mean we can not get a reading on duct leakage to the outside. The blower door fan is set on reverse so we can blow air into the house. The duct blaster is readjusted and bingo, a measure of duct leakage to the outside of the house measures 880 cfm. I can taste that clam chowder now. Nathan does away with his levis and sports a nifty pair of basketball shorts.

To continue our quest to locate the leak, we head down to the furnace and tape off the furnace filter and stick it back in the furnace. Now we can perform the duct blaster test again and test just the return air ducts for the leak. By taping off the furnace filter, we separated the return air ducts from the supply air ducts.

We can now test them separately for leakage. Testing just the return duct, the duct blaster, once again indicated a leak so large that a measurement figure was not given. We left the duct blaster fan running and headed out to inspect the return air duct system with a fine tooth comb. It was not long before Jay, who had gone back into the attic, was setting off leftover fireworks. He knew how much I was looking forward to that clam chowder.

The return air duct went from the ceiling register to a metal box that sat over an open chase that went from the attic downward, behind the bathtub wall, to the basement, where it connected back up with the furnace. Most of the air from the duct blaster was coming back up into the attic from that open vertical wall space. The heating contactor, when the house was built, used the framing space behind the bathtub wall as a return air duct. He did this without sealing the top of the wall cavity or the plumbing access holes. So for years, the homeowners have been heating the attic and providing a warm place for a cat or two to build an ever expanding trail system. Bring on the Clams.

When we have a contractor seal the top of the chase around the metal return air box and stop the air from escaping to the attic, we will see the reward of a lower electric bill and a more efficient, comfortable home. Sealing a homes heating ducts is recognized as one of the most cost effective measures to a lower power bill. With the heating ducts performing like they should, I will recommend the addition of an efficient heat pump for this home. There is no use adding a heat pump and then just blowing your savings into the attic. Additional insulation will be recommended for the cat trails in the attic as well.

Ok, before I can wrap up Todays Power Trip and look a clam in the eye, let’s take a look at this leaking return air duct and consider what is happening when the furnace is off. When the furnace is off, the duct acts like an open fireplace chimney. Warm air rises, so the warmer air in the house slowly rises up and finds its way into the return air duct and flows through the hole in the duct and into the attic.

Warm attic means warm cat. When the furnace is on and the furnace fan is trying to bring air from the house back to the furnace so it can be reheated and returned to the house - what is actually happening is the furnace is bringing cold, moist, dirty cat hair from the attic, reheating it the best it can, and blowing it back into the house. The whole senareo points to one conclusion. Seal the duct.

It’s time to head for some clam chowder – I feel like I have really earned it. The score is now one loss and two wins…Don Ames

Energy Saving Facts

For You and Your Home, Start Saving Power and Money Today.

by Don Ames

1.  Make Friends With Your Power Bill.

And your Power Company. There is valuable information on your statement that you need to use to begin to identify where and how to save power at your home. Compare your power usage this month with last month and with the same month a year earlier. Learn to identify your ‘base load’ usage separate from your seasonal usage.  Your power company may have a number of free programs to help you save money. Some companies even offer free energy audits. To begin your crusade to save power dollars, I recommend you begin with your power bill and your power company. The Energy Spy Insider weekly newsletter will have in depth instructions on how to get the most out of your monthly power statement.

2.  Get Involved With the Smart Revolution.

The Smart Revolution is here to stay, better get on board before it picks your pocket.You will be hearing more about Smart meters, Smart appliances, Smart grids, Smart homes, and Smart phones. The Smart revolution is picking up speed so fast that it is going to be hard to keep from getting run over. Smart energy and clean energy is going to cost you and me more money. There is no way around it. The way we get energy is going to change because the world has a huge appetite for more and more energy and because the more and more energy is going to need to be clean energy. Keep going the way we are and living on the moon is going to look like a good clean choice. We will need to embrace the Smart revolution in order to control our energy bills. Play it Smart or you will see your energy bills go right out the roof.

A Smart meter is going to be replacing your electric meter. Say good bye to your favorite, the dog is barking, meter reader. The new Smart meter has the ability to send a signal back to your power company that reports how much power your using. There is a smart meter for electricity and natural gas. The meter sends out a meter reading, not once a month, but many times a day. The power company is going to know how much juice you use at 8:00 in the morning compared to 2:00 in the afternoon. It’s like big brothers watching.

Now, here’s the good part. Google has already come up with a program that will allow you to have your real time meter reading right on your own personal computer. Google has developed a program that intercepts the meter reading. And, best of all, guess what, it’s free. If Google has this to offer, than how far away is Yahoo, probably not far behind? This is how we embrace the Smart revolution. We learn how to use our Smart meter to help us understand our power usage and then how to save power and save money. Let’s not get too excited to early however, the Smart meter and Google program have only hooked up in 4 areas of the world and two of them are in Britain.

Stay tuned to Detect Energy and the Energy Spy Insider to keep up on this developing technology.

3.  Have a Real Home Energy Audit.

This can be an eye popping experience.This can jump start and rev up your power saving efforts. This can pin point where your money saving intentions should be directed.Before you contact a company that specializes in residential energy and energy audits (about $250), contact your power company for audit and contractor recommendations. There is a good chance that you can have an energy audit and get all or most of it paid for by your power company. You see, your power company may have been directed by your State to spend money on energy conservation. Your home energy audit may be helping your power company fulfill their Stately obligations.

Ask the auditor if he or she is going to do a blower door test and inquire how long the audit is going to take. If the auditor says a blower door test is not included and the audit will take only about an hour, this audit is not worth the trouble. If the auditor says a blower door test is included and he or she will be at your home for 3 hours or more, sign them up. This 3 hour audit will be worth the time and the trouble.

Sign up for the Energy Spy Insider Newsletter and I will take you along with me on home energy audits.

4.  Double Check Your Energy Lifestyle.

Oh-Oh, the ‘L’ word. L-I-F-E-S-T-Y-L-E. Let’s face it, a home can only hold up so many satellite dishes. Humanity has been plugging in one new electrical appliance after another for years. Come on, admit it, we’re just not living if we don’t have that VCR and TV mounted to the underside of the kitchen cabinet. Fact of the matter is, any power saving measure we undertake can be short circuited by our lifestyle.

(Install a low flow shower nozzle and then take a 30 minute, really hot shower. Install a low flow sink aerator and then let the water run while we brush our teeth. Install a new water saving toilet and then flush it three times. Use a 50 inch TV to light the bedroom. Install a programmable thermostat and forget how to program it. Replace the furnace filter and then 3 months later forget when the last time was that we replaced it. Run the new, high efficiency dishwasher half full. Set the new super-duper clothes dryer for 60 minutes drying time when the super-duper includes an automatic shut off setting when the clothes are dry. Leave the computer on all night so it will be ready to go in the morning. Pay the blankety-blank  power bill without ever reading it.)

We want to save power and save money, so we are going to have to live a little like ‘Ed’. Come on, Ed doesn’t have it that bad.

5.  Take Care of Your Heating and Cooling System.

Most of the power we use  goes into heating and cooling. Therefore, the potential for the biggest savings starts right here.

Here are three real home stories to get the point across.

1.  The double wide manufactured home was built in 1992. The homeowner contacted me with the complaint that the kids bedrooms were cold and the kids were getting too many respiratory infections. I checked the amount of air flow at the heat registers and found that the left side of the home, the side with the furnace, had much stonger flow than the right side. I crawled under the house and discovered that an animal had been using the underfloor area for a bedroom, probably their cat. Nothing like sleeping on the warm crossover duct on a chilly winters night. The flex duct looked like a worm that had been run over by a car.  A new crossover duct was installed, the cat was barricaded out, and the air supply to the bedrooms was restored. It’s not very energy efficient to try and heat a home with half the heating ducts blocked off.

2.  This home has a gas furnace installed in the attic as part of a remodel. The homeowner is concerned because the home never really warms up. There are two return air registers in the hallway with filter grills. The filters in the grills are clean and the homeowner says she changes them regularly. The flow of warm air at the supply registers is slight, the gas furnace is not putting much heat to the home. There is a pull down ladder in the garage to access the furnace. Inspection of the furnace reveals another filter right at the furnace and this filter is plugged solid. The homeowner had no idea there was a filter in the attic. Pull out the plugged filter and the house warms up and the gas bill goes down.

3.  I am evaluating a home for adding a heat pump to an electric furnace. A heating contractor is with me to provide a  bid. The contractor pulls the front panel off the furnace and exposes the very dirty, totally plugged filter. The homeowner is looking over the contractors shoulder and says,”Oh, there’s the filter, I’ve been looking for that.” The filter had not been replaced since the home was new 4 years ago.

Don’t forget that your heating and cooling ducts are part of the system. The delivery system. Studies indicate that the most cost affective repair you can have done to save energy and save money is to have your heating ducts sealed. Your furnace goes to a lot of time and expense to create a comfortable home, no use letting the delivery system ruin the effort.

6.  Establish Your Air Barrier.

It’s just a term that people use in the industry – this air barrier thing. It’s really very simple, your air barrier is what your home uses to separate  the outdoors from the indoors. The air barrier is the walls, the floor, and the roof. The air barrier is usually not a problem until people come along and make holes in it. The builder, during your homes construction, made most of the holes. The only holes you can see without going to a little trouble are the holes made for windows and doors. Yea, I know, it seems a little funny to think of a window as a hole in your house.

Recommended course of action is to seal up the air barrier. First of all, contact your power company and find the cheapest and best way to get an auditor with a blower door to visit your home. While the blower door is running, (sucking air out of your home) take a tour of your home and feel for leaks. Feel around windows and exterior doors. Feel the supply and return heat duct registers – feel under all the sinks around the plumbing pipes, feel the electric outlets and switches – feel the cadet wall heaters, feel around ceiling exhaust fans and recessed light fixtures. Feel behind washing machine and refrigerator. Feel around chimneys and wood stoves and pellet stove flue pipes and fireplaces.

The blower door technician will give you a cfm (cubic feet per minute) value representing the air leakage in your home. He or she should talk to about your homes minimum ventilation level and discuss how much your home needs to breath. Make an appointment to have the blower door person back after you have sealed up your air barrier. Re-test the cfm leakage of your home and see how well you did.

Use spray foam, caulk, foam rope, weatherstripping etc. to seal up the problem areas you find. And then go into the attic and underfloor spaces and seal around any pipe or wire that connects the  space with a wall or room. Be sure to wear protective clothing and gear when entering spaces with dust, cobwebs and insulation. Oh, by the way, if the attic has 16 inches of blown fiberglass that looks like a fresh snow fall, just stay out and figure it’s too pretty to mess with.

I hope the six areas I have discussed above will give you ideas on how you can save energy and save money at your home. For more information with greater detail, please consider signing up to receive the weekly Energy Spy Insider newsletter. Till next time, have a good time saving power.

How and Where to Look for Hidden Air Leaks in Your Home

by Don Ames 

Wasting energy and money at home is about 50% the homes fault and about 50% human fault. How we live in the home, our power lifestyle, has a great effect on the power bill at the end of the month.

It helps to have worked as a home builder when it comes to looking for hidden air leaks. It helps even more to have the use of a blower door, an instrument that measures whole house air leakage. A home builder with a blower door is very effective when it comes to looking for those air leaks that drain a wallet, month after month, without leaving a clue as to where all the money is going. Just a guess, but I bet you don’t have a blower door and my guess is your not a home builder.  In this article I will discuss one area of a home that spells trouble. If you have this area in your home, watch out, the air leak thief has been stealing dollars from you for years.

Recently, I visited a home built in 1996 to evaluate the home for high utility bills. The home is a two story with central gas heat and central air conditioning. The kids had recently left for work or college, so this couple had the home to themselves. No teenage daughters taking long showers. The blower door was set up and a test was run, the infiltration rate was nearly 3,200 (cfm) cubic feet per minute. For this home, the infiltration rate should be closer to 1,400 cfm. Heating ducts that leak air contribute to high air leakagereadings during a blower door test. One thing for sure, the house is swiss cheese or the heating ducts are practicallydisconnected.

To save time and money during a homes construction, the heating contractor will often use framing structures as heating ducts. Instead of installing actual heating and return duct work, the contractor will pull a short cut and use a joist space or wall cavity, a soffit or furring chase to carry the air from or to the furnace.

Register in Side of Stairway Means Trouble

If you live in a two story home and you have a heat register or return air grill that is installed in the wall framing of the stairway, you are possibly living with a major hidden air leak. Chances are, the heating contractor used the whole space under the stairway as a heating passage way. The problem gets more serious when the stairway cavity is open to the underfloor space and/or the attic.

In this home, I went under the floor so I could look at the insulation that was under the stairway. Sure enough, the insulation right under the stairway was almost black instead of being it’s normal yellow self. Insulation will turn black when it is being used as an air filter. Black insulation occurs when air is passing through the insulation and the dust, dirt and lint in the air is being filtered out turning the normally yellow or pink insulation black. If you look at the insulation under your floor or in your attic and some of the insulation appears to be a lot darker than other parts, the dark area has air passing through it which deposits the dirt in the air on the insulation for all to see. Dark insulation means air leak.

The floor of this house was framed with tongue and groove 2 x 8 boards. There was no floor underlayment installed on the section under the stairway. When the furnace came on, the furnace fan sucked air from under the stairway. The return air grill, in the side of the stairway, supplied some air from the hallway, but the rest of the air feeding the furnace came from under the floor.

Problem:

1.  The air under the floor is cold, so during the heating season, the furnace has to heat up cool air instead of the warmer air that is in the house. The furance has to work harder.

2.  The air under the floor is dirty, it plugs up furnace filters fast and contributes to poor indoor air quality. People with asthma can experience difficulty.

3.  The air in the house does not get to circulate throughout the house and through the furnace filter as often.

4.  When the furance fan comes on, air from under the floor causes the air balance within the whole house heating system to pressurize. The house does not heat up as evenly or effectively.

5.  The problem can go undetected for years.

The fix:

An insulation contractor was called that specializes in heating system duct sealing. The contractor performed a duct leakage test before and after repairs to the system. The duct leakage loss was reduced by 72%.

1.  The return air register was removed from the wall of the stairway and the hole entering the stairway cavity was enlarged. This allowed a person to enter the area.

2.  Half inch particle board was installed over the 2 x 8 tongue and groove. The edges and the joints of the particle board were caulked.

3.  A round flexible heating duct was installed from one side of the stairway cavity, attaching to the furnace return air plenum on one side and attaching to the return air register on the other. Now when the furnace comes on, return air was drawn directly through the new heating duct from the hallway to the furnace.

4.  The floor was sealed under the stairway so the dirty air from the crawl space could not get into the house.

Sure hope this was helpful, particularly to those that live in a two story home. Keep your eye on my detect energy articles, I will discuss other hidden air leaks in the future. For now, thanks for stopping by, hurry back, but I won’t leave a light on for you… Don Ames