 Control the Leak When you are trying to make an existing house energy efficient you need to think of the house as a system, fighting to balance itself with the outside climate. An important concept you need to understand, is the house could be leaking excessive amounts of energy and costing you money. Lost energy, in the form of heat, can be leaking out of the structure when the target temperature inside the home is greater than that of the outside temperature. Conversely heat can be leaking into the structure when the target temperature inside is cooler. It should be your goal to first control the leak. If your automobile gas tank was leaking fuel you wouldn't keep filling the tank blindly. Why accept the same type of energy loss in your home? Using good insulation, energy efficient windows and doors, and direct sealing of the home you can minimize comfort problems, energy loss and control the infiltration of dust and allergens. Don't just replace heat. Save heat and money with these improvements. If you are planning on building a new home there are some great new building materials available that are designed to control energy leaks. ICF's (Insulated Concrete Forms), Sip's (Insulated Structured Panels) and the new spray foams are all great products for controlling energy leaks. Correctly Size your Heating and Cooling Equipment After you have done everything you can to control energy leakage you now need to determine how much heat energy is leaking. With the new specialized heat loss/heat gain computer software we have, this complicated process can be done with relative ease. It is a must to know this information to properly size your heating and cooling equipment. Oversized equipment will short cycle causing higher energy costs, higher maintenance costs, and comfort problems. If your equipment is undersized it will barely keep up during those extreme heating and cooling days. Engineering and Sealing your Distribution System. Improperly designed distribution systems can create pressure imbalances in the home. This pressure imbalance can cause higher energy bills, dust, allergens and other comfort problems. The computer software we have helps us to properly engineer the distribution system with confidence. The last thing we do is seal the distribution system. The average home loses 25 cents of every dollar of conditioned air through a leaky duct system. We first need a complete set of building plans. The plans need to tells us the direction the building is facing, the type of building materials, insulation, window sizes and type, door sizes and type, and detailed drawings of the rooms with sizes and heights. Then contact us. |
