Barron Heating AC Electrical & Plumbing Blog: Archive for the ‘Duct Analysis’ Category

Energy Saver 101: Home Performance Assessment

Thursday, March 2nd, 2017

Having a qualified and experienced inspector perform a Home Performance Assessment is the first step to determining how to best prioritize efficiency upgrades and ultimately save you money on your energy bills.

You may have heard these referred to as Energy Audits, or some similarly negative phrase that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Instead of looking at this as an anxiety-inducing inspection (thank you, IRS), we find it far more accurate to think of HPAs as a tool for big-picture analysis of your home’s indoor air quality, potential energy-loss areas, evenly-heated rooms, and other issues. Home Performance Assessments are done to better your family’s well-being and safety. We’re on your side!

Your home is likely the biggest investment that you will make; getting a Home Performance Assessment can ensure it operates efficiently, comfortably and safely. A Home Performance Assessment can result in utility bill savings between 20 and 50 percent–with the ever-rising cost of utilities, the potential savings grow each year.

Through utility bill analysis, infiltrometer testing, thermographic imaging, duct leakage and repair, indoor humidity and moisture control, combustion gas analysis, weatherization services and IAQ analysis, a Home Performance Assessment is the best and most comprehensive step for you to take towards saving money and improving your home.

Tags: home performance, infographic
Posted in Drafty, Duct Analysis, Ductless Heat Pump, Ductless Heat Pumps, Efficiency, Energy Audit, Energy Efficiency, Energy Star, Home Performance Assessment, IAQ, Weatherization, Windows | Comments Off on Energy Saver 101: Home Performance Assessment

6 Tips to Keep Your Wallet Happy This Winter

Wednesday, December 14th, 2016

Don’t let your winter heating costs get you down

Sure, in the short walk from your heated car to your heated office the cold winter air may be refreshing, but I’m sure there are few among us who don’t appreciate the comfort of a well-heated house at the end of the day. I’ll also bet there are few among us whose energy bills don’t see some kind of spike in these winter months either. That part’s not so comforting.

But before you scramble to take up residence someplace more tropical, we’ve put together 6 tips to help keep your house warm and wallet happy this winter.

1. Go smart (with a smart/programmable thermostat)

Automatically control the temperature of your house when you’re working, sleeping, or otherwise occupied with a programmable thermostat, and you can save from 5 to 20% on your heating bill. No need to worry about remembering to turn your heat down when you leave the house–programmable thermostats take the hassle out of heating.

Tags: Energy Savings
Posted in Air Duct Cleaning, Annual Maintenance, Blower Door Testing, Comfort, Comfy Home, Duct Analysis, Duct Cleaning, Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, Energy Savings, Furnace, Furnaces, Heating, High Efficiency Systems, Insulation, savings, Thermostat | Comments Off on 6 Tips to Keep Your Wallet Happy This Winter

Do you know your home? Really?

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2015

A little bit of useful knowledge can go a long way for homeowners.

The average suburban family home has become a much more complicated and sophisticate system than ever before! Long gone are the days of wood-burning stoves and cracking a window open to feel the cool summer breeze. Today’s home commonly has forced-air ductwork, higher efficiency HVAC systems, geothermal systems, and electronic control systems. Many of these systems are new to contractors so it is no wonder that the average U.S. homeowner does not understand how to keep their home performing well. Homeowners must rely on a hired expert – but choosing the right one and one you can trust can be a tricky path.

So, how can homeowners protect themselves? Get to know your home! There are three basic categories of knowledge every owner should have about their home:

Required knowledge
Useful knowledge
Advanced knowledge

Required knowledge

What kinds of things fall into the category of required knowledge? We recommend the following:

Water source: where does your home’s water come from (municipal water, well water, spring water)?
Waste water: where does your home’s waste water go (septic tank, municipal sewer pipe)?
Water main location: where is the water main for the home?
What type of water heater does your home have?
What type of appliance heats your home and where is it located?
What type of fuel is used to heat your home?
Does your home have an emergency on/off switch for the heating system and where is it located?
What is the location of your home’s fire extinguisher?
Does your home have air conditioning and where is it located?
Does your home have a thermostat control and where is it located?
Where are the locations for the main electrical panel and circuit breakers?

Useful knowledge

What kinds of things are useful and good to know about your home? We recommend the following:

What type of roofing is on your home’s roof?
What type of plumbing supply pipes are used in your home (copper, PVC)?
How is your home insulated (attic, roof, walls, how much, what type)?
Are your windows single-glazed, double-glazed or triple-glazed?
Does your home have removable storm windows?
Does your home have a mechanical ventilation system, if so, what type?

Gathering answers to these questions will better prepare you for work that might be performed in your home and will help prevent you from being swindled by crooked contractors.

Advanced knowledge

If homeowners take a little extra time to learn a few building science principles and consider their home as a “whole system” it will be easier to select the appropriate contractor to perform repairs, maintenance or conduct testing on your home. Some of the things that would fall into this category include:

Why does infiltration and exfiltration matter?
Where are air leaks most often located?
How air movement can undermine the performance of fluffy insulation.
How can positive and/or negative pressure affect your home?
What kinds of conditions can lead to condensation within your home?
What are the most cost-effective energy retrofit measures?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of different types of heating fuel?

We are not suggesting that homeowners become home performance experts, but by getting to know your home a little better you can protect yourself and save money in the long run by choosing a contractor with knowledge and confidence in home performance service work. By gathering some basic knowledge about your home, you can work with your contractor to decide how to make your home the best total system it can be for you and for your family.

Posted in Blower Door, Blower Door Testing, Customer Service, diagnostics, Duct Analysis, Energy Efficiency, Home Improvement, Insulation, Whole House Fans, Windows | Comments Off on Do you know your home? Really?

READY FOR THE TEST?

Tuesday, October 1st, 2013

To make the process of having a Home and Duct Performance test as smooth as possible, you can follow the steps below. Many of the steps can be done in the days leading up to your test while ‘for safety reasons’, you might want to wait unit we arrive (or just before) to handle others. Hopefully you’re as excited as we are about learning what your house has to tell us about its Health, Comfort & Efficiency.

Watch the video.

Visit BarronHeating.com/service to see the 6 minute video that explains the whole home and duct performance test process. Doing this will save us valuable testing time when we are at your home and may answer questions you have.

Take the Comfort Check-up Survey.

Also at BarronHeating.com/homeperformancesurvey is a quick 3 minute survey regarding how you experience comfort and air quality at home. The answers you give will allow me to dial in to the opportunities that are most valuable to you as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Locate your electric and natural gas utility account numbers.

Your account number may in some cases give us the ability to pre-approve you for certain utility rebates.

Open up all the interior doors.

This allows for the natural air flow of all zones of your home during testing.

Clear access to all the registers (aka grilles).

In order to measure duct leakage I will need to access all the heat and return registers with a piece of equipment that needs about 2.5 feet of vertical clearance. Any that we can’t get to will be masked off and not used for the test. This will not affect the accuracy of the results.

Check to make sure the filters in your return ducts are relatively clean.

These will be located either at the grills in the home or in a box attached to your furnace.

Make sure all windows are closed.

We don’t want to measure your house leakage with a hole like that in your wall.

Make sure any wood fireplaces are cleaned out and closed as much as possible.

This includes closing the flue.
Do not build a fire in the fireplace in the 24 hours before the test.
When the house is under pressure, it is possible to pull a small amount of ash or chimney debris into the home if we haven’t properly sealed its path.

Turn all gas appliances, such as fireplaces and wall heaters, to “OFF”.

I will take care of the furnace and the water heater if necessary, but you know how to operate the appliances in your home better than I do.

We will be double checking that all these conditions have been met before we begin the testing process, but anything that can be done before we arrive will allow for more time sleuthing and discussing solutions.

Posted in AeroSeal, Blower Door Testing, Duct Analysis, Energy Star, Home Performance, Home Testing, PTCS | Comments Off on READY FOR THE TEST?

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