On 1/14/2013 12:44 PM, chaniarts wrote:
On 1/14/2013 1:32 PM, Steve B wrote:
We're going through a cold spell here, and my HVAC is reaching its
limits.
It is 25 degrees F at 1:30 in the afternoon. It was 14 this morning
outside, plus wind chill brought it down below zero. Now, I know there
are
a lot of folks that live where it's that cold all the time, but for
here, it
is a cold snap. It is supposed to be back up to 60 in a week.
I want to do a survey of my home, and identify heat loss sites, as
well as
air infiltration sites.
Is there a means to do this without buying spendy cameras, etc? Are
rental
units available? Do insulation companies do this sort of service?
I really want to go around, and caulk all the sites where I "think"
air is
getting in, as around where door casings meet stucco, and other areas
where
irregular surfaces make a good mating of materials impossible. But, after
that, I would like a real pro assessment.
What about a small piece of smoking cotton twine to identify drafts? I
know
there are places where I can do this myself, and would probably call
out a
pro to do the harder and larger areas where I want total sealing.
Suggestions?
Steve
call your electric provider. they either do this, or will have low or
free cost contractors who will do this. of course, they then try to sell
you something...
In Oregon, these guys are a good place to start.
http://energytrust.org/residential/
They steer you to commercial contractors.
I expect there are similar organizations in other places.
There are various government weatherization subsidy and tax rebate programs.
That might give you links to providers.
There are organizations that provide weatherization assistance depending
on your income.
This is the one here in Oregon:
http://www.caowash.org/
You don't have to be low income to ask questions.
If you happened to be in the confluence of unemployment,
and abundant stimulus money, you could get a major weatherization
upgrade for free.
Don't know the current policy.
If you can find a company with an IR imager, that's the simplest way
to get info you can work on yourself.
You can get a lot of work done with a cheap IR non-contact thermometer.
If you buy one, be sure to check out the D:S ratio.
The thermometer looks at a spot diameter that is the distance divided
by the D:S ratio.
Some of the cheap thermometers have a D:S ratio of 1:1. That means
if you're two feet back, the spot size is two feet diameter and useless
for determining much of anything. If it doesn't have a D:S
Specification it probably sucks.
~12:1 is the sweet spot for affordable units.
Turn on all the exhaust fans in the house to suck in the cold and
go looking with your thermometer. Doesn't have to be IR, but it's
faster than a liquid one. But it's sensitive to emissivity.
You probably don't have to worry about it in the initial stages,
but it is possible to go too far.
I had the professional weatherization. Blower door test came back
with less infiltration than recommended for the house, but was OK
for one occupant. I replaced the flooring and sealed all the
cracks around the floor/wall joints.
My stove vent fan can pull a 5 Pa vacuum at the other end of the house.
Place got so stuffy that I had to build a heat-recovery-ventilator
to make the place livable in winter.
ecorenovator.org is a good resource. I've had lousy luck with their
search function, but if you browse, there's lots of good stuff there.
http://ecorenovator.org/how-to-seal-...ent-resources/
At some point you're gonna realize that as you seal up stuff, the humidity
goes up and condenses on the coldest stuff you haven't fixed yet.
You're gonna worry about mold growth.
Here's an interesting online calculator that addresses conditions
that favor mold growth:
http://dpcalc.org/
Are we having fun yet?