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

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...

On 1/14/2013 2:44 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...


Second the suggestion. Call your local utility and ask for a home
energy audit. My utility offers three grades of audit, ranging in
price from $30 for a simple walk-through/eyeball inspection, up to the
$100 full inspection w/blower door air leakage test and IR scan for
cold spots needing caulking or more insulation.

On Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:01:47 -0600, Moe DeLoughan
wrote:

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...


Second the suggestion. Call your local utility and ask for a home
energy audit. My utility offers three grades of audit, ranging in
price from $30 for a simple walk-through/eyeball inspection, up to the
$100 full inspection w/blower door air leakage test and IR scan for
cold spots needing caulking or more insulation.

Third that. A list of tips from my utility. Some at no or little cost.
https://www.nvenergy.com/home/saveenergy/energytips.cfm

For finding drafts I use an incense stick around windows, and
electrical boxes.

"Steve B" wrote:

-snip-
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?


Since infiltration is probably the worst of it, incense, a cigarette
or a candle is the best way to find drafts. Got a big honking
exhaust fan? Stick it in the door- seal around it and turn it on
and see where it is sucking replacement air from.

Then, I'd play with an infrared thermometer for a while. Got double
pane windows?

I'll be the contrarian [sort of] and say I'd not put a lot of faith in
my utility's assessment. You might get lucky and have someone come
out that knows what they are doing. They might even have some good
gear to play with. I've had 2 done- and was glad both times that I
knew a little bit about heat loss and electrical consumption. they
were both all wet.

There was a not-for-profit group that operated around here years ago &
I spoke with one of their guys at a lumberyard for a while. *He*
seemed to have his **** together.

Just saying-- check the work of whoever tells you to spend any money--
and if it is free, have a couple people do it so you can compare
notes.

Jim

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?

On Jan 14, 2:32*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

Harbor Feight has a simple infrared pointing thermometer that is about
$12 as I recall. It ws good for pointing at walls and ceiling to find
where insulation was missing or thin.

Jim Elbrecht wrote:
"Steve B" wrote:

-snip-
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?


Since infiltration is probably the worst of it, incense, a cigarette
or a candle is the best way to find drafts. Got a big honking
exhaust fan? Stick it in the door- seal around it and turn it on
and see where it is sucking replacement air from.

Then, I'd play with an infrared thermometer for a while. Got double
pane windows?

I'll be the contrarian [sort of] and say I'd not put a lot of faith in
my utility's assessment. You might get lucky and have someone come
out that knows what they are doing. They might even have some good
gear to play with. I've had 2 done- and was glad both times that I
knew a little bit about heat loss and electrical consumption. they
were both all wet.

There was a not-for-profit group that operated around here years ago &
I spoke with one of their guys at a lumberyard for a while. *He*
seemed to have his **** together.

Just saying-- check the work of whoever tells you to spend any money--
and if it is free, have a couple people do it so you can compare
notes.

Jim

I've done all myself. Sometimes when your starting from a poor home, you
can test as you go. With typical insulation here, the ceiling below attic
should be at average room temperature, not below. Exterior walls show some
drop in temperature with R11-13 insulation. I got a whole house fan, so
it's easy to test for drafts, but one or two vents, like range or bathroom
should also work. Incense sticks, wet fingers. Man, the house had massive
leaks when I started fixing things up. Still leaks though. When using a IR
thermometer, hold the trigger and slowly scan walls and ceilings. You can
form a mental picture with the scans, just as good as a camera. Scan
everything.

I'd hire out help if your fairly well off, or think you are.

Greg

Would you be scanning indoors, or out? Both?

A couple fellows and myself blew some cellulose
into my ceiling. Cut down on the icicles, a lot.

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

"gregz" wrote in message
...

I've done all myself. Sometimes when your starting from a poor home, you
can test as you go. With typical insulation here, the ceiling below attic
should be at average room temperature, not below. Exterior walls show some
drop in temperature with R11-13 insulation. I got a whole house fan, so
it's easy to test for drafts, but one or two vents, like range or bathroom
should also work. Incense sticks, wet fingers. Man, the house had massive
leaks when I started fixing things up. Still leaks though. When using a IR
thermometer, hold the trigger and slowly scan walls and ceilings. You can
form a mental picture with the scans, just as good as a camera. Scan
everything.

I'd hire out help if your fairly well off, or think you are.

Greg

"Stormin Mormon" wrote:
Would you be scanning indoors, or out? Both?

A couple fellows and myself blew some cellulose
into my ceiling. Cut down on the icicles, a lot.

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

"gregz" wrote in message
...

I've done all myself. Sometimes when your starting from a poor home, you
can test as you go. With typical insulation here, the ceiling below attic
should be at average room temperature, not below. Exterior walls show some
drop in temperature with R11-13 insulation. I got a whole house fan, so
it's easy to test for drafts, but one or two vents, like range or bathroom
should also work. Incense sticks, wet fingers. Man, the house had massive
leaks when I started fixing things up. Still leaks though. When using a IR
thermometer, hold the trigger and slowly scan walls and ceilings. You can
form a mental picture with the scans, just as good as a camera. Scan
everything.

I'd hire out help if your fairly well off, or think you are.

Greg

Indoor scanning. I never thought about outdoors, but something to think
about. I do watch the snow melt on everyones roof.

The handheld IR gun, becomes inaccurate if the devices is not in room
temperature. It's also fairly useless to scan windows.

Greg

On Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:32:05 -0700, "Steve B" wrote:

What about a small piece of smoking cotton twine to identify drafts? I know

Dont try that if there are any NO SMOKING signs nearby, or you'll be
heading to jail....

On 1/14/2013 7:41 PM, gregz wrote:
"Stormin wrote:
Would you be scanning indoors, or out? Both?

A couple fellows and myself blew some cellulose
into my ceiling. Cut down on the icicles, a lot.

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

wrote in message
...

I've done all myself. Sometimes when your starting from a poor home, you
can test as you go. With typical insulation here, the ceiling below attic
should be at average room temperature, not below. Exterior walls show some
drop in temperature with R11-13 insulation. I got a whole house fan, so
it's easy to test for drafts, but one or two vents, like range or bathroom
should also work. Incense sticks, wet fingers. Man, the house had massive
leaks when I started fixing things up. Still leaks though. When using a IR
thermometer, hold the trigger and slowly scan walls and ceilings. You can
form a mental picture with the scans, just as good as a camera. Scan
everything.

I'd hire out help if your fairly well off, or think you are.

Greg

Indoor scanning. I never thought about outdoors, but something to think
about. I do watch the snow melt on everyones roof.

The handheld IR gun, becomes inaccurate if the devices is not in room
temperature. It's also fairly useless to scan windows.

If you can stick black tape on it, you can scan it.
I just repeated the window experiment and got the same temperature
with and without the black tape. If you have direct sunlight on the window,
that's a problem.

Greg

The unit I bought, cautioned about not reading
correctly on shiny metals. maybe also shiny
windows? Yes, I've learned to put electrical tape
on copper tubing for temp checks, and also on
galvanized heating ducts.

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

"mike" wrote in message
...
On 1/14/2013 7:41 PM, gregz wrote:

The handheld IR gun, becomes inaccurate if the devices is not in room
temperature. It's also fairly useless to scan windows.

If you can stick black tape on it, you can scan it.
I just repeated the window experiment and got the same temperature
with and without the black tape. If you have direct sunlight on the window,
that's a problem.

Greg

"Steve B" wrote in message
...
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



The biggest heat loss from any building is windows , doors and thru the
roof...If your windows aren't double or triple pane energy star rated and
your doors aren't solid wood or insulated energy star rated and you don't
have atleast a foot of insulation in the attic , anything else you do is
just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic , so to speak..Expensive but
there are tax deductions , low interest loans and other programs available
to help...I changed all my old windows , doors and eliminated an old metal
glass slider and my house is MUCH warmer and heating bill was cut in
HALF...Then I did the little stuff like adding those outlet insulating
things ,caulking ,and insulating the area between the top of the cement wall
in the basement and floor , sometimes called the "band"..Next up is
insulating the concrete walls in the basement..Do keep in mind there is a
line that once crossed you need to install an air exchanger..I don't plan on
going that far...HTH......