High-Tech House Test Can Cut Your Energy Bills
With the return of winter, your furnace is likely running on overdrive — and every minute you heat your house, it’s costing you money. A lot of people would like their house to be more efficient, but how do you know where your house is losing heat?
Now, there?s a scientific way to check how much of your costly heating bill is seeping out of your house.
“We’re sucking all the air that exists inside the house out through this blower door fan, and drawing it out like it’s a straw. We’re measuring the leaks and the gaps and the voids,” said John Schwencke, from Neil Kelly?s Home Performance division.
With the fan on, energy contractors go through the house with smoke sticks, looking for places where the smoke leaks out of the house.
Home energy reviews have been around for a while, but technology is pushing these efforts towards a better picture of where a house is losing heat and dollars.
“We have these specialty diagnostic tools,” said Schwencke.
That includes an infrared camera, used while the fan is pulling air out of the house.
“The dark blue colors are the colder temperatures, and the red, reddish orange are the warmer interior temperatures,” said Schwencke.
Another key spot your house could be costing you: the ductwork.
“Taping off the supply ducts to do pressure testing for the duct system,” Mike Newcomb explained as he taped up a heating vent during a test.
This three-hour home energy test can cost several hundred dollars, but programs like Clean Energy Works and some through the Energy Trust are making it free.
“We try and do the whole house approach to making the house as efficient as possible,” said Schwencke.
If you are thinking about having a home energy review at your house, you can visit incentive programs and other options through Clean Energy Works and the Energy Trust of Oregon at:
