It here was a storage building built on a site for storing water tanks. Inside of the building is foggy when electric heater is on in the winter time. Turned out a contractor put a vapour barrier on the ceiling to prevent possible frozen water tank. Ended up putting mechanical vents on the ceiling. It’s not advised to put a vapour barrier on the ceiling.
While portion of the attic meet recommended insulation levels for optimum energy efficiency, some areas in the attic are low. Additional insulation needs to be installed and evenly distributed throughout the attic to improve the home’s energy efficiency. Recommend this be addressed by a qualified contractor to ensure proper installation.
Backdrafting: The introduction of harmful gases back into the house due to improper venting is extremely harmful and should be not only observed, but actually looked for when doing a home inspection. It is not hard to do and could be a life saving measure.
Hot water tank temp. dial. When force firing the hot water tank by turning its temp. dial to its highest setting, you must be careful not to forget to reset the dial to its original setting to prevent injury to any of the occupants in the house.
Install a tankless water heater to save money and energy in your home. Demand type water heaters (tankless) provide hot water only when it is needed. They don’t provide the energy losses associated with traditional storage water heaters which will save on energy costs.
A good place to start your testing would be with the furnace in the basement and the hot water tank checking for carbon dioxide then working your way up to the main floor checking bay windows around baseboards and doors then second floor again around the windows baseboards and any corners then work your way up to the attic checking for cold spots on attic doors and on this house it is a story and a half there for the ceiling is part of the attic on upper floor where it will lose lots of heat because its an older home and does not have that ability To have enough insulation in the ceiling space
There are many ways to save on energy with a whole one of the easiest ways is in the attic space hot air is lighter than cold air there for rises to the attic if the attic is not insulated correctly you will lose heat quickly make sure the attic door is sealed correctly and insulated above next place to save energy Would be install LED lighting Next obvious place would be doors and windows
This is a picture of an improperly vented gas water heater. All pipe joints are not properly sealed and there are gaps that need sealed where the vent pipe enters the chimney. With out proper sealing there is an increased chance of exhaust gases entering the home.
To prevent carbon monoxide poisoning all discharge venting from gas water heaters and gas furnaces should be properly sealed at all joints and especially where they enter a chimney. Proper combustion air should be made available and CO monitors need to be placed on all floors including the basement.
The exhaust flue for the gas hot water heater has a negative grade for about 5 - 6 feet. This could cause difficulty in proper drafting of appliance and should be tested for both back drafting issues and carbon monoxide leakage as part of the energy audit and recommended to be changed.
I chose this picture to show blown in loose attic insulation which has been added to this particular home to help insulate the home from the heat in the attic (this home is in SW Florida where cold is not an issue) and to help prevent excess heat from entering the living space, also it important to note that the insulation should not block the soffit vents
I chose to write my essay on the article regarding dryer vent safety and the importance of keeping a regular maintenance schedule to keep your dryer ducts cleaned annually or bianually (depending on the size of the family) it is crital to clean dryer vent regularly to prevent house fires
sliding glass doors are a perfect example of where to look for leaks.
there seals often deteriorate quickly and cause large drafts thru out the house.A lot of the time you can not find repair parts that will fit the door and it must be replaced. here in fl. it is a huge expense about 5k dollars per door. Most places it’s only 1k per door.
home energy audits started out to be a great thing as it has developed it has lost touch with reality and deviated from common sense. taking this course has shown me that in spades.I am very sad to see this.
Inspecting the HVAC System for Duct Leaks and Energy Loss: HVAC ducted systems need to be sealed properly so that the only place air enters the system is through the return air grilles and the only place air leaves the system is through warm air grilles in individual rooms. The highest point of pressure in the ductwork is nearest the blower and therefore any openings around the plenums of the furnace system are important to be sealed well.
This is a natural gas water heater. The exhaust piping appears to be sound with plenty of horizontal length where a test probe hole could be drilled more than the required 12" past the first elbow. The draft hood should also allow ample room for a test probe to be inserted.
Testing for proper venting of gases from the furnace is part of the CAZ combustion appliance zone testing. This is to verify the appliance will vent carbon monoxide even in worse case scenarios. In addition the overall inspection of the furnace tells you if it is running efficient or not.
Blower Door testing, this creates the equivalent of a 20 mph wind against the outside of the house. The equipment used will create air movement through any leaks in the house from outside the conditioned air space. You can then use a smoke pencil or a thermal imaging camera to identify where these leaks are.
Installing windows in this house became a problem when one of the workers smelled gas coming from the basement there was several boxes piled up around the furnace and the water heater blocking the air exchange not properly vented .we opend up doors windows. evac. the house and called fire dept.
As a given the home owner has no idea how this all works you can recommend all kinds of good help to save them dollars on energy and make their home safer. some of the people will realy do repaires. and most people say well maybe I,ll do it in the spring.