Are you stunned by high energy bills when you’re making every effort to save energy? Do you sacrifice comfort to reduce cooling and heating costs? If so, revamp your energy-saving strategy by including a home energy audit in the lineup.
What Is a Home Energy Audit?
A home energy audit is a systematic assessment of how much energy your home uses, where energy is being wasted and step-by-step instructions for improving each system. Most home energy suggestions include practical ways to save substantial energy dollars and system upgrade recommendations when timing is right. Following are stats you’ll learn from a home energy audit:
- Insulation values and air tightness of your home
- Home energy recommendations for each system
- The projected savings of each upgrade in each system, which helps you determine where to put your home energy upgrade investments
The Step-by-Step Audit Process
Your home energy professional is looking for ways to maximize energy efficiency, comfort, indoor air quality and safety across your home’s systems. Each system is analyzed to determine performance, condition and potential improvements. Energy-hungry air conditioners and furnaces may be on your radar screen as the cause for high energy bills. However, there are generally substantial savings to be earned in all systems, such as water heating, lighting, windows, insulation and sealing.
System by System
The primary equipment and tests which detect energy deficiencies in home systems include the following:
- A blower door test determines the leakage rate in your home’s envelope. Caulk, weatherstripping and wall-plate gaskets are modest investments for big energy savings, better comfort and healthier indoor air quality.
- Infrared heat imaging reveals insulation deficiencies in the envelope. Fiberglass or cellulose? Both are practical and proven insulation upgrades.
- A duct pressure test uses a fan and pressure gauge to analyze duct design.
- Balanced airflow is essential for comfort, indoor air quality and HVAC performance. A flow hood test analyzes air pressure at supply registers.
If you would like to learn more about a home energy audit and the efficiency of your Lorain home, contact the professionals at Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Lorain, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about energy audits and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning
1 (440) 246-5440
Serving the Lorain, OH Area