Are you having home comfort issues? Is your HVAC company telling you to get a new system? Are you about to spend a lot of $
STOP & READ |
1  HVAC Units are Very Simple MachinesJust because it looks bad, does not mean it is not working properly. Don't let your HVAC sales representative scare you into judging a book by its cover. It is more important to pass judgement on how the air feels on the inside. With intermittent maintenance, HVAC machines are actually simple machines that are build to run and run. Unless your unit is not producing warm or cool air when called upon to do so, replacing HVAC is NOT the answer to comfort issues or energy savings. The key to comfort is tightening up the "envelope" of your home. An energy auditor will talk to you about how to keep more of the air that you are paying for inside of your home. That is the name of the game. Your HVAC runs less, prolonging its life, costing you less, using less and gaining comfort. It's a recipe for success. | 2  New Engine in a Boat with a Leak?It would be great if your friend bought a new motor for his boat. But, if you found out that he put the new motor in a boat that had several placed it leaked, it would be odd. Wouldn't't it make sense to use the funds to fix the leak first? You get the point here. Why purchase a new HVAC system if your house is poorly insulated? Worse, why install a new high efficiency HVAC system with leaky ducts? If the pathway that the air takes with a new HVAC system is the same as it is taking with the existing system, then not much will change with overall comfort and efficiency gains will be nominal. A BGE energy audit will uncover any issues and provide great solutions to get the most out of your HVAC before making any decision. | 3  The Audit Unlocks Higher BGE Rebates!Create a smart plan that taps into the resources that are available to you through BGE! And, don't feel pressured to make any quick decisions. Rushing to get an HVAC unit replaced is never a good idea. With a good maintenance routine and a comprehensive home energy audit this nightmare scenario can easily be avoided. As energy auditors we perform tests and collect information around your individual home and prepare a report that models energy usage and future usage if important measures are purchased. When the air sealing and insulation is in place, the efficiency of the new HVAC reaches it's full potential and as a result the modeling software recognizes this and increases rebates associated with the savings - so generally, the higher the rebate - the higher the savings! |
Before you Purchase New HVAC in Maryland What every BGE customer should know before purchasing new HVAC! |
What HVAC Companies Don't Tell YouHVAC companies have a very good job. When people don't feel comfortable - they panic. As soon as something goes wrong with the thermostat the calculator comes out to see how much is in the finances to replace the furnace. The thought of being without heat shakes people to the core. If there is too much humidity in the house it can be unsettling. What often times gets missed is finding the true source of the issue. Is it a slight malfunction? Does the thermostat just need a battery replaced? Could there be a connection to the outside that has gotten worse causing a temperature variance? Believe this one or not, but sometimes our bodies change. We simply become more sensitive to the temperature, especially in the "comfort" of our own home. | Law of Diminishing ReturnsA good example of the law of diminishing returns can be taken from a new HVAC installation. Too many times I see homeowners that are strongly considering replacing their 15 year old HVAC system. There is absolutely no doubt that technology has advanced over the last fifteen years and in HVAC there is no difference. But, you simply will not recoup your expense in a reasonable time - if ever - when you replace a unit that is only 15 years old. And, you can be sure you will never do it if you have not properly sealed the attic and insulated the areas around the house that matter most. |
Two Great Benefits of a BGE Energy Audit
A BGE energy audit is a key that can unlock two great things: 1. Secret ways to improve comfort and energy efficiency 2. Incentives through the state of Maryland to offset your costs Getting an audit opens up increased incentives for the following:
What to Expect from a BGE Energy AuditA comprehensive BGE energy audit can guide you to energy savings and comfort. If you are not sure what improvement should be next, a BGE energy audit can set a clear path for you. Too many Maryland home energy audits fall short on customer experience. A BGE energy audit in Maryland should be interactive and enlightening. It should uncover ways to improve comfort, energy efficiency and indoor air quality. When Replacing HVAC Makes SenseFinding the true source to a comfort issue requires a specialized firm that can look at a house as a complete system of many separate parts - all of which need to work well with one another in order to give back to those that habitate the space. A bad feeling an energy auditor gets is when they are learning that the reason that the homeowner wants the audit is to figure out why replacing the HVAC last winter did not help with the bill or with comfort. The idea is to learn those reasons before you replace the HVAC - then the dynamics shift - on a few different fronts. If you solve the bigger issues, tighten the envelope and explore new HVAC then maximizing BGE Smart Energy Saver Rebates will make return on investment much greater and intial costs much lower. |  Blower door testing during an energy audit
helps to uncover leakage points around a house. Sealing connections to the outside is key to properly evaluating HVAC systems.
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More About How it WorksYou have to put a some "skin in the game" if you are BGE or Pepco customer and you want to learn about the 2020 rebates that are available to you for energy saving projects around the house. Maryland lawmakers and planners along with Excelon forward thinkers joined up with ENERGY STAR® to bring a BGE rebate program to Maryland that is amongst the best in the nation. Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® (HPwES) make a lot of sense when you stop and think about how the program works. Getting an energy audit is like getting an examination of your home so proper treatment can be prescribed. Because this will be done by a trained professional, BGE insulation rebates and Pepco insulation rebates will be unlocked and available for Maryland energy customers to offset thier project costs. New HVAC + Leaky Ducts = NO GAINS | Don't Miss Out on Bigger Rebates!One Baltimore homeowner that did not know how the BGE rebates for 2020 worked and replaced her heat pump with a high efficiency unit. She was kicking herself after learning about the BGE insulation rebate and how it worked. At the time of purchase the HVAC salesman made a strong case for her to replace her older unit with a high efficiency machine that comes with a "cookie cutter" $400 rebate. It seemed good at the time.
About a year later she decided to have the audit done and it unlocked several important things that should have been considered before the HVAC purchase. The biggest negative was finding out that the BGE 2020 rebate for the HVAC system she purchased - the same exact one - was $2000 had she gone through the process and had the audit done first. This is the part that can be confusing, but is really rather a simple idea and it helps to understand what the program is all about. The reason the BGE insulation rebate for the same machine was five times as great was because of one simple fact that energy advisors know. The only way that a new efficient HVAC is going to really pay back is if the house for which it is serving up conditioned air is properly air sealed and insulated. Otherwise, the savings over time that you gain from a high efficiency machine is pennies on the dollar. |
|  Nerve Center 8345 Sperry Court
Talk to a Human  | About Us Hometrust Remodeling helps Maryland residents build a home improvement list based on testing. We want to solve problems - not make them worse. Since 2006 we have completed over five thousand in-home evaluations in Maryland including: *In-depth home energy audits Our company is licensed in Maryland and we are certified Building Analysts. We are able to detect uncontrolled air leakage into and out of a home. We can figure out heating and cooling problems that lead to high bills and comfort problems. We are also certified Envelope Professionals. This means we can recommend cost effective fixes to tighten a building shell. |
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Our mission is to help Maryland homeowners create a more comfortable home and save energy. We achieve this by applying building science principles and modern air sealing and insulating techniques.
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Proudly working in BGE & Pepco's Home Performance w/ ENERGY STAR program in Maryland to deliver whole-house energy savings to improve comfort & help protect the environment.
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An Energy Auditor's Purpose
"Energy auditors visit residential buildings and talk to owners and residents. They inspect, test, and measure to decide what energy-efficient retrofits are practical and cost-effective." Residential Energy