
Residential Energy Efficiency BlogTuesday, July 28 2020
Sealing the crevices that matter most! In existing homes, it is not out of the ordinary to find components of the heating and cooling duct configuration to be disconnected, loosely connected or connected and leaky due to old methods of installation. If the problems are in ducts that are located in the attic or in a crawl space the loss is greatest and should be high priorities. Duct leakage points located inside the conditioned area of a home are less costly than those that are outside, but there are examples where leakage inside the envelope can cause pressure dynamics in the home that actually can force conditioned air out or pull it in, so it should not be overlooked.
Cracks in the ducts that are under the greatest pressure leak the most and therefore are higher priorities. An example of this would be the ducts closest to the air handler. In this area of the system, the pressure is greatest. The good news for many homeowners is that many opportunities exist to seal near the air handler. It is always best to target all ducts in an HVAC duct system, but it is worth noting that supply ducts are more important to seal than return ducts. Consider getting a duct diagnostic test performed to determine how leaky your ducts are overall and isolate those that are outside to see how much they are leaking compared to the system as a whole. Thursday, July 23 2020
________________ Written by Eric Gans In Maryland, it is recommended that our attics are insulated to R-49
No matter where you live, if you are having comfort issues in your home a good place to start when looking for answers is the attic. You must identify what insulation material exists and measure the insulation level in inches to see if you are meeting the latest building codes. Determining these two things will provide you with enough information to figure out the R-value of your insulation. R-value is the conventional method by which the performance of insulation is measured. Insulation has one job - to resist heat flow. The higher the R-value, the better the insulation resists the transfer of heat. Missing insulation, as you will see below, is quite impactful and should be fixed ASAP! Insulation is very important because in summer, it is responsible for stopping the hot attic air from coming inside (it gets 150 degrees in attic!!) and in the winter it keeps the warm conditioned air from going outside (through the ceiling mostly, due to pressure). The attic is the most important place to check first, however there are other areas that should also be considered such as the basement, overhangs and crawl spaces. Insulation R-Value requirements in the State of MarylandLOCATION - REQUIRED R-VALUE MARYLAND Typical Places You will Find Insulation 1st - Determine what Type of Insulation You HaveDifferent attic insulation materials yield different R-values based on how many inches are in place so one important piece of information to determine insulation R-value is to identify the type of insulation that was installed in your attic. Fiberglass batts, loose fill fiberglass, loose fill cellulose, mineral wool and two-part spray foam are all insulation materials that you might find in your attic. Need help with this? Pop your head up in the attic and take a photo of your insulation or if you live in Maryland get a comprehensive home energy audit through BGE or Pepco. You can also call or email it to me so I can take a look and identify it for your eric@hometrustremodeling.com or refer to the photos below to try and figure it out.
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