Should I do the Home Energy Audit? (appliances, house)

[peabodyn]

Got a call from LIPA about doing the Home Energy Audit and am curious if I should do it.

My house is equipped with:

All new energy star appliances (Refrig, washer, dryer. stove, microwave)
10 year old oil fired furnace - baseboard heat - 86% efficiency (no gas in the street)
"Stor More" indirect water heater
Setback thermostats and 3 zones
10 year old roof
New vinyl siding with 1/2" insulation underneath.
12" of fiberglass insulation in the attic
Gable vented roof with 2 roof exhaust fans
Brand new central air system 10 seer rating
Relatively new vinyl windows throughout
CFL lightbulbs throughout
New "air tight" high hats throughout
New front and rear doors

I'd hate to waste a day having the audit done and having them recommend blowing in insulation in the attic at accost of 3x what I could get it done for elsewhere.

Comments?

[VA Yankee]

Its sounds like you are a well informed homeowner who is conscientious about keep systems up to date. What are they going to tell you; probably 3 things 1) your furnace should be replaced because it's 10 years old, 2) Your a/c should be at least a 13 SEER, 3) add insulation.

Unless they are offering a discount on your bill don't waste your time. Replace the furnace and a/c once they die, the few dollars you save with higher efficiency ones will never cover the expense of putting them in.

[rocafeller05]

If they are going to perform a blower door test then get it done. You can see where you are losing heat the most and then focus on those areas.

[ovi8]

we got it done free from Triple H because the state rebates them. It only took about 2 hours. We have new stuff for the most part, including CAC but one of the findings was the return and ducts in the attic weren't sealed (2 ends forming a corner is not a seal). It wasn't a shortcut taken by the installers - it's just something that can be added to ensure the surrounding attic heat doesn't affect the cool air in the ducts during operation. Another finding was air leakage. With the blower-in-the-front-door test, the house was found to be very leaky (despite extra new insulation) and this likely had to do with old windows - the report does not identify specifically which areas as they don't inspect each window/door, etc.

All in all it's good to know where you stand, but don't expect a point-by-point analysis. The summary box shows they recommended about $16k worth of work (a replacement boiler was probably most of it) with an annual return (ROI) of $1.2k.

[BadAndyHolbrook]

Unless its absolutely free . do not even bother use the money on something simple that you can do you self.