Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
As the Carolina summer temps kick in, I hark back to our Duke Energy bills of late. Duke Energy includes an energy use line graph with my bill (via snail mail/ paper bill) now and again and it shows that our home is *above the "average" home's energy use, consistently.
We're above "Average" homes on the line graph every month, and even further above "Efficient" homes.
Wondering if anyone here have ever had an energy audit of your home? I'm assuming a co. would look at door seals, insulation, attic venting?, other stuff?
Any ideas on what an audit might entail? Not sure if audit is the right word. Hmmm.
Duke Energy does have a 1-800 number on the energy graph. Might try giving it a jingle as well.
Anyhow, also names/rec's of any Triangle region insulation companies anybody here might suggest would be great if you wouldn't mind offering them.
Our house is a good old 1970 brick 'ranch' house out in Durham County, and I think the attic insulation is 1970 vintage.
I'm wondering about overhauling this and having foam insulation blown in.
Also, our gables have two huge triangular attic vents (aesthetic... part of the trim of the house-- probably 8 feet long at the bottom of the triangle by 4 feet high) with slats in them. I'm wondering if these could / should be partially blocked from the interior of the attic, and ventilation fans installed on these cross attic vents instead. One already has a fan that kicks on in the summer. Not sure if there's a happy medium between cross flow of air through the attic, from huge vent on one end of the house to the other, and limiting some of the hot air, or cold air, that can blow into the attic the way it's currently vented --read, there's currently no restriction on airflow.
I had them come out a couple years ago. They didn't find anything outstanding, but did note a couple places where I could use some more insulation & weather-stripping. Looks like they are still giving a few freebies with the audit.
1. Does Duke Power calculate your efficiency using the correct size of your house? We were seeing the same "above average" notation and after examining the graph I noted that Duke was using a couple of thousand feet less than the actual size for their estimate. After they updated their data, our power consumption dropped to "Efficient."
2. It's going to cost money to save money if you decide to tighten up the house. A lot depends on the size of the house, how long you plan to stay in it, the efficiency of the existing HVAC system you have and how much you would save vs doing nothing vs tightening up.
Mike Jaquish might have some thoughts on the financial issues to consider. Meantime, have Duke do the energy audit.
Thanks so much for your replies and links, pierre, ippi and don. I'll check these ideas out.
Corgidad, thanks for the idea on square footage Duke Energy has on file. I'll look into that.
Re: HVAC, our 27 year old system kicked the bucket in November 2021, so we have a brand new Rheem LP furnace and AC unit. The efficiency numbers on the Rheem blow the old Temp-star system out of the water. We're not moving anytime soon, so tightening up will be a very good investment. We'll look into it. Even our pulldown attic ladder door probably isn't efficient and extremely well sealed... and I know insulation folks can do *that alone,... so we have work to do, and money to spend.
MikeJaquish (as CorgiDad mentions) you're always a font of knowledge, so if you've got your ears on and have any tidbits to add, they'd be much appreciated. Again, our home is a 1970 Triangle home, so it probably was not as energy efficient on construction as some of the newer homes in the Triangle. A happy Thursday to all. Thanks!
Make sure a blower door test is included as part of the energy audit. It will show you all the areas where outside air is entering the building envelope and will also check the HVAC ductwork for air loss leakage. This simple test will take the guesswork out of where to spend money to help make the home more energy efficient.
Make sure a blower door test is included as part of the energy audit. It will show you all the areas where outside air is entering the building envelope and will also check the HVAC ductwork for air loss leakage. This simple test will take the guesswork out of where to spend money to help make the home more energy efficient.
The biggest energy loss in the house is typically through the roof. Leave the gable vents alone, your attic needs that ventilation and passive is free. Skip the spray foam, cost prohibitive, and just add more blown in fiberglass for a tenth of the price.
Next highest loss is the windows. If they are from 1970 as well, you can get far more energy efficient windows. The downside is cost, and recovery time for those costs. If you are only saving $40 a month on your bill by making the change, it will take decades to recoup.
My advice....good weatherstripping on the doors, add blown fiberglass to the attic to bring it up to R-30 or better, and see how you fare before spending serious money.
The biggest energy loss in the house is typically through the roof. Leave the gable vents alone, your attic needs that ventilation and passive is free. Skip the spray foam, cost prohibitive, and just add more blown in fiberglass for a tenth of the price.
Next highest loss is the windows. If they are from 1970 as well, you can get far more energy efficient windows. The downside is cost, and recovery time for those costs. If you are only saving $40 a month on your bill by making the change, it will take decades to recoup.
My advice....good weatherstripping on the doors, add blown fiberglass to the attic to bring it up to R-30 or better, and see how you fare before spending serious money.
I think the codes changed where if you have a ridge vent and soffit vents then the gable vents have to be permanently sealed because the air coming from the gable vents disrupts natural airflow convection from the soffit vents up through the ridge vent. I had my gable vents removed when my house was resided because they installed soffit vents that weren't there previously and I have a ridge vent on the roof. Bats used to roost up in the gable vents and created a huge mess to clean up so I'm happy that the gable vents and the bats are gone forever.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
