It’s been a while, so here’s a brand new “Ask the Experts”!
I have a daughter who lives in Lake Elmo and pays $400/mo to heat her home and it is about 1200 SF. They had an energy audit which was not very useful. It appears that ceiling and sidewalls are insulated (at least to some degree) based on a “gun” type equipment he focused on the walls. The auditor basically said “tighten up the little leaks” and your bills are “normal”. We would like to hep this younger couple tighten up their home!
Ever gotten some confusing information from your home’s energy audit? Check out the answer for some clues!
That gun is an infrared camera the auditor was using to find leaks, You don’t say what type of heat does she have, how old is the home. is she renting, or did she buy the house (this limits what she is responsible for)?
typically auditors are supposed to tell the homeowner how to reach a specific goal : A delicate balance of air exchange and heat retention.
Air exchange is important, because too little air exchange means moisture retention and poor indoor air quality. Heat retention is achieved by eliminating stack-effect. I have to assume that he told her to insullate outlet and switch covers which typically counts as “small things.” but was this auditor a whole home auditor or a Heating Auditor, or a heating envelope specialist? Did he check the heat source for optimal efficiency or just the airflow of the home? If her furnace is old but efficient for the model that it is, perhaps she needs a newer more effiicient model. If it’s a newer high efficiency model, perhaps she keeps her heat too high, so it runs longer and more often, or perhaps it’s not set at optimal settings for the size of her home (an experienced HVAC tech would know how to set it).