Energy audits diagnose a leaky house

By TOM KANE

WAYNE & SULLIVAN COUNTIES - It’s getting to that time of year when the cold air comes and the furnaces automatically turn on.

It feels good to know that the heat will come, but what you may not know is how much of it leaves through the many cracks and openings that many homes have, especially older homes.

To avoid that, there is a new service homeowners can utilize called the energy audit.

“The energy audit gives you a profile of the energy you use in your house in order to help you reduce it,” said Stephen Stuart, an energy analyst and contractor from Narrowsburg, NY.

Stuart is among the growing number of such energy technicians in both New York and Pennsylvania.

“Basically, the audit analyzes a building’s performance,” said Nick Hindley, a building inspector and energy analyst from Honesdale, PA.

Both men received training in conducting the energy audit and follow standards set up by the industry. While Hindley conducts audits alone, Stuart is also an energy contractor, who will take the results of the audit and work on the house’s energy-loss areas.

Most homes today have not received an energy audit and could benefit from having one, they said.

“In some instances, the savings in heat costs can be reduced to nearly 40 percent,” Stuart said. “That’s the kind of savings that homeowners today can use with the rising cost of heating fuel.”

There’s also the reduction of the carbon footprint that is gained by properly tightening the leaks in most homes. The less fossil fuel used, the less carbon is produced.

The audit is conducted by using a blower door, which is a device that fits over the principal door of a home and is a tool for learning how much heat a home is losing. The blower door reduces the pressure in the house and makes it possible to detect where the leakages are, Stuart said. “It’s like when you inflate a tire and then depressurize it so that the air is taken out,” he said.

“By using a harmless smoking device, you begin to see the smoke leaving and detect where the heat also leaves,” Hindley said. This procedure is followed in every room, and a contractor can then use the information to install insulation that plugs the leaks, he said.

Stuart is presently working on a home in Glen Spey, blowing in a non-toxic thermal plastic sealant in leaks discovered by the audit.

“The most important places to test and correct are leakages up under the roof and down in the basement,” Stuart said. Most house builders do not realize these leakages when they build a house. “The amount of air coming in from the basement and leaving from the roof is considerable,” he said.

For more information contact Stuart at stephenstuart.2000@gmail.com or Hindley at nhindley@pa-inspections.com.