COPYRIGHT 2017 JAMES DULLEY ( www.dulley.com/sea/ ) - September 2017 - (graphics ref. No. 287u at www.dulley.com/sea/column/2017-sep.htm 

"How to do your own mini-energy audit of your home"

Dear Jim: I think my older house could use some efficiency upgrades, but I'm really not sure. Without investing in a real audit, how can I do a simple one myself to decide what it might need? - Ron B.

Dear Ron: Almost every house, no matter how well it was built, could use some energy efficiency improvements. The real question is comparing the cost of the improvements to the savings. Also, some energy improvements without the best economic payback can be justified by their benefits to the environment and your children's future wellbeing.

A good first step is to talk with some neighbors with similar-sized houses and families and compare the utility bills. Be sure to check with them about their thermostat settings to get a valid comparison. Each degree a thermostat is set higher during winter adds about three percent to your bills. Each degree it is set lower during summer adds about five percent.

You can also do a basic analysis to determine how energy efficient your house is. To do this, total all the energy your house consumes for an entire year. The goal is to calculate the energy consumed per square foot of floor space. This is then adjusted based upon climate and weather conditions to provide a rough idea of the overall energy efficiency.

The standard quantity of energy to use is a Btu (British thermal unit). As a reference, burning a wooden stick match produces about one Btu of heat. Using your utility bills, total the quantities each of electricity, gas, oil, propane, firewood, etc. you have used for the entire year.

Use the following factors to convert these quantities of energy to their equivalent Btu's: 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity - 3,414 Btu, 1 cubic foot of natural gas - 1,025 Btu, 1 gallon of propane - 91,000 Btu, 1 gallon of fuel oil - 138,700 Btu, and 1 cord of wood - 19 million Btu.

Contact your local weather service to find the number of heating and cooling degree-days for the period you are checking. This tells you the severity of the weather for that period and this can vary significantly from year to year. Do not just use historical averages. For example, last winter was mild in many parts of the country and therefore less heating was needed. Divide the total number of Btu consumed by the total number of degree-days.

Finally, divide this number by the square footage of the heated and cooled area of your house. A result of 20 or more indicates your house is inefficient and could use many improvements. Most houses will be in the 10 to 20 range indicating some improvements may provide a good payback. A result under 10 means finding financially wise improvements may be difficult.

Keep in mind that this result does not take into account the number of family members or other specific factors which can affect your energy usage. A family with two daughters may have greater hot water usage than one with boys who shower as little as possible. Having an elderly parent residing with you may require running space heaters to keep one bedroom much warmer.

When looking for efficiency improvements to make, it helps to realize that about 35 percent of annual energy use is from air infiltration (leakage) in the typical house. Inspect window and door weatherstripping and gaps where the wall sill plate rest on the foundation. Another 30 percent is conductive heat loss through walls and the ceiling. Lighting, cooking, water heating, etc. account for the rest.

One of the simplest ways to check for air leakage is by observing the trail of smoke from a stick of incense. Move the lighted stick around any place where there could possibly be air leaks. This also works well to find leaky joints in the ductwork. Seal any leaky joints with duct tape or brush on sealing compound.

For less than $25, buy an infrared thermometer with laser pointer. Some have a digital readout and others change the light color depending on the wall or ceiling temperature. It is not uncommon to detect cold or hot areas with significant insulation voids which should be filled.

Don't just assume the wall thermostat is accurate. Tape a bulb thermostat next to it on the wall to compare temperatures. Keeping your house just couple degrees warmer than you desire can be costly. It is easy to become accustomed to room temperatures and not realize they are needlessly high or low.

Dear Jim: I added a thick insulation pad under my carpet so I have to cut one inch off the bottom of my wooden bathroom door. What is the best way to saw it so it doesn't splinter? - Jae S.

Dear Jae: If your house has inexpensive wood doors like mine, they splinter and leave a rough edge. First, plan to cut enough off to leave at least a 1/2-inch gap for adequate air inlet area when the bath vent fan is running.

Using a sharp utility knife, score a deep groove along the cut line. This will keep the veneer edge from getting rough. Carefully saw along the bottom edge of the groove. Sand the edge.

Send inquiries to James Dulley, Publication Name, 6906 Royalgreen Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45244 or visit www.dulley.com.