If it seems to you that rising energy costs are taking a larger chunk out of your family’s budget each month, consider a home energy evaluation to see what you can do to lower the costs and increase your comfort. The odds are good that we’ll find some steps to take that can lower your bills. Some of these steps you can do yourself, while for others you’ll need our help.
Do-It-Yourself
- Go through your home and look for places where air can enter the house. Check the windows and doors for drafts or daylight shining through. Apply weatherstripping to stop the draft between the door and its frame. Use caulk to seal cracks between your window frames and the home’s exterior.
- If you use them, check your window air conditioners for leaks. Use foam tape to seal off the leaks. Ideally, remove them for the winter and close the window tightly.
- Conduct a pressurization test to identify harder-to-find leaks to combat rising energy costs. Close all the exterior doors, turn off gas appliances, and turn on all the exhaust fans in the house, usually found in the kitchen and bathrooms. Go through the house with a lighted stick of incense. As you inspect the exterior windows and walls, mark spots where the smoke wavers, on a drawing of the room. Wavering smoke indicates air leaks, which you can fix once you’ve tested your home.
Professional Audit
Licensed energy auditors can use special equipment to test your home for air infiltration. It’s also a good idea to turn to a professional if your home relies on combustible fuel for heating. Burning oil, gas or wood indoors for heat requires fresh air and trained auditors know how to balance safety with energy efficiency. Professionals use blower door tests to identify the air leaks in your home. They also use infrared photography to find hard-to-find leaks in your walls, windows, doors and roofs, along with physical visual inspections of your entire home.
If you would like to learn more about combating rising energy costs, contact CCAC, Inc., located in Corpus Christi and serving the Coastal Bend as well.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about energy evaluations and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Mathews CCAC Air Conditioning and Heating services Corpus Christi, TX. Visit our website to see our special offers and get started today!