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Personal Home Energy Audit

By Solar energy | September 8, 2008

Our Personal Home Energy Audit Results

Reducing your home energy usage reduces the cost of any home solar energy system. The less energy you waste, the less your solar energy investment will be. Along with practicing good conservation habits, finding and eliminating the invisible energy wasters saves you money.

Find where your home loses energy by doing a home energy audit. You can do a simple energy audit yourself.

On a very hot or very cold day, walk around your home and notice the temperature differences near outside doors and windows. Checking around pipes and electrical outlets may surprise you too.

You can also do a draft test with a candle or incense stick.

First, close all exterior doors and windows. Turn off any fans that circulate air such as ceiling fans, floor fans, and a/c or heating units. Turn off all pilot lights on any gas appliances.

Second, go through your home and turn on all exhaust fans. These are usually in the kitchen and the bathrooms.

Next, with a lit candle or incense stick, check around window, doors, and outside wall electrical outlets. Pay attention to the flame or smoke. Without air circulation to move them, the flame or smoke will go straight up. However, the flame or smoke will point away from any drafts.

This simple test makes those invisible drafts visible! Here are a couple photos of my candle test.

This first photo shows the candle flame standing straight up, indicating no draft at the top of the electrical outlet.

This photo shows the flaming leaning due to the draft at the socket.

My simple candle test also showed me where my double-paned windows were leaky and where the drafty spot around my front door was.

Now I know the weatherstripping around my door needs replacing, the electrical outlets need insulation, and my windows need some inspection to determine if they need caulking or replacing.

Topics: home energy audit, Home Energy Use | No Comments »

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