The DIY Energy Evaluation: An Easy Project That Can Yield Serious Savings

The summertime heat in southwest Arizona is something to contend with, indoors and out, but when you conduct energy evaluations of your home, you’ll learn where your home is losing conditioned air. Once you correct the deficiencies, you will notice immediate results that have long-lasting savings. Since air conditioners run from April through November in our region, the savings on your electrical bill may be substantial over the course of the cooling season.

Energy auditors and HVAC technicians often use a blower-door diagnostic test to The DIY Energy Evaluation: An Easy Project That Can Yield Serious Savingsmeasure the amount of air leakage in your home and where it’s occurring. You can replicate the basics of a blower-door test by following these steps:

  • Make a simple drawing of your home.
  • Close the windows and exterior doors.
  • Turn off any gas-burning appliances.
  • Turn on all the bathroom and kitchen fans.
  • Light a candle or a stick of incense.
  • Walk through your home and note on the floor plan where the flame or smoke wavers. These indicate sources of air infiltration that you can plug with caulk, expanding foam or loose insulation.

When auditors perform energy evaluations, they also inspect the insulation levels in your attic. The heat gain from the roof of your home can be substantial, especially if you have dark shingles or roof covering. Look inside your attic and see if there’s room for more insulation. Batt or blown-in are easy to install and offer an affordable way to improve your home’s ability to reduce heat gain from the attic.

Your air conditioner is also front and center during energy evaluations because it’s the piece of equipment that you rely on to keep your home cooler. Inspect the filter for the air handler and replace it if it’s dirty. Nothing raises your electric bill more than a dirty filter because it slows the airflow through the whole system, causing your A/C to overwork itself to compensate.

At Hansberger Refrigeration & Electric Company, we can help you save energy in a number of ways. We’ve provided HVAC services in the Yuma area since 1952. Contact us to learn more.
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.

Hansberger Refrigeration & Electric Co services the Yuma area in Arizona. Visit our website to see our special offers and get started today!