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Home Energy Investigators
(HEI) offers a three-step process towards
reducing your energy costs and improving the comfort and
safety of your home:
A whole-house energy performance review including:
- Blower door testing to quantify and locate air leakage;
- Duct testing to measure required room-by-room air flow
and identify duct leaks;
- A visual inspection of the overall condition of your
heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment;
- A measurement of the efficiency of your heating system;
- An examination of your combustion equipment flue pipes
for blockages, code-compliant materials and installation,
and other hazardous conditions;
- An evaluation of the risk that the combustion gases
in your home’s flue(s) will be pulled back into
your house by a source of negative pressure;
- Carbon monoxide testing to look for excess carbon monoxide
in the flue gases of your heating appliances and in the
air of your house;
- Moisture inspection to look for areas where there is
evidence of mold or high humidity; and
- Measure the ability of your exhaust fan systems to remove
air (and moisture) from your house.
Costs: $350
basic charge for houses up to 3,000 square feet (ft2). There
is an additional charge of $50 for each additional 500 ft2.
Result: A
test report reviewed and signed by a Virginia state licensed
Professional Engineer, including performance test results
and recommendations for corrective actions, will be provided
within three working days. Estimated annual energy cost
saving for each corrective action will be documented.
Based upon the test results, HEI will recommend improvements
and provide cost estimates for each improvement suggested.
You may want to implement some improvements implement yourself,
or decide to have HEI do them for you. In each case, the
cost and potential benefit of each recommendation will be
clearly explained.
Costs: Depends
upon actions required.
Results:
Reduction of energy costs, mitigation of home health issues,
improved comfort.
Retesting upon completion of corrective action is an important
part of the process.
Costs: Free
when HEI does the work, $100 when homeowner does the work.
Results:
Testing documents the effectiveness of the installed improvements
in saving energy and improving comfort. Retesting may also
expose further potential for additional actions that were
not obvious initially – small problems are sometimes
hidden by big ones! |
