Understanding SEER Rating

In the middle of the real estate boom, the United States Department of Energy mandated making the minimum SEER rating of our HVAC systems 13 SEER or greater . This would go in to effect in January of 2006, and many builders and HVAC companies were warehousing older 10 SEER units for cheaper installations and parts. I was a real estate agent at this time and the decision was not popular with many of my colleagues. “It’s just going to make homes more expensive” and “my old unit works just fine, why does the government have to get involved” were the most common complaints. We didn’t like it, but honestly I don’t think any of us could have explained what a SEER rating even meant!

SEER stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating and is an average of the unit’s cooling efficiency. Simply stated, the higher the SEER, the more the efficient the unit. As a mathematical formula it would read:

Total cooling output over the cooling season / total energy input over the cooling season

Luckily many of the older lower SEER units installed before 2006 are long gone. The average lifespan of an AC unit is 10-15 years, but it is possible that if you are still running one of the old ones it could have a SEER rating of about 6. It is not uncommon today to find units operating at a SEER as high as 27 and while the upfront cost is higher, you will pay less over the course of its lifetime.

Below is a comparison of the cost of operating a 6 SEER unit compared to a 13 SEER unit. Both are 3 ton units (36,000 BTU) running 8 hours per day. We’ll say that the cooling season is 4 months long and the average utility rate is .10 cents per kilowatt hour.

6 SEER

36,000 BTU/hr. x 976 hours / 6.0 SEER = 5,856,000 watts / 1,000 (to convert to KW) = 5,856 KW x $0.10 = $585.60 per year

13 SEER

36,000 BTU/hr. x 976 hours / 13.0 SEER = 2,702,769 watts / 1,000 (to convert to KW) = 2,703 KW x $0.10 = $270.30 per year

This is an annual savings of $315.00 per year, or $4725.00 over its average 15 year life span. Rebates from your local power companies will often bring the cost of the higher SEER units more in line with the minimum SEER models, so be sure to check before purchasing.

Even if you are not ready to replace your older unit, you might want to consider having your duct system tested. 20-40 percent duct leakage is not uncommon and a homeowner repair is not difficult. Doing this now will ensure that you are milking every last ounce of cool air from your existing system. It is likely you will begin to save money without replacing your existing system! 

Should I turn the lights off when I leave the room even when using CFLs?

This is a question that I am asked on almost a daily basis and quite honestly I had no answer. I researched the question online, and below is a link to the best explanation I discovered.

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/04/07/when-to-turn-off-fluorescent-lights/

Basically the article says that there is no need to worry about how many times CFLs are turned on and off. If you are going to be away from the fixture more than 5 minutes, turn it off. There is concern that this will shorten the lifespan of the bulb, but it is not an important one.

One of the aspects of turning off lights that is not discussed in this article is the fact that when the light is off no electricity is being used. I know this seems like an all too obvious observation, but think of it this way; most of the electricity generated in the United States is done so by burning coal. For every kilowatt NOT used, less (or no) coal is burned. Even if you shorten the life of the bulb by repeatedly turning it off and on, it will still last longer and use less electricity than a normal incandescent bulb. When it is off it uses none!

Invariably, when CFLs are mentioned, the conversation will end up in a discussion of the hazards of mercury. CFLs do contain small amounts of mercury and special care is needed when disposing of them. But one of the main contributors of mercury in our environment is the burning of coal. I can’t give hard numbers, but I would imagine it would take more than a few broken CFLs to come anywhere near releasing the amount of mercury that a power company coal stack emits in an hour! When you leave the room, turn off the lights!

Will A Metal Roof Save On My Heating And Cooling Bill?

       

The answer to this question is yes and no; it will save money on your cooling bill, but the effect will be negligible on your heating bill.

 In addition to no maintenance costs, a metal roof, especially aluminum, can lower your demand for air conditioning. According to the Florida Solar Energy Center, installing a simulated cedar-shake aluminum roof can reduce heat gain from the roof down through the ceilings by as much as 34 percent. Steel roofs, although not as efficient as aluminum, are also better than asphalt shingles. A metal roof cools down in five minutes once the sun sets.

An Energy Star rating for all roofing products is based on TSR (total solar reflectivity). Classic black asphalt shingles will have a TSR of only 0.05, while a quality aluminum roof will have a TSR of around 0.40. The larger number will mean that the roofing materials remain cooler and less heat will be radiated down through the ceilings to the living area. Also the underside of the aluminum metal surface has a lower emissivity (the ability to emit heat) than asphalt shingles, so less heat radiates downward.

Follow this link to an Energy Star roof calculator: http://www.roofcalc.com/    before making any roofing decision.

Metal roofs can save you as much as 20% on your summer utility bill by keeping your attic several degrees cooler. You can increase the savings by adding a radiant barrier under the metal roof to reflect even more heat rays.  A radiant barrier http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/insulation_airsealing/index.cfm/mytopic=11680  can also be installed inside the attic as a retrofit on any metal or asphalt shingle roof. Avoid a horizontal application because dust from your insulation will reduce the radiant barrier’s effectiveness over time. The best application will be between the rafters up against the underside of the roof.

So the answer to this question is yes, a metal roof can reduce you energy bills. I will add that a radiant barrier alone will reduce your energy bills as will lighter color asphalt shingles or shade from large trees. A new roof can be an expensive proposition and it is always wise to calculate your ROI (return on investment) http://www.greenandsave.com/master_roi_table.html  on any improvement.

The CFL

                                                                    

The energy savings realized by replacing your existing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent (CFLs) boils down to simple math. Even at the old price of $5 per bulb, a fixture that operates 10 hours per day will pay for itself in less than three months. But given today’s price of around $1 per bulb, it makes sense to replace those even in fixtures that are infrequently used. It may take a little longer for the simple pay back to be realized, but there is another hidden benefit of the CFL that these numbers don’t reflect.

When the government attempted to step in and mandate CFL usage they were met with stiff opposition. Faced with extinction, the companies that manufacture the 100 watt incandescent bulb found a new and legitimate use for their products and granted them a new name. They will now be known as “heat bulbs”. As a survivor of more than a few hot Georgia summers, this name itself tells me all I need to know about incandescent lighting!

Incandescent lighting produces light as a byproduct of producing heat. Only 5%-10% of the electricity used is transformed into visible light. How much harder will your air conditioner run just to combat the heat generated by the bedside lamp you read by each night? Multiply this by the lighting used throughout the home and you have measurable numbers. Why heat it up before you cool it down?

A CLF contains 5 milligrams of mercury, so a little extra care is required when cleaning up a damaged or broken CFL. Sweeping up the fragments with a paper towel and sealing them in a plastic bag is recommended when disposing of broken bulbs. Follow this procedure with diligent hand washing and you should be okay. Some studies show that you are actually exposed to larger doses of mercury when eating a tuna sandwich!

I replaced all forty bulbs in my home with CFLs over two years ago and I have had to replace only one! They produce cool light and last a very long time. With LED technology on the horizon pricing for CFLs has never been lower. It now makes sense to replace every bulb in your home!

Ceiling fans

It’s almost impossible to find a modern home today without ceiling fans. They have been around for quite some time, but gained additional popularity in residential housing during the 1980s. Before this time they were expensive and mainly seen in commercial applications such as restaurants and warehouses.  The residential fan’s newest feature was a switch to reverse blade direction to push air down in the summer and pull air up in the winter. This was somewhat of a “sales pitch” intended to give the fans a year round purpose and justify the cost, but most now agree that they are most effective in summer only.

Today a fairly high quality ceiling fan (with light kit) can be purchased for about the same price as a nice light fixture alone. While most consider them purely decorative, a ceiling fan can help you save money on your cooling bill. Sitting under a whirling fan can actually make the air that touches your skin feel 4-5 degrees cooler and this will often allow homeowners to set the thermostat slightly higher.  A typical rule of thumb is that you will save 1% on your energy bill for every 1 degree higher you set the thermostat!

One last note on ceiling fans deals with their installation. If you have a very tall or vaulted ceiling, consider lowering the fan closer to the living area. Down rods are readily available in several colors at hardware and home improvement stores and are quite simple to install. Don’t get it too close, but the closer the fan is to the occupants the more air they will feel. But when you are away, turn the fan off. Remember…Ceiling fans cool people not rooms.

I love it when a plan comes together

Most people reading this would probably agree that the government spends too much money on the wrong people. I say this because, to some extent, I think it is true as well. But that doesn’t mean that we just throw our hands in the air and give up, it means we do our best to track where every nickel is going! Demand as much transparency as you can.

I’m not going to tell you horror stories about wasteful spending in the Weatherization Program (WX); I’m going to tell you about something good. I have seen a few things in the last two years of monitoring the work that “got my hackles up”, but honestly way less than I expected. The main thing that continued to bother me was duct sealing…or lack thereof.

Halfway through the two year contract the government looked at every agency’s first year of spending. If they had spent too much, their budget was cut for the second year. Sounds fair enough to me! This kept those that were spending correctly from being punished. But when the budgets were lowered, so was the amount of work being done; the consumer (client) was really the one being punished. But in my mind this was supposed to be an air sealing program, so maybe we were finally getting back…to where we should have started from.

But one of the first measures dropped when funds were short was duct sealing. This went against everything I had been previously taught because technically a hole in the duct is a hole in the home! The inside of the ductwork is the inside of your home! I complained to the workers; I complained to the coordinators; and I complained to the government! Nothing happened because the priority list (the order in which work was to be completed) had air sealing as #1 and duct sealing way below…I don’t even remember the number. But they are one in the same!

Well the good news is twofold. First of all there was money left over at the end of the two year period. There will be a six month extension using the remaining funds and 1500-2000 more Georgia homes will be weatherized. But the great news is that there is a new priority list for the extension and at the top of the list sits…DUCT SEALING! I won’t pretend that I made this happen, but I’m glad it did. To quote Hannibal Smith of the A-Team “I love it when a plan comes together.”

Baffle them with BS

Everything has a private language and specific nomenclature. It can be a business, a hobby or a field of study; it doesn’t matter. The more we are interested, the more we want to familiarize ourselves with the terms; knowing the correct terminology makes us think we know more about the subject. You were taught dog in the first grade, but now that you love dogs you understand that Spot is actually a Cocker Spaniel. He is a specific type of dog that has a specific name.

Actually a Cocker Spaniel is a Canis Lupus Familiaris, but exactly who is going to say that? Not me! I don’t pretend to know very many scientific names, but I love dogs and I swear I knew that one. But if I did choose to use this term I would probably be ignored. I would be thought of as a smart ass for one, but I would also limit my audience; nobody would know what I was talking about. So unless I was either trying to impress someone or alienate myself why would I ever use this term? How about because I was trying to sell you something?

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I received an invitation for a free meal at a nice local restaurant. Of course we would have to agree to listen to a short sales pitch during (and after) the meal, but she wanted to go and honestly I couldn’t think of a good reason to tell her no. My wife was nice enough not to mention that it really wouldn’t be much different for her since she was accustomed to listening to my crap during meals anyway, so I agreed to go. She didn’t tell me until a few days before we were supposed to go exactly what the sales pitch was about; “New and cutting edge products that will slash your energy bills”. Somebody in the reservation department is not asking the correct questions!

I don’t pretend to know everything there is about saving energy, but over the last two years I have had some pretty intense training on the subject. I have learned quite a bit about what works and what does not; what makes financial sense and what does not. I could only imagine what this company was going to try to sell us, but I agreed to be good during the sales presentation and to consider myself (as my wife described me) a spy! “You’re mission, should you choose to accept it…” Sounds like fun.

Well the products offered were not exactly new, and the only edges they cut had happened years ago. Several of the items would probably save you a little money, but they would save even more if they were installed correctly and not the way the salesman was describing. His numbers were inflated and his pleas for saving the planet were a little over the top, but the food was very good and I was behaving. I had decided that everything would be okay, and then he told a big lie. He used some very specific nomenclature to try to quiet my concerns, and when I responded with a battery of equally specific terms questioning his statements, he quickly changed the subject and moved on to another topic.

I let him off the hook and managed (for the most part) to keep my mouth shut. But what I could not manage to do was see him in any other light than for what he really was; he was a criminal. He lied to every person in the room to make a dollar. When he got caught he tried to baffle the room with technical bullshit! The part that angered me most was that if he had simply told the truth about the products he was trying to sell they would have (at some price) been worth purchasing! The products will never perform to the levels he professed, and by making these exaggerated and inflated statements he did the buyers and the real world of energy conservation harm. I can’t speak for the rest of the room, but let’s just say that I seriously doubt that anyone sitting at my table bought anything from him!

Kneewalls

Another topic that seems to make most homeowner’s eyes glaze over is kneewalls. Many may not be exactly sure what a knee wall is, or even if their house has any, so first let’s clear that up. Simply put a knee wall is any wall in your home that has living space on one side and attic on the other. It is considered an exterior wall, but really it is even more susceptible to energy loss than other walls. The reason that these walls are so problematic is that when it is 95 degrees outside the home, it is more like 140 degrees in the attic. So how would you like to try to cool your home in 140 degree weather? If your kneewalls are not sealed...you do!

The new energy codes have addressed how to handle kneewalls in new construction, but it is really not being enforced in most areas. It does add a few dollars of cost to a home, but the energy savings/payback is rather fast.  The following is how the new code handles knee walls:

 All attic kneewalls must be insulated and air-sealed. Attic kneewalls may be insulated using R-13+R-5 insulated sheathing, R-15+R-3 insulated sheathing, or R-19 compressed into a 2×6 cavity. The attic-side of the kneewall must have a rigid air barrier (with seams sealed)

The only real difference in how they were handled in the past (wall cavities stuffed with batts) is that they must now have an air barrier (insulation board) covering the batt insulation on the attic side. Think of it this way; what if your home had no siding and only exposed batt insulation on the exterior? Sure there is no wind and rain in the attic, but how much hot or cold air would leak in your home if that was all that was separating you from the outside. The answer is a lot and when you raise that outside temperature to 140 degrees it gets even worse.

The fix is easy and it is do it yourself friendly. The work can be ugly because no one will ever see it but you unless you invite friends to your attic. Simply nail the insulation board to the wall studs with roofing or plastic-cap nails a seal the joints with spray foam. Be sure you get all the way to the bottom because you need to cap off the floor system below.

But I'm already saving energy

I was recently asked a question that, at least on the surface, seemed like a straightforward one…"There are several ways to save energy, but often times the payback on the energy saving device is close to 27 years because I already live a very energy efficient lifestyle. So the question becomes, "How does a person who is already saving energy make the improvements to their home that will yield a return on investment (ROI) and because they are the right thing to do.

I started to think of Energy Star appliances, a high efficiency water heater and other improvements that one can do after they have the basics covered. Then I thought I’d better ask them what they had already done to consider themselves energy efficient. I got the typical answer of “we bought a 15 SEER HVAC system, added some attic insulation, put in some CFL bulbs, you know the typical stuff.” There were a few more things that were added to the list during the conversation, but I never heard them mention any air sealing work that amounted to more than “spray foaming the pipes in the kitchen cabinet”. So I asked a few more questions.

Me-“What was your duct leakage number when the HVAC was installed?”

Her-“I don’t remember there being one, but the unit is 15 SEER!”

Me-“Did you air seal anything before putting the attic insulation in?”

Her-” We didn’t need to. The contractor told me that the insulation would seal up the holes and keep the cool air in.”

Me-“Have you noticed much of a drop in your power bill?”

Her-“Not yet, but this winter was pretty mild and we just installed the AC.”

This was a conversation with someone that considered themself energy efficient. I have to say that their intentions were good, and I certainly don’t want to make light of that, but they missed it by a mile. Step one in any energy conservation program with your home is air sealing…keeping the conditioned air in and the unconditioned air out. You must have a clearly defined thermal barrier before you attempt any energy saving measures. Well you don’t have to, but without it you will never reach your maximum saving potential.

I meet people every day that assume blown or batt insulation will keep the conditioned air inside their home; it will not, it simply slows down the heat transfer between conditioned and unconditioned space. Spray foam insulation will slow the heat transfer and air will not penetrate it, but it is expensive and if you already have some attic insulation it may not be worth spending the extra money. Sealing attic penetrations under the insulation before adding the new might be the simplest and cheapest approach. The payback will certainly be much quicker and it is something to consider doing yourself.

The 15 SEER HVAC was not a bad idea…if it needed replacing anyway. If it was still in working order you could probably have saved as much money by duct sealing as you did by replacing the unit. And if the ducts weren’t sealed properly on the new one, you won’t save a dime! The difference in Kilowatt hours (KWH) used by a 13 SEER and a 15 SEER is about 15%. If you used 10,000KWH to air condition your home the savings would only be $165.00 annually! (10,000X.15X.11kwh=$165) You could probably save that much in six months from duct sealing alone and I don’t imagine that the new unit will last long enough to ever pay you back!

There are a lot of companies out there that advertise products that will save you 40%-50% on your power bill. I don’t think any of us really believe this, and I think companies like this do more harm than they do good. You can make statistics say anything you want! I’ve monitored several hundred homes over the last two years and have documented some great energy savings, but a practical approach that is low in cost and done in steps will be the quickest path to putting more money in your pocket after the bills are paid.

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Every evening my local news channel flashes a pie chart on screen that gives the results of some type of viewer’s poll. If the subject of the poll interests her my wife will often say something like “Wow! Can you believe that? People are stupid! What were they thinking?” And while I will admit that it makes me take a second look myself, I quickly dismiss it. Results from a poll like this mean absolutely nothing. I love it when they show the pie chart with the little blue slice that tells you that 33% of the callers are in favor of something that you think is crazy. The part that they don’t tell you is that only three people responded to the question-2 against it- 1 for it. How scientific does that sound?

I think of this today after an online discussion (if you want to give it that much credit) that I had with an individual about weatherization. They commented on a picture I posted of an HVAC duct system that was full of trash. Pencils, barrettes, gum wrappers and other household junk that a little kid might play with were inside the duct…and it was filthy. The conversation quickly jumped from finding a contractor to clean their system to why the government would buy lazy people cellphones and duct cleaning. I personally don’t know if the government does either, so I jumped out of the loop. What I do know is that for the last two years the government has assisted low income citizens with the energy efficiency of their homes. Has it worked perfectly with no abuse? What do you think…it’s a national program?

Here is what I do know; of the 15,000 homes weatherized in Georgia I have only personally viewed about 200 in 20 of the 159 Georgia counties. There was a group of roughly 25 monitors hired by The University of Georgia that scrutinized 10% of the total amount of work done by the government. We talked to the homeowner, looked at the work done, and looked at their complete file. Did I see some abuse? Sure. Did I see some life changing results? Sure. Did I see a study with enough participants to be considered meaningful and scientific? I believe I did.

I am as guilty as the next person of condemning the typical recipients of government assistance. The people we all imagine are straight out off of the People of Walmart website; they are people that want something for nothing. But this is not what I saw. I saw elderly widows heating their homes with a gas oven that you could only stand to operate with the batteries from the Carbon Monoxide detector removed. I saw children of single mothers studying for tomorrow’s algebra test with a coat on and blankest nailed over door openings to keep the heat from a small electric heater inside the un-insulated room. I saw wheelchair bound husbands at home with the kids while the wife worked two jobs. I saw people without enough to eat that had two years ago had paid income tax of five figures. I saw someone with a Lexus in the driveway. I saw all of this in only 20 counties of 1/50^th of the United States.

So we want to know what works and what does not. There are several ways to find this out, but let’s look at two:

Bring up the level of insulation, air sealing and heating in people’s homes to modern standards using conventional fuels (gas and electricity). Study the results and determine what give the greatest payback. The homeowner saves money on the operating cost of their home for the life of the home. Pass these results to the average person that wants to save money.

Give billions of dollars to companies that want to manufacture expensive solar panels in the United States. If they fail, they simply file bankruptcy and you have nothing to show for money spent. Well you do have a pile of solar panels that maybe you could sell to the Chinese? I doubt it…give maybe.

We put men on the moon by trial and error; we didn’t just borrow the money and shoot them straight up there. By weatherizing homes and studying the results we accomplished two things. We brought many homes into the 21^st century and we found out what works and what does not. We completed our study and gave the gift that keeps on giving!

Homework 2: Duct Sealing

                                        Homework 2: Duct sealing

Since we breezed right through the air sealing mentioned in the previous blog, let’s move on to duct sealing. One of the things that I neglected to mention in the previous post was that some of the processes I am describing for saving energy in your home are based on living in central Georgia. Climates with different humidity levels would certainly be handled somewhat differently, but for duct sealing it’s all one in the same. The more conditioned air you keep in your home and duct system the less your unit will run and the cost to heat and cool will go down.

If you’re anything like me the understanding of how exactly a heat pump air conditions your home is a big mystery. You turn it on, a miracle happens, and cool air comes out of the registers! Really I understand a little more than that, but for duct sealing you don’t need to understand how the magic happens, you simply need the will and a few materials.  A bucket of mastic, 24”zip ties (two for each connection), a razor knife, foil tape (not duct tape!), a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a box of disposable latex gloves. All of which can be purchased for less than $100 at Lowes or Home Depot, but I prefer my local hardware store.

I would be glad to go in great detail about how to seal each and every connection, but really you just remove each connection, clean with alcohol and coat with mastic. If you liked making mud pies as a kid you will have no problem duct sealing. There are some great videos on Youtube.com and wxtvonline.org that will lead you through the process step by step and it is a homeowner friendly job. By sealing your system you will prevent air leakage in to (and out of) your home even when the system is not running.

What you need to think about when doing this job is that the air moving through your duct system is inside the envelope of your home. When you have leaks you are mixing outside (unconditioned) air with the expensive air you have conditioned. When your duct system is in the crawl space you are mixing in damp, potentially moldy air. When it’s in the attic you are mixing in insulation particles and very hot air. And don’t for a minute think this applies only to older homes and systems. 10%-35% leakage in systems that were new or only a few years old is not uncommon; I’ve seen them first hand. To sum it up-If you don’t have mastic on all duct connections you are giving money away! Time to play in the mud!

Homework

                                                          

The first day of Spring is right around the corner! Now we can spend a little time outside instead of looking out the window and saying, “boy it looks cold out there”. As bad as I hate to admit it that is what happens at my house. I tolerate cold weather, but the novelty does wear off eventually and I hate it. So get outside and enjoy the warmer weather and when you have a little free time…how about some energy saving homework!

Rebates and incentives are available from the power companies to throw you in gear, but if you’re like me you would rather do it yourself and not have a stranger looking at your junk. I can only say that my wife is collecting stuff for a yard sale so many times before it begins to sound stupid even to me, so let’s minimize outside labor. Here is a good way to get started. Turn on every appliance that exhausts outside the “envelope” of your home. This would be bath fans, range hood and clothes dryer. This will put your home under negative pressure (more air going out than is coming in) similar to what a blower door will do, but on a smaller scale. With a lighted stick of incense in hand walk around your home and test areas you suspect air to infiltrate. Suspect areas would be:

1.       *Doors and windows.

2.       *Plumbing penetrations in cabinets.

3.      *Fireplaces.

4.       *Light switch and receptacles.

5.       *Attic access.

6.       *Whirlpool tubs and shower stalls. (this will be covered in another blog about     dealing with the giant hole under bath tubs)

7.       *Duct registers and return grills.

If you don’t like using the smoke, just use your face. The skin there is very sensitive and you will feel the air moving against it, but the smoke is a great visual aid.

If you choose to use spray foam to seal some of the leaks you find, be careful. It takes a little practice to not get it everywhere, and once it’s on your skin, you will wear it for a while. Latex caulk is much easier to use because you can wash away your mistakes. If you choose to caulk larger holes, go at it in stages by allowing the initial application to harden and apply in layers.

This is the basic premise of air sealing. It is a homeowner friendly sport and it will save you dollars. Keeping the conditioned air in your home is very important and will save you money. Insulation alone will not hold the air in your home; it will only filter the escaping/infiltrating air. I will add that an official blower door test is a good idea for everyone. This will insure that you home is not too tight, but it has been my experience in the hundreds of homes that I have tested that few are too tight! In a future blog I will cover homeowner friendly duct sealing, attic and knee wall sealing and large hole repair. Until then….enjoy the changing season!