A Few Tips on Energy Conservation from Jay Hoover

Manufactured Homes

Most manufactured homes are set up with flex ducts from a package unit outside. Those flex ducts can be easily damaged by critters. mostly rats and cats ( they like air conditioning where they live too).  A good thing about the package units are that their tops can be easily removed to clean the indoor coil.

Indoor Airflow

If a room is pressurized from air coming in but has no easy path back to be recirculated the pressurized room will blow air out any leaks in the envelope. Air will be made up through other leaks nearer the return.  The solution is to open interior doors or pay for duct upgrade.

When a house is unoccupied and air conditioned the interior doors should be left open. This is irrelevant if there is a return duct in every room. These are not common though required by code for new construcion for about 5 years.

Ceiling Fans & Recessed Lights

Ceiling fans are okay if they are turned off when one leaves the room. I have been called by more than one customer to check the central air (who have been advised by an energy expert from the power company to turn off the ceiling fans when they leave the room) and they are on in all those unoccupied rooms. I hear that it uses $5 ea per month to run them constantly.   Also, the air circulating by an uninsulated surface like a window can add heat gain in summer.  Recessed lights can be leaky.

Clothes Dryers

Clothes dryers exhaust about 150 cfm of air...more than most bathroom or kitchen exhausts. If installed in a conditioned space that is a lot of conditioned air leaving the house. A solution includes opening a window in the laundry room if available. This lets outdoor air get pulled into the dryer and exhausted outdoors. Without opening the window the comfortable house air will be exhausted. The slight vacuum created will cause outdoor air to leak in the house, unfiltered and create a load on the air conditioning. If the dryer vent on the outside is near the outdoor unit of a/c the lint from the dryer will restrict airflow at the a/c inlet raising elec use of the a/c.

Tree

A tree to shade the outdoor unit can be good for energy savings. Leaves may need to be cleaned out from inside the outdoor unit and raked away from the coil inlet. bushes can inhibit inlet air if not cut back.

Air Handler Causes Fire

Having your central air conditioning system on a maintenance program like Top Performance may have been able to prevent this.

Tampa, Florida - Tampa Fire Rescue responded to a house fire on West Nassau Street in Tampa.


TFR tells us the initial investigation into the cause of the fire indicates there was a problem with the electrical system going to the central heat and air conditioning unit in the attic.


According to officials, fire crews managed to stop the flames from consuming the home. Still, the house is moderately damaged, no loss estimate is yet available.

No injuries were reported.

Florida Energy Star Residential HVAC Rebate Program

The program starts Monday and lasts till the end of the year or the money runs out.  A local TV station has a report here.

There are a lot of hoops you need to jump through in order to qualify, most of those answers can be found here.

Summer tips for air conditioning care.

One of our local TV stations gives some advice on caring for your system.

Tips to save money with your central air system

From the Tampa Tribune.

The two tips I would start with is to invest in quality filters and change them every 30 days, and to have Integrity Air give your system a checkup before it gets too hot.

The Critter Superhighway

The top picture is the lineset and cover running from the outdoor unit to the home via the attic.  See how the lineset has room for rodents to enter your attic.  Sticking steel wool in there will help keep critters out, however the lower photo shows how a professional contractor like Integrity Air can shut down this particular critter superhighway.

Chinese Drywall and Your Central Air

If your home or addition was built around 2004-2006, you mave have Chinese drywall.

At the height of the U.S. housing boom, when building materials were in short supply, American construction companies used millions of pounds of Chinese-made drywall because it was abundant and cheap.

Now that decision is haunting hundreds of homeowners and apartment dwellers who are concerned that the wallboard gives off fumes that can corrode copper pipes, blacken jewelry and silverware, and possibly sicken people.

Shipping records reviewed by The Associated Press indicate that imports of potentially tainted Chinese building materials exceeded 500 million pounds during a four-year period of soaring home prices. The drywall may have been used in more than 100,000 homes, according to some estimates, including houses rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina.

Bad Chinese drywall can harm your central air conditioning.

The wallboard is being blamed for corrosion of metal components. Air-conditioning evaporator coils, which typically last a decade or more, are corroding and failing in homes only a couple of years old. Pipes and wiring also may be deteriorating.

Integrity Air can replace a corroded coil. However, if your coil has failed while it is relatively new, you may want to find out the origins of your drywall.