An energy efficient home

Hello all, here are some tips on how to lower your energy costs by making your home more efficient. Let me make it clear, I am no expert. These tips I have heard from experts, seen on television programs or read somewhere. First let me start off with the basics.

Construction

First off, our homes are pretty energy efficient. Pulte uses all sorts of technologies to help improve our homes energy efficiency. I want to cover some of the things Pulte does that help us save money. If you haven't heard it by now Pulte uses a technique pioneered by a company in Michigan named DR Energy Seal. DR Energy Seal seals up our homes to prevent air leakage in a few steps. First, the framing is sealed up using caulk. This is a process where a person comes in and on every joint, basically where wood meets concrete or wood has a seam where air can leak through, is sealed using caulk. Second, once the plumbing and electrical are in, all conduit holes, floor holes or anywhere pipes or ducts are routed through are sealed with expanding foam. This is done on all interior and exterior walls. Lastly, once the drywall is in, electrical outlets and other area where air may leak in are all sealed. Once the sealing procedures are complete a test named "Blower Door Test" is performed to ensure the house is up to standards. This is a test where all windows are closed and a fan is attached to the front door. This fan blows air out of the home and the pressure in the home is measured. Bear in mind that a lot of builders do not do this. On a home that does not have this seal, if you were to add up all the air leaks from seams, nail holes and corners, it would be like having a 6 foot square window open all year long!! More information on the DR Energy Seal can be found at http://www.drnelson.com.

A different method of framing is used during construction. Pulte utilizes a technique named "California Corners". With traditional framing, once the corner space on outside corners are boxed in, they cannot easily be insulated, resulting in energy loss. The California method allows easy access and ability to insulate. Basically they turn one of the 2x4 or 2x6 s on one of the adjoining corners perpendicular to the corner stud to allow for more insulation to be placed at the corner of our homes. This site has a diagram that may explain things a bit better. http://www.nuwool.com/builders/californiacorner.html .

Furnace

The Lenox furnace in our homes is very energy efficient. It contains sealed burners, which are much safer. If you look at the furnace you will realize that the exhaust pipe is PVC, not the standard tin exhaust that many of us have seen. The furnace is so efficient that the exhaust fumes are not hot enough to require metal. The furnace also has a direct air intake. Since the burners are sealed, air is brought in from the outside to allow the flame to ignite. Our homes are also equipped with something called an Aircycler. This is a little unit mounted on the furnace with 3 buttons and what appears to be a timer. Well it is a timer of some sorts. Tight homes can be a bad thing if the air becomes stale. If a tight home is not properly vented it is possible for the air in out homes to be worse than the air outside. That's where the aircycler comes to the rescue.

Aircycler

The Aircycler along with a fresh air intake valve, which can also be seen hooked up to your furnace, monitors the cycles of your furnace. For example lets say you have the heat on and it shuts off because the house has reached the desired temperature. Well in a tight construction it may be a long time before the heat starts up again, maybe hours. Well the aircycler can be set to cycle the air in our homes on programmed intervals bringing in fresh air and eliminating stale air. When the furnace shuts off the aircycler turns on and begins to count down from the programmed time. If its programmed for every 30 min, once it recognizes that the furnace has been off for that long, the aircycler turns on the fan only, to cycle air into our homes. The fan will remain on for the length of time on the aircycler, like 10 minutes or so. If the furnace comes on before 30 minutes, the aircycler resets its timer back to 30 min and keeps track of the downtime of our furnace. This allows for constant air circulation creating a much healthier and comfortable living space. I have mine set to cycle every 30 minutes of down time for 10 minutes. More information can be found at http://www.aircycler.com . The model we have is the Aircycler FR.

Fresh Air

As I mentioned earlier our homes do have a fresh air intake. It's very easy to spot. It looks like a vent wrapped in a black plastic bag routed from our furnace to the outside. The bag is actually just flexible insulated ducting. It's generally routed to a side of our house where the air is not toxic. In other words, they don't route it to the same side where our furnace and water heater have exhaust vents. To have the air intake open at all times would result in possibly having a draft enter the house. To solve this there is a valve with a weight attached on it. Make sure this is working properly by following these steps.

1. Follow the vent to the outside wall. Make sure the vent is not pinched or bent.
2. Go outside and make sure that the intake vent does not have a lid. That's right, does not have a lid. If it does have a lid, when the suction is on, it will force the lid to the closed position not allowing air to enter the house. Make sure to check this, by default the outside vent comes "out of the box" with a lid, it is possible that the furnace person left it on. Just yank it right off, there should be like a wire grid underneath to keep rodents out.
3. Now go inside and set your fan to the on position then run down stairs. The weight on the duct just above the furnace should be in the open position (parallel to the vent). If it's not open then the weight is off balance or the lever is stuck and may require some oiling. Adjust weight till it opens. Shut fan off and watch it close. Make sure your adjustments allow for the suction from the furnace blower motor to open the vent and when the blower is off, the weight closes via gravity.

Long story short, this is used to introduce fresh air into our homes when the blower is running. The model we have is the Skuttle 216. More information can be found at http://www.skuttle.com/216.html

Furnace Filters

Lennox recommends a spun fiberglass filter due to the large amounts of air these furnaces move. Anything else will start to decrease the life of the motor. In the winter, a better filter will be ok, while in the summer I would go with only the spun fiberglass due to large amounts of air needing to be passed over the A-Coil that cools the air. If your filter gets clogged or limits air flow too much in summer, both the A-coil and condenser on the outside of your home will ice up, for which there is no cure except shutting the whole thing down and waiting for it to melt.

I am a big stickler when it comes to this. There are two schools of thought. One is get the best filter on the market to filter out the most particles from the air and two is just to get an average filter. When I say average I do not mean the super cheap spun fiberglass kind that cost .99 cents, I mean the kind that are about $3 to $5 dollars and have a MERV rating of at least 8. Merv stand for, Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value is a rating of the effectiveness of air filters in removing particle contaminants from the air and is dependent upon the particle size. So the higher the Merv the more particles it will filter.

Lets say for example that you install a high-end filter like a 3M filter with a MERV rating of 11 or higher. These are great filters if you have allergies or other respiratory ailments. But on the other hand your furnace has to work much harder in order to cycle air through your home. Even though the air may be cleaner your furnace is working much harder than it has to in order draw air through a tight filter. We don't have any respiratory issues so I prefer a MERV 8 type filter that allows my furnace to filter particles and breath easier. The size is 20x25x1, but double check to make sure. I replace mine every 30 days even though they read, "Good for 90 days. It's good practice is to write the date on the side of the filter when you replaced it. This eliminates the guessing game on when you changed it last. Also when replacing, make sure that the airflow arrow on the filter is pointed in the proper direction. For mine the airflow goes towards the fan.

Fireplace

The fireplace installed with the homes is a Heatilator E39. This model may be different in your home. E39 stands for Entry level 39 inches wide. This model was also recently discontinued and replace with the E36, which is a tad smaller. I don't know if Pulte began installing the E36 in the newer homes or just went with a different model. Mine is an E39 with a gas log lighter. It can be retrofitted with gas logs or can also burn wood. Well once again because our homes are a tight construction, the fireplace would not be able to burn efficiently if fresh air was not introduced. Therefore the E39 is fitted with what's called an Outside air kit. Basically it a little lever on the left side that is attached to a magnetic door. The lever has various slots that allow it to open all the way, half way or just a bit. Just pull out on the lever to open all the way and push in to close. You will feel the magnetic door catch when it's closed. Make sure it's closed when not in use. When you decide to have a fire make sure to open the flue first. Moving the lever located on the top of the fireplace to the right does this. Then open the outside air vent by pulling lever out. Add wood and light. If you have glass doors on your fireplace, leave them open all the way. I always wait till the next day to ensure the fire is out before I close the flue and the outside air. It is recommended to have your flue inspected and cleaned once or twice a year depending on use. Oh also if you have a gas log lighter the holes on the pipe are faced downwards. This is to keep ash from clogging the holes on the pipe. So if you ever replace make sure to install the same way. If you don't have doors for the E39 all is not lost. You can order them from some fireplace stores. They run about $200 and are called zero-clearance doors. For the E39 the doors are model numbers DM1039 for the black frame, DM1039B for bronze and DM1039S for silver.

Water Heater

Pulte installs a high efficiency model. No metal exhaust since most of the heat is used up and only bad fumes are removed via exhaust duct. The burners are not sealed but because of the vacuum exhaust, the fumes are sucked right out of our basements.

Air Conditioner

Nothing fancy here just that it's sized perfectly for our homes. A too big or too small unit would not be energy efficient. Also it is not recommended to cover the unit with a tarp over the winter. I know it sounds weird but the unit is built to withstand the elements. A tarp may cause excess moisture inside causing early oxidation/rusting or maybe a nice home for bugs.

Windows

Pulte uses a low "E" rated window by Simonton. Low E (Emissivity) Glass is glass with a transparent metallic oxide coating applied onto or into a glass surface. The coating allows short-wave energy to pass through but reflects long-wave infrared energy, which improves the U-value. The U-value is the amount of heat transferred through a material. The lower the U-value, the slower the rate of heat flow and the better the insulating quality. The windows are also filled with Argon gas. Argon gas is an odorless, colorless, tasteless, non-toxic gas, which is six times denser than air. It is used to replace air between the glass panes to reduce temperature transfer.

Humidifier

This was optional. If you have wood floors then you signed a waver regarding proper levels of humidification while selecting the floor over at the Pulte office in Elgin. Improper levels of humidification cause wood to expand or shrink. If you have wood floors and do not have a humidifier I would suggest getting one soon otherwise you will see huge gaps in your floors. I did not get the one Pulte offered. Which was the Honeywell HE265-B bypass humidifier. Instead got the HE365-B powered fan humidifier by Honeywell. Both do the same job but the 365 is more efficient and made for larger homes. The difference between a bypass and powered is the bypass uses your existing furnace fan to push air through the humidifier pad creating humidity and is not powered by electricity, where as the powered has a built in fan that pulls air through the pad and pushes it back into the stream but has to be plugged in to an outlet. The 365b may also be easier to install since it requires a lot less ductwork. A humidifier when used properly creates more comfortable warm air in the house, which will allow you to turn your thermostat down a degree or two. The B series humidifiers have a special humidistat. They come equipped with something called Humidicalc+. Its basically software that monitors the humidity levels in your home and determines proper settings. This does not mean its automatic. You still have to set it initially. A good way to do it is to set it on the high end, like 8 or so. Let it run for 2 days, then check your windows. If you have a build up of condensation, turn it down one number. Continue this cycle until the condensation is gone. Once this is done, no further calibration is needed. Also make sure to turn off your humidifier in the warm season. Oh and the filter pad in the humidifier should be replace once a year. A bit tricky, when you go to get a pad, you will see that the pads on the B series humidifiers have an anti-microbial coating on them. The A as in 265-A or 365-A has the same pad without the coating and cost a bit less but do fit. If you can find the B series pads, get those otherwise the A will work. I'd stick with the anti-microbial; humidity and warm air are a perfect breeding ground for bacteria. More information can be found Honeywell .

Thermostat

Well not much to say about the one that came with the house, but to get rid of it ASAP. Go out and get one that is programmable. This is probably the best money saving thing you can do. Every home store has them. They may run around $50 to $100 or so, but will save you money in the long run. They are also pretty universal, so installation should be easy. If you decide to get one that has a wireless remote, keep in mind that you may have to hook up the additional "C" wire to your furnace to get the remote to work. There is a spare wire in the cable that can be used. But by default Pulte does not hook up the "C" wire. It's fairly simple to do though.

Things to do to increase energy efficiency

• Install a humidifier if you don't have one. Humid air is much more pleasant and will allow you to set the thermostat lower over the winter months.
• Get a programmable thermostat and program it around your schedule. If you are not home during the day set it to 65 or so, then have it kick up to the desired temp 20 minutes before you get home.
• Check all windows to make sure they are closed all the way. As a rule of thumb, if you are not able to properly lock the windows, then they are not fully closed.
• Check the threshold on the front door and garage door. These thresholds are adjustable to compensate for the expansion and contraction of wood. If you feel a draft raise the threshold.
• Replace light bulbs with energy efficient ones. I know they cost more but they last much longer than the standard bulbs and in the long run will save you money. There are 60watt bulbs that only use 14watts to operate.
• Check the flue and outside air vent on your fireplace, make sure they are closed when not in use. This is important, an open flue is like a vacuum, it will literally suck the warm air out of your house.
• Check the seams on your garage door. There is a rubber seam on the outside to seal the gaps on the side. This may just need a slight bending towards the door to prevent drafts.
• Make sure all air vents are free of obstruction. I close a few of mines in rooms that I don't use much or are in an area where it's too warm. Close the floor registers in these rooms, or even better close off the valve on the ductwork in the basement to those rooms. The duct should be labeled. To close make sure that the lever is perpendicular to the vent. It is much better to close the ductwork in basement that way the air does not even have to travel up the vent before it leaks out the register. This will also create increased air pressure in other rooms.
• Program aircycler properly. As I said before mine is set for 30 minutes off and 10 minutes on. This combination works well for me, yours may differ.
• Turn off or unplug appliances that are not being used. I know this sounds funny, but you'd be surprised to know that even though something is turned off, its still wasting electricity. I am not a stickler on this but if you are, there is a meter conveniently called Kill-A-Watt. It plugs in between the wall and the device, lets say a coffee maker or an idle computer, and tells you how many watts the device is consuming even though it is off.

There is more to come. If you have any questions just click the contact link.