John Tooley said, “Air is like crooked rivers, crooked people, teenagers, and cheap labor. It always seeks the path of least resistance.” He didn’t say that Angry air is Noisy air. Air doesn’t like being forced through corrugated, flexible ducting, pushed around corners, and made to force open dampers. It resists being made to perform in a way that it doesn’t want to. It takes … Continue reading Angry Air!
Now that we have the total U value for the house, we can start looking more carefully at individual component U Values. Considering the single story house we just analyzed, it is about 1,000 square feet. It has a nice, flat 1,000 square foot attic floor insulated with fiberglass batts that have an R-value of 19. There is also sheetrock covering the ceiling that also … Continue reading Homeowner’s Energy Workbook Part 10 Component U Values
Dehumidifiers use a lot of power, in the range of 600 to 850 watts. If it’s running 24/day, 365 days a year that’s 5,256 to 7,446 kWh per year or about $950 to $1,200 per year at eighteen cents per kWh. That’s like $100 per month! But wait, you say, they don’t run 24/365. They do if the homeowner has cranked the control all the … Continue reading Basement Dehumidifiers
