What......No Smoking Gun

We often hear the statement “Wow, I never thought something so complicated could be so easy.”  Unfortunately, I often hear the statement “Wow, I never thought something so simple could be so complicated.”

Case in point.  I was recently at a home and the home owner was complaining of a master bedroom that was very hot and had a really hard time cooling it down.  The home owner assumed that the problem was that they just weren’t getting enough air from the ducts.  Sounds like the simple answer, but unfortunately, it wasn’t the problem.  Upon further examination, I was able to figure out the problem.

Some of the obvious issues were that the huge tray ceiling over the bed was poorly insulated and not a single hole cut for duct vents, ceiling fans, or light fixtures was air sealed.  In the master bath room, there were giant knee walls (vertical walls between interior and attic space) which were also poorly insulated adding a lot of heat to the area.

Then came the not so obvious issues.  First, the house faces west and at the end of the day the sun shines right through the top window in the two story foyer.   It shines directly on the uninsulated hallway wall of the master bedroom creating a giant radiator.  Second, in this houses case, it had a rarity.  An undersized A/C unit.  Believe it or not, most units are oversized (and it’s the other things that are causing your homes problems).  Next, in order to keep the utility costs down, the home owner sets the thermostat near 90 during the day.  On a really hot day, it’s going to take a long time for an undersized unit to cool down a large space.  Finally, the HVAC unit and the ducts are located in the attic, so as I mentioned in a , the ducts themselves get hot, so the air temperature coming out of the ducts is not as low as it should be.

So no, in this houses case, there was no smoking gun and many times there isn’t one.  Most of the time it is a combination of things that contribute to uncomfortable rooms and high utility bills and it takes a person with a background in building science to figure it out.  Trust me, the money you spend on an energy audit will save you way more than just trial and error and trusting sales people. 

If you have any questions or comments, please add them below or contact me by email at JonL@theNRGguy.com, Facebook, or my web page.  So until next time……”Don’t throw money at your problems, throw knowledge, it’s a lot cheaper.”