January 2025 - Heat Production, Distribution, Retention, and Why Size Matters
WYSL/ Wise Home Energy Show
Jeff Flaherty opens the new year with a scarf that got him thinking about air sealing, then gets into the real stuff. A family bought heat pumps from a private equity company, missed out on a $3,000 rebate, and may have qualified for even more through income programs. A 6,000 square foot mansion wants a no-cost energy audit, and Jeff explains why that's not how this works. He walks through the three components of home comfort, production, distribution, and retention, and why fixing just one of them rarely solves anything. He also covers a Cape Cod with knotty pine walls that won't hold air, a client who got talked out of air sealing by the company that was supposed to do it, and a colonial-Cape hybrid where a temperature rise problem in the furnace was quietly shortening its life. Plus why an oversized furnace gets worse after you tighten the house, and what mean radiant temperature has to do with why you're cold even when the thermostat says you shouldn't be.
Loading