September 2023 - Ducts in the Attic, Vermiculite, and Why Oversized Furnaces Never Work
WYSL/ Wise Home Energy Show
Jeff Flaherty opens with two newer homes that are uncomfortable despite having replaced furnaces, and the state program won't approve the fix because the homes look good on paper. He walks through why ducts in attics almost always leak, how a leaky duct system costs you in comfort, energy, and moisture all at once, and why the contractor who installed those furnaces almost certainly oversized them. He also covers the vermiculite problem, why it shows up in attics from the 1970s and 1980s, and what homeowners should know before buying a home that has it. Plus a story from early in his career that shaped the Wise Home Energy philosophy: a woman who got sick seven months after a well-meaning contractor improved her home without looking at the whole picture. And a breakdown of what the blower door test actually measures, how long it takes, and the three different calculations Jeff uses to make sense of the number.
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