How to prepare – Home Energy Audit
Here’s what we’ll need:
1) A clear walking path through the house. Since the floor generally makes up part of the thermal
envelope, we’ll be scanning as much of it as we can see. It’s up to you how much furniture you
move, but we’d recommend you just clear the floor of clutter and leave the furniture where it’s at, with
the exception of exterior walls – see #2.
2) Clear line of sight to all exterior walls. Since a thermal imager can’t ‘see through’ anything,
please remove pictures and paintings from exterior walls. Again, it is up to you how much furniture
you move, just know that if we can’t see the wall, we can’t scan the wall.
3) Access to the electrical panel
4) Access to all doors and windows
5) Easy access to all supply and return registers – this may require that you move furniture
6) Access to the air handler
7) Access to the water heater
8) Access to the furnace if applicable
9) Access and clear line of sight to any wall or area that you specifically want scanned.
10) If you have small children, consider a baby sitter. (see the What to Expect section)
11) Please have all pets secured or removed. We will use a blower door which includes a large
noisy fan and is not pet friendly.
12) A good temperature difference between inside and outside. Depending on the time of year and
the weather forecast, you may be asked to turn up your heat or air conditioning for several hours prior
to the scan to provide more contrast between the interior and exterior temperature.
13) We will provide a full-color, comprehensive report, but feel free to have a pen, paper, post-it
notes or digital camera on hand for your own reference
What to Expect
When we arrive, we’ll ask a few questions to help us determine the thermal envelope of your home.
Once we know where the envelope boundaries are, we’ll walk around outside, take some pictures
and lots of measurements. We’ll come back in and take a few measurements inside as well. We’ll
do some number crunching to determine the surface area and the volume of your home’s thermal
envelope. We’ll then use a hand-held thermal imager to scan all the surfaces of the thermal
envelope (usually consisting of the exterior walls, floor, and ceiling). As we find exceptions (i.e.
thermal patterns that indicate a potential issue) we’ll record the images. If we find an exception that
appears to be water infiltration, we can confirm with a moisture meter at your request. Once we’ve
done a preliminary scan of the envelope, we’ll set up a blower door. Basically, the blower door is a
large canvas that fits around an aluminum frame and is sealed into an exterior door opening of your
home.
We will need to close and lock all exterior doors and windows (except the one we’re using of
course). We’ll also need to open all interior doors, so if you plan to use a spare bedroom for baby-
sitting or to keep a pet in, you should make other arrangements. You need to be aware that the fan
used with the blower door is noisy and could be frightening to small children. We highly
recommend that small children be kept at a baby-sitters house during the survey.
We’ll use the blower door to depressurize the house which will cause air infiltration through any
gaps, leaks, or penetrations in the thermal envelope. We’ll record the cubic feet per minute (cfm)
required to maintain the negative pressure which will allow us to quantify the leakiness of the
structure. We will also use that information to determine your home's natural air-change rate - a
critical component of indoor air quality.
With the house depressurized, we’ll walk through the house and perform another infrared scan,
again recording thermographs of any exceptions or areas that show a significant change from the
initial scan. This will be your opportunity to walk through the house and feel the air leaks with your
own hand.
Once we’ve completed the envelope leakage analysis, we’ll set-up a smaller fan unit called a ‘duct
blaster’, or 'duct blower', to test the leakiness of your ductwork. We’ll seal off all of your supply and
return registers with a special tape. We’ll then attach the duct blaster to the main return or the air
handler and pressurize the ducts to typical operating pressure. To compensate for any leakage from
the ducts into the envelope, we’ll use the blower door to pressurize the envelope to the same
pressure. By doing so, we’ll be able to analyze how much duct leakage you have into your
crawlspace or attic. Depending on their accessibility, we will attempt to locate the source of any
gross duct leakage sites to save your HVAC contractor some time when he repairs them.
When the test is complete, we’ll remove all the duct mask tape and start breaking down the
equipment. Before we go, we’ll do a quick scan of your electrical panel to check for potential fire
hazards. We’ll then scan any specific areas of concern you may have and attempt to answer any
questions you may have. Depending on the size of your house, a Home Energy Audit should take
three to five hours.
Within 5-10 business days, we will return to your home and review with you the full-color,
comprehensive report. The report will include infrared images of all exceptions we found, air
leakage analysis, duct leakage analysis, as well as any recommendations we may have.
Here’s what we’ll need:
1) A clear walking path through the house. Since the floor generally makes up part of the thermal
envelope, we’ll be scanning as much of it as we can see. It’s up to you how much furniture you
move, but we’d recommend you just clear the floor of clutter and leave the furniture where it’s at, with
the exception of exterior walls – see #2.
2) Clear line of sight to all exterior walls. Since a thermal imager can’t ‘see through’ anything,
please remove pictures and paintings from exterior walls. Again, it is up to you how much furniture
you move, just know that if we can’t see the wall, we can’t scan the wall.
3) Access to the electrical panel
4) Access to all doors and windows
5) Easy access to all supply and return registers – this may require that you move furniture
6) Access to the air handler
7) Access to the water heater
8) Access to the furnace if applicable
9) Access and clear line of sight to any wall or area that you specifically want scanned.
10) If you have small children, consider a baby sitter. (see the What to Expect section)
11) Please have all pets secured or removed. We will use a blower door which includes a large
noisy fan and is not pet friendly.
12) A good temperature difference between inside and outside. Depending on the time of year and
the weather forecast, you may be asked to turn up your heat or air conditioning for several hours prior
to the scan to provide more contrast between the interior and exterior temperature.
13) We will provide a full-color, comprehensive report, but feel free to have a pen, paper, post-it
notes or digital camera on hand for your own reference
What to Expect
When we arrive, we’ll ask a few questions to help us determine the thermal envelope of your home.
Once we know where the envelope boundaries are, we’ll walk around outside, take some pictures
and lots of measurements. We’ll come back in and take a few measurements inside as well. We’ll
do some number crunching to determine the surface area and the volume of your home’s thermal
envelope. We’ll then use a hand-held thermal imager to scan all the surfaces of the thermal
envelope (usually consisting of the exterior walls, floor, and ceiling). As we find exceptions (i.e.
thermal patterns that indicate a potential issue) we’ll record the images. If we find an exception that
appears to be water infiltration, we can confirm with a moisture meter at your request. Once we’ve
done a preliminary scan of the envelope, we’ll set up a blower door. Basically, the blower door is a
large canvas that fits around an aluminum frame and is sealed into an exterior door opening of your
home.
We will need to close and lock all exterior doors and windows (except the one we’re using of
course). We’ll also need to open all interior doors, so if you plan to use a spare bedroom for baby-
sitting or to keep a pet in, you should make other arrangements. You need to be aware that the fan
used with the blower door is noisy and could be frightening to small children. We highly
recommend that small children be kept at a baby-sitters house during the survey.
We’ll use the blower door to depressurize the house which will cause air infiltration through any
gaps, leaks, or penetrations in the thermal envelope. We’ll record the cubic feet per minute (cfm)
required to maintain the negative pressure which will allow us to quantify the leakiness of the
structure. We will also use that information to determine your home's natural air-change rate - a
critical component of indoor air quality.
With the house depressurized, we’ll walk through the house and perform another infrared scan,
again recording thermographs of any exceptions or areas that show a significant change from the
initial scan. This will be your opportunity to walk through the house and feel the air leaks with your
own hand.
Once we’ve completed the envelope leakage analysis, we’ll set-up a smaller fan unit called a ‘duct
blaster’, or 'duct blower', to test the leakiness of your ductwork. We’ll seal off all of your supply and
return registers with a special tape. We’ll then attach the duct blaster to the main return or the air
handler and pressurize the ducts to typical operating pressure. To compensate for any leakage from
the ducts into the envelope, we’ll use the blower door to pressurize the envelope to the same
pressure. By doing so, we’ll be able to analyze how much duct leakage you have into your
crawlspace or attic. Depending on their accessibility, we will attempt to locate the source of any
gross duct leakage sites to save your HVAC contractor some time when he repairs them.
When the test is complete, we’ll remove all the duct mask tape and start breaking down the
equipment. Before we go, we’ll do a quick scan of your electrical panel to check for potential fire
hazards. We’ll then scan any specific areas of concern you may have and attempt to answer any
questions you may have. Depending on the size of your house, a Home Energy Audit should take
three to five hours.
Within 5-10 business days, we will return to your home and review with you the full-color,
comprehensive report. The report will include infrared images of all exceptions we found, air
leakage analysis, duct leakage analysis, as well as any recommendations we may have.
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