$4/gallon revisited

GMcD

The building envelope has to be designed to keep the climate outside the building, so that the maintenance of the climate inside the building can be kept in the comfort range with the minimum amount of energy.

HVAC engineers and designers have to learn about, and understand how building physics works and apply that knowledge to the building envelope design as part of the mechanical systems. I keep telling my Clients that windows/glass are part of the mechanical and electrical systems of the building (heating cooling load generators as well as daylighting elements) and therefore we should be specifying the performance of them.

But the building envelope is the architects' responsibility right? Well when the responsible party abdicates their responsibility, whether through lack of education or lack of initiative, then someone else in the building design team has to take the reins. I believe that "building physics" needs to be taught as a full mainstrean curriculum at University and College so that buildings can be better designed with passive climate control systems designed into the building envelope itself. Whether the building is a single family residential structure or another high rise office building, passive, no/low maintenance items that keep the climate outside the building are the way to go for the long term. Energy guzzling "reactive" HVAC systems are on the way out. Maybe not right away, due to the huge industry inertia, but we all better get on that wave soon, mother nature isn't making any more fossil fuel, and all the whinging about taxes on gas and oil won't matter in 20 years when we all realize there ain't no more free ride. Buildings being designed right now, today, will have to operate 20 years or more from now, when the cost of energy will be at least double, triple or even quadruple what it is now. How are we going to deal with that?

Mark Hunt

Steve's post, before it got hijacked


brought up some good points.

What is to be done about our use of fuels???

Knowing what we know about heat loss and heat gain, what advice could a heating/cooling contractor bring to the debate that would drastically lower fuel consumption?

High efficiency equipment aside, what factors ultimately control the heating/cooling plant? Who decides those factors?

Should we, as HVAC contractors, advise our customers about thermal boundries and the benefits they bring?

Don't we know how to build a "fuel friendly" home?

Should we involve ourselves?

Should the government get involved and require tighter construction?

Should the codes regarding insulation values be increased?

We are in the business of BTU replacement or removal. Are contractors consulted when codes are enacted?

I'm a conservationist. Even if we had unlimited resources, gluttony is still wrong.

What say you folks?

Mark H

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Mark Hunt

EXCELLENT POST!!!!!!


Home-run sir!!

Mark H

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Pat K

Monolithic domes are very energy efficent and don't blow away in storms. Might still seem to radical for most folks though.

Pat K

Monolithicdome.com has a nice sight if you wanna take a look

Constantin

Thank you for your de-coupling of the post

In my mind, a heating contractor ought to make clients at least aware of what their heating and cooling options are. Not everyone will be able to benefit from a GSHP, but cost-effective insulation and efficient appliances are in reach of nearly everyone. They will thank you for their lower fuel bills the same way that they thank you for quality installs.

For example, you may know that I am an afficinado for foam-insulated homes. Other folks here have had very good results with blown cellulose. With just a little additional care, it is relatively simple to create a tight, easy-to-heat, easy-to-cool house. Folks like Building Science Corporation show the way with their documented case staudies of specc'ing out new construction as well as retrofitting older homes to become more energy efficient.

The Government is already involved to a certain extent via the minimum energy efficiency standards for appliances. So, how about federalized minimum efficiency standards for house construction? After all, what's the point of installing efficient appliances into a home that is as leaky as a sieve? And who will inspect the homes to ensure a builder did his/her job right?

However, before folks can start to evaluate the benefits of better insulation, different construction techniques, etc. a seed has to be planted that drives them to ask their architect, builder, and HVAC contractor to give them the gamut of options rather than just the lowest-initial-cost one.

For example, I doubt that the hot-water solar system currently on the drawing boards will yield an economic return. Yet, with insulation and other perimeter enhancements, I see it as a step in the direction of making our home less dependent on non-renewable resources.

Unknown

I've been wondering myself. I think we as heating/cooling professionals should certainly be pushing efficiency as hard as we can and commenting on choices we see made that effects efficiency.

However, even if every home built from now on had zero energy usage, we're still using oil products too quickly for it too last much longer without a sudden, large jump in technology for oil extraction.

I try to design for the lowest water temperatures possible so if the oil train does crash, the homeowners have options later beyond abandoning their heating system. However I can only push my take on the matter so far, ultimately the owner calls the shots.

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Mark Hunt

Good points

I'm a HUGE fan of dense-packed cellulose and I have turned a few builders on to it. Talk about recycling, and almost no wasted material. Compare that to the pink stuff and it wins hands down. Dense-pack is also an excellent air barrier, no micro-currents and no wind wash to reduce the effective r-value. Wind wash can reduce r-value by as much as 40%.

A good friend of mine who owns an insulating company has informed me that the fibre glass insulation being manufactured today has no where near the listed r-value. The insulation is less dense and has not been re-tested to confirm it's insulating capabilites. Stopping convective losses is one part, but conductive losses are huge. Putting High-R sheathing on the exterior of a home is all but useless. If it is placed on the interior between the drywall and the framing, we reduce the conductive transfer from the interior to the exterior and vice versa.

Alternate framing methods are out there, but receive little attention from most builders and architects.

My comfort systems can be much smaller so we lower the total amount of fuel consumed. Frustrating as all get out when I see a mansion being built and it will be only slighlty tighter than an outhouse! So now I have to carry a 150k btu heating plant in rather than a 80k or 60k unit.

You mentioned that you were involved with the DOE for a project. Could you refresh my memory on what it was that you did for them?

Mark H

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Mark Hunt

The Golden rule


Do you discuss insulation with your customers?

I agree 100% that they control the "gold" and will have the final say. I just try to get them to look at the whole house as a system and explain that my system will be designed to fill the gaps. Less gaps = smaller system, lower water temps. etc......

I have been awarded jobs because I asked about these things when other HVAC contractors did not. I spend a bit more time with the customer, but it usually pays off for all involved.

Being able to recommend a good insulating contractor helps as well. I refer work to him and he refers work to me. I love putting systems in the homes he insulates and seals. I know it is done right and there won't be any mid-winter phone calls for insufficient heat. He or I will perform blower door tests when the home is completed to make sure the ACH is where it is supposed to be.

Mark H

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Unknown

As much as we can. I've found myself more and more running a second theoretical heatloss on homes so I can talk to them about payback and such. Whenever I do that i find that the homeowners are listening, and it helps to have numbers, even if they are ballpark numbers, about what kind of savings they are really looking at.

Conserving really does make sense, and I find at least most of our clients understand that if you put a few numbers down on paper for them.

That's a really nice touch with the blower door tests!

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S Ebels

Two major impediments.....

The two barriers to energy efficient construction that I run into consistently are the builder himself and banks.

Builders who will get out of their comfort zone or even have the guts to suggest something new to their customers are few and far between. They are also the people whom the HO first meets and are responsible for setting the "tone" of the project. I don't know of a single one around here that even mentions methods of better envelope construction. Not cost effective they say. Drives the price up too high is another comment often heard. Like others have said, the house will be standing yet in 20 years presumably. At that point, these folks will be paying more for fuel than their mortgage payment. Builders are loath to bring this up for fear of losing a sale to the next nailgunslinger who says, "That's not true, or "My houses don't need all that stuff"

Second is banks. They are simply unwilling to loan money on a "standard" type home that goes over $xxx.xx per square ft. If it doesn't fit in their tidy little frame of reference they nix the deal and tell the prospective buyer it has to cost less money. Poof! there goes any incentive for the HO to conserve energy. Good old American philosophy of "what does it cost right here and right now and don't worry about the future."

Example: There is no question that blown foam insulation is the best in terms of infiltration and actual r-value. I asked why there were no houses constructed with this at a local home builders meeting and was met with the proverbial blank stare by most of the builders. You'd have thought I was advocating insulation made from moon dust or something. There wasn't a person there who said the added cost was worth it.

My question to them was, How much does it raise the cost of the home compared to conventional methods? (glass and blown cellulose) Not one could answer that in terms of $.$$ per sq ft. They had a preconceived notion that it was just too expensive and wouldn't even spend the time to investigate.

Hey, I get a little bent about this because it's my kids and grandkids who will suffer the results of this shortsighted approach. They are the ones who will wind up living in a house that could have been done a lot better. 20 years from now they will look at monthly fuel bills of $800-$1,000 because some worthless builder wouldn't make the effort to learn about energy efficient construction and sell it to whomever built the house in the first place.

Sorry, I start ranting when I'm tired.

Mark Hunt

Kind of a shame


to install a 90+% efficient system in a 40% efficient home.

Just have to keep slugging it out at a grassroots level I guess.

I bet if fuel hit $4/gallon/therm/KW things would change!


Mark H

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S Ebels

Interesting article

On state of the art oil exploration.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6072980/

Constantin

Hi Mark,

As far as the DoE is concerned, I ran their reverse engineering analysis for the rulemakings on Washing Machines, AC/HP's, and water heaters. Thus, I calculated the cost of those types of appliances by efficiency level on the basis of teardowns, a lot of data, and a beautiful Excel cost model (8.5MB+ of code).

For example, my AC/HP cost projections by SEER level were then fed into the LBNL analysis that then calculated the highest but justifiable SEER level (as a fcn of ROI). My cost models apparently continue to thrive over at Navigant where this work is now being continued (my previous employer, ADL, went bankrupt in 2002 as you may recall).

heretic

Incentive

"Knowing what we know about heat loss and heat gain, what advice could a heating/cooling contractor bring to the debate that would drastically lower fuel consumption?

Should we, as HVAC contractors, advise our customers about thermal boundries and the benefits they bring?"

That would be great, but you may be the rare bird. You know about things like convective losses and pressure vectors, which puts you ahead of most insulation contractors. Does the average HVAC contractor really have incentive in this game? Do most think it would improve their bottom line to get into the weatherization side of the biz? What if the contractor also sells oil? Could advise oneself right out of profits.

As for $4 fuel, be careful what you wish for. To the fellow who started the other post, I would suggest that there would be no new houses to install any sort of equipment in, because the economy would implode.

hr

Good find Steve

I read a couple interviews with oil well drillers a while back. One a Wyoming driller, another an offshore.

Both indicated the rigs are going deeper and deeper to find the oil. Deep offshore drilling is new to even the Dutch, consider by most to be experts in offshore drilling, according to these articles. No one seems to be able to predict what could happen with a rupture or blow out at those depths and pressures.

Then the problem of the piping infrastructure in the Gulf. It is getting old and leaks are becoming a big problem. Of course the oil just ends up in the water until the repairs can be made. Hundreds of miles of pipeline cross the Gulf. Many are being abandon as they have outlived their usefulness.

Third issue is the refining capability even if they find and can get to these deep pockets. Industry experts claim the capacity just doesn't exist currently.

Interesting times ahead for the oil industry. None of these problems will be cheap to solve.

hot rod

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S Ebels

Incentive

Not really a monetary incentive. Call me a heating geek if you want but...... I just like to do it right. Do it so in twenty years people will still be happy with my work and recommendations even though I may not be around.

BTW, I think $4.00 fuel would open the door for more work than any of us could handle. Forget about most of what we are installing right now. People will be begging for help in lowering their consumption by any means. You may find yourself installing insulation as well as heating equipment or some other like scenario. Gotta change with the market or you become like the builders I described in the post above.

heretic

Government is part of the problem

"The Government is already involved to a certain extent via the minimum energy efficiency standards for appliances. So, how about federalized minimum efficiency standards for house construction? After all, what's the point of installing efficient appliances into a home that is as leaky as a sieve? And who will inspect the homes to ensure a builder did his/her job right?"

The last thing we need is more government intervention. The government brought us R values and AFUE values, which are the mandated standards that everyone must accept for product comparisons. These values turn out to be largely meaningless in the real world. AFUE artificially props up air heating systems over hydronics. R values prop up fiberglass insulation. Codes require things like attic and crawlspace vents, which waste energy, and often cause more problems than they solve. The government has a proven track record in not understanding building science.

Constantin

Couldn't disagree more

Are the government standards perfect implementations? According to many knowledgable folks on this board, the answer is no. Are the standards a reasonable basis for comparison? In many instances, yes!

For example, if I walk into a Best Buy and I see three refrigerators, the Energyguide tag may not predict perfectly how much its operation is going to cost me on a yearly basis, but it will be an excellent yardstick to compare the relative efficiency of each appliance.

Sticking to fridges, have you noticed a meaningful jump in fridge prices every since the 2001 standards came into effect? The answer is no (to the detriment of the fridge industry). Instead, consumers are benefitting a great deal from the better fridges that are available today. I save $35/month by chucking an old side-by-side and going to 2001-compliant fridge. How is this a bad thing? The fridge paid for itself by year 2!

As for AFUE, it's a lot harder coming up with a heating appliance comparison because it all depends on the actual implementation. The heating appliance is but a portion of a larger system that may or may not take advantage of it. For example, a condensing boiler in a steam application is simply not going to see very low return temps... (and yes, I know this is an absurd example).

AC/HP's have it easier with their SEER ratings because they are sold as an integrated system. And yet it is possible to install a 5 ton 19 SEER system and only get 2 tons of capacity at 10 SEER, etc. simply by also installing undersized, leaky ductwork.

I too have seen a lot of snake-oil R-values based on reflection of radiation. Such panels work great in space. Down here on earth, we have additional forms of heat-transfer like convection and conduction, so the ratings for reflective foils are maningless in most applications, IMHO. However, does this mean that the R-value system is bad or that it simply needs to be improved?

I for one would like the government to step in and mandate maximum infiltration rates for homes. If the home is tight and not wet on the inside, even fiberglass insulation will achieve its R--values most of the time. Testing is easy enough and until we hold builders feet to the fire, they simply will not pay any attention to energy efficiency.

So I would invite you to raise your points with your lobbying group in DC. Or better yet, participate in the rulemaking processes in DC. They are fairly transparent and if you happen to think of a better way to measure efficiency that is cost effective and not prohibitively expensive, they may very well listen.

jerry scharf_2

late to the discussion

Hi,

As some others posted, there is a process problem with all this.

It seems in deveopment/spec houses, it is very unlikely to see these changes made. The goal of the process is to maximize the return to the builder, and as such as much money as possible is diverted from the basics to things that show and increase the sale value.

I would have hoped it was better in the custom house arena, but it often is not.

First we have architects who are no longer receiving ANY engineering or construciton training. They are completely into the "program, vision and finish" camp from the schooling and get no sense of how to approach technical issues and explain them to the customer. Some architects have trained themselves, but relatively few keep up.

If not the architect, then we're with a design/build person. They have their hands full with getting customers, getting the design and the building done. Again, few have made the effort to learn and keep up with these issues.

Often it is the customer that drives these kinds of requirements. The problem with the mass market campaign needed to raise customer awareness is that the people with the most money (think pink) have the most to lose with the change.

So sadly, the only alternative I see is to get the DOE to put together the campaign. With the current political climate, this is also very doubtful, and those with large $ would have great say over what is done.

All this is a long winded way of saying that you are completely right Mark. Grass roots is the only way to do it. So when you find any architect, design/build, contractor or owner who seems the slightest bit interested, teach them as much as they can absorb.

In other parts of the world, construction is not as hierarchical as in the US. This has it's goods and bads, but it does make this shift much easier. Also, the green movement is quite strong in Europe, and they have a good deal of political power. That leads to much more environmentally concious policies. (For those who may not know, there are more than two electable choices for any elected position in Europe. don't reply to this, I was just trying to be humerous.)

In an interesting side note, Europe and the US have quite different economic styles. China has an economic style much more like the US. With 4 times the population, it does give pause.

jerry

Darin Cook_3

Orgins of oil

Type orgins of oil into a search engine and see what pops up. It is very interesting. All these deep pockets of oil that are over 5 or 6 miles deep are below the depth that ever supported life. This is now leading scientists to believe that oil is not bio based at all. But possibly created from the magma of the earth. If that turns out to be true, oil is constantly being produced. I wonder if that would be better or worse for us?






Darin

Unknown

heh... nice one. It's a liquid. Gravity pulls it down. Big mystery!

It could be they are right, but I find it difficult to believe all these wells that are "full of oil" after having been capped off haven't been reopened if, in fact, they are full of oil again. The oil industry should be clued in if their wells are magically filling themselves again, eh?

good rebuttal of that here: http://www.questionsquestions.net/docs04/peakoil1.html

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GMcD

Economics

Yep- the building industry has been turned into a commodity "product" and bottom line based operation. Architects and consultants, as well as contractors are turned into "commodities" that the marketplace perceives all have equal talent, with the only discriminator being the fees/cost. There needs to be a real shift in the industry in terms of what is perceived as "value". There are a few practitioners out there who are managing to sell "value", but the sheer inertia of what is being sold to society as "value" is difficult to overcome. It will require major changes in how we design and build buildings.

What if every municipality suddenly decided that in order to obtain a building permit, you had to submit an energy model and life cycle cost of your building showing that it meets a minimum standard? Ahh, well, we can dream....

Steamhead

A tale of two old houses

I've been working on my own house for a long time to make it more energy-efficient. This photo was taken during the December 2003 blizzard and shows the contrast between my house (the one with The Lovely Naoko standing in front) and my next-door neighbors'.

Can you see the degree to which the snow has melted off my neighbors' roof, especially around the dormers? I don't believe there is any insulation at all in that attic. Compare that to my house, which has 10-inches of blown-in gray stuff (cellulose? was done when my grandmother lived here). My roof is always the last one on our street to melt off.

I tell my customers that I have reduced my home's oil firing rate by over 50% (1.65 to 0.75 GPH) since 1980. Part of this is due to the Burnham V-14 that replaced the old all-fuel Peerless in 1983, and the rest comes from other improvements to the building envelope and the heating system. And I'm still not finished.

So if oil hits $4.00 per gallon, I'm in better shape than most.

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Mark Hunt

A picture


is worth 1000 words!

While we were participating in the EnergySmart program here in NY, in every case our customers realized considerable energy savings.

Insulation and air sealing are cheap and the payback is very quick. Many times I would recommend that minor adjustments be made to the mechanical systems and more attention be paid to the shell issues.

Nice photo Steamhead.

Mark H

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Steamhead

We're going to insulate that attic this weekend

My neighbor is finally ready to do it. Those $400 utility bills last winter were getting to be ridiculous. This won't be a company job, more like an old-fashioned barn-raising where everyone pitches in.

And later, with Glenn Stanton's blessing, the 1970-vintage Burnham gas boiler will get a stack damper so the coal-constructed chimney won't cool the boiler down between cycles.

The goal here is to get the utility bills down below $200. With two almost-teenagers there this might sound like a tall order, but I think we can do it.

Enough talk about rising energy costs. Let's do something about it.

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Mark Hunt

Just got off the phone


with my insulating buddy!

We are trying to set aside one day a month (to start) as a get together time to discuss building performance issues.

I am going to spend more time learning what he does so that I can incorporate his wrok with mine.

We need to make entire homes more efficient. Let's see an AFUE for a typically built home.

Wouldn't score more than 40% I'd bet.

Steamhead, you are an inspiration sir!

Mark H

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Mark Hunt

Bump

There was another $4.00/gal thread going, but it took a nose dive toward the end.

We seem to be edging closer to that $4/gal now.

Mark H

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Eugene Silberstein 3

Required Reading

You guys are awesome but, then again, we all know that we are preaching to the choir.

I just bagan teaching an HVAC/R system design class last night and discussed a number of issues with my students that you gentlemen have brought up here. This post is now required reading for my HVACR design students.

Although they are not designing the buldings in which the HVAC equipment will be installed, they are spending the first month of the semester learning Manual J and the second month working with Manual D. At least they'll know what they're working with when they come upon structures that were seemingly built during the "insulation shortage".

Thanks guys.

Mark Hunt

As HVAC


contractors our job can be boiled (no pun intended) down to two functions.

1) Replace that which was lost.

2) Remove that which was gained.

We have no control over those two numbers, we just cover them.

People are going to start asking some serious questions about how to save money on their fuel bills. The person or persons that have the answers will be way ahead of those that don't. A customer called me not more than 10 minutes ago to ask about getting his annual service done. In the course of the conversation he asked about "making his furnace more efficient". I told him that I can't make his furnace more efficient, but HE can make his home more efficient.

Very simple....stop the BTU's from leaving and you don't have to pay to replace them.

Stop the BTU's from entering and you don't have to pay to remove them.

It would be a good idea for everyone in this industry to learn more about building sciences.
Building Sciences

Consider that most of your competion knows nothing about it so you will have an extreme advantage.

Mark H

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Mark Hunt

As much as I hate


government meddling, I must admit that this is an area where some oversight is needed.

It would be too easy to make wild claims about system efficiency and there would be no proof either way other than the word of the salesman.

The other side of the coin is that governments see things in averages leaning to the worst case side. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

But Steve spoke (typed)prophetically when he started the $4/gal threads back then and now it is coming true.

So what will our industry do with the new fuel prices??? What will the consumer base do? Will they start considering tightening up their existing homes? There are a few threads about this on the wall right now. Glad I took those building science courses!

So it's upon us or will be soon. Who's ready for it? What did you do to prepare for this eventuality??

I know what my next move is and I guarantee that the other heater guys in this area are now going to have to REACT because they didn't see it coming and prepare for it. They are going to keep on selling the same "Happy Meals" that their grand-daddies before them did.

It's not the end of the world folks, it's the beginning. Things change today like they did 1000 years ago. Staying with the curve is what seperates you from the other guy.

I'm looking forward to this!

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Steve Ebels_3

I Think..............

It'll take a month or two for reality to set in. People will have to get a couple fuel bills, be it for car or home heating before they realize what a dent this is making in disposable income. THEN there will be a reaction ranging from holy ----!!!!, to borderline panic.

I don't think that the full extent of the damage in the Gulf region is known or calculated yet as I write this. When that becomes a known quantified fact, I think we could see prices for all types of fuel go up from today's levels and stay there for a protracted period. It will be painful for a lot of folks to make fuel payments equal to or even greater than their mortgage payments.

I mentioned yesterday in another post how I had compared energy costs for a customer building a new home, LP furnace vs GSHP. The difference was around 60% savings with the GSHP, and that was figuring LP at $1.49 which is probably an invalid price as we speak.

Are they going with the GSHP? Sad to say but I doubt it. They can't see past the intial difference in up front costs which, I'll grant you are substantial. Even so, the difference in the upfront costs are fully paid back counting interest in 6 years. That's not even figuring additional increases in energy costs. On top of all that, their "builder" has convinced them to go with standard 2X4 construction using batt insulation. I'll quote what the lady of the house said, "It's just that you can't see it and it doesn't seem right to spend that much on something you can't see". After I quit choking.....figuratively........ I explained again that this will make a large difference in what they spend on energy costs in the future. To no avail.

You can lead a horse to water, but how thirsty does he have to be before he'll drink?.........

So..........I'll ask this question. If $4 per gallon fuel is not enough to make people open their eyes toward higer efficiency heating systems, cars, appliances and homes, JUST WHAT THE TARNATION IS IT GOING TO TAKE????

Unknown

You know steve, it doesn't even matter. Whatever it will take, we'll be hitting, before too long. The people that couldn't look ahead will pay the price, as they deserve.

Mark Hunt

Good question Steve


and neither you or I can answer it.

BTW, PLEASE don't wish for $18/gallon!!!!!!!!!!

Whatever the reasons, it is here.

Now what do we as HVAC pros bring to the table to ease the burden? What knowledge do we have that can benefit the consumer? 90+ efficient systems are only a start, yes?

What do you tell a customer that asks you to make his/her boiler "more efficient"???

There is an opportunity here to seperate ourselves from the rest of the pack. Or we could all sit down and collectively bemoan the falling of the sky.

Mark H



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ScottMP

Mark

It an exciting time to be in our industry. You've got the right attitude, snooze and loose.

Mark

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Steve Ebels_3

I promise

I will never wish for $18 fuel. Cross my heart and hope to die!!


What can we tell a customer? Well there are lot's of them that I'd like to say "I think we dicussed this back when you built/remodeled/updated your home". But, I wasn't brought up that way.

In cases where they have old equipment steaming/boiling/puffing along at the 60-70% range, the recommendations are easy. Get them into a new piece of equipment or a new burner in the case of oil heat. For those who have newer equipment the choices narrow. It would vary on a case by case basis but I have to think some of these would apply to most situations.

Number 1 would be low temperature operation. As low as possible. This may mean removing BB and installing panel rads, or just installing more BB so the system temp could be dropped. On a lot of equipment this would have questionable benefit due to the nessecity of condensation issues in standard CI boilers.

Number 2. Zoning issues. Forget about a thermostat per floor. Let's think by room instead. There's a reason anything over 100 sq ft has to have its own control over in Europe. This would apply to F/A as well as hydronic systems.

Number 3. Tell them to insulate and seal their homes and install a heat recovery ventilator for fresh air circulation. Heck, they'll probably save the money from that investment just in doctor bills let alone the fuel cost reduction. Make sure that you recommend something other than fiberglass batt. You might as well pack your walls with furnace air filters.

Speaking in broad terms, these about cover the situation.

Get the most efficient HVAC system that will work in your house.

Insulate and seal the structure as good as it can be done.

Ventilate the structure in an energy efficient manner for health and building issues.

Shaun Anderson

I have a property owner wanting to go all hi-eff cast iron boilers in his 20 apt complexs because of rising fuel costs. He wants to try out just two for now, one being Viessmann and one being competion. Then in a year or two see where he stands.


TheFuture