Author Topic: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK  (Read 4836 times)

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DamonHD

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Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« on: March 07, 2009, 08:03:38 AM »
Hi,


I'm trying to knock another 2MWh/y off our energy use and the two most likely ways are solar hot water or reducing space/central heat demand.


I'm going for the latter this time, and will need help looking for air leaks, thermal bridges, etc, and then fixing them, and then possibly working on internal or external wall insulation.


(We're in a wood-frame house with a brick outer wall, and I understand that filling the gap would cause the wood to rot...)


In London there is the "Green Concierge" scheme to help advise on energy savings, but I've already done the most obvious things and in any case cannot get an answer from them.


So my questions are:


Either, does anyone know of a good company/person in the UK for this?


Or, can anyone suggest good Google search terms?  For example "Energy Audit" seems to be very US.


I have made some researches but not gotten very far but intend to put in some real effort this coming week, so all clues gratefully received!


Rgds


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« Last Edit: March 07, 2009, 08:03:38 AM by (unknown) »
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tecker

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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2009, 06:46:44 AM »
Think DIY or get with a plumber  and brain storm on this . You could probably setup somthing outside of your home in a small building so you and a few contractor could cut in a system that goes together and just inner connects with existing systems.
« Last Edit: March 07, 2009, 06:46:44 AM by tecker »

DamonHD

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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2009, 03:15:03 AM »
Not much space for a 'small building' outside our home and still on our land!  B^>


But I'm really after the passive insulation solutions rather than solar DHW this time around, so no plumbers required.  (Installing all that PV sapped our willingness to add more complex machinery to our house for a while.)  I think that the energy/emission saving should be similar and the cost lower.


(Having said that, we might switch our water supply to be metered so we can measure and conserve that too...  Yummy, more tables of numbers to crunch!)


Rgds


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« Last Edit: March 08, 2009, 03:15:03 AM by DamonHD »
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Darren73

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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2009, 02:48:26 AM »
Damon,

Have you had a thermal imaging study done on your place? That usually picks up most of the thermal bridge losses etc.


Regards


Darren

« Last Edit: March 09, 2009, 02:48:26 AM by Darren73 »

DamonHD

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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2009, 04:00:58 AM »
No, not yet, and I'd certainly hope that it would be part of any package.


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adaml

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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2009, 05:41:10 AM »
Damon,


I believe some local authorities/councils were looking to do thermal surveys as part of town wide "energy audits" - might be worth a call to your local authority to see if this is planned?  I will ask about at this end see if I can get some "insider" info for you.  

« Last Edit: March 13, 2009, 05:41:10 AM by adaml »

DamonHD

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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #6 on: March 13, 2009, 08:44:24 AM »
Well, London does have the "Green Concierge" scheme but there might well be others.


I'll chase your idea up, thanks!


Rgds


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« Last Edit: March 13, 2009, 08:44:24 AM by DamonHD »
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adaml

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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #7 on: March 13, 2009, 11:02:28 AM »
Damon,


Asked about here and this Council is considering undertaking the works, I am advised that some have already done it.  It may be that an external contractor will be doing the survey so some digging and getting through to the right department will be required.

« Last Edit: March 13, 2009, 11:02:28 AM by adaml »

DamonHD

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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #8 on: March 13, 2009, 02:25:22 PM »
Well, I know the council is interested in my PV install and data for example, so maybe I can talk to some of those people...


Will have to wait until Monday now, but I'll get on the case!


Rgds


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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #9 on: March 16, 2009, 10:08:37 AM »
OK, I think that I have now located the right person at our council, and I have sent him an email (he wasn't in today).  I don't think that the council has the stuff (people/equipment) itself to do the job, but maybe they know a (wo)man who can...


Separately I did find a sensible private contractor to come and survey us today and he had lots of good ideas which didn't necessarily involve vast sums of money.


I said basically that I'm prepared to spend about the same for each MWh saved as I would on solar hot water (which I may yet do later, too, of course).


Rgds


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« Last Edit: March 16, 2009, 10:08:37 AM by DamonHD »
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adaml

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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #10 on: March 18, 2009, 10:03:20 AM »
Good news!  Keep us posted on the outcome, sounds like a very interesting route to be going down.
« Last Edit: March 18, 2009, 10:03:20 AM by adaml »

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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #11 on: March 23, 2009, 12:54:09 PM »
I have a "pressure test" (ie air-leak) person hopefully coming next Monday.


I expect to write up the experience on earth.org.uk, possibly have at least one other company perform the same test, and then repeat the experience after we've done our next round of improvements.  So I'm kinda combining a buyer's guide and before/after.


I didn't actually mean to quite hire the person that I spoke to, but he seemed pretty interesting, so ...


Rgds


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« Last Edit: March 23, 2009, 12:54:09 PM by DamonHD »
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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #12 on: March 30, 2009, 11:19:30 AM »
Had an air-leakage "pressure" test done today on the house.  We're at about the standard for new build and other than technicalities would pass modern building regs with all the other things we've done including the solar PV.


The formal figure-of-merit is q50 = 7.2m/h which means the airflow in m^3/h per m^2 of floor/wall/roof is 7.2 per hour.


I will be doing a write-up and getting a repeat independent test next week to see how similar the procedures and results are, and that will figure in my review as a kind of "buyer's guide" to this rather valuable service that I barely even realised existed.


Next stage is to get a contractor to lay out a formal plan and costings to do all the relevant works.


When it's all done then I'll probably have a re-test of air-leakage to see how much that has been improved.


Rgds


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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #13 on: March 30, 2009, 11:21:08 AM »
Flow rate was measured at 50Pa (Pascals) over/under pressure.
« Last Edit: March 30, 2009, 11:21:08 AM by DamonHD »
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adaml

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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #14 on: April 02, 2009, 09:07:22 AM »
Sounds like you are getting there Damon.  Would be interesting to hear the outcome of the pressure testing.  We have moved into a house with no central heating but a "Villavent" air circulation system.  The house was supposed to have been pressure tested but am yet to find the report in all the documentation. I am yet to be convinced by the efficiency.  First two months of living here electric bill was £100/week!!  New build so the whole structure needed to be heated and dried out admittedly.
« Last Edit: April 02, 2009, 09:07:22 AM by adaml »

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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #15 on: April 06, 2009, 09:00:28 AM »
The re-test by another company happened today.


Today's result (7.11) is very close to last week's result and not at all shabby (the building regs limit is 10), but by simply taping up 3 problem areas we were able to reduce leakage by over 10% (to 6.29) in about 5 minutes flat, so some definite relatively cheap wins to be had there.  We left some of the tape in place.  B^>


Bizarrely as it turns out, the planned and legally-required air vents in the kitchen (because of our gas stove) resulted in less flow than an unplanned hole into an internal void in the ceiling for an old flue.  Clearly that internal void is rather better connected to the outside than I imagined.


A piece of wisdom from today's tester was that you mast regard the internal finish/envelope of each room as the main leak barrier and NOT assume that holes in internal walls (eg for wiring) are not a problem.


Rgds


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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #16 on: April 06, 2009, 04:05:59 PM »
Hi,


I'm doing my write-up here:


http://www.earth.org.uk/testing-a-house-for-air-leaks.html


and I don't know if I'll get it finished tonight.


As ever, comments (and pointing out where I've made serious errors) welcome!


Rgds


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Pink foam fun
« Reply #17 on: April 18, 2009, 09:48:03 AM »
Since I know where the big leaks are now, and with today being nice and warm and it being possible to leave all the windows open, I thought that I'd try some (fire-resistant) expanding foam to plug the leaks...


Boy, it gets everywhere, and I'm totally uncoordinated.  But somehow I managed to avoid any major disasters (I think) in spite of its lurid sticky pinkness.


Anyhow, I suspect that I've now dealt with the biggest holes at least to some degree.


If we do major works then some of my work will have been wasted, but for £13 and a couple of hours of interesting handiwork, maybe even that isn't wasted.


I assume the amount that I got on my hands will kill me within a week though.  Bv<


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ghurd

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Re: Pink foam fun
« Reply #18 on: April 18, 2009, 10:02:09 AM »
Close the windows!  Quick as you can!


The stuff can expand enough to bow the frames, making the window frame smaller than the window.

(been there, done that)  :/

G-

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TomW

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Beware of deformation..
« Reply #19 on: April 18, 2009, 10:17:57 AM »
What G said, plus doors.


I fubared a door for smooth closing with it. Took some fixing so beware the high capacity expansion stuff. Some is low expansion for exactly that reason.


Just an experience I had to deal with.


Tom

« Last Edit: April 18, 2009, 10:17:57 AM by TomW »

DamonHD

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Re: Beware of deformation..
« Reply #20 on: April 18, 2009, 11:44:44 AM »
Hi,


I think the fire resistance feature took away some of the expansion strength so I haven't yet bust anything.  The holes filled were mainly in floorboards and plasterboard with voids behind so pressure was not an issue.  I did fill in one boxed pipe section but luckily that seems not to have exploded yet.


Thankfully, neither has my other half...  B^>


Anyway, it is conceivable that they will pay back in one (harsh) winter by my not-even-back-of-an-envelope calculations...


Rgds


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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #21 on: May 03, 2009, 10:55:53 AM »
Well. the guy I thought I'd found to quote for the work has gone all quiet, so I've started a discussion over at the (UK) Green Building Forum, though I'll probably be castigated for sins I'm not even aware of yet!  B^>


http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/forum114/comments.php?DiscussionID=3961


Rgds


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It ain't cheap being green...
« Reply #22 on: June 01, 2009, 10:52:33 AM »
We were last year going to glaze in our front porch at home to get ourselves some extra secure/dry/warmish space, but have decided that we like the porch the way it is for now.


So instead, with an eye to heating efficiency following the SAP report, we have been investigating replacing our single-glazed thin wooden door and side-panel with a new double-glazed and better insulated version.


Looks like being well over £1000, and indeed nearer £2000 if we do anything other than the most basic (heat-efficient) option.


Goodness. If you can't stand a joke don't leave near London... %-P


(I can't justify more than a few hundred at most out of my nominal energy-efficiency budget given our heat-loss analysis as part of our SAP survey, so the rest would nominally be 'redecoration'.)


Rgds


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Re: It ain't cheap being green...
« Reply #23 on: June 07, 2009, 09:26:17 AM »
Here's the start of my write-up...


http://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-door-replacement.html


Hope to sign on the dotted line tomorrow afternoon, and get an internal door sorted shortly too.


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Re: It ain't cheap being green...
« Reply #24 on: June 08, 2009, 07:40:44 AM »
Signed on the dotted line: £1235 all-in...


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zeusmorg

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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #25 on: June 08, 2009, 08:08:41 AM »
 Since you are talking about air leaks and reducing heating/cooling costs I thought I'd pipe in with some basics for people, many overlooked.


 Places to look for air infiltration: Around door and window frames, not just the closures on the doors and windows themselves, these leaks are often easily solved with a simple paintable latex caulk.


 All outside wall switches and electrical outlets. There is a thin foam insulation that is pre-cut to fit behind the covers and is found at most hardware stores. This is an easy fix that is often overlooked!


 Around the perimeter of the foundation where the wall sits on it. In modern construction, a foam strip is placed between the plate and the concrete foundation, However on most older homes this is not the case!.


 Infared imaging or photography can be used to find "hotspots" by taking pictures of the outside of the structure when the temperature differential is great enough.


 Of course, by now we all know the importance of attic and crawlspace insulation, also insulating any heating ducts (and water pipes)that pass through unheated areas.


 One way to find areas of air infiltration is to take a candle on a windy day and move slowly around ANYTHING you suspect of air leakage. The candle will flicker, of course.

 That is a cheap D.I.Y. way of doing it.


 I try to add to my insulation and air infiltration problems every year, and now it is much harder to find problems to fix, some of them are places that older solutions have failed over time!


 When I bought my current house 15 years ago, it had very little insulation but quite typical amounts for an old house in this area. Over the years, I have lowered my dependence on energy to stay comfortable. My current usage is 25% of what the original use was.


 Of course, there is such a thing as too tight a house! The solution to that is a heat exchanger designed to swap inside air for outside..

« Last Edit: June 08, 2009, 08:08:41 AM by zeusmorg »

DamonHD

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Re: Looking for home energy audit people in the UK
« Reply #26 on: June 08, 2009, 09:18:56 AM »
Indeed!


You do clearly need to allow enough ventilation to avoid damp/condensation of course, and to breathe (!), so as the house becomes more airtight vapour and condensation control will become more important from what little I understand...


Rgds


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