Water heater wrap up

Here is the GeoSpring heat pump water heater installed and ready to go.

I am looking forward to a future blog on how it is working. I will wait until I have some usage data first.

Cheers,

Mark

Cat waste and worms

At the Common Ground Fair this year a number a people asked me about cat waste and vermicomposting.

An obvious concern with pet waste is pathogens and the potential for human contact (see related post: http://wormmainea.blogspot.com/2010/05/making-doggie-dumpster-pet-waste.html). This was a pretty common thread of the discussions. The cautions in that blog all apply to cat waste. And for pregnant women perhaps even more so.

Another visitor had tried this and found that non-clay litter works best. I think newspaper-based litter was preferred. Others mentioned  coconut- or  pine-based litter. I also found wheat-based litter, but none of my discussions touched on that. I suspect any of these would be suitable for a vermicomposting system.

Another friend wrote in with this article (http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards/2005/Eric.htmlA) about a direct vermicomposting system.

All very interesting. I am very allergic to cats, so I must rely on others. Nevertheless, the discussions are interesting and provide an alternative to sending the organic waste to the landfill.

Cheers,

Mark

How well does organic lawn care work?

In an earlier blog (http://wormmainea.blogspot.com/2010/04/natural-lawn-care-preparing-and-timing.html), I described organic lawn care practices. I think it is time to revisit the lawn to see how successful organic methods are.

This was a hard Summer with lots of heat and not much rain. I watered during the drought when we didn't get rain for more than 7 days. All watering was before 8AM and no more than 1 inch of water. My lawn and underlying soil were fed with worm tea at least once monthly during the summer. I use about 7 gallons on my lawn. I did not mow during the drought (only hawkweed grew and I could pull those by hand) and raised mowing height on my Fiskars push mower during summer months to 4". The next photo shows my front lawn (approximately same angle as previous photos from April).

Same angle of yard as previous photos-- taken September 9.

Even more interesting are other areas of my lawn. Especially those abutting my neighbor who uses traditional methods-- cutting with a riding mower weekly whether it needs it or not (often mowing lower than I am), random (or so it appears) watering, professional (?) fertilization/weed control by lawn service. I will let the photos below speak for themselves.

My lawn on right, traditional on left (property line is between stake and rhododendron)

Opposite angle my lawn on left, traditional on right (property line between stake and rhododendron)

The undeniable fact is that by paying attention to the biology of your lawn plants your lawn will require less work and money and be more resilient to stress-- whether drought, weed competition, or pests.

Cheers,

Mark

Air Sealing-- top and bottom of the house.

When I started this home efficiency retrofit, I thought I would have trouble hitting the 25% improvement minimum. Now with the heat pump water heater (see photo prior to plumbing hookup), the Real Home Analyzer software is projecting we’ll be at 34%. WOW!

Our new heat pump water heater!

Let’s look at the air sealing component in greater detail. The majority can be done by you. In fact everything you see here I did to remedy the air flow problems in my home (for details see http://wormmainea.blogspot.com/2010/08/home-efficiency-2010-continued-flir.html).

Air Sealing the Attic Access Hatch

All you have to do is add insulation to the top of the access hatch and make a secure seal (gasket) around the lid. In this case, I added 4” of rigid foam insulation to the top (glued to the plywood) and glued the fiberglass pad on top of that. To the surround, I added some self stick gasket. Also, I added some blots and wing nuts to make the attic hatch compress the gasket to make a secure seal. This looks the same from inside my closet (not that it matters much)-- all you can see is the ends of the bolts and wing nuts. See photo of finished product.

Nice and tight-- no more dancing attic hatch on windy days.

 

Air Sealing the Sill Plate

This is a bit trickier, but only because my basement is semi-finished. Often the photos and instructions you see online are homes where there is no impediment to air sealing. In my house I had to remove the floor insulation and cover.

Floor insulation and cover hanging to access the sill plate area.

 With that out of the way, you can see the sill area-- the sill itself is behind that batt of the fiberglass insulation-- remember the fiberglass is not inhibiting air flow, it is only filtering it. Fiberglass insulation is only effective if you have controlled air flow. In my house, I had to work around plumbing & heating pipes, electrical, phone & cable lines-- all of which were typically located in this area. Not a big deal, but it made the job a bit trickier.

Sill area exposed-- note all the utility service lines.

 Now you remove all those batts of insulation-- I dropped mine on the floor while I worked.

Insulation batt that will be replaced after air sealing.

Now we can see the sill plate. It is a little tricky in this photo, but he bottom of this piece of wood is resting on the top of the cement basement wall. The size of these areas (in general-- some are smaller!) is approximately (and a little larger than) 9" x 14.5". 

Sill plate area exposed.

So I cut a bunch of pieces of 1/2" rigid foam board insulation to that size. These fit the holes (mostly) and left a little space for spray foam. The finished job is shown in the next photo. To control airflow I tried to really have the cement area covered with the blue insulation and spray foam.

Air sealing is complete-- HOORAY!

After the spray foam hardens, go back and add the batt of insulation and replace the floor insulation and covering. Now the job is completely finished.

Air Sealing the Chimney Chase (in the basement)

This was easy and really necessary-- we had a noticeable draft here that you could feel with your hand. Because the chase is in a flammable zone, you have to use fireproof caulk and spray foam. It is twice as expensive as regular, but it is easy to work with and you don't need a lot. All you need to do is seal the spaces around the aluminum pieces.

Air sealed chimney chase in basement.

Close up of sealed chimney chase in basement.

 At some point (when the sun is not so strong), I will go up to the attic to seal the top side of the chimney chase the same way.

While you have the basement ceiling pulled open, check that your utility holes are sealed. The oil service holes were not sealed well, so I gently removed the old caulk and sealed them up with spray foam.

Air sealing the oil access holes.

Next weekend I will tackle air sealing the electrical outlets on the first and second floors.

Cheers,

Mark

Home Efficiency 2010 Continued-- decisions, decisions...

I have had our home energy audit report in hand for more than a week wondering how to proceed.

We are going ahead with many of the recommendations, which included the following:
            Air sealing and insulating the attic hatch.
            Completing basement wall (XPS foam board) insulation.
            Adding insulation to the bulkhead door.
            Air seal the chimney surround with fireproof sprayfoam and fireproof caulk.
            Air sealing our home's envelope (doorways, windows, electrical outlets, and access holes to outside [oil service, dryer vent, bathroom fan, radon abatement system, cable and electrical service]).
            Upgrading the bathroom fan and adding a vent controller.
            Air sealing at house sill (along ceiling in basement).
            Stopping air flow around proper vent at soffit.
            Adding an additional 15" of blown-in attic insulation.

Will these achieve the to a 25% improvement in efficiency? (Recall that the Efficiency Maine incentive program requires us to reach 25% to trigger the rebates. Anything I do will make the house both more comfortable and efficient.)  Can/should I do more? There were other air sealing recommendations included in the report; however, these retrofits may lead to more expensive upgrades. Our home energy audit report shows that with 25% less air movement from inside to outside, my home will be right on the line for building tightness limit where additional air sealing. So, to meet 25% greater efficiency may require an air-to-air heat exchanger to meet indoor air quality requirements.

This has had me in a quandary for a while as I try to get more information and decide what to do.After checking with a lot of people, the best way for me to get to a 25% improvement in efficiency without having to install an expensive air-to-air heat exchanger was by adding an air-source heat pump water heater -- GE Geospring (http://www.lowes.com/pd_79425-83-GEH50DNSRSA_4294859091_4294937087?productId=3127075&pl=1&currentURL=/pl_Electric%2BWater%2BHeaters_4294859091_4294937087_?rpp=30) to heat our domestic hot water. ** I am still waiting to speak to the plumber regarding using it as a supplement to our home heating also (we have hydronic baseboard and radiant floor heat). I don't know if this makes sense, but I plan to find out this week!

These air-source heat pump (or hybrid) water heaters are very efficient and have added benefits of cooling and dehydrating the air.  I plan to have this unit installed in the basement where we run a dehumidifier spring, summer, and early fall to keep the basement dry. This means that the electricity for the new water heater unit will be replacing an appliance we are already paying to use for half the year.

Even if we only use this for domestic hot water, we will be able to turn off our oil boiler when we are not heating our home-- more than a third of the year (May to Sept). Yes, this is when we use the least oil, but we won’t be using oil to heat water in the middle of the night in July for a shower that won’t be taken until the next day. I suspect this will make the Intellicon (http://wormmainea.blogspot.com/2009/06/big-savings-from-small-investment-can.html) function even better during the heating season because the periodic draws on the hot water (e.g. for hand washing) will not occur. I will let you know if this is what I find.

Cheers,

Mark

Home Efficiency 2010 Continued-- the FLIR results

These photos from Erik (www.freeenergymaine.com) show air leakage in our home in several area. These were generated by using a blower door to create a vacuum in our home. Erik's FLIR camera showed where warmer outside air was getting in. The bottom scale in the images is degrees F.

Air coming in around the tongue and groove ceiling in the porch addition. Not bad.
 

Air flowing (perrty freely!) around and through the attic hatch. This is really bad and needs to be addressed.

Warm air moving the the ceiling above Bert's office where the outside air was getting pulled in through the soffit escaping the proper vent (see http://www.homeconstructionimprovement.com/blocked-proper-vents-causing-ice-dams/) and moving under the insulation above her head (in the winter this would be cold air blowing in and making her cold!).

Here the sill plate is not sealed and is allowing air to come in from outside. When I felt this area it was like a breeze blowing on my hand.

I am waiting for Erik's report to determine the next steps and develop a plan to submit to Efficiency Maine for the rebate.


Cheers,


Mark

Efficiency Maine Home Energy Savings Program-- EXTENDED!

Efficiency Maine (http://www.efficiencymaine.com/at-home/hesp_program) has been offering an additional incentive ($1000) to get homeowners to improve the efficiency of their homes (air sealing, insulation, and space or water heating improvements).

What is it? If you follow the program and make improvements to achieve either 

1) at least 25% increase in efficiency (annual thermal energy savings) you receive 30% of the total project cost up to $1500*.

2) more than 50% increase in efficiency (annual thermal energy savings) you receive 50% of the total project cost up to $3,000*.

*Both of these are increased by $1000 if you sign up by 8/31/10, then complete the energy audit and the Incentive Application Form (http://www.efficiencymaine.com/docs/hespincentiveapplicationform.pdf) must be received by September 30, 2010, and complete all work and the Completion Form (http://www.efficiencymaine.com/docs/hespprojectcompletionform.pdf) submitted by December 31, 2010.

Step 1. You get your house audited ($400-$500). This typically entails inspection of insulation, air leakage (blower door test), mechanical heating/cooling systems evaluation. Sometimes auditors also use infrared imaging to evaluate your home. The auditor will produce a report  to guide you in determining the cost/benefit of  energy improvements you may wish to make by calculating projected savings and payback information. Note this step must be completed by a Participating Energy Advisor  (listed on the Efficiency Maine website).

Step 2. Work with a contractor of your choice to do the work. Remember that you want to get to at least 25% improvement to meet the minimum rebate criteria.

Step 3. Auditor returns and inspects the work and completes the form documenting the improved efficiency in your home.

Bottom line: if you make improvements to your home that result in a 25% increase in the efficiency of your home you can get up to $2500 back from efficiency Maine.

I have done a lot of weatherizing and made improvements to minimize waste. I was skeptical that I could make improvements for less than $5000 that would result in 25% improvement in efficiency.  So, I contacted Mary at Warm Tech (207-883-9722) for a Home Energy Analysis. This is not a home inspection, but a visit that includes a walk through of your home to give you an idea of what the audit will likely find. I had a coupon from the Sunrise Guide (http://www.thesunriseguide.com/) for a free Home Energy Analysis. Mary and Roland spent nearly an hour with us and pointed out a lot I could do. They are GREAT!

As a result of their visit, I contacted Erik North (Free Energy Maine, LLC; 207-329-7219;
www.freeenergymaine.com) to schedule an audit. Not surprisingly, he is quite busy doing audits. I scheduled our audit for August 6. 

I will post another blog about our audit and the results.

Cheers,

Mark