> >
>> I've been tracking my usage since I built this house in '99. I found
>> that I could download the average daily temperatures for my area from the
>> national weather service and plug them in as well.
>>
>> Then I can easily calculate therms / degree-day and kwh / degree-day. It
>> gets a little 'iffy' in the spring and fall with the windows/ doors open
>> many days, but overall my energy usage / degree-day works out pretty
>> well. Each year I've implemented some sort of 'energy saving project' and
>> tracked the results. Just routine stuff mostly, chalking,
>> weather-stripping, insulation etc... But by tracking energy / degree-day
>> I've been able to see some real savings despite the year-to-year
>> variations in weather.
>>
>> daestrom
>> P.S. They have weather data for their stations that go back into the
>> '80's, so you might try it if you have an afternoon free sometime to
>> download / parse / massage all the data and distill it down.
> Yes, I have that site bookmarked for where I'm at, it's:
> http://www.erh.noaa.gov/iln/lcdpage.htm
> I have not updated my spreadsheet in a couple months but you are correct
> that the heating degree days and cooling degree days must be considered.
> If your'e looking at a site similar to the one I use the data is in a
> plain text file which can be carefully parsed into EXCEL pretty quickly.
> It is tedious though because it has to be done one month at a time. If
> anybody on the list wants the data for Wilmington, OH (closeset station to
> me) in an EXCEL spredsheet perhaps I could email to you.
> We upgraded our furnace and air conditioner (house was built in 1989) in
> 2004. Previously the natural gas forced air furnace was about 80%
> efficient and the air conditioner was about an 8 SEER. The new furnace
> was a 92% efficient model (I could not justify the 99% model) and the a/c
> we bought was a 12 SEER (again I could not justify a 14 or 18 SEER - at
> the time).
> It took some work in a spreadsheet, but I was able to take the Heating
> Degree Days (HDD) after matching them to the actual meter reading dates
> and compare them to the ccf of Natural gas used during the same period,
> plotting total HDD in a month on the X-axis vs. total ccf used in a month
> on the Y-axis. I plotted the "old furnace" in different color than the
> "new furnace". The results show that the new furnace saves 18% to 25% gas
> for months with the same, or similar, totaled HDD. I need to run a best
> fit curve regression on both data sets to see the typical savings.
> Bottom line is that each heating season I save between 45 and 75 ccf of
> natrual gas. At current winter rates ($1.30 to $1.46 per ccf) I save
> about $75 to $100 and I have done nothing special to get this. I did
> avoid buying a lower cost but less efficeint furnace. Also, I bought a
> furnace with a variable speed DC motor fan. I have to say that the house
> seems to be heated more evenly than before.
> Sorry to go on so long about this but I would love to see some of your
> energy savings projects listed with a little more detail. That's probably
> what I need to look at, such as caulking and perhaps adding ceiling
> insulation, etc. The house seems pretty tight all around but perhaps
> there are leaks I don't know about.
Well, I moved in in mid-winter '99 to '00. I don't give that winter much
credence since there was still some construction and such. But for
reference, it works out to about 0.135 Therms/ DD (I use Therms instead of
CCF to account for the fuel gas variations calculated by the utility). The
next winter was more representative (at least I think so) as my 'baseline'
at 0.1188 Therms/DD.
The following fall I made an aggressive attack on chalking. A big 'gap' I
found was on the sill between the foundation (cement block walls) and the
footer. Although there was a 'sill-sealer' (a sort of composite/cork board)
laid down on top of the block before the footer was fastened, I found
several spots where I could feel a draft. Expanding foam sealed this up
well. The winter of '02 - '03 my usage was 0.1061 Therms/DD.
The next year is a bit different. Although I insulated along all the
footers in the basement (between the joists along the outside walls), I also
finished two rooms in the basement. This included adding 2" foam board
along the basement walls. And I added some heating ducts in the basement as
well. So I added about 650 ft^2 of 'heated living space'. I also created a
'door plug' of two inch foam board with a strip of fibre-glass around it to
'plug' the basement's outside entrance (we call it a 'bilco door'). My
usage that winter ('03-'04) averaged about 0.120 Therms/ DD :-(.
In '04 to '05, I didn't do too much in the house, but I insulated the garage
door and sealed it better. (the garage is attached to the house on the
north side and isn't deliberately heated). I also went around and put those
foam pads behind all the wall / switch outlets on the outside walls. And
when winter set in, I put some semi-permanent removable insulation around
the sliding glass door. We also installed some insulating drapery across
the same sliding glass door. That brought our usage down to 0.1163 Therms /
DD.
Next year, I crawled up into the attic and found that the <quote>eighteen
inches of blown-in fibre-glass</quote> had 'mysteriously' shrunk to only
six. And it didn't extend all the way out to the edge of the ceiling where
it meets the walls. So I 'racked' it all to the outer edges and exposed all
the ceiling board. While I was doing this, I noticed there was dirt on the
insulation. It corresponded to the small holes where wiring penetrated the
ceiling board to various fixtures, wall-switches, etc. I did some research
and found that 'dirty insulation' is clear indication of air exfiltration.
So while I had the ceiling board exposed I went through with chalking gun
and expanding foam and went over each 'bay' between joists and sealed around
all wiring. Also sealed around the dryer vent duct 'hole' and plumbing vent
pipes. Then I put down R-38 fibre-glass batts and leveled the blown-in
stuff to about the same height. This project took several week-ends in the
fall but seemed to be worth it. My usage in the '05-'06 season was an
incredibly good 0.064 Therms /DD.
I know it's July, but I just haven't 'got around' to loading all the
temperatures for the 06-07 heating season. Just as well, I didn't do
anything last fall. I'm thinking this fall will be some more insulation in
the attic. It won't be as big an improvment as the first time, but R-38 is
just a bit on the low side for our region.
For reference, the months of Dec, Jan, Feb total about 4000 DD for us in
upstate NY, so that 'attic project' saved me about (0.1163 - 0.064) * 4000 =
209 Therms.
If I had it to do again, obviously I would have started in the attic. I
believe the chalking/sealing was at least half of the gains made there.
Considering my usage now, and that all windows / doors are already
double-glazed and sealed, I'm sort of running out of projects. I've been
thinking about a solar air-heater on the south wall upstairs. But that's a
bit beyond my DIY week-end project level. And I have to figure out how to
distrubute the heat from it into the upstairs in some way that will avoid
'hot spots'. And I would want it to be zero maintenance. I'm worried that
house air (with humidity added by the humidifier) will condense on the
glazing and cause problems.
daestrom
18:39:17 -0400, daestrom, daestrom@NO_SPAM_HEREtwcny.rr.com wrote:
> Well, I moved in in mid-winter '99 to '00. I don't give that winter much
> credence since there was still some construction and such. But for
> reference, it works out to about 0.135 Therms/ DD (I use Therms instead of
> CCF to account for the fuel gas variations calculated by the utility). The
> next winter was more representative (at least I think so) as my 'baseline'
> at 0.1188 Therms/DD.
> The following fall I made an aggressive attack on chalking.
<snip>
Why on earth would chalking help anything?
chalk (chôk)
tr.v. chalked, chalk·ing, chalks
1. To mark, draw, or write with chalk: chalked my name on the
blackboard.
2. To rub or cover with chalk, as the tip of a billiard cue.
3. To make pale; whiten.
4. To treat (soil, for example) with chalk.
n.
1. A soft compact calcite, CaCO3, with varying amounts of silica,
quartz, feldspar, or other mineral impurities, generally gray-white or
yellow-white and derived chiefly from fossil seashells.
2.
a. A piece of chalk or chalklike substance in crayon form, used for
marking on a blackboard or other surface.
b. Games A small cube of chalk used in rubbing the tip of a billiard or
pool cue to increase its friction with the cue ball.
3. A mark made with chalk.
4. Chiefly British A score or tally.
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>> I've been tracking my usage since I built this house in '99. I found
>> that I could download the average daily temperatures for my area from the
>> national weather service and plug them in as well.
>>
>> Then I can easily calculate therms / degree-day and kwh / degree-day. It
>> gets a little 'iffy' in the spring and fall with the windows/ doors open
>> many days, but overall my energy usage / degree-day works out pretty
>> well. Each year I've implemented some sort of 'energy saving project' and
>> tracked the results. Just routine stuff mostly, chalking,
>> weather-stripping, insulation etc... But by tracking energy / degree-day
>> I've been able to see some real savings despite the year-to-year
>> variations in weather.
>>
>> daestrom
>> P.S. They have weather data for their stations that go back into the
>> '80's, so you might try it if you have an afternoon free sometime to
>> download / parse / massage all the data and distill it down.
> Yes, I have that site bookmarked for where I'm at, it's:
> http://www.erh.noaa.gov/iln/lcdpage.htm
> I have not updated my spreadsheet in a couple months but you are correct
> that the heating degree days and cooling degree days must be considered.
> If your'e looking at a site similar to the one I use the data is in a
> plain text file which can be carefully parsed into EXCEL pretty quickly.
> It is tedious though because it has to be done one month at a time. If
> anybody on the list wants the data for Wilmington, OH (closeset station to
> me) in an EXCEL spredsheet perhaps I could email to you.
> We upgraded our furnace and air conditioner (house was built in 1989) in
> 2004. Previously the natural gas forced air furnace was about 80%
> efficient and the air conditioner was about an 8 SEER. The new furnace
> was a 92% efficient model (I could not justify the 99% model) and the a/c
> we bought was a 12 SEER (again I could not justify a 14 or 18 SEER - at
> the time).
> It took some work in a spreadsheet, but I was able to take the Heating
> Degree Days (HDD) after matching them to the actual meter reading dates
> and compare them to the ccf of Natural gas used during the same period,
> plotting total HDD in a month on the X-axis vs. total ccf used in a month
> on the Y-axis. I plotted the "old furnace" in different color than the
> "new furnace". The results show that the new furnace saves 18% to 25% gas
> for months with the same, or similar, totaled HDD. I need to run a best
> fit curve regression on both data sets to see the typical savings.
> Bottom line is that each heating season I save between 45 and 75 ccf of
> natrual gas. At current winter rates ($1.30 to $1.46 per ccf) I save
> about $75 to $100 and I have done nothing special to get this. I did
> avoid buying a lower cost but less efficeint furnace. Also, I bought a
> furnace with a variable speed DC motor fan. I have to say that the house
> seems to be heated more evenly than before.
> Sorry to go on so long about this but I would love to see some of your
> energy savings projects listed with a little more detail. That's probably
> what I need to look at, such as caulking and perhaps adding ceiling
> insulation, etc. The house seems pretty tight all around but perhaps
> there are leaks I don't know about.