Relative humidity is such a confusing way to talk about moisture in the air. I've been hammering on this point for a decade in this blog, covering it in several different ways. (See the related articles below for more.) But…
Oh, how the news media love the “thermostat wars” between men and women. It’s a good source of stories based on conventional wisdom and the occasional (faulty or incomplete) research paper. The utility companies want in on the action, too.…
Ventilating homes in any climate has its challenges. In Duluth, Minnesota, it's the extremely cold weather in winter, which leads to extremely dry air when you bring it indoors. In Phoenix, Arizona, it's the extremely hot weather in summer, which…
It was two years ago this week we had the nasty old fossil gas natural draft water heater removed. (That's it in the photo below.) Outside of running a gasoline powered generator inside a house, this kind of water heater…
One of the most frequently asked questions regarding the type of balanced ventilation devices known as the energy recovery ventilator (ERV) and the heat recovery ventilator (HRV) is: "Can I get that in red?" OK, not really. Everyone knows that…
A few months ago, I wrote about the confusing world of dehumidifier capacity. That quantity tells you how much water a dehumidifier will produce in a given amount of time. Here in the US, we use pints per day, but…
Where to put the air barrier may seem obvious, but this question has many dimensions…literally. Let's look at the question of air barrier location from three perspectives. First, building assemblies are three-dimensional. The air barrier can go on the inside,…
A lot of people complain that it takes a long time to get hot water at one or more of their hot water fixtures. In my case it's the kitchen sink. I've measured it many times, and it takes two…
What’s the first image that pops into your when you see the term “water heating”? It’s probably a water heater tank. Depending on your interests or what you have in your home, perhaps it’s a tankless or solar water heater. …
I recently finished writing the chapter on the interaction of structure and control layers in my book. The last part was on the various ways to insulate the top of a house. The most common, of course, is to have…