7 Stupid Things You Can Do With Air
The Talking Heads said it best: "Air can hurt you, too." And it does it in so many ways. It can hurt your pocketbook. It can make you uncomfortable. It can make you sweat. It can make you sick. And,…
![Pulling Air From The Crawl Space To Cool The House Is A Really Stupid Thing To Do With Air [Photo Courtesy Of E3 Innovate In Nashville, TN]](https://www.energyvanguard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/cool-air-intake-crawl-space-e3-innovate.jpg)
heating & cooling
Hotels Have a Humidity Problem
If you travel with a hygrometer, as any seasoned traveler should, what I have to show you here is nothing new. But if instead you've never measured the relative humidity in a hotel room, I've got something interesting for you…
The Easy Way to Switch to a Heat Pump
With the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) rebates and other energy efficiency incentives out there now, it's a great time to start using a heat pump to heat your home. If you're currently heating with a furnace and have an air…
Open-Loop vs. Closed-Loop Ground Source Heat Pumps
I mainly talk about air source heat pumps here. But ground-source heat pumps are an important type of heat pump, too. So today, let's look at the issue of open-loop vs. closed-loop design when installing this type of heat…
Do You Really Need That Much Window Area?
Windows are thermal bridges in pretty much every home. The best windows available have an R-value of only about 12. More affordable windows are in the R-3 to R-6 range. Wall R-values are in the 13 to 15 range on…
5 Tons Is Never the Right Answer
We do a lot of HVAC design (third party, all over the US) at Energy Vanguard. I've also written a lot about it here in this blog and in my book. And if you've been reading any of those pieces,…
A Year of Home Electricity Monitoring Data
A little over a year ago, I wrote about the Emporia Vue home electricity monitoring system I installed at my house. I've posted data on LinkedIn and in some other articles since then. Now, though, I've got a whole year's…
3 Types of Heat Pumps and Air Conditioners
One way of categorizing heat pumps and air conditioners is by how much heating and cooling they can provide. By how much, I’m not referring to, say, a 2-ton versus a 3-ton air conditioner. What I’m talking about is whether…
Cooling Load Variation With Changing Temperatures
Sizing an air conditioner (or heat pump) shouldn't be left to guesswork. That's why we have engineering protocols like ACCA Manual J for calculating the amount of cooling load a house experiences. Among the factors that contribute are the outdoor…
5 Tips for Sizing an Air Conditioner
So you're getting a new air conditioner! Well, what size should you get? Unfortunately, too many contractors use only one input for sizing an air conditioner. Yup. To them, it's just a matter of floor area. Forget the windows, the…