I went to see The Hobbit recently. Of course, the center of the story is a dragon, Smaug, that invaded the ancestral home of the dwarves many moons ago and set them on a long diaspora. The story begins as…
Let's say your trusty old furnace is at the end of its life. You've got to buy a new one, so you call your HVAC company and they rush over to make sure you don't freeze during the next cold…
Oh, where do I start? Professor John Straube spoke all day yesterday at Building Science Corporation's Experts' Session. His topic was mechanical systems for low-load buildings. You know that expression about how the information comes at you so fast in some…
I've written about how bad it is to put your heating and cooling system in an unconditioned attic, especially in a cooling climate. There's one place, though, that's even worse: an attached garage, as shown above. From an efficiency standpoint,…
I like flex duct. Really! In fact, I did an interview yesterday for the Energy Saving in the Home Radio Show and surprised the host, I think, when I said that to him. He's an HVAC contractor himself and is…
Habitat for Humanity is showing that affordable housing and high-performance homes isn't an either/or choice. They've been doing great work and going in this direction for a long time, but in the past 5 years, they've really stepped it up…
HVAC contractors own a lot of equipment. Of course, they have the pressure gauges to test refrigerant charge in air conditioners and heat pumps and many more pieces of technical equipment. One piece that few contractors own, however, is a…
In August, Energy Vanguard held a webinar on the basics of mini-split heat pumps, and it sold out. Many of those in attendance had more questions and requested a followup webinar to go into more depth on some of the…
One of the things that happens when you learn building science and HVAC design principles is that you can no longer go into any building without looking at the building envelope and mechanical systems. Now that my smart phone doubles…
One of the great things about writing this blog is that I don't have to depend only on material that I've personally seen. Because I'm "semi-famous" (Thanks, Dan!), people occasionally send me photos of building envelope and mechanical systems stuff…