Talk About a Whole-House Solution
Written by Dan McBrien, Energy Advisor
Energize Delaware and Franklin Energy would like to recognize Home Performance Group and Maichle’s Heating & Air for a project they recently finished up in February. Targeting a Dover family’s comfort issues and excessively high fuel costs, they managed to transform an underperforming oil-fired residence into a highly efficient all-electric home. Hats off to these two trade allies, who continue to partner together to provide our Home Performance customers with whole-house solutions.
During the initial walk through, opportunities were quickly discovered. The home was running on an aging oil-fired boiler and 3 window AC units, with the low-efficiency boiler also responsible for heating the property’s water supply. Next was the attic, which proved to be another obvious contributor to this family’s comfort issues and high energy bills. Exposed attic floor joists made it clear that insulation levels badly needed to be brought up to code. The home’s ineffective thermal boundary and unsealed attic floor were responsible for an excessive amount of heat transfer between the living space and the attic during the winter and summer seasons. A blower door reading well north of a reasonable range for a 1,200 square foot property confirmed the home’s immediate air sealing needs.
Providing this Home Performance customer with a solution that would address all of the home’s underperforming parts, the crews got to work. Home Performance Group sealed off chaseways that ran from one of the attic knee walls down to the basement, resolving direct air infiltration into the living space of the home. The knee walls were then properly sheathed. The crew used blower door-guided air sealing practices to seal off the attic and garage spaces from the home’s living quarters, and reduce air leakage coming from the basement. They were able to reduce the home’s total leakage by over 60%! Two attic hatches were insulated with foam and the attic floor was further insulated to a final R-value of 49, meeting today’s code in Delaware. Maichle’s Heating & Air then addressed the home’s underperforming heating and cooling systems. Their crew replaced the low efficiency oil-fired boiler and window units with high-efficiency mini-split systems. The Mitsubishi units installed were rated as 33 SEER 13.5 HSPF systems. A Bradford White heat pump water heater was then installed to take on the water heating load at low monthly operating costs.
All said and done, the work performed on this customer’s home qualified them for a Home Performance rebate of $6,850! Converting this home from oil to electric and addressing all of its weatherization needs has had a dramatic effect on this family’s comfort levels and monthly energy bills. The anticipated energy savings generated from this project are astronomical!
Fantastic job to both teams, keep up the good work!
