Last winter we installed a solar air heater on the south wall of our home.

It was one way we were trying to do our part for the environment and have heat generated in our home without consuming any non-renewable resources like natural gas or home heating oil or electricity (generated from fossil fuels).

And, it would reduce our heating bill to save us money … albeit in the very long run.

However that is not the only way to achieve energy savings. Not by a long shot.

On weekend mornings, I have started to look for air leaks. We have started to write about them and will continue so you can perhaps look in the same areas where we found ours in case they are also in the same place as your home.

On one of these weekend mornings I was about to clean the air filter for our solar air heater. As I was going to unplug the air intake blower I felt cool air coming into the room. It was coming from the electrical outlet into which we had plugged the air intake blower, shown in the picture below:

This surprised me. so, I thought that I had simply forgotten to install an insulating gasket behind the electrical outlet cover.

So, I unplugged the outlet cover and was surprised to find that there was already an insulating gasket. However, part of the issue was that it did not cover the entire opening in the wall for the outlet.

In the picture above you can see opening on top and on the right of the outlet insulating gasket. So, I proceeded to use some of the left over DAPtex product to insulate the openings on the outside of the electric outlet. The product label even included a picture of this approach.

Once done, I then replaced the insulating cover and used a little bit more of the DAPtex sealant foam to cover the opening at the top and right as shown below.

Once done, I replaced the outlet cover and noticed a little cold air still coming in from the  plug openings. So, I simply installed one of those child proof electrical plug covers, as shown below.

The other electrical plug is used by the solar air heater air intake unit, so it will plugged as soon as we clean it’s air filter. And that is where we pick up things tomorrow.

During the first year of my personal campaign to cut energy costs in our 1,770 sq. foot town home in Fort Worth, Texas, I put up with a lot of teasing from our friends. One christened me the “Electricity Nazi” for obsessively turning off lights and unplugging gadgets. No one really believed that the little things I was doing would save enough money to be worth the trouble. They were wrong.

When I started, we were using 23,113 kWh per year, better than twice the national average of 10,656 kWh per year. By switching to CFL bulbs, altering my cooking methods, augmenting our cooling system with fans, tinting the windows in one room, and getting on top of bad habits, I had, by the end of 2006, lowered that figure to 20,817 kWh. While that was still far too much, with minimum effort I reduced our usage by 2,296 kWh and saved $724.41.

I was facing some unique challenges in going beyond these levels. I live with an elderly relative who is a stroke survivor and who is completely heat intolerant. North Texas frequently sees temperatures of 105 degrees and above in July and August — and our roof has zero shade. The climate control gods smiled on me in 2007, however, when our air conditioner compressor failed. I may be one of the few people who has ever been glad for a dead AC.

In consultation with a technician I trusted, we selected an Energy Star-rated replacement unit that was the right size for our space. It was a hefty upfront investment of more than $1,500, but the difference in our energy bills was even greater than my modest results from the previous year. By the end of 2007, we were down to 17,984 kWh, a drop of another  2,833 kWh. Over two years, I had successfully lowered our energy consumption by 5,129 kWh or roughly 20%.

Since 2007, we have continued to average about 18,000 kWh per year. I religiously record the figures every month from the statement. A lot of energy inefficiency is just giving in to bad habits. If I see the numbers going up, I know I’m being lazy, for instance leaving a lamp on in my home office instead of working by the light from the window aided by an LED task light, which is more than adequate. I really urge keeping monthly records as part of any effort to lower your electric bill. It keeps you accountable.

If I did not live with an older person who is painfully sensitive to heat and cold, I know I could drive these numbers down farther. What I have proven, however, is that the most simple changes can make a major difference and that initial success encourages even better behavior. Just recently friends helped me clean out and reorganize our garage with a surprising result.

Next week I’ll be donating an old refrigerator and freezer to Goodwill. They’ve been sitting in the garage drawing power for years. Why didn’t I get rid of them before? I have no good answer for that. Lethargy probably and ignorance definitely. I never bothered to look up the fact that most refrigerators use about 1,462 kWh a year! I suspect unplugging those two appliances will equal savings as large as those I saw in 2006 and 2007.

Rather than being upset with myself, I’ve taken this to be a lesson that when you think you’ve done everything you can do to save electricity — you haven’t. Every energy saving action counts and they all add up. It would have been more interesting to put up a residential wind turbine or solar collectors on the roof, but the small changes I could and did make shaved more than $1,200 a year off our electrical bill. That’s definitely worth the time and effort!

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Editor’s Note: This two part article is by a guest writer, Rana K. Williamson, a journalist and former history professor, lives and works in Fort Worth, Texas.  If you would like to write about your energy savings experience, just drop us an email.

Still looking for the right Christmas gift to brighten up your kitchen?

This might just be the ticket.

My friend Harvey needed a new faucet in his kitchen. As fortune would have it, DailyHomeRenoTips.com was asked if we would like to try the new Pilar kitchen faucet with the Touch-2-O technology which allows the faucet to be turned on and off by simply touching the faucet itself.

When I looked at the pictures and information from the Delta product web site, I immediately said ‘Yes, please.’

The faucet itself, product number 980T-SSSD-DST, is gorgeous as shown in the picture below once it was installed in Harvey’s kitchen.

It has all the bells and whistles one would want of a high end kitchen faucet, including Brilliance Stainless finish, lead free, new diamond-coated valve for protection against leaks and dripping which per the packaging lasts up to 10 times longer than the industry standard, one-piece construction eliminating joints and seals (a common source of leaks), and more.

There are three aspects I personally really like about this kitchen faucet.

First, it turns a full 180 degrees from one side to the other. I have used a lot of faucets in my prior homes which did not do this and caused frustration during its use.

Second, the sprayer is right from the faucet rather than from the back of the sink which makes it very convenient, as shown in the picture below where I pulled down just a little the sprayer part away from the faucet body:

Third, yes, the technology, which can be compared I guess to an iPhone where you simply touch the icon on the and an application starts, where you can optionally simply touch the faucet and the water turns on at what ever temperature setting you have placed the traditional lever residing to the right of the faucet. Here’s a video showing you the Pilar faucet’s Touch2O technology in action which is actually pretty cool:

Notice in that video that if your hands our dirty from preparing a meal you do not have to also get dirty the valve to turn the water on. Rather, you simply touch the faucet itself with a clean part of your hand or arm.

Now, we are getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren’t we? What about the installation?

Well, for a variety of circumstances, I was not able to personally install this faucet, not was Harvey. So, Harvey had Mike do the installation. 

Return tomorrow where we discuss the installation of this new faucet from Delta and how it is working for Harvey.

Editor’s Note: To view the 500+ different energy and water conservation tips for the home we have collected, simply access our Un-Official Guide To Home Energy & Water Conservation, 2nd Edition

We continue with our review of the many suggestions we have received for households to reduce the consumption of natural gas, home heating oil, electricity and other energy sources consumed in the generation of heat for homes in the winter.

Yesterday, we began our review of the money saving, energy conservation, suggestions to reduce your home’s heating bills which will cost you more money to implement yet which can save you a lot year after year after year.

Number 339, Pellet Stove. Pellet stoves are like wood burning stoves except for what they burn. Pellets are made from recycled wood products rather than a ‘new tree’ or a non-renewable energy resource like natural gas or coal or home heating oil to generate heat. Do they save you money? I have to admit, I’m not sure on that one. 

Number 340, Wood Stove and Number 346, Install Wood Fireplace. Both of these of course generate heat from a renewable energy resource. Don’t think that wood is a renewable resource? Plant a tree. ;)  However, are these money savings tips as well? Well, over the long, long, long term its likely. However, they are not cheap to purchase and install. And, how has the price of firewood been lately?

Number 341, Use Space Heaters in Outdoor Areas. Some people install air vents to heat their garage in the winter using the air from the home’s furnace. They do this because they are in the garage frequently on different projects. Yet, when they are not in the garage all that heat is going to waste. Alternatively, use an electric space heater which you turn on only when you actually need it.

Number 342, Increase Humidity Levels in Home. Winter’s air is typically less humid than in the summer. Those with forced air central heaters see the air inside the home become even more dry. Remember to increase the humidity levels in your home during the winter months. This can be as simple as adjusting the setting of your humidifier attached to your central furnace to the winter setting. This will not only help preserve any wood floors and your furniture, it will also help it feel warmer in the house to allow you to have reduced temperature settings on your thermostat. Below is a picture of the flow through humidifier in our home.

Number 343, Vent Electric Dryer Inside. Some households have adjusted the vent from their electric dryers such that the air vents inside the home rather than outside. You have to be careful with this. However, at least in theory, the heated air from the dryer is used to help heat the home. As well, the heated air from the dryer contains greater humidity which helps as well. However, this is not for the faint of heart. If you decide to try this, make sure you engage a professional who knows what they are doing.

Number 344, Attic Insulation. It is simple really. Hot air rises. So, make sure you have more than sufficient insulation in your attic to keep the heated air inside your home and not let it go up through your attic and out through the openings in your roof. In Canada, with the present ecoENERGY Residential Retrofit program, insulating the attic is one of the energy conservation investments a home owner can make with the fastest financial payback; that to me is how strongly Federal and Provincial levels of government believe in the strength of sufficient attic insulation.

Number 345, Install Solar Window Inserts. Similar in concept to solar air collectors which  are placed on south facing walls and / or rooftops, these can be installed against an existing window to generate sun heated air for the room.

Next time, the remainder of our additional home heating bill money saving tips.

Yesterday we wrote about 4 macro events occurring in the past 6-ish months or so which could impact the participation levels and depth of participation in the ecoENERGY Retrofit program.

Today we commence our look at the statistical data over the first 30 months, ending September 30, 2009 for the ecoENERGY Retrofit program.

The following statistics were provided to DailyHomeRenoTips.com by Media Relations Assistant | Adjointe aux relations médias  of | de Natural Resources Canada | Ressources naturelles Canada, with our sincere thanks.

First, we look at the extent of incentive (grant) payments from the program (Federal portion only) to Canadian households:

Here are the numbers:

                                  2007-08    2008-09    2009-10*

# of E&F Audits       17,663        76,455       58,413    

Average Value     $   1,069     $   1,145    $    1,353    

Total Payout**       $     18.9     $     87.5    $      79.1

(*6 months only) 

(**millions) 

Remember, the numbers for 2009-20 period are only for 6 months. Wow. If you annualized the Number of Second (E&F) Audits for 2009-10 [116,816 (58,413*2)] and compare to 2008-09 [76,455], we would see a huge increase in the current periods number.

As well, the Average Value of the grant payments during the first 6 months of the 2009-10 period [$1,353] are ahead of that for the prior two period [$1,069 and $1,145].

Clearly, people are having the second audits completed during the 3rd 12 month period of the program vs the second. Is this simply because of the program’s maturity?

As well, the amount of payment to household (Average Value) is increasing.

However, disappointedly the Average Value of grant payout per participating household who has completed the second energy audit is only 27% of the maximum $5,000.

This continues a trend where participating households are investing in only a few of the possible energy efficient upgrades between the first and second energy audits.

What about the savings?  Here are the numbers: 

                                   2007-08     2008-09       2009-10*

Marginal Savings**   59,559      261,567        179,217

Marginal Savings

      per House                3.37            3.42              3.07

Ave. Energy (GJ)         48.40          51.60            46.90

(*6 months only)

(** CO2 tons / year)

To me, while the savings per household are down during the 1st 6 months of the current period, this is more than offset by the large increase in the number of households completing the second energy audit (from the first chart above) which has lead to an overall rise in the marginal savings, annualized, for the current period.

Next time, more numbers and analysis on the progress of the ecoENERGY Residential Retrofit program during its first 30 months.

 During our second home energy audit this past spring, the blower test proved to me that we had significant air leakage around the outside of our family room fireplace, as well as the one within the billiard room of our basement.Typically when one thinks of fireplaces and heat escape in the winter, one thinks about an unsealed damper within the fireplace itself.

For both our fireplaces I could feel the air rushing into the house from around the edges of the fireplace border.

Today we will focus on our family room fireplace.

As you can see in the above picture, we have a brick fireplace. What we found during the blower test of our second home energy audit was that significant air was entering through gaps on either side of the brick between the brick and the small baseboard trim. And, this was happening on both sides of the fireplace brick. 

In the above picture you can clearly see some major gaps which would lead to significant air leakage between the brick and the wood trim. This picture is at the top on the left of the fireplace brick.

Next, in the above picture, still on the left side of the fireplace but this time focusing on the lower part. Notice the large gap around the cabling between the baseboard and the brick and the wood flooring.

If you want to get a real close-up of the gaps, here is a short video for you to view.

Tomorrow, we will show you our solution which we quite like.

Yes.

I am known as one who likes to save a buck when I can.

I tend to buy what’s on sale and what is the cheapest, per unit.

So, when it came to a caulking gun, way back when I saved a buck or two and purchased the cheapest.

Here is he one I have had for ages.

Now,  I am about to go through several tubes of all types of caulking for a variety of purposes as will be made clear in the next few days.  So, I thought I would see if there really is a difference in caulking guns; was there one any better which could make my upcoming task easier?

Below is a picture of the one I ended up buying which cost about a dollar or two than the above model which remains available at most hardware stores:

So, what’s the difference?

Well, I am not the best when it comes to applying caulking. I find it messy. I find that I cannot create a smooth and straight line of caulk to save my life.

What I find most irritating is that with my old caulking gun, the blue one in the first picture above, is when I have applied sufficient caulking I have to tell the caulking gun to stop … stop forcing more caulking out of the tube.

To do that I have to press on the silver part to the right of the blue handle. Otherwise the pressure will remain and caulk will continue to come out of the tube; very messy and a waste of caulking.

With the new one, all I do is to stop squeezing the handle of the caulking gun and it immediately stops putting pressure on the tube of caulk.

Much nicer. 

So, the difference in the price of the two types of caulking guns is a dollar or two; that’s all for a much better quality.

If you are looking for a new caulking gun, I hope you found the above helpful.

Is there a difference in the type of tubes an ordinary Joe would buy? I’m not talking about the caulking material itself. Here I am talking about the type of tube that the caulking material is in. Do we care?

Yes and Yes. And, that’s where we pick things up tomorrow.

Yesterday, we wrote how we discovered a leak with our only 2 year old Toto 6.0L One Piece Power Flush Toilet.

What was the cause? Well, it would likely be one of three things.

1. When the water level in the toilet tank was up to the refill mark, was water continuing to flow from the fill valve on the left, through the black refill tube and into the flush valve on the right (all as pictured below)?

Was the water somehow leaking out of the fill valve? Well, when there was water in the tank there were no bubbles coming out from the bottom of the fill valve, plus there was no water leaking onto our toilet floor.

What about the flapper? The flapper is the stopper; the part that is raised when one pushes down on the trip lever on the outside of the toilet when one needs to flush the toilet.

Well below is what the flapper looked like inside the toilet tank. It looks OK. However, I can tell you that I did a test to see how long it would take for the water to leave the Toto toilet tank and it only too 45 minutes (possibly less). No wonder the huge increase in my forthcoming water bill, yikes! Something was definitely wrong.

So, I removed the flapper and compared it to the new one I had purchased (for about $10). I’ll let you guess which flapper, the one on the right or the one on the left, in the picture below was from inside the toilet tank. 

Of course, the one on the left in the above picture was the flapper which was inside the toilet tank.

On my gosh! Just look how wobbly it is. No wonder we were loosing so much water from the tank. But we could barely hear the leak, unlike the American Standard toilet leak which we could hear pretty clearly. That is because in the American Standard toilet there is this very audible hissing sound when the water is filling the tank. Whereas, in the Toto tank as mentioned yesterday it is a very quiet toilet and the hissing sound when water is filling the tank is not very noticeable … at least not by me.

After replacing the flapper I proceeded to turn on the water shut off valved beside the toilet, wait for the water to refill and then go back downstairs to see if that triangle on our water meter was turning, meaning that there was still some water leakage somewhere.

The result was that the red triangle on our water meter was moving   v e r y   s l o w l y  . :)  I had to wait about a minute or so of constantly staring at the darn thing before it moved. So while there is a very small water leak somewhere in the house, at least this very large water leak has been stopped.

In the end, however, I have to say that I am very disappointed with Toto.  Their product warranty is only 1 year. But look at how disfigured the flapper was after two years per the above picture! I don’t recall ever having any toilet where I had to replace the flapper ever couple of years. That just does not make sense to me.

And, when I call Toto’s customer service to complain all I got for my troubles was that it is what it is.

So, While the Toto Power Flush 6.0L one piece toilet is significantly more quite that the American Standard 6.0L one piece toilet (both were brand new when we purchased them 2 years ago), watch out for that flapper and get in the habit of checking the water meter at least once a month to detect any unusual movement in the meter which could indicate a leak. I think I’ll start taking my own advise now.

Until next time.

Editor’s Note: To view the 500+ different energy and water conservation tips for the home we have collected, simply access our Un-Official Guide To Home Energy & Water Conservation, 2nd Edition

Yesterday, in this two part series of our cooking related energy conservation and money saving tips, we looked at the first collection of cooking related energy conservation suggestionswhich cost absolutely nothing to do yet can reduce the amount of energy (electricity for an electric stove / oven or natural gas for a gas ‘powered’ stove / oven).  Today we complete our review of the ideas on our Un-Official Guide list; some cost nothing to do, some cost a little and some cost more than that.

Remember to use the vertical scroll bar on the right of the listing below to see the remaining suggestions listed for you.

Number 31, Use Crock Pot vs Oven. This one is an energy conservation, money saving and a time saving tip all rolled into one. Use crock pots to cook your meal. Turn it on the morning on slow / low and put in your small roast with all the fixin’s (potatoes, carrots, etc.) and return in the evening and your dinner is done for you.  We tend to use it more in the winter but no reason why it cannot be used year round.

Number 32, Use Flat-Bottom Pans. Some of our site’s visitors states that the flatter the bottom of the pan or pot the greater the amount of surface which will actually be in contact with the stove’s heating element which, in turn, will cause a greater and faster transference of the heat from the heating element to the food / liquid inside the pot / pan. Makes sense to me.

Number 33, Use Lids on Pots To Reduce Cooking Time. Absolutely. Why boil water in a pot with the lid off? It will take more time and consume more energy. Same thing when simmering food in a pot. Keep the lid on to reduce the amount of energy needed to cook the food (as well as how long it will take in some cases.

Number 34, Keep Oven & Stove Burners Clean. I’m as guilty of this as anyone. Cleaning the stove is not the most exciting or pleasant of household chores, is it? Although those with a self cleaning oven would be more likely to do this more often. However, that self cleaning action does consume energy, right? In any case, a clean heating elements for the oven as well as clean burners for the oven will allow the heat to reach it’s intended target (the food) faster and more efficiently if they are clean and thus consume less energy.

Number 35, Use Microwave vs Stove for Hot Water for Tea. One of our site’s visitors said she used this approach vs the kettle to save energy and, I would think, time as a microwave should be able to bring water to a boil faster than an electric kettle or one placed on top of the stove.

Number 36, Use Smaller Cooking Appliances. Why use an oven when a small toaster oven or crock pot will cook the same meal at a fraction of the energy consumption? Always try and right size the appliance for the task vs oversizing.

Number 37, Use Electric Kettle To Boil Water. Another of our site’s visitors claims this uses less energy than placing a kettle on top of stove’s burner to heat the water inside. I believe this to be correct, however, again, I could not find any supporting evidence. We have always used an electric kettle to boil hot water for our tea.

Number 38, Use Oven Broiler (Faster). One of our site’s visitors claims this will conserve energy because the food will cook faster. I’m not so sure. While the meal will cook faster, will the broiler setting of an oven consume more energy than the regular bake setting? I couldn’t find any information on this when I looked. As well, be careful as not all meals cooked in the oven are meant to be cooked by using the broiler setting.

Number 39, Double Recipe & Freeze Balance for Later. When I make my world famous home made tomato and meat sauce, I always make sufficient for two or three meals, freezing the excess for another time. Cooking more than just for one meal does use more energy than cooking just enough for the single meal. However, the amount of energy used to double the recipe is less (at least in the opinion of myself and others) than the combined energy consumed by cooking two meals at two different times. Plus, it will save you a lot of time as well.

Number 40, T-FAL Frying Pans. The idea here is that different frying pans heat to food faster and use the heat from the stove top’s burners better than others. This was evident to me when I changed to a T-FAL frying pan one day in the not to distant past to cook my morning breakfast of eggs. The eggs cooked much more quickly, thus allowing me to use the stove’s burner less and thus reduce the amount of energy (in my case electricity) used to cook my meal. So, the next time you are looking to purchase frying pans, see if you can find out how they compare in their energy efficiency vs another set you are also looking to purchase.

Number 41, Microwave cooking (vs stove / oven). Sure. Microwaves a great time saver in cooking and re-heating food and beverages as we all know. They also use less energy than a stove or oven. Not every meal or food is best cooked in a microwave. However, for those that can be, why not to save you time and money (from reduced energy consumption).

Number 42, Use Camping Stove On Top of Wood Stove. The idea here, submitted by one of the visitors to our site, DailyHomeRenoTips.com, is to use the heat from a wood stove to help cook food places in a camping stove. I don’t have a wood or camping stove myself, so it is not something I have or are likely to try. However, it works for the person who submitted this suggestion to us and it might be useful to you.

Number 43, Solar Cooker in Summer. This is something I have not tried yet, but would like to. Use the sun’s energy to cook your meals outside. It should be even better than using a BBQ to cook outside in the summer. While using an outdoor BBQ does keep the heat from cooking out of the home, it still consumes non-renewable resources (e.g. Natural Gas). I’m hoping next spring to investigate this new-ish type of products for ourselves!

And there you have it, the rest of our cooking related home energy conservation and money saving tips.

Yesterday I wrote in Part 1 the issue we had with our so called automatic or built-in bathtub stopper.

It stopped raising out of the drain. The result is that the bath water no longer went down the drain once the bath was done.

One option my wife proposed in my absence was to use a knife to pry the metal stopper out of the drain each time a bath was taken.

I had visions of scratches caused by the knife on both the metal stopper as well as the bath tub near the drain.

As we know bath tub drains are typically larger than drains in sinks. This was the case for us. I did try some left over sink drain stoppers we had around the house but they were too small.

So, I quickly went to our local Home Hardware store to acquire an old fashioned solution; a rubber bat tub drain stopper.

Now, in looking in the above picture see how the underside of the rubber stopper is about a full inch. Well, that was about a 1/4 inch too deep. The result was that the rubber stopper would not sit in the drain without there being a small gap allowing the water to run though and down the drain.

Simple enough; I just took a utility knife and reduced by about a 1/2 inch of the extended rubber underneath the stopper and we were all set.

Sometimes the simple, even temporary, solutions are just what the doctor ordered.