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10-20% of warm air from your home can be drawn into the chimney flue. You can spot a leaky damper by closing it and holding a lit candle inside the firebox.If the flame moves around or blows out, air is going up your chimney.
To resolve the problem, hire a chimney sweep for a good cleaning and to check the damper. It could reduce your annual heating bill by $500.
Can Save You Money
Gunnison County Electric Association offers two types of residential audits to members:
Energy Assessment
Prior to the walk-through energy assessment, GCEA's auditor will review the home's consumption history and will discuss specific concerns with the member. The auditor will evaluate insulation, air infiltration, heating systems, electrical loads, and lighting. Following the assessment, GCEA will provide the member with a report describing the deficiencies and recommending energy-saving solutions. This walk-through energy assessment is offered as a complimentary service to all GCEA members.
Energy Audit With Blower Door Test
The Blower Door Energy Audit involves three evaluations: (1) building envelope, (2) applicance and equipment, and (3) electrical load and lighting. The envelope portion of the audit analyzes every aspect of the home's thermal boundary. The auditor uses the blower door test to identify, measure, and quantify heat loss and gain and to evaluate opportunities for making air seal improvements. The equipment portion of the audit measures the efficiency of the building's equipment such as furnaces, boilers, and water heaters. The electric load and lighting portion of the audit measures all of the electric plug and lighting loads such as computers, printers, and stereo systems.
The auditor uses this base line data to create a residential energy audit report for the member that identifies how the building uses energy. The report explains specific energy saving mitigation measures. In addition, if requested by the member, the auditor will provide a cost benefit analysis for the recommended mitigation measures. The member must provide the cost portion of this analysis.
For more information or to schedule an audit, call Member Services at 641-7319 or 641-7359.
GCEA offers commercial energy audits to all small business owners and small agricultural producers in our service area. The commercial audits are overseen by a professional engineer/certified energy manager.
After the audit, the business owner will receive a comprehensive audit report which
This audit will also qualify the business owner for government grants and loans to finance the cost of the improvements.
Thanks to funding from the USDA, small businesses and agricultural producers only need to pay 25% of the audit cost. The USDA grant pays the remaining 75%.
For a limited time, the Office for Resource Efficiency is offering rebates that will cover the business owner's costs, up to a maximum of $300. In most cases, this means that business will benefit from a professional commercial audit at no cost.
For more information or to schedule an audit, call Member Services at 641-7319 or 641-7359.
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