ENERGY BOOMER

Review Smoke Pencil for Locating Energy Wasting Drafts

Finding and sealing off cold air flowing into your building is one of the most effective ways to save money on your heating bill. Finding the source of cold drafts can be frustrating. We often know it is there but can’t feel it well enough to pinpoint the source.

The engineering word for air leaking into a building is “air infiltration.” Sealing off the air infiltration can cut the energy cost of heating by as much as 30 to 40% in industrial, commercial and residential buildings.

Locating and sealing air leaks saves money during both the heating and air conditioning seasons. Finding drafts is much easier when you use something to make the airflow visible.

Smoke Can Help

Over the years, I have used many different tools to locate the source of drafts that cause expensive energy waste. They range from low-tech cigarette smoke to high tech electronic ultrasonic listing devices.

Way back in the olden days, 30 years or so ago, cigar, cigarette or pipe smoke was one of the best ways to make air movement visible. It was cheap, available and effective. Now days, tobacco smoke is banned in most facilities and is considered a health and fire hazard.

Making a cloud of smoke and watching how it moves helps you to “see” where that cold draft is coming from. Slowly moving a smoke source around the frame of a window will quickly show you exactly where the air is flowing in or out at the window.

Inexpensive smoke sources may not be as effective as ultrasonic listening devices or infrared cameras. But, they are cost effective when you consider that the high tech tools can cost $1,000 or more.

Smoke Pencil

My friends at ChimneyBalloons.us set me a product that they market called “Smoke Pencil.” I spent an hour playing with it and was impressed.

The name “Smoke Pencil” is descriptive of what it does, but not how it looks. It looks more like a Smoke Chimney. It stands about 10 inches tall, so it is a bit bigger than a pencil.

First, you put some of the magic liquid in the unit. Then you squeeze the trigger. In a few seconds, a column of smoke flows out the top of its smoke stack.

The smoke flows out in a lazy cloud that reminds me of the smoke from my childhood Lionel train locomotive. Except this smoke is sweet smelling and there is plenty of it.

Some smart person recognized that a toy called Wizard Stick was a great tool for tracking down drafts. The renamed Smoke Pencil is made of bright blue plastic. The weight of 6 AA size batteries in a large flat base makes it very stable when you set it down.

The liquid in the supply tank does not spill, even when you hold the unit upside down and shake it. Good design.

I had trouble finding air leaks when I first started fussing with it because our house is well sealed. Out on the sun porch I made some air leaks by opening windows just a crack. The Smoke Pencil did a great job making the airflow visible.

Using the Smoke Pencil, I actually did find a draft around the back door that I need to fix.

You can use the smoke pencil just about anywhere, as the liquid is non-hazardous. The liquid is a blend of food grade chemicals so the vapor it produces is non-hazardous. A Material Safety Data Sheet is available so it can be used in buildings where the owners are fussy about safety paper work.

The Smoke Pencil is available through ChimneyBalloons.us for about $25 plus shipping. Batteries not included. The low voltage battery power makes it safe from a fire hazard point of view.

Other Trade Secrets

Some of the more unusual items I have used to find leaks are, incenses sticks, baby powder, candles, soap solutions and shaving cream.

Insence sticks smell nice to some folks, and make enough smoke to do the job. I hate them because the smell is burned into my mind associated with that Crazy Asian War.

Making a cloud of baby powder by squeezing a plastic bottle of the stuff works OK and smells much better than tobacco or incense smoke. It does leave a white dust trail showing where you have been. You get tired of it very quickly.

Soap solutions are good for safely finding compressed air or gas pipe leaks when they make bubbles in the applied liquid soap. It is a good way to find air leaks in your car tires.

Candles are great for jobs where you can safely use an open flame. They work best when you are doing a detailed search for small leaks.

By watching the candle flame you can see when it gets blown by the airflow.

Bring lots of matches or a lighter. Candle flames blow out easily. Dripping hot wax is a problem.

Candles really shine at finding vacuum leaks. I’ve used them in industrial situations where there are vacuum leaks at pipe flange connections and similar equipment. The air being pulled into the equipment makes the candle flame point right at the leak.

When you can’t use a candle due to safety concerns, the next best tool for finding vacuum leaks is spray foam shaving cream. You coat the area where you think the vacuum leak might be, with shaving cream from an aerosol can. Vacuum leaks will suck the foam into the leak revealing its location.

I think that the Smoke Pencil (aka Wizard Stick)is a good replacement for all these methods.

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Save Money at Work by Putting Your Job to Bed Before You Leave

Every evening, just before bedtime, I patrol around in our house to make sure that the doors are locked, the thermostat is turned down and the lights are switched off. I check the kitchen to make sure the stove is off.

When we get our own place to live most of us get into a habit of bedtime checks. Those of us, who pay the electric, heating and water bills, make sure that we are in the energy saving mode before turning in. We take ownership of the situation and eliminate as much wasted money as we can.

We all need to do the same thing at work. Take a look around your workstation at the end of your shift to see what should be done to save energy.

Shutting off lights, fans and computers are good examples. If the next shift needs it, they can turn stuff on. Space heaters and other personal appliances should be off before you head out the door.

Check to make sure the water faucets are off and the flush valves have stopped running. Check the water cooler to make sure the water flow is off.

Before you leave for your lunch break take a look around and shut off everything you can. Give the electric meter a lunch break too. 

A little vigilance on everyone’s part can save a substantial amount of energy. Saving energy at work is good for the environment and good for business.

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Save Money on Your Energy Bills by Stopping Hidden Heat Loss

Heat is always looking for ways to escape from your home during cold winter months. Sealing doors and windows does help, but there are other ways heat can escape.

In the average home, fireplaces, air ducts, and plumbing and electrical access are responsible for over 40% of home heat loss. Sealing gaps and air leaks can result in significant savings on winter heating bills. They also improve the comfort of your home.
Fireplaces

Your chimney is an escape route for warm air from your furnace. When your fireplace is not in use, keep the damper closed to prevent air from going up the chimney.

Check the seal on the flue damper. Make sure that it is as snug as possible. If your damper is warped or doesn’t fit tight, a chimney balloon or similar draft stopper will do the job. Read this article for more on chimney balloons.

Consider installing glass fireplace doors to help block the path of heat trying to escape up the chimney. Fireplace doors also work when you are enjoying a heartwarming fire.

Air Ducts

Over time, air ducts develop leaks, holes, and loose joints. Seal all ductwork in areas that you can reach, such as in basements. Use mastic or metal foil tape to seal the joints. Insulate ductwork in unheated areas, such as attics and crawlspaces. Contact a heating and cooling professional if you suspect more serious ductwork problems. Fixing leaky ductwork saves money during both heating and air conditioning seasons.

Plumbing and Electrical Access

Gaps around electrical lines and plumbing and gas pipes entering your house from outdoors result in significant heat leakage. These passageways are made over size so it is easy for the installer to do his job.

Look where a water faucet supplies your garden hose. There may be a gap around the pipe that needs sealing. Good quality polyurethane caulk is a top choice for this job.

The other place to look is where wires, pipes and ductwork pass into the attic from heated areas of your house. Seal these areas in the attic with spray foam insulation.

Caution if there is a gap around your chimney or other heating vent stack; make sure you use a high temperature sealing material that is rated for this job. Use the wrong stuff and it may cause a fire.

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Black & Decker Lights Out AutoSwitch Review

The other day my loving wife shoved a magazine ad in my face for the new Black & Decker Lights Out AutoSwitch. After reading it a couple of times, I lit up my computer and ordered one through Amazon.com to try out.

Cost is about $30 plus shipping. The in stock delivery was a couple of days at the cheap rate.

It really is easy to install and it works as advertised. It fits well over an existing wall switch with an adapter using the existing cover plate screws.

It Works with CFLs

There is one feature that that just jumped at me as I thought about how it works. Many home use motion detector switches do not work with compact fluorescent light bulbs. Read about my frustration in learning about it the hard way here. Motion Detector Lighting Control Problems

This Black & Decker motion detector switch will work with any kind of light bulb, including CFLs. It does not rely on electric leakage through the light bulb to power the sensor. It physically shuts the existing light switch on or off as needed.

Other Features

Motion activated sensor automatically turns lights on or off, just like a wired in motion sensor.

Easy to install – no wiring required. It is installed by taking the two cover plate mounting screws out. Adding an adapter plate on top of the wall cover plate and putting the two screws back in. The only hard part is picking the screws up off the floor after dropping them. The switch unit snaps in place on the adapter plate. That is it.

Adjustable timer lets you turn off the lights 1, 5, 15 or 30 minutes after the room is empty. Set it and try it. If the time seems wrong for you, it is easy to reset.

 Runs on 3 AA batteries (not included); no need for any electrical connections. Yes, you will have to replace the batteries once in a while. The batteries power the electronics of the motion sensor and power a little motor that moves a spring loaded device that snaps the wall light switch up and down as needed.

The unit has a manual slider switch on the outside face so you can turn the lights on or off passing the motion detector. I suspect the manual switch is needed when the three AA batteries give out. You can manually turn the room lights on to see what your are doing when you change the batteries.

Negative features

One negative is the bulky appearance, especially when it is used on one switch where there are several mounted together. It fits fine and works fine, it just is very noticeable visually.

The other negative is that it is noisy. The light switch that it is attached to loudly snaps on when it detects motion. Then you hear a buzzing sound as the little motor inside cocks the spring mechanism. Then silence until it snaps off followed by the few second of motor buzzing while it cocks the spring again.

Will it save money?

Let’s say you can buy one for $30 and your next kilowatt of electricity costs about 12 cents. You would need to save 2,500 hours of lights “on” time for a 100-watt bulb to payback the cost. There are 8,760 hours in a year so that is possible. A two-year pay back is more likely, making it a good investment.

If you are using a 23-watt CFL, it will take 11,000 hours of savings to pay back the cost. That is possible in a few years if you have been real lazy about turning off lights. 4 or 5 years to pay back makes it a poor investment.

When you use one, you can feel good about using less electricity if that is a motive for you.

Where can you use it?

It is made for indoor use only so that rules out a few places it could be used.

There is value in increased safety when the lights come on automatically. You will have fewer slips, trips and falls. Avoiding a trip to the emergency room will save you money.

The unique feature of it mounting on an existing switch makes it something a renter can use and then take with them when they move out.

I recommend the Black & Decker Lights Out AutoSwitch model # SW100 for bathroom, laundry room and entryway lights. I would like to use one in the kitchen but my wife says no way.

The other place to use one is where the light switch always seems to be on the wrong side of the room. That is if you have to cross a dark room to turn the lights on. Or, where you have to escape across a room that you just blacked out.

If you have a safety or security need for a motion detector, the energy savings helps to justify the purchase.

Where do you use motion detectors? Does it save you money? Leave a comment to share your experience.

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Energy Awareness Month Humorous Energy Saving Idea Contest

CONTEST IS OVER

October is Energy Awareness Month here in the USA. Were you aware of that?  To celebrate the Energy Boomer is having a humorous energy saving idea contest.

Energy Awareness Month is a program from the US Department of Energy to put out posters and do some public relations stuff to promote saving energy. Once again, your tax money is hard at work for you.

During energy awareness month, some work places run a contest to see how many energy saving ideas their employees can come up with. For prizes, they raffle off a gasoline card, CFL light bulbs or other energy related items.

Sometimes real money saving, carbon foot print cutting, ideas come to light that may help keep your job in business.

Energy Boomer Humorous Energy Saving Idea Contest

I have accumulated a couple of expensive LED light bulbs (GeoBulb and ZetaLux) and a Black & Decker Lights Out AutoSwitch that I am going to give away as prizes. The prizes are items that I tested before writing review articles about them.

To enter, just leave your idea in a comment on this blog post. You will find the comment button in pale print at the bottom of this blog post.

The winning suggestions will be selected based on two things. First, how funny they are. Second how much energy they might actually save. The contest will close October 23, 2009. The three winners will be notified by email by the end of the month. They will get one prize each.

Here are a few example ideas:

• Coin operated switch to power your computer.
• Timer hot water valve on shower, take too long and you get a cold rinse.
• Coin operated switch to power your TV.
• Use motion detector to turn off office computer when worker falls asleep on the job.

Humor and energy savings count. In our contest fantasy world, the cost to implement the idea does not count.

Will Global Warming Save on Your Heating Bills this Winter?

Because the sun is putting out less energy than normal, we could be hit with some very big heating bills this winter. But, other factors may save you money.

There are a couple of ways that sun watchers keep track of the amount of energy arriving at planet earth from the sun. One method is to track the number of sunspots. The sunspots are an indicator of how active the sun is.

The more sunspots there are the more energy is being set our way. Currently we are in the pits of a deep solar minimum. The sun has an eleven-year sunspot cycle. Right now, we are experiencing the fewest number of sunspots in about a century.

As of September 20, 2009, there have been 723 days without sunspots during this solar minimum. Typically, that number is more like 485 days without sunspots.

There is some indication that the sun is starting up sun spot production again. But, there is no way for us humans to forecast what will happen with the sun.

The other measure of the energy reaching us from the sun is solar irradiance. Solar irradiance is a measure of the amount of energy radiated from the sun that hits the earth.

The trend of solar irradiance over the last few years is downward. Now, we are at a low in solar irradiance as part of being at the bottom of the sun cycle.

If we were to ignore other factors and focus only on the amount of energy arriving here from the sun, we could expect to experience “Global Cooling.” Maybe a new ice age is starting. Some scientists think so.

Other factors influence our weather too

Fortunately, other factors influence how cold our winter weather will be. The temperature here on the surface of the earth is controlled by:

1. The amount of energy escaping from the earth’s core (yes the planet earth is still cooling)
2. The amount of energy arriving from the sun
3. How much of the energy is held within our atmosphere

Number three gets a lot of attention these days

The amount of volcano activity is one of the factors that influence our climate and weather. They are important, not because of the core heat that they let out, but for holding heat in our atmosphere. The more smoke and ash they spew in to the air the more they block the sunshine. On the other hand, the more green house gases that get erupted into the atmosphere the more heat energy is held inside our atmosphere.  Sometimes they balance out.

The volcano factor has been stable during the last few years. Volcanologists predict that there will be some big eruptions at some time in our future, so that my change.

Wildfires are another big influence of weather and climate. Wildfires convert plant material into smoke, ash, water vapor, and carbon dioxide in the air. The wildfires that raged this summer may help keep us warmer this winter. Again, the green house gases and water vapor help hold heat in the atmosphere

Many other factors also influence the climate and weather in North America. Winds from the Pacific Ocean, how far the jet stream wanders south, plankton growth, and insect activity are all involved. Human activity is also on the list.

Global Warming to the Rescue

At the present, we have enough “global warming” from water vapor and green house gases that things are pretty well in balance. By that, I mean that the warming factors are counter balancing the reduced energy from the sun.

The result is we can expect a near “normal” winter. For folks in the part of the country where I live, it will be cold and we will have snow. It is not likely to be a heating budget breaker but snowy and cold enough to call it a real winter.

The 2010 Old Farmer's Almanac says, “The prolonged low level of sunspot and space weather activity in the early stage of Solar Cycle 24 reinforces our belief that we are at the beginning of a period of significant change. Over the coming years gradual cooling of the atmosphere will occur, offset by warming caused by increased green house gasses.”

It never ceases to amaze me how nature works to maintain a balance.

My advice is to ignore global whining and get on with the job of holding heat inside your home to save money on your energy bills this winter.

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Why Do Storm Doors Save Energy?

I have been getting questions asking why storm doors are so important and how do they save energy.

When an engineer calculates the rate of heat loss through a door, each obstacle in the path of the heat flow needs to be evaluated. In the winter heat from inside will flow out to the cold outdoors.

The object is to slow down the heat flow

One of the roadblocks that heat encounters is at the boundary between each material. In the case of a plain solid wood door, the first obstacle that the heat flow hits is the boundary between the indoor air and the wood door.

Every time heat flows from one material (air) into another material (wood) it is slowed down. Each boundary acts like a speed bump to the flow of heat.

The next item is the wood door itself. Wood does not conducts heat slowly so it is a good material for making doors. The thickness of the wood determines how slowly the heat flows through it. The thicker the wood is, the slower heat escapes through it.

The final barrier to heat flow is the boundary between the wood door and the outdoor air.

The total resistance to heat flow is the sum of the three items above. They are the indoor air to wood boundary, the wood, and the wood to outdoor air boundary.

A storm door more than doubles the resistance to heat loss

Adding a storm door to the doorway adds several more “hoops” for the heat to jump through. A description the path that the heat flow takes with a storm door would look like this.

1. Indoor air to wood boundary
2. Thickness of the wood
3. Middle wood to air boundary
4. Thickness of the air trapped between the doors
5. Air to storm door boundary
6. Thickness of the storm door
7. Storm door to outside air boundary

Without the storm door, there are only three obstacles to heat flow. With the storm door, there are seven obstacles to heat flow. The heat flow rate is substantially reduced by the storm door.

Many storm doors are made of aluminum. Aluminum offers very little resistance to heat flow but it still works as a storm door because of the additional obstacles to heat flow that it provides.

Wood storm doors do work better but they are heavier and cost more to buy and maintain. The lightweight and low cost make aluminum more popular.

Make sure both your security door and the storm door are in good shape and shut tightly.

Remember the more boundaries there are the slower the heat escapes. The same idea work for people too. That’s why several thin layers of clothing keep us warmer than one heavy layer.

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

Related Posts:

MY NEW STORM DOOR

GREEN ENERGY SAVING GRASSHOPPER

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

How to Stop Cold Drafts from Heat Pumps

Folks who heat their home with heat pumps like the low energy bills. However, they often complain that there is, “a cold draft coming from the registers.”

They may have a valid complaint because heat pumps do work differently than fuel-fired furnaces.  Heat pumps heat with lower temperature air than gas or oil fired furnaces do.  

Heat pumps push air that is just a few degrees warmer than room temperature into the house. This low intensity heated air feels cool.

Fuel fired furnaces put out air that is 30 degrees, or more, above room air temperature. The heated air they put out feels warm.

Because of the lower temperature of the air from heat pumps, they have to move more air to get the job done. Gas or oil fired furnaces will get the job done by running 4 to 6 times an hour and rest between each on cycle.

Heat pumps need to run for a long time and push out more air while they are running to keep homes comfortable.

Reroute Those Drafts Don’t Stop Them

Because the larger volume of air from a heat pump is lower than human skin temperature, it feels cool.

When you can feel the air move, you feel cooler. That is called wind chill. The way to stop feeling a cold draft is to redirect the airflow away from people.

Don’t try to stop or reduce the airflow. Stopping or choking the airflow with cause other performance problems.

Send it up a wall or along the ceiling

The airflow should be directed up a wall or along the ceiling. Avoid pushing the air across the floor or toward where people sit.

To get the job done you may need different diffusers or add deflectors on your existing registers to aim the airflow away from people.

Some folks rearrange the furniture to get away from the drafts.

Do what you can so the air flows across the ceiling or up the walls. Avoid sending the air toward places where people sit.

Areas where people just walk through are not a problem. We expect to feel air movement as we walk, but not where we sit.

Remember that heat pumps move air a large percentage of the time.  They operate efficiently with very little off time. If your home stays warm on the coldest day of the year and your heat pumps runs almost all the time it is sized and working correctly.

Sit out of the draft while you enjoy your low energy bills.

Click here for heat register deflectors from Amazon.

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

What Everyone Ought to Know About Energy Tax Credits

You can still get $1,500, from the government, for saving energy. Cash for clunkers is over, but there are tax credits available for saving on your energy bills.

Folks can get free money from Uncle Sam for investing in home energy savings projects. It isn’t cash in hand money, but tax credits are work just like money on April 15^th.

If you buy new energy saving doors, windows or insulation you can get a tax credit of 30% of the cost of the materials. You cannot get a tax credit for the cost of installing. The credit is for the purchase of the materials only.

Here is a partial list of item that you can invest in to get the tax credit:

·        Storm Doors

·        Replacement exterior doors

·        Replacement windows

·        Storm Windows

·        Insulation

·        Skylights

·        Biomass stoves

·        Whole house fans

·        Solar water heaters

·        Solar cell systems

·        Home wind turbines

·        High efficiency furnaces

·        Heat pumps

·        High efficiency central air conditioning

About Tax Credits
A tax credit is generally more valuable than an equivalent tax deduction because a tax credit reduces tax dollar-for-dollar, while a deduction only removes a percentage of the tax that is owed. Consumers can itemize purchases on their federal income tax form, which will lower the total amount of tax they owe the government.

Check this government web site for more information.

Tax Credits for Windows, Doors, and Skylights

Federal Tax Credits

On February 17, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009. This bill extends and modifies the tax credits for windows, doors, and skylights established in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The following guidance is not intended as legal advice, and you should consult a tax professional with specific questions.

Qualifying products purchased between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010 are eligible for a tax credit equal to 30 percent of the product cost. Installation is not included; be sure to obtain an itemized invoice from your retailer or installer. The maximum amount of homeowner credit for all improvements combined (including roofing, insulation, HVAC, and water heaters) is $1,500 during 2009 and 2010.

Documentation hoops you need to jump through

You need a receipt that shows the cost of the materials. The material cost must be separate from the cost of installing the items purchased. The date you bought the items needs to be legible.

For major items, you also need to document the date of installation in order to meet all the requirements.

Homeowners must obtain a manufacturer certification statement to document window, door, or skylight eligibility for the tax credit. If the retailer or installer cannot provide this document, it may be available on the manufacturer's Web site.

Here is a link to a good article from Ohio Edison that helped me know more about these tax credits.

The program also includes big-ticket items like high efficiency furnaces, heat pumps, and biomass fuel heating equipment. The tax credit for some big-ticket items is not capped at $1,500.

I suggest you get quotes and manufacturer certification statements first. With that information in hand, then get advice from your tax professional, before you spend your money.

The tax credit boosts the return on your investment.  It is like getting paid to do things to cut your energy bills that you should do anyway.

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Touch ’n Foam Spray Insulation Sealant Review

The reason I picked Touch'n Foam MaxFill spray sealant to test was the review I read on Amazon. I was looking for a crack sealer to block the bees from getting to their nest in the space above my garage.

The can label included the words “Interior/exterior use” and “Blocks insects and pests.” Just what I was looking for!

I next checked out a product review, which read as follows:

By Paul Smith (Jacksonville NC)

I had my mom mail this to me in Iraq. I sealed the walls, window, and doorframe of an old building that would become my sleeping area for a year. I regard it as a miracle product. It even sealed the large 1" gaps that spiders, ants, mice, lizzards, and scorpions would crawl through. I used 2 cans to do my room. I had a third can and nearly caused a riot when I offered it up to my neighbors. Just wear gloves like it says to. I didn’t at first thinking "I know how to use an aerosol can". One of the cracks wasn't as deep as I thought and I tried to guide the over flow with my finger. My hand was "adhesive" for a couple days. I'd highly recommend this product.

I am sure that DAPtex and Do It Best from Dow Chemical are good spray foam sealants too, but after reading that review I had to try Touch'n Foam MaxFill.

It worked great sealing the bee passageways into the bees nest above the garage. No more bee problem without using poison.

I went around the house squirting foam into anything that might be a crack or opening. It not only seals it also insulates. Both help save money on heating bills.

Once I got started using the can of spray foam I was worried that I would have to use up the whole can in one session or waste the left over’s due to a clogged nozzle. That turned out to not be a problem.

There are instructions on the can on how to keep the nozzle from clogging up between jobs. I ignored the instruction and used a tapered plastic plug in the end of the nozzle extension tube.

The next weekend I couldn’t get the plastic plug out of the extension tube. I had to cut about an inch off the end of the tube. After a good shaking, the rest of the foam came out of the can just fine.

The nozzle is well designed. It uses a replaceable drinking straw as an extension tube. When the tube clogs up just replace it with the one that hid under the seat of your car from that fast food place. Or, cut it off like I did.

It is a good idea to scout around your home, ahead of time, to locate enough areas that you can use up the can on the first go round.

Keep your receipt because this material qualifies for the 2009 tax credit if you use it as insulation. You will need your receipt and a copy of the Manufacturer's Certificate Statement that is available on the Touch'n Foam web site.

A couple of comments about my battle with the bees

I first tried clear silicone caulk from a squeeze tube. It was a little awkward to use up a ladder with a flashlight in one hand and the squeeze tube in the other. I worked after dark when all the bees, except for a few delinquents, were in their nest.

The next day I discovered that the bees had dug out the partly cured silicone to reopen their doorways into the garage attic.

Next, I used polyurethane caulk that worked just fine. The bees could not dig it out and it did the sealing job. The only problems were it looked ugly due to my poor workmanship and I ran out before the job was done. The bigger cracks needed more caulk to seal than I planned on. Being cheap, I had bought only one tube.

Always buy more than you think you need, that way you will have some left for the next job. It hurts my head when the Energy Boomer thinks about the gasoline I wasted on three trips to buy bee sealer. Actually, I just added a stop on my way home from work each time so it wasn’t too bad on the fuel account.

I recommend Touch'n Foam MaxFill

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

AIR CONDITIONER COVERS SAVE ON HEATING BILLS

The best thing to do is to remove window air conditioners for the heating season. That way you can do a good job of sealing the window to keep heat in and cold out. But, if you choose to leave that heavy monster in the window, it will waste money on your heating bill unless you cover it.

Window air conditioners are designed to help ventilate your house with some outdoor air. The solid parts of the machine housing are made of metal that transfers heat very well. That means they do a poor job of blocking the flow of expensive heat out of your home.

Most folks think that air conditioner covers are intended to protect the outdoor parts of the machine from harsh winter weather. Actually, air conditioners are made to endure the weather. A cover on the outside of an air conditioner does look nicer and it keeps the paint from fading over the winter.

The real money savings is blocking the cold wind from blowing into the house. To do that the outdoor air conditioner cover needs to completely cover the unit and seal to the house.

I suggest using something like packaging tape to seal all the edges of the cover to the house. Looks doesn’t count for energy savings. You want some kind of tape that will seal well but peel off, in the spring, without damaging the house.

An outdoor AC cover needs to be a wind barrier only.

Save the insulation for indoors where it can block the escape of heat. A cover for the indoor part of a window air conditioner needs to both block air movement and insulate.

Think of an indoor air conditioner cover as a quilt to keep the warm comfort inside your home. There are store bought indoor air conditioner covers available to do the job.

You can make your own so it matches the décor of the room. An ideal indoor AC cover would have these features:

1.    Air tight layer facing outdoors to seal the cold air out

2.    Good thermal insulation to slow the escape of heat

3.    A reflective foil layer to reflect heat back into the room

4.    Pleasing appearance in the room

I have seen some foil bubble wrap packaging material that is intended to protect items in shipment form temperature changes.

They would make a great indoor air conditioner cover with the addition of decorator fabric on the room side.

To be most effective, an indoor air conditioner cover needs to be sealed around the edges to complete the weather seal.

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

BEWARE OF CHIMNEY FIRES AND HOW TO PREVENT BURNING YOUR HOUSE DOWN

One of my loyal readers sent me a question about chimney fire prevention. She heats her home using a wood burning fireplace stove insert. 

Here are some questions you need to resolve if you are going to heat with wood this winter:

1.    Do you know how to recognize a chimney fire when it happens?

2.    Do you know what to do when you have a chimney fire?

3.    Do you have the materials ready to deal with a chimney fire?

Chimney Fires can be prevented

The most important thing you can do is to have your chimney cleaned and inspected by a certified chimney sweep. The National Chimney Sweep Guild and the Chimney Safety Institute of America are two sources for locating certified chimney sweeps in the US.

Both of these web sites are excellent places to find information about chimney safety.

Having your chimney cleaned removes creosote buildup and keeps the smoke passageway open so your fire can breathe properly.

A full inspection is just as important as the cleaning job. Chimney damage or plain old wear and tear needs to be discovered and repaired to make your chimney safe for the heating season.

Prevent Chimney Fires by burning dry fuel only

Using firewood that is not fully seasoned is the main cause of creosote buildup inside of chimneys. Creosote inside a chimney is what burns with a hot fire that damages the chimney and can start a house fire.

·        Burn only dry wood that has been seasoned at least six months.

·        A small hot fire is better than a big slow burning fire for keeping the chimney clean.

·        Burning plastic, Christmas trees, cardboard and other materials can ignite creosote inside the chimney.

What does a chimney fire look like?

A bad chimney fire will have a big cloud of dense smoke billowing out of the chimney and have flames or sparks shooting out of the top of the chimney. Because you are inside the house, you may not see a chimney fire.

Noise and hot smell are the other two indicators. When you have a chimney fire, you may hear a loud crackling or popping noise. A bad chimney fire will make a loud rumbling or roaring noise. It may sound like a freight train or a jet engine.

Warning: a small chimney fire can go un-noticed but burn hot enough to damage the chimney. A damaged chimney can let fire migrate to the house.

What to Do if You Have a Chimney Fire

If you realize a chimney fire is occurring, follow these steps:

1. Get everyone out of the house, including yourself

2. Call the fire department. If you can do so without risk to yourself, these additional steps may help save your home. Remember, however, that homes are replaceable, lives are not.

3. Put a chimney fire extinguisher into the fireplace or wood stove. Close the glass doors on the fireplace. Close the inlets on the wood stove. Use a garden hose to spray down the roof (not the chimney) so the fire won’t spread to the rest of the structure.

This information is taken directly from the Chimney Safety Institute of America web site.

What to do to be ready for a Chimney fire

Chimney Fire Extinguisher sticks used to be made that worked like a railroad flare. You struck it to light it, like a flare. Then you tossed it into the fireplace or stove.

The chemical smoke from the extinguisher stick would put out the chimney fire. They have been out of production or a number of years so any that are available are too old to trust.

If you are heating with wood, you should have a large dry chemical fire extinguisher fully charged and ready to go. Get a bigger extinguisher than is normally found in homes. One in the ten to twenty pound size range is recommended.

Store the fire extinguisher by the door of your house, not by the fireplace or wood stove.

When you have a fire, your first action should be to get everyone out. Then after calling for help evaluate the situation. If you decide you can safely fight the fire, pick up the extinguisher on your way back in.

With the fire extinguisher by the door, you can get it ready from a safe distance and then move toward the fire with your back to the escape route. Discharge the fire extinguisher into the fireplace or wood stove.

Close off the airflow into the fire as best you can and get outside.

Expect a real mess to clean up after the fire and the dry chemical extinguisher. When the firefighters get there they will do what needs to be done, but they will add to the mess. Be sure to thank them.

It is your house and your fire so it is your mess to clean up. Just be thankful that you still have a house to clean.

Smoke alarms save lives

Everyone, whether you heat with wood or not, needs to have several smoke alarms installed and working in your home. If you don’t have them get them and call you local fire department for free advice on where to install them. They would rather help you before a fire than during one.

The following products are accepted by the Chimney Safety Institute of America for use in fireplaces and wood stoves.

Java Log 100% Natural Crackling Fire Log, 3-Pound (Pack of 6)

Creosote Sweeping Log For Fireplaces #SL 824-12

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Battle with Bees is Showing Me Places to Save Energy

I am having an ongoing battle with bees that have taken up residence above our garage door. There is a small gap between the brickwork facing on our garage and the woodwork above. The mortar between a few of the bricks has crumbled leaving a bee size passage into the attic above the garage.

We try to keep a wildlife and bird friendly yard by not using chemicals. So, the bees have been thriving on the clover in the yard as well as the pollen from our flower garden.

I don’t like poisoning the bees because they are beneficial. However, my wife is allergic to bee stings so we need to take precautions. She tells me that they are not bees but yellow jacket hornets.

Late summer is the time of year when hornets, wasps and bees are looking for winter homes anywhere they can get in out of the weather. I recommend that you take a slow walk around your home watching for flying hole hunters. If you take time to observe them at work, insects will show you the openings that need to be sealed to keep the heat inside your house this winter.

When I locate an opening that they are using as a doorway, I attack. Well not right away. These flying house hunters all return to their nest just before dark.

Attack well after dark

These critters don’t fly at night so they will all be inside the nest. Night is the safest time to approach the nest. Armed with a ladder, flashlight and a can of poison free wasp & hornet sparay I climb right up to the opening.

I spray right into the hole to soak the nest. Sometimes I use a drinking straw to direct the spray inside the opening. Then it is time to retreat and wash up. I have not been stung in the dark.

The next day it is usually safe to approach the area in the day light. I seal up the opening with long lasting polyurethane caulk.

These bees refuse to die

The bees above the garage door are refusing to die. They just get madder every time I spray in their entrance.

I am guessing that their nest is actually up the wall above the garage door. Next time I am going to try using a bent copper tube to direct the spray upward.

If that doesn’t work, I will wait until dark and seal the openings with polyureathane caulk. Then hope they don’t find a way into our living quarters.

Poison Free Wasp & Hornet Killer - 2 Pack

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Plug In Motion Detector Virtual Review

I’ve been looking at plug in motion detectors for home use. Normally I’d just buy one and test it in my home so I could write a review article about it.

However, after I walked around our home looking at each electric outlet I didn’t find a place where I could give it an honest trial. These plug in motion sensors are intended to switch on a lamp or some other small appliance when someone walks into the room.

Most of our room lights are plugged into outlets that are located behind furniture.  As example, a motion sensor could not see through the couch to know when someone walked into the room.

I thought there was an opportunity in the kitchen. We have some plug in fluorescent lights stuck up under the cupboards. When I mentioned this idea to my wife, I got booted out of the kitchen.

We also have a plug in fluorescent light under the cupboard above the clothes washer. I put that light up to satisfy the need to see into the tub of our top loading washer. Using a flashlight to search for that missing sock gets old real fast.

Folks normally enter the laundry room with both hands carrying over loaded laundry baskets. A perfect use for motion sensor controlled light.

But, my loving wife uses that light as a signal. She leaves it on to remind herself that there is quilting fabric or laundry in the machine. As long as the machine is in use the signal light must stay on.

She reminded me that I am not allowed to enter the laundry room without special permission. Good thing I put in a low wattage light.

Fun with Motion Detectors

I can think of some practical joke uses for a plug in motion detector. I’d use it to turn on a tape recorder with a funny message when someone enters the room.

We have a small decorative pine tree named Douglas Fir who talks to you when you walk by it. I guess the Billy Bass wall mounted fish works the same way.

News Flash: Motion Detectors Use Electricity

I thought about using it in a hallway to turn on a nightlight when someone wanders around in the dark. But, it takes more energy to operate the motion sensor than it does to leave a LED nightlight on all the time.

The plug in motion detector that is getting some advertising buzz now is rated for 0.3 amps, when the light is off. That does not sound like much. But, it equals 36 watts times 24 hours a day or 0.86 kilowatts a day. That is about $37 a year in addition to the purchase price.

They might actually save money if they are used in an outlet that has a good clear view of the room to control a light that gets used often.

It can light your way and save money by shutting the light off automatically after is does not “see” any motion for ten minutes.

If you want to keep the light on you may have to wave at the sensor every few minutes. It would work well in an exercise room. If you rest too long between each exercise, the light will go off reminding you to get moving.

Don’t Over Power Your Motion Detector

I bought a motion detector that screw into a light bulb socket and then screwed in a 100-watt bulb into it for testing. It stopped working after about the third test. I then read the instruction that said it was recommended for no more than 75 Watts. Read the instructions first.

Keep in mind that all electric devices have a limit as to how much power they can control. Home use plug in motion detectors usually can safely handle 500 Watts of power.  If you go over their power limit, they will either not work or you will be risking a fire. Do as I say, not as I do.

Safety Saves Money but Not Energy

Some motion sensors can make your home safer. Automatically turning on a light may prevent you from tripping as you cross a dark room to reach a light switch. Preventing injuries does save money.

Please leave a comment or send me an email if you have found an application where a plug in motion detector is saving you money on your electric bill.

by Birney Summers – 2009 All Rights Reserved

Click here to get Energy Boomer Updates by e-mail Get Energy Boomer e-mail Updates.

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Save Energy Prepare for Cold Weather Now

Yesterday I was watching the chipmunks working at full speed stealing the sunflowers that we put out for the birds. They are getting ready for winter and we should too.

Many people don’t start on winter preparations until after Labor Day. I’d rather get the job done early so I don’t waste any football weekends working around the house.

We need to start fixing the air conditioners in January to have them in good working shape by hot weather. To be ready for the heating season we need to start working on it now. The same schedule is true at work too.

We need to start fixing doors and windows both at home and at work.

If you are adding insulation to your attic you need to plan it now and get the materials all lined up so when the weather cools just enough to work in the attic you can get’er done.

Some folks are better at remembering to winterize their ride than they are about winterizing their homes.

A little time and effort put in now will save you cash on your heating bills this winter. Pick one of these projects and get started.

·        Add a storm door

·        Fix up storm windows

·        Caulk around the window frames

·        Patch that hole in the wall before the hornets move in

·        Seal cracks in the basement walls

·        Add clear plastic dome covers over your basement window wells.

·        Fix or add door sweeps and weather stripping

These low cost “Do It Yourself” projects will pay you back this heating season.

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

WHEN IS E85 A BARGAIN?

With the rapidly changing prices for fueling your ride, don’t forget to consider the E85 alcohol gas mix.

For E85 to be a bargain, the price must be lower than gasoline

The E85 blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline gives at least 15% fewer miles per gallon than regular gasoline.

When E85 is priced 15% or lower than regular gasoline, using E85 can save you money.

In several states, the price of E85 has been very favorable this year. In some States, the price of E85 has been better than 20% less than gasoline.

E85Prices.com has a good up to date information on E85 prices.

General Motors is the leader in flex fuel vehicles that can use either E85 or regular gasoline or any blend of the two. If you have a GM car with a yellow gas cap, you should be watching the price of E85.

If you don’t have a flex fuel car, you should trade up to a GM car with a yellow gas cap so you can save with E85.

Yes, I am proud to say that GM benefits from my energy engineering services. They do make more flex fuel capable vehicles than any other manufacturer.

Multiply the gas price by 0.85 to get the bargain price for E85

What does a 15% price difference between E85 and regular gas look like? Here is a link for you to down load an MS Excel spread sheet covering a range of prices.

Download E85 Buy Price Chart

At what price do you buy E85?

If you enjoyed this post, then click here to subscribe to the Energy Boomer Newsletter.

Related Posts:

E85 & BUTANOL SOLAR POWER YOUR RIDE

THE BEAUTY of BIO FUEL BUTANOL

BETTER MILEAGE BY BETTER DRIVING

.

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Save Energy by Driving With Your Dog

The photograph tells the story better than my words can. It arrived in an email with a joke about speeding. The point is that you should drive more carefully when your dog is with you. Careful driving saves you money at the gas pump.

Most folks make sure that their children are safely belted in the car when they go for a ride. Parents drive noticeably slower and more carefully when there is a child on board. Driving slower and more carefully saves energy and money.

I don’t recall seeing a pet dog securely held in with any kind of restraint. I have seen “Caution Dog On Board” signs on some cars that are transporting the family pet.

Dogs are most often the first to climb aboard and usually left free to roam about in the vehicle. That freedom leaves the dog vulnerable to injury when the driver stomps on the brakes or makes a sharp turn.

You know what kind of look your dog will give you after he has bashed his nose into the dashboard at a stop sign.

To prevent injury to the dog and to avoid the guilt of causing injury to a “dumb animal” folks drive better when there is a dog in the car.

I don’t mean to imply that dogs are dumb. They know when you made them bounce off the ceiling in the back seat. And, they will let you know about it by delivering one of those heart-melting looks.

I do not know the circumstances leading up to the scene in the photograph, but by the looks of the claw marks on that seat, it must have been traumatic.

Save energy and drive as if man’s best friend is always sitting right next to you.

by Birney Summers – 2009 All Rights Reserved

Related Posts:

Energy Lessons Learned from a Cat

BETTER MILEAGE BY BETTER DRIVING

IS HIGH OCTANE WORTH THE COST?

.

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

30 Ways to Save Energy While You Are Away on Vacation

Summer is a great time for vacations. However, appliances and electronic devices in your home will waste money unless you shut them off.

By using a checklist, you can minimize energy wasted by your empty house. That will save you a few dollars for your vacation. 

 

1. Check to make sure the kitchen stove top is off
2. Check to make sure the oven is off
3. Look at each wall outlet and decide which items to unplug like the coffee maker, can opener and microwave
4. Turn all the water faucets off
5. If you have a chest freezer throw a couple of blankets or a quilt over it
6. If you are leaving for a short period, check the refrigerator thermostat setting, 38 degrees for the refrigerator, and 5 degrees for the freezer
7. For longer trips (such as four weeks or more), consider emptying your refrigerator and unplugging it.
8. In each bath room, shut all the water faucets off
9. Check to make sure the toilet is not running
10. Unplug the night-lights
11. Close the storm windows
12. Close the storm doors
13. Unplug your cell phone charger and pack it to go
14. Unplug the electric blanket from the wall outlet (We had a cat that would paw at the control until the blanket would come on)
15. I do not unplug electric clocks, but you can
16. In each room look at each wall outlet and decide which items to unplug
17. Leave the telephone adapter plugged in only if you have an answering machine that you want to work while you are gone
18. Turning off electronic devices is good to save energy, but remember digital displays, instant-on features, and remote controls use energy while not in use. Unplug most electronic devices while you are away. I do not unplug anything that requires extensive reprogramming like TV’s or cable boxes.
19. Do unplug other stuff like the stereo
20. In the laundry room make sure machines and lights are off
21. Shut off laundry tub faucets
22. If it will be above freezing, during the heating season shut the heat off.
23. If it will be below freezing, turn your thermostat down to the lowest setting plus two degrees. Some older thermostats would turn down to 55 so I’d set them at 57 to keep it off the low limit stop. Some digital thermostats will turn down to 45. Forty-five is the bare minimum for water pipe freeze protection. I suggest 47.
24. During hot weather turn your air conditioner off or set the thermostat to 85 degrees or higher.
25. If you have electric water heater with a tank, switch off the circuit breaker that sends power to your water heater.
26. If you have a natural gas water heater, I recommend that you dial down the temperature setting. First, use a permanent marker to mark where it is normally set. If you have an on demand tank-less water heater, you do not need to do anything.
27. If you have, “city” water shut the main supply valve off where it enters the house.
28. If you have your own water well, shut off the electric power to the pump. If you don’t, the pump will cycle on and off while you are gone just to keep the pressure up.
29. Turn off all lights in your home before you leave.
30. You may wish to maintain an outdoor or indoor light for nighttime security. Consider installing a lighting timer. That way the lights will only be on a few hours a day. Lights do help to make it appear as if someone is at home. The timer minimizes the energy used.

Build Your Own Checklist

This list is for our current home. It is not exactly right for your home. You need to start with this list and add to it or scratch out items to make your own list.

You save money when you use an energy shutdown checklist for your home. That way items are not forgotten during the last minute rush to get underway.

Use your checklist again when you return home. It will help you remember what needs to be turned back on.

 

Click this link for a SPECIAL REPORT: HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON AIR CONDITIONING

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Air Leaks Waste Money on Your Home Energy Bills

Cracks and air leaks can lead to energy loss and waste money on your heating and cooling bills. Air sealing is one of the best energy efficiency improvements you can make to your home.

Air sealing will not just reduce energy costs; it will also improve your home's comfort and keep its value. Keeping moist air out helps to

prevent mold, corrosion and wood rot problems.

Finding Air Leaks

Look at areas where different materials meet, such as between brick and wood siding, between the foundation and walls, and between the chimney and siding.

Here is a list of places to look for air leaks:

• Door frames
• Window frames
• Mail chutes
• Electrical service entrances
• Natural gas or propane pipes
• Cable TV and phone lines
• Outdoor water faucets
• Places where dryer vents pass through walls
• Bricks, siding, stucco, and foundation
• Air conditioners
• Vents and fans

For a thorough and accurate measurement of air leakage in your home, hire a qualified technician to conduct an energy audit. Be sure they use a blower door test. A blower door test, which depressurizes a home, can reveal the location of many leaks.

A good way of finding leaks yourself is to follow these steps:

1. Close all doors and windows
2. Shut off your furnace or air conditioner
3. Turn on your clothes dryer in the tumble dry mode so it pushes air out the vent
4. Turn on kitchen and bathroom vent fans
5. Now go around inside the house hunting for air sneaking in

You can use smoke from a cigarette or incense stick to see the airflow. Another trick is to use a candle and watch how the flame moves as you move it around windows and doors. Please be careful with fire.

If there is a big temperature difference between indoor air and outdoor air, an infrared thermometer can be used to scan for air leaks. INSERT ADVERT

In industrial situations, I have used spray foam shaving cream to find small air and vacuum leaks. But, the mess makes this a poor idea at home.

Air Sealing Techniques

Once you have located air leaks, you can then apply air-sealing materials as needed. Two common materials include caulking and weather stripping. Most experts agree that caulking and weather stripping will pay for themselves in energy savings within one year.

Caulking

Caulk forms a flexible seal for cracks, gaps, or joints less than ¼" wide. You can use a caulking compound to seal air leaks in a variety of places throughout your home, including around windows and door frames.

Most caulking compounds come in disposable cartridges. When deciding how much caulking to purchase, consider that you will probably need a half-cartridge per window or door. You may need as many as four cartridges for the foundation sill.

Before applying caulk remove any old caulking and clean the area that you are working on. For best performance, follow all manufacturers' instructions. For more information on caulking HOW TO CAULK AROUND THE HOUSE

Weather stripping

Weather stripping can be applied to seal air leaks around movable objects, such as doors and windows. To determine how much weather stripping you will need, add up the perimeter lengths of all windows and doors to be weather stripped, and then add 5% to 10% to accommodate any waste.

Weather stripping comes in varying depths and widths, and there is a variety of weather stripping materials available: foam, felt, vinyl, aluminum, and bronze. You need to choose a type of weather stripping that will withstand the friction, weather, temperature changes, and wear and tear associated with its location. IN LINK

For example, when applied to a door bottom or threshold, weather stripping could drag on carpet or erode because of foot traffic. Here is a link about door sweeps and thresholds HOW TO SAVE ENERGY WITH A DOOR SWEEP

When applying, consult the instructions on the weather stripping package. In general, weather stripping should be applied to clean, dry surfaces at temperatures above 20°F.

If you enjoyed this post, then click here to subscribe to the Energy Boomer Newsletter.

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

10 Fuel Economy Hints to Save You Money at the Gas Pump

1. Have your car tuned regularly. An engine tune-up can improve fuel economy by an average of 1 mile per gallon.
2. Keep your tires properly inflated. Under-inflated tires can decrease fuel economy by up to 1 mile per gallon.
3. Slow down. The faster you drive the more gasoline your car uses. Driving at 65 miles per hour rather than 55 miles per hour cuts your fuel economy by about 2 miles per gallon.
4. Avoid jackrabbit starts. Abrupt starts require about twice as much gasoline as gradual starts.
5. Pace your driving, unnecessary speedups, slowdowns and stops can decrease fuel economy by up to 2 miles per gallon.
6. Use your air conditioner sparingly. The use of air conditioning can reduce fuel economy by as much as 2 miles per gallon. (If you are traveling at highway speeds closing the windows can improve the aerodynamics enough to pay for the air conditioning.)
7. Avoid lengthy engine idling. Turn your engine off when you are delayed for more than a couple of minutes.
8. Plan your trips carefully. Combine short hops into one trip to do all your errands.
9. Avoid traveling during rush hours if possible, to reduce fuel wasting patterns such as starting and stopping and numerous idling periods.
10. Clean out your ride to remove the extra weight.

by Birney Summers – 2009 All Rights Reserved

Related Posts:

BETTER MILEAGE BY BETTER DRIVING

Gas Money Saving Lessons from a Professional Driver

How to Wreck Your Miles per Gallon

.

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Are Blocked Lights Wasting Your Money?

Blocked or, as “the professionals” say, obstructed lights waste money on electric bills. Obstructed lights are most often a commercial or industrial problem but they can occur at home too.

Obstructed lights are lights that have all or some of the light that they put out blocked before it can get to where it is useful. If a light fixture is located where and object makes a shadow in the area you are trying to illuminate you are not getting full value for the energy used.

Blocking of light fixtures usually occurs over time because no one would intentionally put up a light in a location where the light can’t shine where needed.

However, mistakes do happen. Lights can be put up in the wrong place and floor plan layouts can get changed even in new construction.

Examples of Obstructed Lights

An at home example would be an outdoor light that now has a tree or tall shrub blocking it. All the light used to shine on the front walk. But, now that the tree has grown taller, the homeowner is not getting the full benefit of the light.

An industrial example would be a light that was hung from a factory ceiling years ago. Since then new equipment has been installed. Now ventilation ductwork passes right under the fixture, blocking the light.

A commercial example could be in a store where the floor plan has been changed. A ceiling mounted light that used to illuminate a display area is now located above a tall storage unit.

In these cases, the light gave full value when it was installed. But, now the blocked light still uses electrical power and the owner gets no or very little benefit from the light it produces.

Trim the tree or move the light fixture

The quick fix for the problem is to turn the light off. The next step is to determine if the light is truly needed in that area. If light is a need then action needs to be taken to fix the waste of energy.

You have three choices:

1. Eliminate the light fixture

2. Un-block the light

3. Move the light fixture to a better location

If you are going to spend, the time and money to move it consider upgrading it to a newer more efficient lighting product.

Fixing one or two blocked lights won’t cut your energy budget very much. But, the bigger the facility is the more blocked lights you are likely to have.

In some situations, you can remove the blocked light and get the job done by upgrading a neighboring light to cover the area.

Correcting blocked lights usually means taking several out of service. The more lights you take out the lower your energy and maintenance bills will be. In the long run, the reduction in your maintenance labor and materials cost will be greater than the energy savings, but it all helps the bottom line.

by Birney Summers – 2009 All Rights Reserved

Click this link for a SPECIAL REPORT: HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON AIR CONDITIONING

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

WIND CAN BE A FICKLE POWER SOURCE

Sometimes I wonder about the focus on wind power. Wind can be a very fickle power source. Based on my experience of sailing on the Great Lakes, sometimes you can get where you want to go using just the wind.

However, other times there is no wind to move the boat at all. A back up source of energy is needed for power when the wind doesn’t blow.

You can make the “white ash breeze” as the Vikings said, by using wooden oars. On the other hand, you can start up the noisy petroleum-fueled engine and be just another stink boater.

Wind is easy enough to harness that some folks use it at their farms or homes. It is often combined with power from the grid. Or, storage batteries are used to hold the windy day surplus until it is needed.

The old farmer’s idea of using windmills to pump water is still good today. Wind can be used to pump water uphill into a tank or reservoir for future use by gravity when needed.

If the reservoir is big enough and high enough it can serve as a battery to store the energy. The stored water can be released to make electricity in a hydroelectric plant when needed.

Not practical for home use but still a good idea. I know of one place along the shore of Lake Michigan where the Consumers Energy utility company does this.

If I lived along the ocean shore, I would combine tidal or wave power, along with wind and solar to supply electricity a larger percentage of the time. I wish we all could live at the beach. It is the dreamer in me.

by Birney Summers – 2009 All Rights Reserved

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

How to Wreck Your Miles per Gallon

Here is a, just for fun, story of some tried and true ways to get the lowest possible miles for each gallon of gasoline that you buy with your hard-earned money.

Run out to your car and start it up on a hot day. Then run back into your house to cool off with a cold drink, while your car’s air conditioner does its thing. Turn your television on and watch the latest news about global warming while you wait for the car to cool off.

Before starting out go around the car and let about 5 psi of air pressure out of each tire. You gotta to do it in hot weather so the pressure doesn’t build up too high.

It is a scientific fact that air expands, as it gets hotter. Lowering the tire pressure will give you more traction and make for a softer ride too.

Jump in your car and turn on the headlamps. It is safer to have them on, even in the daytime.

Scoot out your driveway. See how fast you can accelerate to the end of the block before slamming on the brakes at the stop sign.

Crank your windows down so you can yell at the children to clear the street. Leave the windows down.

Race downtown to the library, you got no time to waste. Park in the sunshine, so the car can warm up again.  Check out twenty or so of the heaviest books that they have about the environment.

Stash the books in the trunk. You will have to shove that old car battery; you were going to recycle, off to the side to fit the books in there.

Speed to the south-side party store, for ice for your cooler. They are having a two for one sale. Save your money by getting two bags of ice. Better yet, save even more money by buying a second cooler and two more bags of ice. Load it all in the car.

Then zoom to the Super Store in the northern suburbs to use your coupon for bottled water to fill the cooler. Buy as much as you can carry because they are on sale, “today only.”

Then try to beat the red lights back downtown to pick up your clothes at the dry cleaners.

You friend Fred rings your cell phone for help. He damaged his bicycle and he needs your help to take it to the repair shop, two towns away. No problem we just tie the wrecked bicycle on the roof rack and off we go. Fred brings his sister Freda and her pal Albert along for the ride. Fill all the seats to make the trip more fun. (They say car-pooling saves money.)

Your cell phone batteries are low so plug it into the car, to charge up. Crank up the DVD player to get your music on. Keep the windows down to share the music.

Hit the highway to get to the repair shop fast. We don’t want to waste the whole day right. If we drive over 80, we will get there faster. Double check to make sure the headlights are on for safety.

Keep the automatic transmission in drive, not that OD thing. Using “DRIVE” will give you better control and quicker response to the gas pedal.

Put your foot to the floor to clear that hill as quickly as you can. Then brake hard to keep from driving under the truck ahead of you on the downhill side.

At lunchtime, skid into the fast food place a few miles off the highway. Inch ahead as the long line of cars moves slowly through the drive in window. Keep the music on, the windows down and the air conditioner pumping out cold air while you wait your turn.

Albert needs to go inside so park over there in the sunshine. Keep cool with the AC on while we wait.

I am leaving the story unfinished in the hope that your comments will add to it.

by Birney Summers – 2009 All Rights Reserved

If you enjoyed this post, then click here to subscribe to the Energy Boomer Newsletter.

Related Posts:

BETTER MILEAGE BY BETTER DRIVING

WHAT SHOULD MY TIRE PRESSURE BE?

Gas Money Saving Lessons from a Professional Driver

.

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Review: 7 Watt ZetaLux LED Light Bulb

The sample ZetaLux LED light bulb that I received from EarthLedlooks good. It is solidly made to last for the ten years or longer that it would take to wear it out.

It is shaped like an ice cream cone. It has an aluminum cone that has a sparkling white ice cream dome on top. The inside of the translucent plastic dome is frosted with something that sparkles. I guess the sparkles are to spread out the light coming from the LED itself.

The LED that makes the light is located down inside the top of the cone a little ways so it cannot shine directly out to the sides. The light intensity readings that I took confirmed the low level of light going out sideways.

In the direction up away from the base, the light intensity is similar to readings for a 60-Watt incandescent and the 7-watt GeoBulb brand LED. The upward light readings were actually better than for a 13-watt CFL bulb. Take a look at this chart for the foot-candle readings.

 

Where to Use a ZetaLux LED Bulb

Because of the highly directional light from LED bulb, the best place to use them is where the base is up and the globe is down. Ceiling mounted lights in home entryways and hallways come to mind.

Reading lamps, where the light can be focused right where you need it is another good application. If you used them as closet lights, they would never burn out with the low number of hours of use.

You might consider them for bathroom lighting too.

These bulbs are not weather proof so you don’t want to use them as porch lights. A little water inside the base will short out the electronics package hidden in there. They would work in a garage or shed, but might not be bright enough to do the job.

I sent the ZetaLux bulb to my friend Mike to try out. Mike has very acute hearing and catches things that I don’t. Here is what he had to say about it.

I like this bulb for the applications you mention, particularly task lighting and possibly hallway lights or in the shop.  I have a light over the kitchen table with a large downward bell shaped shade/reflector and it worked well there. 

I didn't hear any noise from this one, hurray!  I also thought the warm light was the best of the ones tested.  It is still not quite as warm as an incandescent yet.

I did notice that the bulb is a bit longer than the usual incandescent, so some of my ceiling fixtures that have a reflective focusing element did not work well.  However, another ceiling fixture with the reflective element was acceptable.  The light was not completely even because the light doesn't come out of the sides; however, the combination of the reflector and the white glass cover on my fixture made this acceptable for me.  Unfortunately, my wife likes 100-Watt equivalent in the hallways, so until they put out more light, I won't be putting it in the hallway.  Also, I usually don't have my hallway lights on for 4 hours a day either, so the payback would be very very long.

I too liked the look of the design.  It also fit in all the fixtures that I tried it.  It also comes on instantly like all the LED bulbs so that's an advantage over some of the CFLs.

Low Price Makes ZetaLux an Economical Choice

The ZetaLux bulb costs about $50 as compared to the GeoBulb at $120 each. $50 each still sounds like an awful lot to pay for one light bulb that gives you about the same amount of light as an old 60 cent Edison bulb. But, when you graph out what happens to the total cost over time the old style Edison bulb costs the most.

 

 

For the first 500 hours, the 60-Watt Edison bulb is the least costly. Beyond 500 hours, the 13-Watt CFL is the low cost choice, up to 17,500 hours. Beyond 17,500 hours, the ZetaLux is the low cost choice. Given enough time, the ZetaLux bulb will pay for itself with the savings on your electric bill. If the increasing cost of electricity is factored in, they are an even better investment.

Recommendations

For cost savings, I strongly recommend the ZetaLux LED light bulbs, if you don’t plan to move soon and have places that you can use them to shine down from the ceiling or in reading lamps.

For applications, like table lamps, where a lot of light shining out the side of the bulb is needed, I recommend a Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL).

In applications where color fussy folks work, go with what every light bulb gives you the color rendering you need. My wife likes real day light from a window or reveal GE Revel light bulbs or Daylight CFL bulbs. She also needs enough light to see to thread her quilting needles. That rules out the smaller light bulbs.

Maybe someday soon someone will make a LED efficient lamp that gives as much good color light as an old 150-Watt incandescent. All at an economical price. 

by Birney Summers – 2009 All Rights Reserved

Click this link for a SPECIAL REPORT: HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON AIR CONDITIONING

Related Posts:

Review: GeoBulb LED Light Bulb for Home Use

EVOLUX LED LIGHT BULB REVIEW

SAVE ELECTRICITY WITH TASK LIGHTING

.

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Information Sources for Saving Energy

This is a quick review of internet information resources for saving money on energy bills that I recommend. There are a lot of blogs sites out there that are promoting energy savings for environmental reasons. But, there are not very many blogs that are focused on helping folks saving their money on utility bills.

My friend, Jan Pavis writes the Reduce Utility Bills blog. She writes about home energy saving topics from her own experience.

Another friend John Westenhaver writes the Energy Watcher blog. He provides an interesting mixture of energy saving tips, energy related news and tracks the cost of energy that impacts his life in the Southern USA

My biggest competition in on-line energy information use the Federal and State governments, major utility companies and a few large companies.

I recommend that your look up web sites for your local utility companies. Your electricity supplier may have valuable information about the way your electric bill is calculated.

The same thing goes for natural gas and water suppliers where you live.

Some state governments have web pages that provide useful information on how to save money on your energy bills.

Both the US Department of Energy and EPA have several sites that give good information for home use. I use their Energy Information Administration web site to research information for my day job.

The Energy Hog web site for children is a fun way to teach your children about saving energy.

Another one for children is the Energy Star for Kids page.

Here is the link to the best page of the EPA’s Energy Star sites for home energy savings.

There are some good corporate web site that are also good sources of information. One of the best is the Owens Coring Company’s site.

Review of Kintrex and Raytek Infrared Thermometers

Hand held infrared (IR) non-contact thermometers are one of my favorite tools that I use in my Energy Conservation Engineering “Day Job.” If you are not familiar with what they are, think of them as an industrial version of the fever thermometers that came on the market about ten years ago or so.

The easy and quick to use electronic thermometers have replaced mercury thermometers in mom’s medical kit. You aim them in your child’s ear and instantly know whether to send them to school that morning or to keep them home.

The version, I use is the low price industrial strength unit that is lightweight and easy to carry. They are shaped generally like a pistol. 

What are they good for?

They are great for quickly taking the temperature of any solid object. They do not measure air temperature.

You need to point them at something and squeeze the trigger to see the temperature of that object. As example if I am walking through a building I can check the room temperature and know what the ventilation equipment is doing with just a few quick aim and trigger pulls of my thermometer.

I look for objects that heat up or cool off quickly to match room air temperature. By taking the temperature of a metal filing cabinet, I know what the temperature of the room is.

By aiming at the return air register, I get another check on the room air temperature. By shooting a temperature of the supply air grill, I can tell if the air conditioner or furnace is working. And, I can collect some information about how well it is working.

They are very good for easily getting temperature information from a safe distance.

·        You can get the temperature of hot material or equipment without risking a burn.

·        You can find hot spots on electric apparatus without getting close enough to risk a shock.

·        You can take the temperature of machinery, while it is running, without getting your finger pinched.

These are just a very few of the many uses.

Why Did I Buy Two?

I had been using a borrowed Infrared Thermometer so I decided to buy myself a new one and ended buying two. Why two?

Two reasons, first when I get just one of something I usually lose it very quickly and have to buy another one. It has also been my experience that if I buy two, I never lose either one. The second one is not a spare, it is insurance so I don’t lose one.

The other reason for buying two is I couldn’t make up my mind which one to get. I bought two different brands to compare.

Kintrex IRT0421 and Raytek MT6 are Very Similar

Both brands have a very good “laser” pointer built in so you can see what you are aiming at. Both are made in China.

I really had to search the Raytek to find the CHINA mark hidden inside the battery compartment. Raytek is a US company and they don’t seem to want the customer to know that their product is made in China.

 Both have a good digital read out window that gives the temperature readings in degrees and tenths of a degree. Like many digital instruments, they mislead the user about accuracy. I don’t understand why they show the temperature in tenths of degree when the best they can do is an accuracy of plus or minus 1 degree C or 2 degrees F.

The accuracy of both brands is very similar and plenty accurate for the work I do. They give reasonable readings when the target you are aiming at is between minus 20 and plus 932 F.

They work as longs as they are in a location where the temperature is between freezing and 120F. If you can stand being there, in normal work clothes, it will do a fine job.

IR thermometers have a limited field of view. That is a good thing. The cone of vision of the Kintrex is a little more focused than the Raytek unit. Why is that important?

If you shot a real gun at a wall, 10 feet away, the area the bullet hits is the same size as the bullet. If you stand ten feet away from a wall and shoot the Raytek at it, you will hit a 12-inch diameter area. It measures the average temperature in that 12-inch diameter area.

If you shoot the Kintrex from ten feet away from a wall, it will hit an area that is 10-inches in diameter and gives you the average temperature of that 10-inch diameter area.

The father away you are, the bigger the area that the IR thermometer views. If you are 20 feet away, the Raytek will “see” a 2-foot diameter spot on the wall. At a 20-foot distance, the Kintrex “sees” a 20-inch area. The smaller view area of the Kintrex is better.

The bigger problem is that the laser pointer on both brands just shows you a very small dot of red light. The small red dot at the aiming point gives folks the idea that the instrument is just measuring one small area when it may actually be taking an average of a large area.

An example is if you are taking the temperature of a hot water pipe at the ceiling of a room, you get the average temperature of part of the pipe plus some of the ceiling. If you think of the temperature as being just the pipe, you are wrong, unless you are holding the IR thermometer up close to the pipe.

The Kintrex has a little longer battery life. If you use either one of these a lot you do need to carry the right spare batteries, or risk a black out at an inconvenient time. Another reason to have two of them.

The Kintrex allows you to switch between Centigrade and Fahrenheit with ease using a thumb button. On the Raytek, you have to open the battery compartment and hunt for the little switch to make the change over.

In my current job, I work and think in Fahrenheit and never change. When I used the Kintrex, I had to look at the display to make sure I was in the right mode.

I used to work in the chemical industry, where I worked with engineers who worked and thought in Centigrade. I used Fahrenheit while working in the powerhouse and around the boilers. I had to be bilingual in the language of temperature. The ease of switching between C and F is important in that kind of job environment.

During on the job tests, both brands did what I needed done very well. No functional problems with either one.

Recommendations

If I were to buy another one now, I would buy the Raytek for purely personal preference reasons.

I like the trigger on the Raytek better. It is a traditional index finger trigger. The Kintrex has a button for a trigger. Remember I said it was a personal preference.

I like the shape of the Raytek better it has a more traditional pistol grip handle and better balance. The graceful taper of the Kintrex grip handle makes it feel top heavy and it tends to slip out of my hand too easily. It does have holes in the end of the handle to add a lanyard to loop around your wrist.

The curved shape of the Kintrex housing makes me aim high. I had to use a ready fire aim method of getting on target with it on every reading.

The straight top on the Raytek housing let me get on target with the first shot. The Marine in me that knows good control is hitting the target with the first shot. Getting on target temperature readings quickly is a time saver, especially when your are taking many readings, during a tour through a building.

Both brands come with a carrying case, both are good. I like the Raytek carrying a little better.

I would recommend either brand, because they both do the job very well.

If you switch between C and F temperature scale, in your work, the Kintrex is definitely a better choice.

The Kintrex may be more accurate, for some types of work, with its smaller field of view.

I like the very clear pictorial Raytek instructions. The do a great job of showing how to use it and what to use it for.

The Price of the Kintrex Beats Raytek

As with most electronic items, the price for IR thermometers has dropped. The quality and features have improved over a very few years. I remember buying a similar Raytek several years ago. It was bigger and heavier with about the same performance; it cost about $160 then.

I ordered both of the new ones from Amazon with normal delivery.

The delivered cost of the Model MT6 Raytek was $68.18

The delivered cost of the Model IRT0421 Kintrex was $54.16

by Birney Summers – 2009 All Rights Reserved

Click this link for a SPECIAL REPORT: HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON AIR CONDITIONING

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

NO COST WAYS TO SAVE ON AIR CONDITIONING

Here is a list of things you can do right now, without spending any money, to cut your air conditioning bill.

 

Save With the Thermostat You Already Have

• Set the thermostat for your central air conditioning system at the highest comfortable setting (78-80 degrees F is recommended).  If you normally set it at 72 degrees F, raising it to 78 degrees F should save between 12 and 47 percent in cooling costs, depending on the climate where you live. Be reasonable, if you are willing to pay for comfort, set it where you are comfortable. Keep it up at 76 during the day and lower at night if that is what it takes to keep you healthy and rested. If you want to save every penny, sell the air conditioner. Pick a setting that you can live with and leave it alone.
• Don't set your thermostat at a colder setting than normal when you turn on your air conditioner.  It will NOT cool faster.  It WILL cool to a lower temperature than you need and use more energy. Dialing it down will waste your money. The machine will remove heat just as fast as it can and no faster.
• If you have a heat pump, pick a temperature you can live with and do not change it. Heat pumps are very efficient, but they respond to changes very slowly. Leave the thermostat alone once you settle on a temperature you can enjoy. Do not dial it down for the night.
• Do not position heat-producing appliances, such as televisions or lamps, near the thermostat that controls your air conditioner.  The heat they produce "fools" the thermostat and causes the air conditioner to run longer than necessary.

Save by Keeping the Heat Out

•  Turn off unnecessary lights and use energy-efficient lights, especially when you have the air conditioner running. Lights generate a significant amount of heat. At least 90% of the electricity that you bringing into the house ends up as heat that the air conditioner must remove to maintain the temperature where you want it. Read more about it in this old article SAVE ON AIR CONDITIONING BY REPLACING OLD LIGHT BULBS
• In the cooling season, draw draperies, blinds, and shades indoors to keep out direct sunlight. For more on this read FIGHT SOLAR HEATING TO CUT YOUR AIR CONDITIONING BILL
• Close doors and vents of unused rooms to avoid cooling these areas.
• Use your storm windows to keep the heat out in hot weather.
• Avoid using electric appliances in hot weather. Cook outdoors if you can. Call me to sample the food from your barbecue. If you must cook indoors, use a microwave oven.

Use Fans or Natural Ventilation When You Can

• Under appropriate weather conditions in the cooling season, use window fans mounted in windows to exhaust hot air that accumulates indoors during the day and, reversed at night, to pull in cooler outdoor air. Blowing the hot air out of an upstairs window will help cool the whole house. Check the wind direction and have your fans move air in the same direction.
• When possible, use fans to keep cool instead of an air conditioner.  Fans consume only a small fraction of the energy of an air conditioner.  For more on saving with fans read this SAVE YOUR MONEY WITH FANS AND AIR CONDITIONING
•  If your ceiling fans are reversible, be sure to reverse the direction at the start of the cooling season so that the blades turn to create a downdraft. Read this so you will know how to run your ceiling fan to save your money WHICH WAY SHOULD MY CEILING FAN RUN?
• To operate your air conditioner unit more efficiently, turn on your ceiling fans.  These fans create air movement across the skin, lowering skin temperature through evaporation.  The homeowner can raise the A/C thermostat setting up 4 degrees F without any decrease in comfort.  Each degree you raise the thermostat up will save about 7-8 percent on your electric bill. The hotter the weather gets the faster the fans should run.
• If you plan to leave for a few minutes or more, turn the ceiling fans off.  Letting a fan run wastes energy and does nothing to cool the room. In fact, the heat from the fan motor actually warms the room a little. The fan only helps when there is someone in the room to enjoy it.

Save with “Do It Yourself” Maintenance

• Clean or replace filters regularly on air conditioners; keep outside units free from leaves or debris that may clog vents.
• Clean the outside condenser coils of your heat pump or central air conditioner. It is OK to hose off the outdoor part of your air conditioner or heat pump, even while it is running.

Save with the Way You Operate Your Air Conditioner

• Set the fan speed of your air conditioner on high, except in very humid weather.  When it's humid, set the speed on low; you will get slower cooling but more moisture will be removed from the air. Dryer air will make you feel cooler. 
• Turn off your air conditioner when you leave home for an hour or longer. Read this to find out why SAVE MONEY; SHUT OFF THE AIR CONDITIONER WHEN YOU ARE GONE. Leave your heat pump running unless you will be gone for more than a day.

by Birney Summers – 2009 All Rights Reserved

Click this link for a SPECIAL REPORT: HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON AIR CONDITIONING

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Earth Day: How Bad Are Your Light Bulbs?

Here is a backwards way of looking at how good your light bulbs are.

The electrical energy that is used by light bulbs is converted into about three different kinds of energy. They are light energy, heat energy and sound energy.

Light energy is what we want, so let’s focus on the other two.

Yes, sound from light bulbs is wasted energy.

Do you ever listen to your lights? When I say lights, I am including the fixture, ballast or electronics package, if any, along with the bulb.

When you hear a light that is making sounds, you are hearing wasted energy. The buzzing, humming or whirring noise from lighting equipment is not light energy. It is escaping sound energy.

Fortunately, for those of us who pay the electric bills the energy wasted from lighting as sound energy is very small.

Energy wasted as heat from lights is a big deal.

The really big waste of energy from lighting is heat. Heat is not light. Unless you want it, heat is wasted energy.

Old fashion Thomas Edison style light bulbs make very efficient heaters. These incandescent light bulbs convert about 95% of the electricity they use into heat. Big carbon foot print little light.

That explains why they are so effective at keeping pipes and well water pumps from freezing. You country folk out there know you keep a light bulb on inside your well pump shed to keep the water flowing during freezing weather.

If you need a space heater, in an emergency, plug in as many old light bulbs as you can.

When 95% of the electrical energy is converted to heat energy, it leaves only 5% that is converted into light energy.

The next group of light bulbs I’ll call the 80% heaters.

Light bulbs that operate at very high temperatures are about 80% or more efficient as heaters.

They include:

Halogen lights like the headlights on cars.

HID lamps (High Intensity Discharge) used in street lamps.

Mercury vapor lights, like some folks use as yard lights.

These light bulbs put out a lot of light. To do it they operate at very high temperatures. They are OK to use outdoors or in big buildings but not so safe in homes.

When they convert about 80% of electrical energy into heat, it leaves only 20% that is converted into light. Better than the incandescent bulbs but still not wonderful. They save money only because they last a lot longer than incandescent bulbs.

LED light Bulbs are about 82% heaters.

The surprise to many people is that LED light bulbs convert about 82% of the electrical energy into heat. They don’t get very hot because they are designed to cool quickly.

The long life of LED lights depends on keeping them cool. The electronics package hidden in the base of the bulb will melt down if it gets too hot. That is why you can’t use them in your oven. They would last a very long time as the light in a refrigerator.

When they convert 82% of electrical energy into heat, it leaves 18% that is converted into light. The good thing about LED bulbs is they give a lot of light for a small amount of power and last a longest of all, so far.

The other good thing about LEDs is they do not contain mercury.

So what kind of light bulbs are the worst heaters?

Fluorescents are poor heaters in that they only convert about only 30 to 50% of the electrical energy they use into heat. Did you ever try to keep warm by huddling around a fluorescent light? I didn’t think so.

Because they are such poor heaters, they save money on electrical bills two ways.

First, they put out the most light for the electricity used. This is why Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) are so popular for home use.

Second, because they don’t create as much heat they also reduce air conditioning bills. The heat from lighting is part of the heat load that your AC works hard to remove from the building. Less heat load means lower air-conditioning cost.

I know some folks who use incandescent bulbs at home in the winter, when heat is a good thing. Then they switch to CFL bulbs in the summer when heat is not wanted.

They are right about the home heat loading.

Their bulb switch plan is good because it exercises your wrist muscles with all that twisting in and out of light bulbs. It is also good because you wipe away the dust that blocks some of the light from your bulbs twice a year.

I don’t do this because whenever I juggle light bulbs, some of them get broken.

Fluorescent lights are good because of their small carbon footprint, but they do contain trace amounts of mercury. Pick your poison. The amount of mercury in fluorescent bulbs has been minimized as they have evolved over the years, but it is still in them.

 

Disclaimer: The percentages given above are really well rounded off to keep this article short. Please don’t get lost in the numbers. Some science folks would argue that the light energy from electric lamps is converted to heat energy as it bounces around our rooms. So, all light bulbs produce 100% heat, eventually. I just put that in here to give you something to stew about.

by Birney Summers – 2009 All Rights Reserved

Click this link for a SPECIAL REPORT: HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON AIR CONDITIONING

Related Posts:

Review: GeoBulb LED Light Bulb for Home Use

EVOLUX LED LIGHT BULB REVIEW

DO DIMMER SWITCHES SAVE MONEY?

.

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

Review: GeoBulb LED Light Bulb for Home Use

My first impression when I opened the package to get a look at a GeoBulb was this thing is heavy. I would speculate the GeoBulb weighs three times as much as a regular Thomas Edison style light bulb. Also, it is much heavier than a CFL with the same light out put.

It is well made using a thicker glass globe than a standard light bulb. It is shaped and looks very much like a standard light bulb except for the cooling fins.

The cooling fins artistically reach upward from the base, like flower pedals holding the glass globe. The fins are made of white perforated metal, likely aluminum, to give a large surface area for air-cooling.

Unlike the EVOLUX LED bulb, there is no cooling fan in this bulb. No fan and no noise.

The fins do get warm. Not skin scorching hot but too warm to hang onto for long. When I scanned the GeoBulb with my infrared thermometer, I got readings between 130 and 148 F. Nowhere near as hot as an incandescent bulb.

When I get a new product, I read all the sales literature that is provided because it helps me set up standards to check the product against. The claims made for the GeoBulb are not exaggerated.

The box says it is intended to replace a 60-Watt incandescent using only 7.5 Watts. It puts out plenty of light to do the job. My Kill-A-Watt meter says it uses 7.0 Watts.

The color quality of the light from the GeoBulb is a little more bluish white than the light from the standard light bulb. The bulb I received is labeled “Cool White” indicating that the cool blue light is by design. The GeoBulb is available in Soft White or Warm White. They tend more toward neutral or yellow light. Some folks don’t like the blue white light so I would suggest trying a Soft White bulb first for more natural color appearance.

Like other LED bulbs, this one sends more light straight up from the bulb than it sends out side ways. However, the GeoBulb sent almost twice as much light out to the side as the more powerful EVOLUX bulb that I reviewed before.

 

Does the GeoBulb save money?

Yes, if you are comparing it to an old fashion incandescent 60-Watt light bulb.

No, if you are comparing it to a 13-Watt Compact Fluorescent (CFL) bulb.

I checked the math on the press kit information and it all checks out, so I’ll use their data. Over a 30,000-hour usage time, the total cost for energy plus the purchase of the bulbs. The numbers look like this.

60 Watt incandescent  $231.96

13 Watt CFL                 $104.73

7.5 Watt GeoBulb        $145.76      

From a home money saving point of view, the clear winner is the CFL.

For commercial and industrial applications it is easy to justify the investment in high cost LED lamps with the maintenance labor cost savings alone. The very long service life of LED bulbs makes changing them very infrequent. Any time a company is paying someone to change light bulbs, the cost of labor becomes the dominate cost factor, not the price of the bulb.

Using the data provided by C. Crane Company I graphed out the total cost for each type of bulb over the 30,000-hour life of one GeoBulb to help visualize what happens.

 

In order to match the cost effectiveness of the CFL the GeoBulb would have to get its selling price below $80 each. Less than that, if it were to save folks money at home. Currently the GeoBulb costs about $120 each

 

Who would pay so much for a bulb that looses them money?

I believe that there are two basic reasons for folks to buy and use the GeoBulb.

First, there are people who are willing to pay more for products that have a very low environmental impact. The GeoBulb has a very low carbon footprint because of its low power consumption. It is a green product because it does not contain lead or mercury. The green GeoBulb is well suited for reading lamps that point down toward the work area.

The second group is folks who live “off the grid.” They generate their own electrical power instead of buying it from a utility company. Folks living off the grid usually have a very limited amount of electric power that they make themselves using solar cells, wind turbines, water wheels or a combination of these. The GeoBulb with its very low power draw is just what these folks need to help them stay off the grid.

 

The GeoBulb is the best LED lamp for home use that I have seen so far.

The GeoBulb is a product of the C. Crane Company and comes in an easy to open box that does a great job protecting this valuable bulb. They are to be commended for very truthful labeling and advertising of a good product.

 

Will I buy them for my Home?

No. I use bulbs that are 100-Watt or 150-Watt “size” because our old eyes need the more intense light. We use a mixture of CFL’s and special color incandescent. CFLs to save money and the special color incandescent bulbs to keep my wife’s color sensitive quilter’s eyes happy.

I am hopeful that the technology will continue to develop so that brighter LED bulbs become available for home use that will save money for folks who pay the utility bills.

by Birney Summers – 2009 All Rights Reserved

Click this link for a SPECIAL REPORT: HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON AIR CONDITIONING

Related Posts:

Review: 7 Watt ZetaLux LED Light Bulb

SAVE ENERGY WITH AUTOMATIC LIGHTING CONTROLS

DO DIMMER SWITCHES SAVE MONEY?

.

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page

How Much Can I Save By Switching the Power Off to my Home?

The idea that people have is that if they switch the main circuit breaker off to their house for twelve hours. They think it should cut their electric bill in half.

Folks who try it are amazed by the small amount of savings they get. Their plan is to cut all the power off when they leave home for the workday or while they sleep.

 

The problem is we don’t use power by the hour.

Folks want to know why they don’t save much money by shutting off the power to their home. They figure that if the shut all the power off for twelve hours that they should save 12/24 of their electric bill.

People use electrical energy when they are there to use it. Very little power is used when no one is home.

 

A couple of lists will help understand the situation.

Make two lists of things that use electric power in your home. The lists might look like this: (yours will be different)

Things that use electrical power while you are home and awake:

TV screen

Games for TV

DVD player

CD player / Stereo

Lights

Vacuum cleaner

Stove

Microwave

Coffee maker in use

Garbage disposal

Can opener

Toaster

Electric fry pan

Dishwasher

Computer

Monitor

Printer

Clothes Washer

Clothes Dryer

Power tools

Vent fans

Hair dryer

Ceiling Fan

Refrigerator - door opened occasionally

Freezer - door opened occasionally

Clocks

Furnace - heat turned up

Air conditioner - temperature set lower

Water Heater – using water

 

Now List Number Two

Things that use power when you are asleep or away from home:

Refrigerator – door not opened

Freezer – not opened

Coffee maker

Clocks

Furnace - heat turned down

Air conditioner – temperature set higher

Water Heater - not using water

Switching all the power off only shuts off the items on the short list so it reduces your bill by a much smaller fraction than 12/24 hours you had hoped for.

Yes, you will save some money by shutting the power off, but it will only be a small fraction of your total bill. The question may be, is it worth the hassle of resetting clocks and such. That is up to you.

Beware of food spoiling in hot weather. The cost of food is so high that wasting some might wipe out all the savings on the electric bill and then some.

I suggest that you leave the power on, but unplug stuff that you don’t want wasting money while you are away from home.

by Birney Summers – 2009 All Rights Reserved

Click this link for a SPECIAL REPORT: HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON AIR CONDITIONING

Click here to return to Energy Boomer home page