An Improved System for Even Faster Hot Water
I missed an opportunity. You may recall the retrofit I did in 2022 to get faster hot water at three of my fixtures. It made a huge improvement, but it could have been even better. But before I go there,…
The Energy Vanguard Blog
A Plumbing Feature Every Home Should Have
As we know from the most recent natural disaster to hit the US (Hurricane Helene), it's good to do some emergency planning before an emergency strikes. But let's take a more common example: plumbing leaks in your home. If it…
Easy Window Flashing at the Corners
There's a new type of flashing for window sills on the market now. It's the Rissan 430 grey corner from Siga, which is a piece of pre-formed flashing tape that fits perfectly into the corners of door and window rough…
InSoFast Makes Basement Insulation Easy
If you've seen any of the articles or videos about my basement renovation, you probably know I'm using a product called InSoFast to insulate the floors and walls. You can see it on part of the basement in the photo…
Ductless Mini-Splits Can Get Nasty Inside
Have you ever used a flashlight to look up into the part of a ductless mini-split where the air blows out? I should have done that a lot sooner than I did. It turns out these heat pumps can get…
A Fistful of New Building Science Videos
We're doing some new things here at Energy Vanguard. We've had a YouTube channel since 2010 but haven't done much with it. So one of the new things is working on putting out new videos every week. Here are the…
Do You Really Need to Run the Bath Fan in Summer?
In the comments of my last article, RoyC made an interesting point. "I don’t usually run my bathroom exhaust fan during a shower when it is hot and humid out," he wrote. I'm sure that statement shocks a lot of…
10 Ways to Reduce Your Indoor Humidity
With our changing climate, more people are having to deal with higher humidity for longer periods of time this summer. I'd say this has been probably the worst summer for humidity since I moved to Georgia in the summer of…
A Burnt Grilled Cheese and the Collapse of Indoor Air Quality
I burned a grilled cheese sandwich recently. I tried to bury the evidence by throwing it in the trash and forgetting about it, but my dear, sweet wife fished it out. "You need to tell the world about this," she…
To Zone or Not to Zone…and How?
Unless you have a simple, small home, you probably want more than one thermostat to control the heating and cooling. That lets you control the conditions separately in different areas. And that's where zoning comes in. A common example is…