You'd think that after more than 12 years and a thousand-plus articles, I'd have mentioned all the major building science terms by now. Yet, here we are. I just did a search of all the articles in this blog and…
What?! Building enclosures and mechanical systems are both important in homes. The building enclosure is where the control layers are, those parts of the building that control the flows of heat, air, and moisture. The mechanical systems provide heating, cooling,…
I've written a lot of articles about ducts here, but I haven't yet addressed today's topic: common problems with ducts and how to fix them. This one is for homeowners or renters who want to save money and be more…
Humidity control is becoming a bigger deal than it used to be. As Joseph Lstiburek, PhD, PE said to me one time, "the gap between stupid and hurt is narrowing." Building codes and best practices are getting better, which is…
This past week I learned the truth about another one of many building science lies. It's the first one in my list here. Having my eyes opened to that lie made think of some of the other ones out there. …
You may recall that I wrote about my undersized mini-split heat pump a couple of years ago. It's undersized compared to both the heating and cooling loads, as you can see in the table below. I'll discuss the heating performance…
In our HVAC design work, we get sent projects where the client sometimes wants the impossible. They've read enough to know they want the mechanical systems in conditioned space, so they put a tiny little closet somewhere in the house…
Last year I bought the Emporia Vue whole-house electricity monitoring system.* This past weekend, I finally installed it. The photo below shows my electrical panel with the monitor installed. Yes, it looks like a mess at the moment. The panel…
Heat pumps are riding a wave of demand and curiosity lately. With all the talk of electrification and decarbonization, heat pumps are in! We specify heat pumps in most of our HVAC design jobs at Energy Vanguard. We've got them…
Sometimes a house just needs a lot more air conditioning than building officials want you to put in, right?* It's better to be safe than sorry, so having extra heating or cooling capacity can be a good thing. Today I'm…