Next Saturday October 2nd you can take some time and tour local homes that utilize solar electricity and other sustainable technology. This event is coordinated locally by Fire Mountain Solar, in conjunction with Solar Washington and the American Solar Energy Society (ASES).
On the home tour you will have an oppurtunity to talke to homeowners who are using energy efficient technologies to run their home and learn how they make work for you. There will also be professional on site to help give you an idea of the cost of the technologies and which sources would be most efficient in your home. The event will kick off at the Turner/McClendon residence at 2414 C Street in Bellingham for exact time and details you can call (360) 671-6851.
Now in its 15th year, the ASES National Solar Tour is the World’s largest grassroots solar event. This event offers you the opportunity to tour innovative green homes and buildings to see how you can use solar energy, energy efficiency, and other sustainable technologies to reduce monthly utility bills and help tackle climate change.
With the amazing weather we have been having this summer it’s sometime hard to remember that this is also prime time to take care of things around the house as well. Below is a list of home chores that can be done during the warm and sunny weather:
Windows
Every summer, you should clean your outside windows, screens, and shutters. It is necessary to remove the screens before cleaning the screens and windows, but it is not necessary to remove the shutters. Always use a broom to remove spider webs and dirt before using water. Be careful of possible bee, wasp, or hornet nests. If you have a large number of windows or a two-story house, you should buy a window washing mixture that hooks onto your garden hose and makes the job much easier.
Decks & Driveways
The beginning of summer is a great time to do these once-a-year cleaning jobs. Don’t use a power washer! They are very dangerous to you, and they can destroy your deck and driveway. For outdoor decks, you can use a diluted mixture of TSP or deck cleaner (available at home improvement stores), then use a push broom or stiff brush to scrub the deck clean. Be sure to rinse the deck well. For asphalt driveways, use 1 scoop of laundry detergent in one gallon of water. For concrete driveways, use 1/4 cup dishwashing detergent to 1 gallon of water. Scrub with a push broom, then rinse thoroughly. Grease stains can be treated with kitty litter or dry cement left to absorb the stain and then swept away. You can also use a commercial grease remover.
Luggage
Whether or not you travel in the summer, it’s a good time to clean and air out your luggage. Clean the outside with a diluted mild cleanser (leather should be cleaned with a commercial leather cleaner). If the inside has a musty smell or possible mildew problem, clean it with a vinegar-water solution (1:5). Let it air dry for several days. It’s a good idea to air out your luggage for a few days whether there’s a musty smell or not. Before putting the luggage away for storage, toss a fabric softener dryer sheet into the closed bag, especially if you don’t use the luggage often.
Water Heater
Once a year, you should drain and flush your water heater. This cleans out all the sediments from the bottom of your water heater. It makes your unit run more efficiently and last longer. This can be a big job, depending on the size of your tank and where it is located in your home. Because you are dealing with electricity (or gas) and potential flooding, it is worth calling in a professional. If you’re an ambitious do-it-yourselfer, it’s not a difficult job. Remember to turn off the electricity and then turn off the water before you begin. Turn the water back on first when you’re done. The tank should not have electrical current if it is empty.
Vents and Registers
If you have a central air-conditioning unit, you should clean the vents and registers at the end of the season. This means actually removing the registers. You should be able to vacuum both sides. If there’s caked on dirt from condensation mixing with dust, you can use a damp cloth to clean it. If anyone in your home suffers from allergies, you might also consider using a register filter to further clean the air during heating and cooling.
Whatcom County has lots of older historical homes, many of which have not had major renovations in many years, even decades. One thing to watch for in older homes is knob and tube wires. If your home was built prior to 1950, you may have a knob and tube wiring system. Though the technology is older it is still capable of carrying electricity throughout your home. There are additional factors, however, that homeowners should know about when buying or selling a home with knob and tube wiring. The information below is courtesy of Pillar to Post Inspection Services.
What is Knob and Tube Wiring?
The system uses porcelain insulators (knobs) for running wires through unobstructed spaces. Porcelain tubes protect wires that run through studs and joists. The two electrical wires are wrapped in a rubberized cloth, and are run suspended through the walls. In contrast, modern systems have a third additional “ground wire” and three-prong outlets that add an extra measure of safety.
When is it Unsafe?
Installations have to be evaluated on a case by-case basis. Safety usually depends on the history of modifications and upgrades. While an electrician can do a proper splice, Pillar To Post home inspectors often find inappropriate splices which create a serious safety hazard. Because knob and tube wiring was designed to let heat dissipate to the surrounding air, most energy efficiency upgrades involve insulating previously uninsulated walls. They also usually require replacement of the wiring in affected homes.
Home Insurance
As existing knob and tube wiring gets older, insurance companies may deny coverage due to increased risk. In fact, many home insurance companies will not write new policies on homes with knob and tube wiring. If you are buying a home, you may have to upgrade part of or all of the system. Some insurance companies will insure you through the transaction but will require you to upgrade within a defined period of time.
Updating the Wiring
It’s often not too expensive if you only have a few knob and tube circuits to replace. But, if the home has knob and tube wiring throughout, an upgrade may involve more than just replacing existing circuits. It may require upgrading the breaker panel which can be expensive. In an upgrade, the wiring will be updated to meet today’s standards. In the end, it is generally well worth the expense to upgrade to the safer modern electrical system.
Residential electric heating systems are clean, nearly one-hundred percent efficient, and easy to maintain.
Unfortunately, electric heat tends to be the most expensive heating. Generating electric heat involves inefficiencies and energy losses during conversion from fossil fuel to heat energy, from heat energy to mechanical energy, from mechanical energy to electrical energy, and finally from the transmission of electricity to your home. In the end, it would be cheaper and more efficient to burn the fossil fuel directly in your home.
Except for one mitigating factor: delivery of the fossil fuel to the home comes at a cost. In remote areas where the delivery costs of fossil fuel are high, electric heat may be a less expensive option.
Heat Pumps
An electric heat pump does not generate heat, it just collects heat from outside and moves it inside. When you heat your house with electricity, you convert one unit of electrical energy into one unit of heat energy. With a heat pump, you might then use one unit of electrical energy to collect two units of heat energy, giving you one-hundred percent more heat than you paid for! At about the freezing point, the electricity cost to pump heat into your house becomes more than the cost to generate heat directly. For this reason, heat pumps are not used in very cold climates.
Electric Furnace
An electric furnace is a simple and relatively trouble-free system. It has no heat exchanger, no gas valve, no igniters and no chimney. It simply has an electric resistance coil placed directly in the air stream. A blower moves air through the furnace and circulates the warmed air throughout the house.
Air conditioning can be added directly to the furnace, using the same ducting that circulates heat to also circulate cool air.
Electric Baseboard Heaters
Electric baseboard heaters provide heat exactly where you need it, as you need it. Baseboards allow you to set back the thermostats in the rooms you are not inhabiting, saving a significant amount of energy. Unfortunately, you cannot add air conditioning to this system without adding an independent ducting system.
Electric Hot Water Boiler
An electric hot water boiler uses electric elements to heat water. The heated water is pumped into radiators or convectors throughout the house. In terms of size, electric hot water boilers are small and inconspicuous.
Electric Radiant Heat
Today, under-floor electric radiant heat is popular in bathrooms and kitchens, usually added as accent heating rather than as the primary source of heat.
A special thank you to Jefferson Livingston with Pillar to Post Home Inspections for passing along this infomration.
THIS IS AN EXCERPT FROM PILLAR TO POST® HOME INFORMATION SERIES
CONTACT YOUR LOCAL HOME INSPECTOR FOR A FULL VERSION
Next Saturday October 2nd you can take some time and tour local homes that utilize solar electricity and other sustainable technology. This event is coordinated locally by Fire Mountain Solar, in conjunction with Solar Washington and the American Solar Energy Society (ASES). 
With the amazing weather we have been having this summer it’s sometime hard to remember that this is also prime time to take care of things around the house as well. Below is a list of home chores that can be done during the warm and sunny weather:
Whatcom County has lots of older historical homes, many of which have not had major renovations in many years, even decades. One thing to watch for in older homes is knob and tube wires. If your home was built prior to 1950, you may have a knob and tube wiring system. Though the technology is older it is still capable of carrying electricity throughout your home. There are additional factors, however, that homeowners should know about when buying or selling a home with knob and tube wiring. The information below is courtesy of Pillar to Post Inspection Services.
Residential electric heating systems are clean, nearly one-hundred percent efficient, and easy to maintain.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=74db54ab-0599-4ee0-bd05-407fc5d7962e)
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