Energy Consultant

2009-12-21T07:39:00.000-08:00

I have added a new page to my site for those persons who want to reduce the draughts and cold spots in existing homes making them warm and cozy.
http://pressuretests.co.uk/colddraftyhomes.aspx

Christmas 2009

2009-12-21T07:33:00.000-08:00

The frightful weather this past few days has forced me to cancel or change my appointment schedule and work out of the office more. I would rather be out and about on the road as I enjoy meeting people and the remarkable homes that they construct.

airtight bungalow

2009-10-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

Todays bungalow achieved an air test result of 1.5. The owner was a self builder who had beed very careful to seal up all the leaks. This shows what can be done if you are careful.

I did point out to them however that potentially this house could be inadequately ventilated. There wee trickle vents in windows and intermittant fans in the wet rooms.

Glass extensions - Unseparated conservatories

2009-07-09T00:21:00.000-07:00

I seem to be getting a reputaton for getting these through building control Part L1B
The person wants an extension to their home usually the living area in the back garden with a substantial amount of glass - only this is not separated from the rest of the dwelling.
In part L the normal amount of glazing allowed is only 25 % of the extension floor area - plus any windows or doors covered up. if the amount exceeds this then Building control ask for energy SAP calculations. The first stage of the process is to identify the shape and size of the extension and the calculate the U values of the surfaces. Then using a weighted U value calculation to see if the heat loss from the extra glass can be offest by increasing the U values elsewhere in the extension fabric. Usually without exception it can not. At this stage I also check the U values against the limits in the tables in L1B. The next stage of the process is to model the rest of the occupants home using SAP.

Being the accurate person that I am I try to get an accurate model as possible and this requires a lot of data - sometimes a visit . Once the SAP model of the whole house is complete I identify improvements that can be made somewhere else in the home so that the additional heat loss identified elsewhere is offset.

Finally the most important stage the report- this takes lot of time to produce as I want it to be very clearly crafted - a compelling case that Building control should pass this design - no tricks no gimmicks - clear evidence. None of the cases that I have presnted have been rejected.

air pressure testing in Yorkshire Durham

2008-11-10T19:11:00.000-08:00

I am typing this blog from a B and B near Scotch Corner? Why is it called Scotch Corner if it is in England - did we steal a corner from scotland like we did the Rock of Scone or is it scoon? Besides I thought scones were an essential part of an English afternoon tea. I am confused. everyone speaking with a geordie accent! Durham Cold wet windy dark. Bad indian resteraunt warm cheap b and B only £26 !

Drove from Shipley Bradford after testing there I wished I had stayed there longer - I will do so next year when the weather is better. I would like to explore Yorkshire It is 25 years or so since I lived in Leeds. Salts mill and the rocky outcrops awakened something. Drove over a corner of the dales before going up the A1 - what a beautiful place the views were brilliant but this was not good driving as the weather has been foul. This is a problem - can't test on windy days. I hope there is a break tomorrow as I have to test in Bowburn in a rather exposed place.

House achieved excellent result today with a q 50 of 2.09. this is because the builder paid attention to the leakage during construction a sealed everywhere.

Credit Crunch / Energy munch

2008-10-30T04:46:00.000-07:00

There has never been a better time to invest in energy efficiency, especially in a new home.

Energy bills to heat homes are rising because of a shortage of cheep fossil fuels and due to taxes on fossil fuels - designed to limit CO2 emissions. The best time to invest in any home is on construction this is when the insulation heating system and overall energy requirements are incorporated into the design. Yes it costs a bit more to construct a low energy house ( there are official studies that show the typical costs of compliance to different code for sustainable home levels) however these costs are recuperated in the lower running costs of the home. I feel that it is time that mortgage suppliers took this into account in mortgage assessments when calculating the ability to pay back mortgages.

I also recommend that new buyers read the Energy performance certificate or Predicted Energy Performance notice and consider that energy costs are likely to rise considerably and unpredictably in the future and to consider if the rating is high enough.

hands free kits - back to the future.

2008-09-27T00:11:00.000-07:00

I have been simply using my mobile with a hands free which is built into my sat-nav in my car.
But the sat-nav is too far away on the dashboard so there is a lot of background noise so I have to shout and customers can not hear me that well - That is not very professional. I have bought a blue-tooth earpiece - a version which says that on one AAA battery it will standby for six months - cool. but it is no use: it disconnects at random and does not automatically reconnect again. So when that vital call comes along it could be lost. I will take it back to Argos today and buy a different one.
I don't like those that stick right in the ear : I want to hear as well!

Can anyone explain why Sandra (my sat nav) adds the word colliers after every time she says High street - "A two hundred and eighty four, High Street Coliers" I cant see any coal merchants around!

My Tomtom sat-nav is ridiculous. In an attempt to make it do everything, it is packed with features, some of which are highly annoying and possibly dangerous. It contains lists of police stations and doctors - but only Irish ones. So my nearest doctor is 300 miles away on the irish coast !. It is also possible to dial 999 accidentally with a couple of touches. Because it is touch sensitive, these screens are easily accessed by accident when you are handling it. So on several occasions I have accidentally dialed up Irish police stations and chemists and on 2 occasions the emergency 999. Is there a word for this over-stuffing of features and gadgets ? Worse still it appears impossible to disable this feature alone and disable this feature without disabling the whole blue tooth connection. This thing is out of control! Sooner or later I think my sat-nav will try to take over the entire world ? Does yours ever spout out in an Irish accent "Its yer sat naav , Turn the bloody ting off!" I suppose next time I prog it to get me home, it will say "I noo where yooo live!' And how are we supposed to drive to Ireland from England? - It will be directing me over the cliff edge lemming fashion before briefly alerting me - whilst falling through thin air - that I have exceeded the speed limit, that there is a hazard ahead, and that the nearest undertakers is Kilblarney. "Connecting you now to book an appointment".

tuppaware

2008-09-27T00:02:00.000-07:00

B
blocking chimneys effectively can be a problem. First I ascertain if the flue has ever been used.
if it has and there is any soot residue -then it would be foolish to do a standard depressurization test because if the temp seal or bung failed then there is a risk of soot in the living room! In this case I always turn my rig around and do a pressurization test from the outside. I have tried blowing up a baloon and putting this up a vent but there were sharp edges and it popped! I have a football and this often works in round flues. I also have a collection plastic kitchen pots of different sizes to act as bungs. This lot tend to rattle around in the back of the car so that I appear to be a demented tuppaware salesman!

100 percent pass rate

2008-09-26T23:48:00.000-07:00

Since I have been testing, none of the dwellings I have tested have failed the Air leakage test.
Some have been close to their design value of 7 or 8 but others have been well sealed with values of 4 or less. Obviously I have to stick to the standard procedure and can not allow cheating such as gaffer tape. One of the main problems that I encounter is windows and doors Typically a trickle vent is missing - so there is leakage - no I can not stick tape over it! Ill fitting windows and doors are a problem also. So please check all windows and doors before ordering your test.
Sooner or later I will get a leaky dwelling that fails - but I like that 100 percent pass rate! So customers block up those holes. On the whole I suppose that is a good thing because the buildings are performing as they are designed and this proves the dwelling is well constructed, with an air barrier.

Selling new homes

2008-09-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

I find now when I am Air pressure testing new homes that the owners are having trouble selling them. More are resorting to renting them out to cover some of their costs in the home that the market will rise again. It will rise eventually - but when? I think that there are several years of economic correction ahead.

Air pressure testing - logistics

2008-09-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well I have redesigned the website to get more hits and I am traveling further to jobs.
Spent a couple of nights in Malvern and did some tests in Herefordshire almost as far as the welsh border. Then turned eastwards to Leicester before returning home in the garden of England.

Air pressure testing of new homes

2008-08-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

I have recently started Air pressure testing new homes for part L of the building regulations.
I will put down some of my experiences here and see if anyone is interested in them.
Firstly why Air pressure test homes at all ? Well we are all aware of the cost of heating our homes and the environmental cost to the environment in terms of CO2 emissions. This is because most of our homes are heated either directly by fossil fuels e.g. gas or oil or by electricity created by burning fossil fuels at the power station. Hew homes have to be energy efficient and the key control to this in England and Wales is contained in the Building regulations Part L. The standardised method of calculating heat losses from buildings for Building regulations purposes is is called SAP 2005 commonly known as SAP calculations (STANDARD ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE don't confuse this with SAP AG ERP Business Software).The Procedure results in 2 key figures the Dwelling emission rate and the Target emission Rate. Basically the Dwelling emission rate for your dwelling has to be lower than the Target emission rate for the dwelling in order to pass building regs. One of the many factors included in the DER calculation is Air leakage. The greater the air leakage the greater the heat loss and so this pushes up the DER. Therefore dwellings with a lower air leakage have a better DER and this makes it easier to pass the building regulations. The air leakage rate is set during the SAP calculation at design stage and is confirmed on construction once the dwelling is complete by an air leakage test. This seems to have various synonyms Air leakage test, air permeability test, air admittance test, airleakage test. In relation to dwellings these are all the same thing.