But,they say it's "FREE"!

I hear this all the time from home owners and real estate agents. "Oh you charge for an energy audit?" "the other company said they do them for free!".

 Folks!, when has anything for free really been for free? I would say most energy businesses or who claim that's what they are...do FREE audits because they want to get in your door to sell you what ever product their peddling be it, insulation, windows, radiant barrier and air conditioning equipment. These would be the most common. Now, you may or may not need any or all of these items, what the problem here is how they go about doing the audit and what you really get in the end.

 A true energy audit should be about 30 to 40 pages with a lot of information about all the insulating and mechanical components of your home, along with diagnostics test results, readings to back it up and compared  to your current energy consumption. If your not getting thermal readings and imaging, along with a blower door test...folks your NOT getting an energy audit!

 Now, here is the real scary part...if you decide to go with the free guy and get your house all sealed up tight with new insulation and  air conditioning equipment. Oh yeah, everything is really great...right? well not if the company who sold you this stuff does not test it or do what we call a test out which is another blower door test to make sure everything got sealed and CAZ test. (Combustible Appliance Zone) to make sure the house is still ventilating properly. If this is not done you are risking you and your families life and safety. Why?, because in a perfect storm of energy efficiency you can create a back draft situation with your combustible appliances, which, can mean carbon monoxide poisoning. I have seen it happen!!
 
The home you live in is design to perform a certain way and if you change that without understanding it you can create a dangerous situation. If it is FREE! better ask some tough questions before moving forward with your FREE audit..........make sure they are certified auditors with proper training and equipment. For more information visit http://www.411energyexperts.com/