Heating.
Furnaces, boilers and heat pumps: repair, replacement and right-sized installs.
Energy & Comfort Assessments
Know How Your Home Really Performs.
An assessment looks at comfort and efficiency together: where the home is uncomfortable, where energy is being wasted, and what your options are. Sometimes the answer is a repair. Sometimes it is an upgrade or a new system. Sometimes it is nothing at all, and you will hear that too.
An Energy & Comfort Assessment is for a home or building that is uncomfortable, costly to run or simply not well understood. This page explains what is measured, how an assessment differs from an energy audit and a load calculation, and the places it can lead, including doing nothing. You decide what happens next.
Photo needed: David measuring airflow or static pressure at a system (560 x 440).
What It Covers
What an Assessment Covers.
A Walk-Through, Room by Room.
We look at the home or building and ask how you use it, and note the rooms and the times that struggle.
Airflow and Static Pressure.
How hard the blower works and how much air each room actually gets.
Temperature and Humidity, Measured.
Differences between rooms and floors, and how humid the air is, with numbers rather than impressions.
The Ducts and the Equipment.
Looking for leaks, restrictions, undersized runs, and how the heating and cooling equipment is performing and aging.
Combustion and Carbon Monoxide Checks.
For homes with gas equipment, we check the venting and test for carbon monoxide.
Efficiency and Electrification Options.
An honest look at what higher-efficiency equipment, a heat pump or smarter controls could and could not do for this particular home.
A Written Summary, in Plain Words.
What we found, your options in order, and what each costs in time, money and result. It is yours to keep.
How It All Fits Together
From First Look to Years of Care.
Some people call once, for one thing. Many come back. Every part of the work is connected, and you decide how far to go and how fast.
You Choose
Time, Money and the Result.
Assess.
A conversation and a close look at how your home or building really performs today.
Decide.
You are shown your options and what each one costs in time, money and result. Then you choose.
Act.
Repair what is worth repairing. Upgrade what will help. Replace or design a new system only when it is truly the right answer. Or do nothing, if nothing is needed.
Verify.
The result is measured, so the work is proven rather than assumed.
Care.
Seasonal care keeps it healthy, so small things are caught early and the system lasts.
Where an Assessment Can Lead
Not Every Assessment Leads to Work.
The assessment is the start of a conversation. You choose where it goes, and “nothing” is a real answer. A repair is another.
Words, in Plain English
Four Terms, Explained.
- Home Energy Audit.
- A professional looks at how a home uses energy and recommends fixes. A simple walk-through takes about an hour. A more detailed one adds test equipment, such as a blower door that measures how leaky the house is, and an infrared camera that shows where heat escapes.
- Manual J Load Calculation.
- The sizing math for heating and cooling equipment. It tells us how much heating and cooling each room and the whole home need. It is how we avoid an oversized system. It does not look for wasted energy, so it is not an audit.
- Energy & Comfort Assessment.
- A walk-through plus measurements of airflow, pressure, temperature and humidity, aimed at two questions: why is this home not as comfortable or as efficient as it should be, and what are the honest options?
- Whole-Home Energy Audit.
- When a home needs blower door testing and thermal imaging by someone who holds a BPI or RESNET credential, David can bring in a qualified partner and coordinate the work.
Questions
Questions People Ask.
Will This Lower My Bills?
We do not promise a percentage, because it depends on the home. What you get is measured findings and a clear list of the changes that matter most, so you spend where it helps.
Is This the Same as an Energy Audit?
People often use the words interchangeably. A full audit with test equipment and a certified auditor is a specific thing. An Energy & Comfort Assessment is a close look at how your home performs, with measurements, and honest options. If you need a certified audit, I will say so and can coordinate one.
Doesn’t My Utility Offer a Free Assessment?
Utilities such as ComEd and Nicor Gas do offer a free home energy assessment, and it is worth doing. It mostly looks at the building: air leaks, insulation, and small items like thermostats. Mine looks closely at your heating and cooling system, with measurements, and lets you act on what we find. Many people do both. Ask your utility what is available at your address.
Do Heat Pumps Make Sense for My Home?
It depends on the home, the ducts and your gas and electric prices. I show you both options with the trade-offs, and you decide.
Is the Assessment Free?
See the next question for how a visit works.
What Happens After the Assessment?
You get the summary. If you want me to do the work, you get a written scope and price. If you want to take the list to someone else, it is yours to keep.
What We’d Tell a Friend
A repair is a perfectly good result of an assessment. If your upstairs is hot and your basement is cold, the fix is often airflow, not a bigger system, and we find that out before anyone suggests replacing anything.
We cannot promise a number on your energy bill. What we can promise is measurements, honest findings and a written list of what to do, in order, so you spend where it helps.
Ready for a Castle of Comfort?
A consultation starts with a conversation about how your home is behaving, not a sales pitch.