Reddit reviews Residential Energy: Cost Savings and Comfort for Existing Buildings (6th Edition)
We found 1 Reddit comments about Residential Energy: Cost Savings and Comfort for Existing Buildings (6th Edition). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Energy efficiency engineer here.
You want diagnostic equipment that's straightforward, temporary, and relatively inexpensive and durable. While there are a ton of diagnostic options for professionals, most of them are not well suited for average consumers because they require more know-how, software, or post-processing to understand.
My initial reaction is that kill a watts are good- they are simple and very easy to deal with, and relatively cheap. Get a few.
The IR camera is useful, but only if you know how to interpret it.
I'd recommend that you get a copy or two of Residential Energy ( http://www.amazon.com/Residential-Energy-Savings-Existing-Buildings/dp/0133418960) since it's written in an understandable manner and is full of really great information.
Do you guys have natural gas? If so, I'd get a gas sniffing wand. Last thing you want is for a well meaning person to seal their house up tight and then have their house explode due to a gas leak that would have never built up in a drafty house.
A pro grade caulking gun might be helpful- most people would never buy a nice one but they make the job much better.
Get an IR thermometer gun. It's a much faster way to check surface temperatures, which could be used by somebody who wants to do some math about heat loss calcs.
I'll think some more and see if I can come up with other simple tools. Honestly, the best thing to do is get a professional energy auditor, but you can't really get one of those to keep at the library...