A small team from Sustainable Living in the Heatons and other local residents recently gathered on a cold January day for a Home Energy Party in a terraced Victorian house in the Heatons. People Powered Retrofit and South Manchester Credit Union visited this and another home in Ardwick to assess them for heat leakage and to offer practical tips on how to reduce the leaks. Simple, manageable changes to the home can often reduce loss of heat from the home, help keep the home warm, and cut down on the fuel bills.
It was a very interesting and useful session led by a knowledgeable Retrofit Consultant. He set up a depressurisation test to determine airtightness and diagnose areas of leakage in the house. This was a fascinating process as bathroom and kitchen fans were taped and the fireplaces blocked as much as possible, before a powerful fan was installed to the front door to suck the air from the building. Everyone in the house could then identify where the air was entering…..amazing! In small groups we went around the home with thermal imaging cameras to look for cold areas that needed more insulation. It was surprising just how much, and where, the heat loss is occurring. In this house the chimneys, windows and window sills, were the biggest culprits! The team leading the session gave useful ideas on how to further insulate the home and reduce the heat loss: blocking chimneys, secondary glazing on windows, and more insulation in the roof space and cellar were the top tips.
The process provoked a wealth of discussion and debate. For a longer article about what people found out go here.
Thank you to South Manchester Credit Union and People Powered Retrofit for organising the Home Energy Party