Reducing Energy Bills in Florence, NJ

Friday, August 1st, 2025 by Bill Alber

Challenge

This client had recently moved into this house. The previous owners had installed new heating and air conditioning a year before selling but the PSE&G combined gas and electric bills were still really high the summer of 2025. If the air conditioning system was new and it's efficiency was decent, why were the bills so high? The client called Alber Service for an Energy Audit to determine the cause of high bills and to offer a solution to fix the problem.

Solution

The energy audit found several contributing factors. First, attic insulation was really inadequate. This was a ranch house so there was attic over the entire living space. Heat was getting right thru the thin layer of fiberglass insulation and reaching the ceilings below. As the ceilings heated up they radiated heat down into the rooms well into the night until the attic cooled down. Second, the client had added (15) recess lights throughout the house to make it brighter. They looked great but each was a 6-in hole in the ceiling that allowed cool indoor air to migrate out of the house and into the attic. The air that left the house was replace by hot, humid air that leaked in thru the basement and any other pathway it could find.

The third source was the biggest culprit. The return duct system included lots of "panning". Panning is an old technique to create a pathway for air to move by placing sheet metal between wooden framing members and using the cavity formed to move air from the house back into the duct system. The problem is panning is never air tight so it draws air in from any leak in the cavity. It's really bad when the panning is in the attic, though. The air that is drawn in to be cooled and circulated back into the rooms is super-heated, humid attic air! You can see how black the insulation is in the pictures attached. Duct leakage was confirmed with a blower door test that pulled air into all the panning leaks. You could feel attic air coming out of the ductwork when the blower door was running.

The solution was to first remove the old, filthy insulation with our vacuum truck. We then proceeded to seal the framing of the house as well as the recessed lights with spray foam so there was no connection between the living space and the attic. All the panning was replaced with well insulated, air tight flex ducts. Last added 16-in of our TruSoft cellulose insulation to take the attic insulation value from the previous R-7 to a new R-60. We also sealed the basement rim joist in this house to make them less leaky. This helps keep the basement ductwork from sweating in the summer time.

The client reports her bills are not only much lower but the house is more comfortable and quieter. Comfort and energy reduction always go hand-in-hand. If you improve one, the other will automatically be better. The sound reduction comes from the cellulose which is much denser than fiberglass.

Old, original attic insulation. You can see some recessed light to the left in this picture.

This is the top of a wall underneath the insulation. Lots of air leaks out of those wiring holes as well as around the edges of the wooden top plate the holes are drilled thru. They've got to be sealed before insulation can be added.

This is panning installed between the joists. We moved the insulation to get this photo but look how filthy the insulation is. That's because the HVAC system has been dragging attic air in thru the insulation for decades and the insulation has acted as an air filter.

Here's what the top plates with the wiring holes look like after we've sealed them prior to insulating.

And here's a shot of the recessed lights sealed with fireproof covers as well as some wall top sealing. The rid and white rulers you see are used to provide feedback on insulation depth so we get a nice, even layer of insulation.

These are the flex ducts that replaced all the panning. They are one piece and are sealed at the ends so there's no leakage to the attic. They are insulated under the foil jacket to reduce heat loss. The foil jacket helps reflect heat back into the attic in the summertime. These will also be partially buried in the cellulose insulation to be added.

After all that work is done down at ceiling level, the cellulose insulation is blown-in. The top of one of the red/white rulers is just visible left of center.

And finally, here's a side-by-side of the basement rims. The one on the left was the original fiberglass batt. You can see how that doesn't stop outside air from leaking around the batt. The one on the right is filled with expanding spray foam so it is air tight and well insulated.

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Reducing Energy Bills in Florence, NJ

Challenge

Solution

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