Texas EV Tax: Please Comment

There is no provision for fresh air in the HVAC system at all. I haven't seen a system that allows you to draw outside air in decades. Unfortunately, the only way to add it to this system is to tunnel under the slab. I wouldn't want it anyway. The whole reason I discovered the leakage was shortly after we moved in and one night I started smelling the overpowering fake flower smell. It was so strong that it burned my nose. After a while I figured out that it was the neighbor's dryer vent and air was being sucked in my front door by the HVAC. The outside was so bad I couldn't work in the yard. It's still that way several times a day.

I thought maybe I was just becoming sensitive, but we've been fumigated during family barbecues and my guests mention the strong odor and ask me where it comes from. I have to shut down the HVAC, make sure any doors or windows are closed, and come in from outside if I'm out there whenever they do laundry. How people are allowed to fumigate their entire neighborhood with foul smelling carcinogens is beyond me, but a whole other topic.

 

What a different world we each live in
The Midwest had issues with houses not being able to ‘breathe’ as houses were made tighter and tighter.
This led to air pressure differences between the inside and outside, and air would force its way out.
This led to damage and increased energy use.

I don’t know how your climate affects your mechanical system, but the issues you are having sound similar.
It is just such a foreign concept for me to build a well insulated house without a fresh air exchanger/intake.

 

I've always wanted to install an energy recovering ventilator, but I haven't figured out how to get fresh air without getting gassed by my neighbor's constant laundry habits. I've thought about a whole house fan with roof intake as I believe the smell hugs the ground.

 

My R-30-ish attic insulation had significant trampling and holes from some work up there. After the neighboring 'twin' house suffered a burst fire sprinkler when the owners were away during a winter hard cold spell, I decided that my own needed a preventative upgrade, as my sprinkler pipes went through the most compromised areas of insulation. While prepping, I found a significant portion of ceiling had no insulation at all. Filling in the missing places probably had more summer benefit than the boost elsewhere.

New roofing also brought greatly improved attic ventilation, considerably reducing the previously hot temperatures up there (I had previously installed a remote thermometer to monitor it.) Then rooftop solar panels provided sunstantial shade to the attic, reducing temperatures even more.

And the neighbor's trees have continued to grow, providing more afternoon shade.

The eves on this house are set just right so that no direct sunlight flows into any south side windows for almost 3 summer months. (The geometry is very specific to latitude.) (No windows face west.) But a lot of hot sun did flow in the lower portions of the deck slider door. After originally closing the blinds to try to reflect some of that out (that heat must come in first, then the reflection out is rather inefficient), then putting up a wood blocking panel outside to intercept the direct sun before entering the window (getting in the way of actually using that door), I now have a shade roll suspended from the eves outside the door. The height is adjusted every week or so through the summer to account for the changing solar elevation. Blocking solar heat gain from the outside, rather than trying to reflect part it back from the inside, has proven far more effective.

Is there any sort of HVAC air return at all?

Without central HVAC, I don't have that particular issue. Other than bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans, air infiltration is driven by normal thermal stack pressure, and by any wind. I did a lot of caulking and sealing around most plumbing and electrical penetrations of the building envelope. During the insulation upgrade, I also caulked many gaps in the interior wall framing / drywall joints to the attic, to reduce the flow of winter convective losses.

An energy audit blower door test found the house tightened down to below the minimum needed air change rate. But I had also recently installed programmed timers on the bathroom exhaust fans, thus receiving the auditor's approval.

 

There is no outside air unless windows are open. None of the three bathrooms even have an exhaust fan. The kitchen does not have ventilation to the outside either. The HVAC return is on the 1st floor in the main living room area. It's 100% recirculation. I know there's a leak because if you crack a door or window you can feel the air rushing in. I just can't find where it's leaking out. I've been around the attic and don't see anything obvious. I think it's in the space between the floors because I've opened a light switch box and felt cold air blowing out when it's running. If that's the case it may not be economical to fix it.

 

Does your utility offer free ‘energy audits’?
In our area, you can get a low or no cost energy audit.
An auditor, in our case, comes out with an IR camera and performs a blower door test.
This gives a very good idea of where the leaks are, and roughly how bad they are.

 

I don't know, but the leak is in the ductwork, not the house. I don't think they'll test that for you.

 

Is it certain that it is a leak out, vs an insufficient return path coming back?

E.g. if a bunch of air flow is being pumped behind closed doors, without a sufficiently free path to come back, pressure will build up there and a significant amount of that air will find leak paths to go outside. Back at the furnace, this must be made up with new outside air.

One way to check is to open all interior doors, then see how much outside air rushes in through the cracked door or window. If it falls sharply compared to the normal interior door positions, then this seems like a likely culprit.

For HVAC efficiency, keep all interior doors open whenever possible. For fire safety, especially when sleeping, keep all interior doors closed whenever possible. Resolving that paradox is up to you.

When exploring new home construction in the neighborhood, I've noticed a few examples of crushed ducting, which the future homeowner won't see after the drywall is installed.

I obtained such an audit when it was offered at low cost, and it was quite worthwhile. But that particular program has ended, most of the low hanging and willing fruit has already been harvested locally.

 

I'm certain. Sometimes I create that "problem" on purpose to get some fresh air circulating. I just close all the bedroom/bathroom doors with a window open and run the HVAC fan. But even with every room in the house open we get the rushing air.

 

Regardless, it may be worth looking into.
I got tons of information with some tips and coupons for insulation, caulking, and such.

 

In my house, There is a short ceiling duct running from just inside the door to just outside the door of each bedroom. It is not attached to HVAC system. Best I can tell, its purpose is to allow airflow when the door is closed.But we have to keep the bedroom door ajar anyway so our cat has access to both our bedrrom and to the room where his litter box and food bowl is.

 

I didn't notice then that the article was just a repost of an item from several years ago.

With an Excessive Heat Warning starting this afternoon, an update came out today: Seattle 44%, SF 47%, Portland 78%.