How Many Leaks Does My House Have?

Today a man named Paul Schmidt came by the house. He wore a Red Sox baseball cap and held a clipboard. He works for Honeywell, and was there to inspect my new furnace. As gas and oil prices go up and up, I thought about how much more important people are who help us conserve energy and plug up the leaks. But the sad thing is that their budget has been pared way back, so now the only rebates they have left are for big ticket expenses like new furnaces.

My basement's pride and joy is my new Buderus super efficient boiler that pumps water into my old steam heat system for efficient home heating. This expensive marvel earned me $800 back from the electric company, and Paul told me I'd be saving a lot when this shiny blue furnace was operating. He said that for $75 I could have a guy come and do an infrared scan of the whole house, showing each tiny leak. Or they could hook up a blower door that would show all of the air leakage that comes in, wasting energy in little cracks and leaks. Air infiltration can account for a whopping 30% of my heating costs. Bring on the blower!