Energy Efficiency Quality Assurance

Editor's Notes

1. http://www.irinfo.org/articles/12-1-2013-kochanek.htmlArgon gas cooling
2. We took what we learned from Operation Insulation and took that to another level for the sound insulation program that we managed for the Minneapolis – St. Paul airport. The project started in 1992 with the goal to reduce the impact of airport noise on the residences around the airport. The work was funded by the FAA and the Metropolitan Airports Commission. The program treated over 13,000 homes.This work included the installation of acoustic windows and doors and air conditioning for the homes that didn’t have functioning AC. It also included attic and wall insulation and attic bypass sealing. So we had many of the same issues with insulation contractor quality control that low-income weatherization and utility programs have. Except in our case the program had a very high profile.
3. For example, in 1996 I woke up one Saturday morning to the following headline – not exactly how I had hoped to start my weekend. It turns out that five of the houses that had been sound insulated had some combustion safety issues and there were concerns that some of the houses had gotten overly tight.No one wants to have this kind of press for a program that is intended to benefit households. Much in the same way that you wouldn’t want a LIWX or utility program having complaints about poor work by insulation contractors.
4. In this case the main issues were furnace and water heater combustion gas spillage and carbon monoxide. The concern was that they could down draft or spill as the houses were tightened. In addition, tighter houses could mean that infiltration through house leaks wouldn’t be enough to properly ventilate the houses.At that time the program had treated 3,200 homes, so this was a significant concern.
5. MAC took this very seriously. They suspended the program and brought in a group of international experts including a couple of local people - David Grimsrud and Matt Wilber. We established a comprehensive test and design process to assure that any combustion safety and ventilation issues were addressed. The tests included worst-case combustion spillage & carbon monoxide under normal and down-draft conditions. We established pass/fail criteria for those tests. The tests were performed when the houses were coming into the program and repeated after the insulation work was completed. The homeowners had to address any pre-existing failures and the program paid for remediation for work due to house tightening. In fact, we tried to anticipate problems as much as possible and design the solution into the retrofit package.With experience we found that many of the combustion vent systems were undersized or improperly installed. So we compared the connector and chimney sizes to code requirements to determine our recommendations.We also established a house tightness criteria to determine when mechanical ventilation was required.
6. At that time there wasn’t an established guideline or standard for house tightness. We based ours on a comparison of the house floor area to the blower door cfm50. We added either bathroom or kitchen exhaust fans that were quiet and rated for continuous operation. We based the ventilation design on the current house tightness and our experience of how much the house would be tightened by the program measures – which was 10% for tighter houses and up to 35% for leakier houses.
7. After we implemented the test and design process we had very few “failures” when the work was completed. In addition to using the new process for all of the incoming houses, we also went back and tested the 3,200 houses that had already been treated.An interesting outcome of the project was many of the problems were pre-existing. So what was originally thought were problems caused by the sound program were already present before the houses were treated.
8. That effort was focused on indoor air quality or combustion safety and ventilation.This same level of quality control was applied to our insulation contractors. We were working with 35 to 75 additional houses each month. So this was seen as a significant business opportunity for insulation contractors and many contractors were interested in getting involved. We established a comprehensive process for the work standards, initial training/certification, quality assurance inspections, and performance level required to remain in the program.
9. Experience boiled down to 5 keys of QA programEstablish standards, have contractor agree to standards…
10. Applied these keys to MER AIC program, a QA program for their air sealing and insulation rebate program. Adapted from sound include 20 pages on material and installation requirementsContractors must agree to complete work to standards as well as other requirements you would like for your program…examples hereNeed incentive: AIC must be on list to offer MER rebate, sound and OI produced a lot of business for contractors
11. 3rd key verify abilityRequire the BPI installer certificationHands on skills based certification where contractor shows ability to air seal (picture examples) 9 total air sealing and 3 dense packing tasksDeveloped by Jim FitzFor ind crew leader not contractor, person on-site doing the work
12. Remote QA procedure, where crew leader uses a smart phone to send pictures. Saves time and money, esp. MER which is very large territory and would require travelComplete on every job in the beginning, important to verify skill early to get on same page about requirementsImportant so you don’t get behind on contractor work, like with post checks, contractor could complete 10 jobs before you have chanceAlso makes scheduling easierComplete on-site once skill verified, also do one on first jobs then complete on a sampleDeveloped QA app where assessor can enter data on site, allows for tracking data and creating database of QA infoApp generates report and score for contractor, gives the contractor feedback on areas to improve and is specific to crew leader, reports can be e-mailed on site
13. Need to hold contractor to requirementsMust clearly outline probation and suspension procedures for contractorAIC requires additional QA phone visits so more work is not completed without being checked, get back on same page with crew leaderAlso require on-line training to brush up on testing procedures and requirementsThis is also required during entry to reiterate the training during entryIt is an interactive on-line course that includes short quizesWe are informed when contractors have completed this
14. For details visit our websiteIf you have specific question feel free to e-mail me using the address here.