Advanced Home Energy

Advance Home Energy came out to my home and did a very thorough analysis of my energy needs, and made me aware of potential problems with my heating devices - stove, furnace, etc. They gave me very detailed reports and were very helpful and courteous.

Jose Ruiz led the work crew a our home for our energy upgrade work. He and his crew arrived on time, worked hard the whole day and cleaned up every day before they left. We are very pleased with the quality of work and the work crew!

Advanced Home Energy helped me do a whole efficiency upgrade to my home. Their technician Laura first came and did a test-in. She used high-tech tools to measure the leakage of the house and the old ductwork, the performance and safety of all my gas appliances, efficiency of windows, and existing insulation. Then they sent me an extremely thorough report with recommendations, explanations, and projected energy savings for different measures we could take. We ended up replacing my 1955 furnace with a new high efficiency furnace, and they suggested I put it in my attic instead of a closet. We actually gained a huge closet space as a side-benefit! AHE then installed all new insulated ducts and sealed them super-tight. There was one guy who spent a whole day literally painting this duct mastic inside all my register boxes so they'd be absolutely air-tight. Then after the furnace was installed, we did blown-in cellulose in my attic and walls, air sealing in the crawlspace, all new dual-pane windows which look GREAT, and I even got a nice set of pull-down attic stairs out of the deal where there used to be just a 2' x 2' hole. I had asked if the furnace be situated so that I could have some attic storage space available, and they more than accommodated my request. I also asked if the furnace would be quiet, and they explained that to help with this, they install an "acoustic loop" in the return air duct, which means that the duct travels a longer distance between the return air grille in my ceiling and the actuall furnace. Man, I can barely hear this thing when it fires up!
Laura came back and did a test-out, to see if they had met their projected energy savings. They hadn't only met them, they had exceeded them. They submitted all the paperwork to the Energy Upgrade California program, and about 6 weeks later, I got a rebate check for $4500!!!!!
Now we are several months into winter, and I was really curious what our utility bills would look like. Well, let me start by saying that my wife had a baby (a home birth in our toasty, quiet house!) on December 7. We had the thermostat set on 71 degrees for the entire month of December and January, all day, every day. Last winter, I kept the thermostat on 68 at night, and left it off for 8 hours a day while we were at work. Even with the extreme increase in heat usage from last winter to this winter, our energy bills are HALF of what they used to be. I'm saving at least $100/month all winter. Between that and the rebate, this job is going to pay for itself within 10 years. And my family and I get the benefits of living in a quiet, comfortable home. I am absolutely elated. Why isn't everyone doing this?!? Thanks, AHE!