Wastewater Heat Recovery System

A wastewater heat recovery system reduces the amount of energy a water heater needs to produce hot water. During a shower, most of the heat from the hot water is lost when the water drains. A wastewater heat recovery system uses a special drain to capture this heat before it leaves the building and uses it to preheat water before it goes into the water heater.

Box Sill Insulation

Box sills of homes are sometimes poorly insulated and air sealed due to their tight location between the top of the basement wall and the start of the floor trusses. Homeowners can use urethane foam to improve air sealing and insulation.

Wall Insulation

Despite the fact that most basement walls and floors are buffered by surrounding soil, they still can be sources of large energy loss. To achieve maximum energy efficiency, homes must be well insulated on all six sides (ceiling, walls and under the basement slab), both above and below the ground level.

Structural Plumbing Loop

In many homes, the hot water faucet has to be run for a while before hot water reaches the faucet, resulting in wasted water and energy. Homes that use a structural plumbing loop enable homeowners to activate a system that ensures they will have hot water at the faucet immediately, often with less than a cup of water wasted. This type of user-activated system is preferred over systems that are continually circulating because those types of plumbing structures can have very large energy losses through the piping system or through the operation of a pump.