With the crisp autumn air beckoning and winter lurking around the corner, it's time to prepare our homes for the chilly months ahead! Eric G. is here to spill the beans on how we can save some serious cash and keep our homes cozy without breaking the bank. Forget about splurging on a brand-new furnace; all you need is a Saturday and a bit of elbow grease! We dive into the world of duct sealing—yes, that’s a thing—and how it can drastically cut down your heating bill by as much as 30%. Imagine saving that extra cash just by sealing up those sneaky ducts hiding in your attic or basement! Eric shares practical tips on what materials to use and how to spot those trouble spots, ensuring your home stays toasty while your wallet stays happy. But that's not all! We also chat about the wonders of thermal imaging cameras—specifically, the nifty little device that clips right onto your phone. It’s like a superpower for your home; you can see where that sneaky heat is escaping or where moisture might be creeping in. Talk about a game changer! Eric walks us through how to use this handy gadget to its full potential, making sure we’re not just saving money but also keeping our homes in tip-top shape. Finally, we wrap up with a gentle reminder to check those air filters. You'd be surprised how many folks neglect this simple task, potentially wasting money and energy. Eric emphasizes the importance of getting the right filter in place and even scheduling that fall HVAC check-up. So, grab your tools and let’s tackle these fixes together this weekend!

Takeaways:

• You can save big bucks this winter just by sealing those pesky ducts around your house.
• A thermal imaging camera is your new best friend for spotting insulation issues without breaking a sweat.
• Checking and replacing your HVAC filters is a simple Saturday task that makes a huge difference in efficiency.
• Weather stripping around doors and windows can make your home feel cozier while saving you a ton on energy bills.
• A little DIY maintenance can lead to savings of hundreds of dollars on heating bills each year, so get your toolbox ready!
• Don't forget to schedule a fall HVAC check-up to ensure everything's running smoothly before the cold hits.

Links referenced in this episode:

• rision.com
• aroundthehousehq.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Rison

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Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.

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The House with Eric G. Your go to source for everything home improvement.

Whether you're a DIY enthusiast or just looking to make your space shine, Eric.

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So grab your toolbox, put on your thinking cap, and let's get to work right here on around the House with.

Eric G. Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.

I'm Eric G. Thanks.

Running today.

This is our midweek special.

This is that show that didn't make it into last weekend's show and of course, this weekend's show.

Back from well, I've been out here a little bit of a holiday this week, but had my hand surgery last week doing well and nice to have that behind me.

So I think I'm surgery free for the rest of the year, so we should be good to go.

Well, I wanted to talk about something today in our midweek that is interesting because I think there's some things that we can talk about to save you a little bit of money.

So I thought, you know, let's do one weekend, three fixes for you guys here.

So maybe it's this weekend or the following weekend, but things to look around the house and see what do I gotta fix.

Here's the first one.

You don't need a new furnace to cut your heating bill this winter.

You just need one Saturday.

So here's what I would do.

Number one, do a little bit of duct ceiling.

This is going to be your biggest dollar impact.

So a little bit of duct ceiling can save you 20 to 30% of your heating bill.

That could be 300 bucks a year easy, and another little bit for the materials.

So here's the thing.

What I want you to do is look first.

If you've got a newer home, it could be dialed in.

My old house wasn't.

There's a ton of issues.

So here's where you look first, attic, crawl space, basement duct joints, wherever that is.

Take a look at all of them.

If you don't have them, if it's metal, you want to see a good foil tape around them.

If it looks almost like a plaster white around it, that's asbestos.

So stay well away from that.

Don't touch it.

Just leave it alone.

If anything, if it's frayed up, this is the time that you follow the asbestos rules here and just go ahead and encapsulate that.

You can put a coating over the top of that.

Figure out what coding is available in your area.

Simple online fix but you can roll around, you know that around the outside of it.

Make sure you follow the rules.

Don't make up any dust.

All that stuff that's going to be something that's going to be probably 50s, 60s, maybe early 70s.

You just don't see that much of that stuff.

But that's where you'll see that.

So don't mess with that stuff.

So I like if you've got metal, a good foil tape for any of those accessible joints.

Another thing you can do is if you're doing some remodeling work, take a look at the joints, joints that are in any wall cavities as well.

You know, if you're doing stuff, here's one trick and I found one that I went and fixed.

I could tell that the sheetrock was warm in this space.

So what you can do is run out and get yourself one of those thermal imaging cameras.

There's one that I really like that I just got in.

And this thing is super cool.

It is made by a company called Rison R I S I O N and it is super cool.

It goes on your phone and it is called the Magic.

And this thing is super Trick.

This is a compact thermal camera.

So the Ryzen Magic, you could jump online, get it for 119 bucks.

It's in stock in the U.S. no setup.

It is a grab and go clicks onto your, onto your phone, off you go.

So what it does is it gives you industry leading single lens AI dual light vision.

So you get the visible and thermal details and then you get works great with your phone.

So super cool stuff.

So this works with Android, iOS and Windows PC.

So this works on all of it.

This thing is Trick.

So you just basically plug it onto your laptop, your computer or your Android or phone, Apple iPhone and you're good to go.

So you can go through and go real time temp monitoring.

So what I like to do with these is I walk around the inside of the house and for 119 bucks you get to use it, you get to have it, you get to.

It's super cool.

So you can walk around and say okay, what is the temperature here?

And it will show you where you're missing insulation.

It will show you where it could even be wet insulation because it will be colder.

So if you have a wall leak or a roof leak.

It's going to show you all of those things.

You'll see where the air is coming in through the outlets.

And you'll want to do this on a cold morning or a hot day.

Take a look around the doors.

This is going to be something for, I mean 119 bucks on the rision.com website.

And I've got one, they sent one to me to play with.

I love it.

So what it does is it's going to tell you all those places you need to beef up.

So if you've got, in my case, if you've got a wall that has a duct that has come loose, it's going to show you that you've got a huge heat problem right there.

You'll see a big like red spot on the wall, for instance, through the, the imaging camera.

Great way to go.

So take a look at that Ryzen.

Nice stuff.

I like it.

I would do that for my house.

And it's going to save you some money because you can go around and go, okay, what, what can we button up around here and get it looking good?

And of course it's going to save you some money.

So check out those ducks.

You can do the same thing and see where those leaks are.

You'd be surprised.

I mean most, I would say most older systems out there could be leaking 10, 15, 20% pretty easily.

So that's an easy one.

And then of course next, your next one here is checking the weather stripping, doors, windows, you know, I mean you can really find those.

And if you use that thermal imaging camera, you're going to see that coming through there because you'll see the cold mark around it.

So take a look.

Just an air leak around a window.

A door can be equal to a small window being open.

And when it's cool or hot outside, that's not good.

The next one here, here's Fix 3.

When was the last time you changed the filter?

Maybe it's the filter on your ERV system.

If you've got a newer house, maybe it's the filter on your H vac system.

And if you just bought a new house, make sure they put the right filter in there.

I was just this last week over at the kids place that the house they got, I went, you know, I got a feeling these clowns didn't put the right filter.

And they probably still have the construction filter.

And yes, wasn't too happy about this.

Instead of putting in the 80 filter during construction, they took a 1 inch like low merv filter, shoved it in there the wrong size, bent up.

50% Of the air was going around the outside.

So I pulled it out, put the real filter in there and got that going for him before they moved in this weekend.

So getting that stuff dialed in.

So make sure it's in there.

The other thing I would do is if you haven't done it yet, make sure you call your local H vac company that services.

Make sure you get your fall checkup serviced.

Where they come out there, dial in.

If you've got heat that they've got that working for you.

If you've got AC still going, they can take a look at that.

They'll go through, clean things up.

And if you're on gas or oil, they're gonna actually fine tune that.

Kind of like adjusting a carburetor in a car so that you're getting the right burn ratio.

You could be wasting a ton of gas.

Whether it's natural gas or propane or oil.

Nobody wants that.

So take a look at that and make sure.

So get that all dialed in and you should be good to go.

All right, everybody, have a great rest of the week.

We got a great show coming up on Labor Day this weekend where we're gonna go back and grab some abso absolute amazing shows from the history and I can't wait to show those to you.

You'll see that on the Tease on probably Thursday afternoon, Friday, whenever that comes out, and we'll see you then.

Have a great rest of the week.

Thanks for tuning in to around the House.

We'll see you soon.

Thanks for tuning in to the around the House show.

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