Published: November 30, 2009 10:39 pm      

Fight the chill of winter

OLIVE HILL — Lonnie and Sharon McCoy’s monthly heating bill for their Olive Hill mobile home reached more than $400 last winter.

Still, it was drafty and cold inside the 20-year-old home they’ve owned for the last decade.

Daylight showed through the floor in several places and the blustery winter air flowed in through cracks in both the back and front doors.

Sharon McCoy said the couple realized the mobile home needed weatherization but they didn’t know where to start and could not afford it on their limited income. Sharon McCoy is disabled and her husband is retired.

But the prospect of another season of sky-high bills while they were already struggling financially was overwhelming. The couple knew they needed help.

In September a cousin suggested they contact the Northeast Kentucky Community Action Agency for help.

They applied in October and were accepted within weeks. A short time later, the improvements were completed and the McCoys expect a big difference this winter.

For decades, Northeast has administered a home weatherization program aimed at improving energy efficiency in low-income homes.

This summer, weatherization programs across the state received large grants through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Northeast serves residents in Boyd, Carter, Greenup, Lawrence, and Elliott counties. Its first stimulus allotment of $1.1 million must be used to complete projects before June 30, 2010. Additional federal stimulus dollars are expected to last through 2012.

The cash infusion will allow the agency to hire additional weatherization inspectors and buy more equipment. It also came with an increase in the income eligibility requirements -— now 200 percent of the federal poverty level — and an increase in per household allowances.

A family of four can make as much as $44,100 and still qualify. A family of two can earn up to $29,140.

The changes should allow dozens of additional projects over the next several years, said Northeast’s weatherization director Kim Tackett.

During 2007-2008, the agency weatherized 109 homes in its five-county area.

Application is simple and though the waiting list swells as the thermometer drops it is moving fairly quickly, Tackett said. She encouraged people to apply through the year and not just in the cold months.

Applicants must bring proof of ownership and copies of 12 months worth of utility bills to one of Northeast’s offices in Ashland, Olive Hill, Grayson, Greenup, Louisa and Sandy Hook.

Northeast can spend up to $6,500 per household on weatherization but must maintain a program average of $1,200 per home on heating systems, she said. If a home is served by Kentucky Power it may qualify for additional work.

Applicants go on a waiting list with a point system based on the number of people in the home, their status and income level, and how high the home’s utility bills are.

Next, an evaluator — in the McCoy’s case veteran assistant director evaluator Mickey Grills — visits the home to determine how much energy it loses and why.

A pressure test is administered with a specialized blower door. The door has a fan in the bottom that depressurizes the home and records air leakage.

“It helps you detect or find air leaks,” Tackett said.

“There was bunches here,” Grills recalled on a follow-up visit to the McCoys this month. The device showed outside air was coming in at 5,500 cubic feet per minute.

The largest heat loss was a large section of ductwork unconnected to the registers.

“Their heat was going out under the trailer,” Tackett added.

Duct leakage is the most common culprit and the most responsible for home energy loss, Grills said.

Grills then completed a needs audit to determine what improvements would garner the most energy savings.

Besides repairing and insulating the duct work, major work was done under the trailer, including insulating under the floor and installing a ground cover.

New front and back doors took care of major air leak sources and part of the kitchen floor was replaced to repair more leaks.

Three smoke alarms and a carbon monoxide detector were added. A new low-flow shower head cut down on water consumption and heating costs.

Following the improvements, another reading determines how much leakage was eliminated.

The improvements reduced the McCoy’s reading to 1,650 cubic feet per minute of air loss, much better than the goal of 3,200 cubic feet per minute, Tackett said.

The difference is tangible in more ways than one.

“It’s real nice,” Sharon McCoy said. “It stays hot in here. It’s amazing how much warm air comes up now. It hits you in the face strong,” she said. “In that bedroom last winter that room was like a refrigerator.”

“Now since they’ve got that fixed, we keep our thermostat at 68,” she said. They used to keep it at 70 degrees and the furnace ran constantly, she said.

Although winter has not started, the McCoys have already seen their utility bills dip sharply.

“Our electric bill might be 70 or 80 dollars,” said Sharon McCoy. “We ain’t going to be able to get used to that,” she laughed.

The couple does receives some assistance with utility bills through Northeast and Rural Electric Administration.

CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at cstambaugh@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.