Here a tip on fixing air leaks at your house. Do you have a microwave up on a wall or cabinet with a vent that blows air out? Guess what, it is costing you money even when it is not turned on!

How could that happened?

During cold winter days, the warm air in the room is seeping out the vent. The worst thing is, cold air from the outside is being blown into the house through the vent!

To check whether your microwave is an air leak in your house is simple. Get the Black & Decker TLD100 and use it to check the temperature of the microwave and its surrounding area.

Most probably, you will find the surrounding area is much warmer that the microwave. If the temperature difference is very big, you’ll have a problem there. This basically means there is a big gaping hole where the hot air is escaping.

The microwave using a vent that is blowing off all the cooking smoke will come out off one of the vents by the side of your house. The problem is, the vent is not very well insulated. If you were to look closely, it is just a piece of flimsy tin cover.

When there is a strong gasp of wind, the cover will open and letting the cold air into your warm room.

Guess what? You may not be able to feel the cold air coming it, but the thermostat will sense it.

The thermostat will then keep the heater running harder and longer. That is how the wall microwave will cost you money even though it is switched off.

How do you fix this problem?

Sadly, there is not a lot you can do to fix this issue. What you can do is seal all the surrounding area around the microwave to make sure no hot air is getting out and no cold air is getting in.

When you’ve finished with the seal, use the Black & Decker TLD100 again to check the surface temperature.

After you have built the Do It Yourself (DIY) solar panel, the next step is to install it on the roof of your house and start to connect all the components together.

What type of wire should you use for the solar panel?

The type of wire recommended is the BX wire which is really just 12 gauge wire with a wrapping of sturdy aluminum to protect it from the harsh external environment.

BX wires are typically used in household wiring and it is very common in any hardware store. Using a 12 gauge wire is adequate for a small home solar power system.

When wiring the solar panel, remember, the black wire is for the positive run of the solder Photovoltaic (PV) cells. The white wire will be negative and to be connected to the negative run.

Finally, the green wire is the neutral and will be connected to the solar panel and acts at the grounding wire.

To begin the wiring process, start by stripping about an inch off its end. Next, connect the positive and negative run wire from the solar panel to the respective wire on the BX wire.

Use a pair of pliers on the ends and give it a good solid twist on the exposed copper wire. Finish it off by placing a wire nut on the connections.

Here’s a tip. Be very careful when installing the solar panel. Even though it is just producing about 18 volt of electricity, it still can give you a nasty shock. The shock will not kill you but it might just unbalance your footing and cause you to fall off the roof!

The final stage of installing your homemade solar panel is to connect the wire to the charge controller and let it run.

Home Solar Panel Installation Guide

Do you need some help installing the solar panel on the roof?

If you do, check out John Peyton’s Solar Installation Video Course.

The course comes with step by step instructional videos for installing solar panel on rooftop, ground and also pole mounting.

With over 90 minutes of High Definition (HD) video instructions, you’ll be able to see how a professional installation is done and what steps are involved.

==> Click here to visit the Solar Installation Video Course now!

Looking for leaks around the windows, doors and areas around your house you would never check?

There’s a very cool gadget I just got from Amazon.com, it is the Black & Decker TLD100. It is such a cool tool you’ll think it is a device from Star Trek!

It uses laser technology to detect temperature. Well, laser temperature detection gadgets have been around for quite awhile. So, what’s different about the Black & Decker TLD100? Check this out…

First, you point it at the area you are looking for the temperature. Let’s take a door as an example. You switch on the TLD100 and point it at the door. It will give you a reference temperature. You will see a green light on the door. The green light will indicate the reference temperature of the door.

In the front of the device, there is a “selector” to choose either a 1 degree hotter or colder, the light emitted by the device will change. A blue light will indicate the surface is 1 degree colder than the reference temperature. The red light indicates it is 1 degree hotter. It is that simple.

You can choose the selector to 1, 5 or 10 degree settings. At 1 degree, the device is already very sensitive which is great if you are checking for minute temperature differences.

How do you use the TLD100?

You start of by pointing it to the surface of the door and you will get the temperature. What we want to check are air leaks around the door. Move the light to the crack of the door and if you see the light turns blue, it means the temperature is lower because air is seeping in. The device will also indicate the exact temperature of the door crack area. Awesome!

Move the light all the way around the door jam and mark any area with a blue light shined on it. Cold air is seeping into your house and you have to seal it.

You may not be able to feel the cold air coming into the room through the door, but the thermostat will feel it and it will let the heater go on and spiking your electricity bill.

If you were to seal the sides of the door, it may cost you maybe $4 to $5 and it would definitely worth your while to put it in. The amount of money you save on the long run will be substantial.

What you can do now is take the TLD100 around your house and look for other air leaks. It is fun and it’ll save you money.

Where can you get the Black & Decker TLD100?

I got it from Amazon.com with free shipping included. Click on the link below for more information.