Doing a DIY energy audit is one of the best ways for homeowners to check and improve their home’s energy efficiency. An energy audit, or home energy check, helps you spot problems like air leaks, poor insulation, or old appliances that use too much power. By finding and fixing these issues, you can lower your energy bills, make your home more comfortable, and help protect the environment. In this guide, we’ll go over the best tools for a DIY energy audit. These tools range from simple energy-saving devices to high-tech gadgets that can find where energy is being wasted. Whether you want to improve your home’s insulation, check for air leaks, or track how much electricity you are using, these tools will help make your home more energy-efficient.
Quick Summary
- A DIY energy audit helps you find and fix energy waste, saving money and improving comfort.
- Tools like thermal cameras, smoke pencils, and energy monitors help you spot issues more easily.
- The audit gives you a plan for future improvements, which leads to long-term savings and a more energy-efficient home.
Why Perform a DIY Energy Audit?
Before we get into the tools, let’s go over why doing your own energy audit is so helpful:
Benefits of a DIY Energy Audit:
- Find where energy is being wasted: An energy audit can help you spot issues like air leaks, old insulation, or appliances that use too much energy.
- Make your home more energy-efficient: A full audit shows where you can improve to use less energy and make your home more comfortable.
- Save money on energy bills: By finding ways to save energy, you can lower your energy use and cut costs over time.
- Increase your home’s value: Homes that are energy-efficient are more appealing to buyers, so making your home more efficient can raise its value.
Must-Have Tools for a DIY Energy Audit
1. Infrared Thermometers and Thermal Imaging
Infrared Thermometer ($30-$60)
An infrared thermometer is one of the most useful and affordable tools for your DIY energy audit toolkit. This handheld device works like a temperature gun that you point at different surfaces in your home. It tells you the exact temperature of walls, windows, doors, and air ducts without you having to touch anything.
The reason this tool is so helpful is that it can quickly show you where heat is escaping from your house. When you compare the temperature of different areas, you can spot problems right away. For example, if most of your living room wall reads 68°F but the area around a window frame shows 60°F, you’ve found a problem area. That 8-degree difference means heat is leaking out through gaps around the window.
How to use an infrared thermometer effectively:
- Point the device at walls, windows, doors, and ceilings throughout your home
- Take readings from similar areas and write down the numbers
- Look for big temperature differences that might mean insulation gaps or air leaks
- Check the same spots during different times of day to see how temperatures change
Benefits:
- Quick and easy to learn how to use
- Cost much less than professional equipment
- Help you find the best places to add weather stripping or improve insulation
- Work well in any season to find problem areas
Thermal Imaging Cameras ($200-$1,000 or rentals for $50-$100/day)
While thermal cameras cost more than infrared thermometers, they give you a complete picture of heat loss throughout your home. Instead of just showing you numbers, thermal cameras create colorful pictures that make energy problems easy to see and understand.
These amazing devices show temperature differences using colors. Red, orange, and yellow areas show heat, which could be escaping in winter or entering in summer. Blue and purple areas show cooler temperatures. When you see sharp differences between colors, you’ve usually found a problem that needs fixing.
Many local libraries and utility companies now let people borrow thermal cameras for free or rent them cheaply. This makes these expensive tools available to regular homeowners who want to do their own energy audits. Some hardware stores also rent them for weekend projects.
How to use thermal cameras properly:
- Scan walls, ceilings, windows, doors, and air ducts slowly and carefully
- Look for color changes that show temperature differences
- Take pictures of problem areas so you can remember where to make fixes
- Use the camera during the biggest temperature differences between inside and outside
Benefits:
- Show you a complete view of your home’s energy efficiency problems
- Can find hidden issues like leaks behind walls or in ceilings that you can’t see otherwise
- Create a visual record of problems that you can show to contractors if needed
- Help you prioritize which problems to fix first based on how bad they look
2. Air Leak Detection Tools for DIY Energy Audit
Smoke Pencils ($10-$30)
Smoke pencils are simple but very effective tools that help you see air movement in your home. These devices create a thin stream of visible smoke that moves with even the smallest air currents. When you hold a smoke pencil near windows, doors, electrical outlets, and other spots where air might leak, you can actually see the smoke move toward or away from the leak.
This visual method makes it easy to understand where air is moving in and out of your house. The smoke shows you exactly where to focus your sealing efforts, which saves you time and money on materials. You don’t have to guess where problems might be – the smoke shows you for sure.
DIY alternatives for smoke pencils: If you don’t want to buy a smoke pencil right away, you can use a stick of incense or even hold a damp hand near potential leak spots. However, these methods aren’t as precise as real smoke pencils, so they might miss smaller leaks.
Digital Draft Detectors ($30-$80)
Digital draft detectors are electronic devices that measure air movement and temperature differences more precisely than smoke tests. Many newer models can even save data over time, so you can track how air leak problems change during different weather conditions or seasons.
These tools work especially well when you want exact measurements instead of just seeing where air moves. Some models can detect very small air movements that might be hard to see with smoke pencils, especially in areas with lots of other air movement.
Blower Door Kits (Rentals $150-$300/day)
A blower door test is one of the most effective ways to test for air leaks in your home. The blower door kit works by blowing air into your home while measuring how much air is escaping. This test helps you pinpoint drafty areas and areas that need better sealing or insulation.
While professional-grade blower door tests are typically part of paid energy audits, DIY kits have emerged for dedicated homeowners:
- The device lowers the pressure in your home, making air leaks easier to see.
- When used with smoke pencils, it can show even the smallest air leaks.
- The measurements help you focus on fixing the biggest leaks first.
According to research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, air leaks can account for 25-40% of heating and cooling energy loss in a typical home, making their detection a high-priority task.
How to use blower door test equipment:
- Set up the fan system in a main doorway according to the instructions
- Turn on the fan and let it change the air pressure in your house
- Use smoke pencils during the test to see even tiny leaks more clearly
- Take measurements that show how much air is escaping
- Use the data to make a priority list of which leaks to fix first
Benefits:
- Gives you accurate measurements of total air leakage in your home
- Helps find leaks you can’t see, especially around windows, doors, and in attic spaces
- Shows you which repairs will give you the biggest energy savings
- Creates a baseline measurement that you can compare to after making improvements
3. Electricity Usage Monitoring Tools for DIY Energy Audit
Kill-A-Watt Meter ($20-$40)
A Kill-A-Watt meter is a simple device that plugs into any wall outlet and measures exactly how much electricity individual appliances use. This tool helps you find “phantom loads” – electricity that devices use even when they’re turned off but still plugged in.
Many people don’t realize that electronics like phone chargers, televisions, computer speakers, and coffee makers continue drawing power even when you’re not using them. Studies show that these phantom loads can account for up to 10% of electricity use. If your monthly electric bill is $150, that means you might be paying $15 just for devices that are sitting there doing nothing.
Kill-A-Watt meters plug between any appliance and your wall outlet. They show you real-time electricity use and can calculate costs based on your local electricity rates. This helps you make smart decisions about which devices to unplug when not in use and which old appliances might be worth replacing with newer, more efficient models.
How to use Kill-A-Watt meters effectively:
- Plug the meter into a wall outlet, then plug your appliance into the meter
- Let major appliances run normally for 24-48 hours to get accurate usage data
- Check the display to see how much power the appliance uses when running and when in standby mode
- Compare older appliances with the energy specifications of newer models
- Calculate yearly costs by multiplying daily usage by your electricity rate
Benefits:
- Work with any standard electrical appliance or device
- Show both active power use and standby power consumption
- Help you understand which appliances cost the most to operate
- Let you test the effectiveness of energy-saving settings on different devices
Smart Home Energy Monitors ($100-$300)
Smart energy monitors give you a complete picture of electricity usage throughout your entire home. These systems connect to your electrical panel and use smartphone apps to show real-time data about energy consumption. Unlike Kill-A-Watt meters that test one device at a time, smart monitors track everything at once.
- Sense Energy Monitor tracks individual appliance signatures
- Emporia Vue monitors individual circuits (we use this energy monitor and love it!)
- Eyedro EYEFI tracks usage patterns over time
How smart energy monitors work:
- Professional installation connects the monitor to your main electrical panel
- The device tracks electricity flow throughout your home’s electrical system
- Smartphone apps show real-time usage data and historical patterns
- Some models can identify specific appliances and track their individual usage
- Alerts notify you when usage spikes unexpectedly
Benefits:
- Track energy usage at the appliance level without moving meters around
- Identify patterns like which times of day use the most electricity
- Get alerts about unusual energy usage that might indicate equipment problems
- Monitor the effectiveness of energy-saving improvements over time
Smart Plugs with Energy Monitoring ($15-$40 each)
Smart plugs combine energy monitoring with remote control features. These Wi-Fi connected outlets let you monitor individual devices while also giving you the ability to turn them on and off remotely or set automatic schedules.
- Schedule high-consumption devices to run during off-peak hours
- Create usage reports for specific appliances
- Automatically power down devices when not needed
4. HVAC and Ventilation Assessment Tools for DIY Energy Audit
HVAC Efficiency Measurement Kit ($50-$150)
Your heating and cooling system probably uses more energy than any other part of your home, so checking its efficiency is crucial for any DIY energy audit. HVAC efficiency measurement kits include tools to test how well your system is working and identify problems that waste energy.
These kits typically include:
- Supply/return temperature thermometers
- Airflow measurement tools
- Filter inspection guides
By measuring the temperature difference between the supply and return vents, you can check how well your system is working. For cooling systems, a 14-20°F difference is ideal, while heating systems should show a 40-70°F difference.
Carbon Monoxide Detectors ($20-$80)
While carbon monoxide detectors are mainly safety devices, they play an important role in energy audits too. Heating systems, water heaters, and gas appliances that aren’t working efficiently can produce dangerous carbon monoxide gas while also wasting energy.
During your energy audit, make sure all your fuel-burning appliances have working carbon monoxide detectors nearby. If detectors go off during your audit, stop immediately and call a professional to check your equipment. Inefficient combustion not only wastes energy but can also be deadly.
Humidity Meters ($10-$50)
The amount of moisture in your home’s air affects both energy usage and comfort levels. The ideal indoor humidity range is usually 30-50%, but this can vary based on your climate and season.
High humidity in summer makes your air conditioning work much harder because humid air feels warmer than dry air at the same temperature. Low humidity in winter can make you feel colder, causing you to turn up the heat more than necessary. Humidity meters help you understand if moisture problems are making your energy bills higher than they need to be.
5. Home Insulation Assessment Tools for Thermal Efficiency
Insulation Thickness Ruler ($5-$15)
Proper insulation is one of the most important parts of an energy-efficient home, but many houses don’t have enough insulation or have insulation that has settled or deteriorated over time. Insulation thickness rulers are simple tools that help you measure how much insulation you have in attics, walls, and crawl spaces.
The Department of Energy publishes recommendations for insulation levels based on your climate zone. By measuring your current insulation thickness, you can compare it to these recommendations and determine if you need to add more insulation to improve your home’s energy efficiency.
Moisture Meters ($30-$100)
Wet insulation doesn’t work well at all. In fact, insulation that has gotten wet from leaks, condensation, or humidity problems can lose most of its insulating ability. Moisture meters help you find areas where insulation might be damaged by water problems.
During your insulation assessment, use moisture meters to check insulation in basements, crawl spaces, attics, and any other areas where water problems might occur. If you find wet insulation, you’ll need to fix the moisture problem and replace the damaged insulation to restore your home’s energy efficiency.
6. Energy-Saving Lighting Tools
Switching to energy-efficient lighting is an easy and cost-effective way to reduce your home’s energy consumption. Tools like LED vs. incandescent comparison guides and energy-saving light bulbs can help you choose the right lighting for your home.
Tips for Energy-Efficient Lighting:
- LED bulbs use less energy than incandescent bulbs and last longer.
- Use dimmers and motion sensors to control lighting when it is not needed.
Benefits:
- Save on lighting costs by switching to more efficient options.
- Reduce energy consumption with smart controls for lighting.
Tools for DIY Energy Audit: Create Your Kit on Any Budget
Not everyone can buy all these tools at once, and that’s perfectly fine. Here are three different approaches based on how much you want to spend on your DIY energy audit toolkit:
Starter Kit ($50-$100)
- Infrared thermometer for basic temperature checking
- Smoke pencils or incense sticks for air leak detection
- Kill-A-Watt meter for appliance energy testing
This basic kit gives you the essential tools needed to find the most obvious energy problems in your home. You can complete a useful energy audit with just these tools and identify improvements that will save you money.
Mid-Range Kit ($200-$300)
- Everything from the starter kit
- Digital draft detector for more precise air leak detection
- Whole-home energy monitor for complete electricity tracking
- Moisture meter for insulation assessment
- HVAC efficiency measurement tools for heating and cooling system testing
The mid-range kit provides more accurate measurements and helps you find problems that the basic tools might miss. This level of equipment is ideal for homeowners who want detailed information about their home’s energy performance.
Comprehensive Kit ($500+)
- Thermal imaging camera (purchased or rented)
- Smart home energy monitoring system with individual circuit tracking
- Blower door test rental for complete air leakage assessment
- Complete HVAC assessment kit with professional-grade tools
- Advanced moisture and humidity monitoring equipment
The comprehensive kit includes professional-level tools that give you the most complete picture of your home’s energy efficiency. This level of investment makes sense for homeowners planning major energy improvements or those who want extremely detailed audit results.
Step-by-Step DIY Home Energy Audit Process
1. Review Your Utility Bills
Compare your usage over the last year. This shows how much energy you’re using and when.
2. Exterior Check
Use your thermometer or camera early in the day or after sunset to check for energy loss outside your home.
3. Find Air Leaks
On a breezy day, use smoke tools or draft detectors to find leaks around windows, doors, outlets, and vents.
4. Insulation Check
Measure attic and wall insulation. Check around pipes and ducts too. Use a moisture meter to check for water damage.
5. HVAC System Check
Look at the temperature difference between vents, check filters, inspect ducts, and compare thermostat readings.
6. Check Appliances and Electronics
Use energy monitors to:
- Track big appliances
- Measure standby power
- Compare costs based on your rates
7. Lighting Audit
Look at the wattage and hours used for each bulb. Consider switching to LEDs.
From Audit to Action
After completing your comprehensive DIY energy audit, you’ll have a detailed list of energy efficiency problems and opportunities. The key to success is prioritizing these improvements based on safety, cost, and potential savings.
Safety Issues (Address Immediately)
Fix any problems that could affect your family’s safety, such as carbon monoxide detector alerts, electrical problems, or combustion appliance issues. These problems require immediate professional attention regardless of energy savings potential.
High-Impact Improvements
Focus next on improvements that cost very little but provide significant energy savings. These might include caulking air leaks, adding weather stripping, changing air filters regularly, and unplugging phantom load devices. These improvements often pay for themselves within months.
Moderate Investments with Quick Payback
Consider improvements that require some upfront investment but pay for themselves relatively quickly through energy savings. Examples include programmable thermostats, LED light bulbs, low-flow showerheads, and minor insulation additions.
Long-Term, Major Improvements
Plan for larger investments like new appliances, HVAC system upgrades, major insulation projects, or window replacements. These improvements require careful research and planning but can provide substantial long-term savings and comfort improvements.
Benefits Beyond Lower Energy Bills
A complete DIY energy audit provides advantages that go far beyond just saving money on utility bills. These additional benefits make the time and effort invested in your audit even more worthwhile.
Benefits Beyond Energy Savings
A complete DIY energy audit offers more than just lower utility bills:
- More comfort in your home with fewer drafts and temperature changes
- Better indoor air quality with proper ventilation
- Longer life for your HVAC system when it runs efficiently
- Possible rebates and tax credits for energy efficiency upgrades
- A smaller environmental impact by using fewer resources
Wrapping Up
A DIY home energy audit is not just a one-time project—it is the start of a long-term process to improve your home’s energy use. By getting good audit tools and learning how to use them, you can find ways to save money now and make your home more efficient in the future.
Energy efficiency is a long-term goal. As you make improvements, use your tools to check your results and find new areas to work on. Over time, you will turn your home into a more efficient space while building a toolkit that saves you money.
Whether you start with a simple infrared thermometer or a full energy monitoring system, every step you take to understand your home’s energy use helps lower your bills and live more sustainably.
Frequently Asked Questions About Tools for DIY Energy Audit
What is a DIY home energy audit?
A DIY home energy audit is a self-guided checkup that helps you find where your home is wasting energy and what you can do to fix it. It helps lower energy bills and make your home more efficient.
What tools do I need for a DIY energy audit?
Common tools include an infrared thermometer, smoke pencil, Kill-A-Watt meter, and smart energy monitor. These help you find heat loss, air leaks, and electricity waste.
How can I find air leaks in my home?
Use smoke pencils, digital draft detectors, or a blower door test to spot air leaks around windows, doors, outlets, and vents. These tools show where cold or warm air is sneaking in or out.
Can I save money by doing a DIY energy audit?
Yes! A DIY audit helps you spot energy-wasting problems like poor insulation or high-usage appliances. Fixing these issues can lead to long-term savings on your energy bills.