Evergy Saving Homes in the Northern Climates.

[NickD 202]

Said to take advantage of the sun to help heat your home, got his website and found this.

Theory is okay, plaster the south side of your home with argon filled windows, in the winter the sun is low, about 30* above the horizon, but more like 90* in the summer where the sun will be blocked. Claimed about a 25% decrease in fuel bills to heat your home with the sun, provided if you can even see the sun, haven't seen it for the last week.

Also failed to mention that these argon filled windows experience constant thermal cycling and will leak, most manufacturers only warranty them for ten years, and that is not replacement cost, only the cost of the windows. They are not repairable and have to replace the entire damned window. I am seeing $40,000.00 worth of windows on the south end of this home, and over a ten year period, that is $4,000 per year in additional cost. So if you heating bill is $16,000 per year, you may just about break even.

Do you think this is BS? I do.

Then he brought up geothermal heating, this makes sense, using ground water that even in our ice cold climate is 55*F, using a special heat pump at this temperature, SEER factors of ten can be reached. Only problem I have, would be to dig two wells, one to draw out the water, and the other to put it back. Contacted the DNR, and such is illegal, even if I used all stainless steel pipes that wouldn't even expose this water to air or any other impurities. I would need at least an acre of land plus laying a grid of plastic pipe buried at least ten feet down to do it legally. The cost of replacing that pipe would be astronomical.

Sure love congress picking on a pilot lamp with a two buck thermocouple to replace, in those days was turing my pilot off in the summer and getting some heat from it in the winter. My electronic ignition went out this year, but I did a naughty thing by removing the do not remove this cover. The reason why they don't want you to remove the cover is so you won't see the terrible workmanship on the inside. Have all those anti-tamper type tools, and repaired mine for ten bucks worth of good parts. My my neighbor paid $560.00 to have it professionally replaced with another piece of #######. So in terms of energy savings, how much did he save?

Also read all the things to save energy, like having a guy come over and doing a blower test on your front door, I can do that with my hand for leaks. And use an IR gun to detect any cold spots in the rest of the house. Did find some cold spots that required a touch of insulation. But can't do anything about my gas bill being tripled over the last eight years, and this doesn't have a damned thing to do with OPEC, we have a known 4,000 year supply of natural gas in this country.

We are just getting screwed with really stupid ideas on how to save energy.

[Reba 2]

You could have the same effect basically as argon windows if you just install insulated windows and more/better insulation in your walls. And cheaper too. Lined drapes can also help by keeping heat out in summertime and cold air out in winter.

I was reading last week that there are federal tax rebates available if you upgrade your home to be more energy efficient. Install new furnace, new windows, insulation etc etc etc and there are rebates for each imporovement.

We need to put in a new sliding patio door, this old one leaks like crazy, and while my family back home would think I'm crazy for saying it gets cold in here in wintertime, (it never got below probably -5C here this winter, and back home it can get down to -30 at times!) I somehow think that having wind at my back while I'm watching TV is not incredibly energy efficient Nor very comfortable I must say.

[Ban Hammer 13,330]

You could have the same effect basically as argon windows if you just install insulated windows and more/better insulation in your walls. And cheaper too. Lined drapes can also help by keeping heat out in summertime and cold air out in winter.

I was reading last week that there are federal tax rebates available if you upgrade your home to be more energy efficient. Install new furnace, new windows, insulation etc etc etc and there are rebates for each imporovement.

We need to put in a new sliding patio door, this old one leaks like crazy, and while my family back home would think I'm crazy for saying it gets cold in here in wintertime, (it never got below probably -5C here this winter, and back home it can get down to -30 at times!) I somehow think that having wind at my back while I'm watching TV is not incredibly energy efficient Nor very comfortable I must say.

had two sliding glass doors here, replaced them about a month ago with french doors. use the expanding foam stuff to seal good around them, i've noticed the heater does not come on as much as it used to. i attribute much of it to the doors being more airtight and the expanding foam filling in around it (the sliding glass doors didn't have the expanding foam sealant).

[NickD 202]

You could have the same effect basically as argon windows if you just install insulated windows and more/better insulation in your walls. And cheaper too. Lined drapes can also help by keeping heat out in summertime and cold air out in winter.

I was reading last week that there are federal tax rebates available if you upgrade your home to be more energy efficient. Install new furnace, new windows, insulation etc etc etc and there are rebates for each imporovement.

We need to put in a new sliding patio door, this old one leaks like crazy, and while my family back home would think I'm crazy for saying it gets cold in here in wintertime, (it never got below probably -5C here this winter, and back home it can get down to -30 at times!) I somehow think that having wind at my back while I'm watching TV is not incredibly energy efficient Nor very comfortable I must say.

had two sliding glass doors here, replaced them about a month ago with french doors. use the expanding foam stuff to seal good around them, i've noticed the heater does not come on as much as it used to. i attribute much of it to the doors being more airtight and the expanding foam filling in around it (the sliding glass doors didn't have the expanding foam sealant).

That is teeing me off also, perfectly good windows and sliding glass doors, but they use a customized plastic weather strip that is no longer available. Like everything else, have to change it from year to year. That plastic becomes brittle and breaks over time, and not that much time either. Can't they standardized on such a simple and easy to replace weather strip? Thinking about swinging door type patio doors, least use a compressible rubber that doesn't wear or break whenever you open the door, but 1,300 bucks. Would have had another 12 years to pay off on this house if I didn't double up on my payments, would be those payments on junk I would have to pitch.

That should be another law, no mortgages greater than the warranty period.

Another real stupid thing are CFL's, as when considering efficiency between natural gas and electricity, those incandescence bulbs are really not wasting energy, but using the to heat your home. The idiots we have in charge today, only look at one small part of the picture, and the same holds true for many of the same so-called energy saving appliances. Since when did they stop varnishing stators in motors? They don't last very long without it.