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QUESTION:On Sat, 8 Sep 2007 13:49:16 -0400, ds...@webtv.net wrote:
vacume any dirt/dust off the burners , vacume dust off pilot light
area. change air filter , clean blower fins if dirty . dont let a hvac
guy charge you 100.00 for doing that. its easy. they will say you need a
whole new furnace regarless of what you want done. see, hvac guys dont
want to fix anything anymore,just replace the whole furnace.
http://www.minibite.com/america/malone.htm
Mine is 30 years old and still looks as good as new because I clean
the insides and outsides regularly. Had the gas company check the
heat exchanger tubes two years ago and they're OK.
I took out the attached humidifier years ago because of window
condensation. It also had too much lime buildup on the water tray and
sponge element. A replacement sponge is ridiculously expensive.
Worse, the humidifier was fungal culture heaven. The sponge element
and water tray always felt slimey. It would have received fungal
spores, pollen and airborne particulates from the fresh air intake.
There's food and warm water to promote fungal growth. Imagine the
spores that get circulated. Respiratory distress. Or that regular
winter flu season. I haven't had recurrent winter flu for some years
now.
living in too dry a environment can lead to other health troubles.
with 1% humidity common in a clod climate with heating it can make you
vulnerable to bugs
ANSWER: Excuse me? Problem with my analysis? I didn't attempt to make a
complete analysis of the economics in the refrigerator, only point out
the most obvious flaw in the website analysis that completely ingnored
the initial outlay for the new refrigerator. You are correct that
you can refine the analysis further, by including compound interest,
which only makes it look worse.
However, now that you want to go deeper into analysis, there are some
very big flaws in your analysis. You're saying you save $5400 in
energy cost over 15 years. You then take that amount and say it
turns into $11K if invested over 15 years. WRONG. Because the
savings of $5400 isn't available on day 1. It only becomes available
at the rate of $30 a month. At the end of the first year, there is
only a little over $360 in your bank account. So, to follow your
analysis, the correct comparison is to see how much you have at the
end of 15 years if you put $30 a month away to earn interest. And at
5%, that is $8k. And then if you want to factor in taxes, you have to
pay tax on it each year, not at the end of 15 years. That reduces
the amount at 15 years to $7K. Oh, and then factor in the present
value of money. Which is to say, your $7k savings at the end of 15
years needs to be discounted back to today to account for inflation.
Because surely you don't think $7k in 2022 is going to be equivalent
to $7K today. Assuming a modest rate of inflation of 3%, that $7K in
2022 is equivalent to a mere $4400 today. Now compare that to the
cost of the new furnace. Hmmm, doesn't look quite as good anymore,
does it?
And then you completely ignore the other side of the balance sheet,
assuming the guy has cash sitting around to pay for the new furnace or
put in the bank. How about if he takes out a home equity loan at 8%
to pay for it? Or some other financing at an even higher rate? I
also see no reason to believe that a 25 year old gas furnace that is
in good shape is going to result in 30% lower gas bills. Furnaces
were generally 80% efficient in the 80s. You can get a 90 to 93% one
now. That equates to a savings of about 14%, not 30%. Uh, oh, now
run the above numbers and you're not ahead anymore, you're in the hole
because your 15 year savings are now less than half of what they were
at 30% or around $2K. Think you can get a 90+% system installed for
$2K?
Oh, and we haven't even factored in the technology involved to get the
93% have we? What happens when one of the widgets that high
efficiency furnace has fails, that the old one doesn;t have, so it
can't fail? In other words, very likely higher maintenance costs.
Bottom line, there is no one right or wrong answer. A hell of a lot
depends on how much his heating system is used, depending on where he
lives, how he finances it, etc.
However how does any of that equate to giving the utility company free
money? You are buying gas or electric from the utility company.
The utility company has to get this gas or electricity from somewhere
and pay for it, don't they? So, how is it "free money" to the
utility company? You can certainly say that you're paying more for
energy than you would with a higher efficiency furnace, but how that
translates into "free money", makes no sense.
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