anyone going green?

[webexplorer]

Do you own an electricity heating tankless at home?

Are you happy with it?

Is it better than a furnace?

Please tell us about it.

 

[purplecatty]

Do you own an electricity heating tankless at home?

Are you happy with it?

Is it better than a furnace?

Please tell us about it.

Electric tankless water heater is not as effective if you have family of 3 or more. Gas would be better. I personally don't own that. I have been thinking about tankless water heater years ago cuz I have gotten tired of replacing 40 gallon water heater (2nd time in 12 years). I read information and realized that it's for small home ( I own 4 bedroom home w/ 4 1/2 bathroom). They do have big gas tankless water heater sold at Lowes. I spoke with salesperson regarding this. He said it's for 2 or 3 bedroom home w/ 2 showers. Oh well!! But there's always a way around. IF you own big home like I do... You can have two separate tankless water system.. You can cut off hot water pipe and rig 1st one for 2 bathrooms and washing machine and 2nd one for 2 other bathrooms and dishwasher ect.. (that only if you have basment with accesss to plumbings that connects to 2 of each bathrooms and a laundry room.) ... Electric water heater can heat 2 showers or Shower and washing machine same time. It may not be That effective. Gas fired tankless water heater tend to be the most effective. I don't know if the bills be like if I had two tankless water heater...

Anyone own it, please comment this!!!

Here is the website
Tankless Water Heater Buying Guide

There's more of these, google search it.
Catty

 

[DeafSCUBA98]

I'm glad to hear that more and more people are going green in their homes and personal lives.

Few months ago, I replaced almost ALL bulbs by mini spiral lamp fluorescent bulbs. Also I recycle all the time. Also I don't drive so I ride city buses and walk all the time help reduce air pollution. I use less paper and used power point more often for my presentations. Also about all applicances I have are Energy Star.

I wish clothes are recycleable. I want to recycle them so I can make room for new clothes.

clothes are recycleable

i notice the socks at walmart that they sell.. they sell recycled socks there. thats made of recycled clothes that contains certain of fabric. yet not all fabric isn't recycleable.

 

[coolguy1973fla]

That's great saver!

I am surprised to read your statement about CFL bulbs that contain mercury. I cannot believe it. Is there a bulb without mercury on the market?

(I thought that it is only for old or traditional fluorescent that has mercury.)

LED Bulb has no mercury contained!!! it has save a lot of energy than CFL .

There have LED Bulb only sell online right now. but LED bulb will be release in display shelve by your local retail or hardware store in the future.

but you have to be careful and it is fragile for CFL. when CFL getting worned out then you have to send CFL to recycle some city has law. if there is no recycle... you have to put CFL into plastic container and sealed it then put garbage it.

if CFL is damaged...

1. OPEN all Windows let Mercury dust in the air to clear out. If you use Air Conditioner you have to turn off Air Conditioner
2. sweep the floor (Do not use vaccum cleaner)
3. collect the debris in dust pan then put it into plastic container
4. mop the floor
5. plastic container put in garbage
6. wash your hands

keep open the windows least about 30 minutes then air is fresh then you can close the window and restart the air condtioner.

 

[webexplorer]

LED Bulb has no mercury contained!!! it has save a lot of energy than CFL .

There have LED Bulb only sell online right now. but LED bulb will be release in display shelve by your local retail or hardware store in the future.

but you have to be careful and it is fragile for CFL. when CFL getting worned out then you have to send CFL to recycle some city has law. if there is no recycle... you have to put CFL into plastic container and sealed it then put garbage it.

if CFL is damaged...

1. OPEN all Windows let Mercury dust in the air to clear out. If you use Air Conditioner you have to turn off Air Conditioner
2. sweep the floor (Do not use vaccum cleaner)
3. collect the debris in dust pan then put it into plastic container
4. mop the floor
5. plastic container put in garbage
6. wash your hands

keep open the windows least about 30 minutes then air is fresh then you can close the window and restart the air condtioner.

Yes, I have thought about the LED lights for my house. I really cannot wait for that. You are exactly right about CFL's mercury situation. I can't believe that they are making these CFLs now. I expect that there will be more problem for CFLs to deal with the environment after LED bulbs will be on the market because some people are not careful with the toxic waste in our dump.

Actually, I bought some LED Christmas lights for my living room, and I loved it. These LED bulbs have no heat which is no hazard to our Christmas tree, except the green coated wires that contain lead. Darn it. I am not too happy that almost everything are made in China.

A long time ago, I was a teenager in my science class. We put a tiny amount of mercury on our hands. The mercury is so slippery... It was so interesting, but dangerous. It was in the old days.

Nowadays, if a mercury spill in a lab room, all entire students, teachers, and staffs in school must be evacuated from the building immediately and wait for firemen to come and clean it up.

 

[CCfan]

Thanks for the information about LED. I will buying a LED anytime soon.
But, I have three CFLs for a while in my house. Oh well, better to be careful with them.

 

[jasin]

I have led light bulbs. They save lots of money. Better get the 5 watt one's though if you need lots of light. They have about 60 diodes in them for the 5 watt ones. The 5 watt ones are equivalent in light to a 60 watt incandescent.

 

[jasin]

The led bulbs are a lot cheaper on ebay. Do not buy them retail or you'll overpay.

 

[jasin]

Yup, I've read about Solar Cell don't last 10 to 15 years. It's the coating become weakened and faded out due to Sun's strong UV ray. They're like an acid eating away the paint.

I agree about Solar water heater. I've seen several homes have solar water heater. Some are very old and looked ugly. I remmy that over the year I drove by one house w/ ugly reflector finally removed after it was sold to new owner. It sound like it had a short usefulness. Due to winter season. One had to drain water at night to prevent pipe freezing and breakage. BUT I read about newest Solar water heater that use Propylene Glycol that act like car's antifreeze but non-toxic to environment. It act like heat transfer unit to transfer heat to both water heater and furnace to keep water hot and heats home during Cloudless Day time....

Geothermal isn't everywhere. Not all states have them. You have to be near where volcano located where it produce steam coming out from ground. Some area require drilling close to magma so they can put coil pipe in (that'll be hundreds of feet or more and require powerful water pump) to extract heat from it. Right now Environmentlist don't want see beautiful geothermal disappears. Some state used to have "old faithful" fountain and was destroyed by geothermal technology use. So they had to keep balance beauty and use.

I read about Hydrogen and it's use. it CANNOT broil waters, but can heat home. Inventor is working on to put it to market. It have electrolysis process to seprate water into H2 O just like overcharged battery. Then pipe it to furnace's Jet or rack burner. Furnace must be stainless steel because after it burns, it returns back to water and return back to electrolysis tank. It's the cleanest way to keep environment clean and purify water too..

As for natual gas furnace. I would recommend ANYONE to have Jet furnace instead of Rack furnace. Typically, Jet furnace have 5 Jet burners. They're so economical. I DID see BIG difference on gas bill. At my old 3 bedroom home. It had Rack furnace and gas bills are high. When I moved into 4 bedroom home which is twice bigger than my old home. It have Jet furnace. Same size as my old furnace. The gas bill halved of what I paid. My wife and I got puzzled cuz of size of our new home (I thought big home means big gas and electric bills but it turned out not to be true, it's far cheaper than our old home! huh!!!?? . Both home (previous and current) have excellent insulation. It's just the furnace itself. My parent replaced their furnace to Jet type in their 40 years old home that have no insulation at all, their gas bills cut in half.... Same goes for my friends too.

Try ride bike or buy a scooter to ride to work as long as it's not a highway to work to save gas. Try find backroad if possible.

Catty

I have never been a fan of solar myself. why? because:

1. They don't last for 30 years.

2. They are not as efficient as other means of producing electricity.

3. They are a big eye sore.

4. They are extremely expensive.

5. You have to live where there is sufficient amounts of sunlight.

The way to go is wind generators, but of course, you have to have wind for that. You can get 1kw of electricity from just two of them and thats the low wattage ones. They start at about $455.00 - $500.00 dollars. Significantly less then solar panels.

Also, in the bigger homes, especially one's that are more open, the circulation of cool and hot air is supposedly better.

 

[webexplorer]

I have never been a fan of solar myself. why? because:

1. They don't last for 30 years.

2. They are not as efficient as other means of producing electricity.

3. They are a big eye sore.

4. They are extremely expensive.

5. You have to live where there is sufficient amounts of sunlight.

The way to go is wind generators, but of course, you have to have wind for that. You can get 1kw of electricity from just two of them and thats the low wattage ones. They start at about $455.00 - $500.00 dollars. Significantly less then solar panels.

Also, in the bigger homes, especially one's that are more open, the circulation of cool and hot air is supposedly better.

Unfortunately, I agreed with you. I really like the solar panels.

Solar companies are not telling the truth because they are trying to rip us off. There are three very different type of solars. One is expensive which last long time. A 2nd type is last 30 years. A 3rd type is about 15 years. Most companies choose the 2nd type. I wish that I remember the names of these types. I lost my paper from a lecture a couple of years ago.

The windpower is a great idea, but not perfect. It needs to support batteries for back up that works with the solars. Not too good for one independent energy. I would definitely want the windpower.

Do you know what is the best brand? Another thing in my mind is a property tax for this one that could be a problem. I heard that some windpowers have defective problems that cost a lot. One thing that I really do not understand about the turbines because they require oil maintenance every 6 months or once a year. You know a kid plays a car remote with a car battery for fun. That toy car does not require oil. You know what I mean.

 

[webexplorer]

I read about Hydrogen and it's use. it CANNOT broil waters, but can heat home. Inventor is working on to put it to market. It have electrolysis process to seprate water into H2 O just like overcharged battery. Then pipe it to furnace's Jet or rack burner. Furnace must be stainless steel because after it burns, it returns back to water and return back to electrolysis tank. It's the cleanest way to keep environment clean and purify water too..
Catty

I found out last week at the Vegetable or Green conference, and it was a very small group. For the heating house, he said that Hydrogen isn't safe because it is an explosive - it's part of "air" gas. He also said that it is best to use Biodiesel.

I personally don't like it because it is mixed with vegetable oil and regular oil. This Biodiesel makes your furnace very clean without hiring someone to clean it. A regular oil makes your furnace dirty that need the maintenance service once a year.

 

[sequoias]

Geothermal isn't everywhere. Not all states have them. You have to be near where volcano located where it produce steam coming out from ground. Some area require drilling close to magma so they can put coil pipe in (that'll be hundreds of feet or more and require powerful water pump) to extract heat from it. Right now Environmentlist don't want see beautiful geothermal disappears. Some state used to have "old faithful" fountain and was destroyed by geothermal technology use. So they had to keep balance beauty and use.

yeah, there are a few geothermal plants in California. There's one of them that I know which is in Santa Rosa, CA area. There are a good number of geothermal spots because it's on a volcanic region from around Napa Valley to between Sonoma and Lake Counties.

 

[jasin]

Unfortunately, I agreed with you. I really like the solar panels.

Solar companies are not telling the truth because they are trying to rip us off. There are three very different type of solars. One is expensive which last long time. A 2nd type is last 30 years. A 3rd type is about 15 years. Most companies choose the 2nd type. I wish that I remember the names of these types. I lost my paper from a lecture a couple of years ago.

The windpower is a great idea, but not perfect. It needs to support batteries for back up that works with the solars. Not too good for one independent energy. I would definitely want the windpower.

Do you know what is the best brand? Another thing in my mind is a property tax for this one that could be a problem. I heard that some windpowers have defective problems that cost a lot. One thing that I really do not understand about the turbines because they require oil maintenance every 6 months or once a year. You know a kid plays a car remote with a car battery for fun. That toy car does not require oil. You know what I mean.

Thats because its not constant steady power in a lot of places. For price per kw though its a much better option then solar.

I do agree that wind turbines alone would not do the job if you are going off the grid. You'll need a combination of things if you are going off the grid, but that can be said for solar or anything else.

You do know that its fairly easy to build A wind generator and it can be done for cheap? Cheaper then even buying one retail. For 200.00 or less bucks you can buy the alternator its self. The alternators are pretty much the same thing you got in your car. Nothing special really.

 

[jasin]

I found out last week at the Vegetable or Green conference, and it was a very small group. For the heating house, he said that Hydrogen isn't safe because it is an explosive - it's part of "air" gas. He also said that it is best to use Biodiesel.

I personally don't like it because it is mixed with vegetable oil and regular oil. This Biodiesel makes your furnace very clean without hiring someone to clean it. A regular oil makes your furnace dirty that need the maintenance service once a year.

Hydrogen is not an explosive its a gas. Explosives are made from other chemicals, chemicals like:Trinitrotoluene, Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, Nitrocellulose, and the list goes on and on.

What he probably meant is it has the potential to cause an explosion with the pressure, heat, and fire that can emanate from or within. That can be said for any type of gas though, even the gas we use in our cars.

I'm personally not a fan of hydrogen myself because it cost more to make then it saves. Hydrogen is not the way to go. Biodiesel is a much better option as most Biodiesel can be made without any energy from the grid. Transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fats is what they been using of late to make biodiesel.

 

[jasin]

Unfortunately, I agreed with you. I really like the solar panels.

Solar companies are not telling the truth because they are trying to rip us off. There are three very different type of solars. One is expensive which last long time. A 2nd type is last 30 years. A 3rd type is about 15 years. Most companies choose the 2nd type. I wish that I remember the names of these types. I lost my paper from a lecture a couple of years ago.

The windpower is a great idea, but not perfect. It needs to support batteries for back up that works with the solars. Not too good for one independent energy. I would definitely want the windpower.

Do you know what is the best brand? Another thing in my mind is a property tax for this one that could be a problem. I heard that some windpowers have defective problems that cost a lot. One thing that I really do not understand about the turbines because they require oil maintenance every 6 months or once a year. You know a kid plays a car remote with a car battery for fun. That toy car does not require oil. You know what I mean.

Its true that sometimes they do need maintenance but its not every 6 months. The gear box does need oiling. I would use synthetic oil personally to do that because it last twice as long as conventional oil. So even if the interval was every 6 months as you said -- with synthetic oil you could go without oiling the gear box until the new year.

I guess the solution would be to use some sorta reduction system not a gear box. There are better ways to reduce the speed on these things. Thats essentially what the gear box does. It makes the thing inside spin at a lower rpm.

 

[webexplorer]

I went to a Home Show a few weeks ago. Two different window companies came to my house, and they looked around the windows

I am frustrated to learn that the companies have the same brand with 2 very different prices. I have 17 windows which cost 7,300, and another company cost 5,500. They both have the coverage for "All Inclusive Transferable Lifetime Warranty." This means that I sell my house, and a new owner will get free replacement windows.

One dealer said that the window contains two flat metal parts inside the window - the vertical frames (left wall and right wall) which held the window stronger when you push the window down properly. Other company the same frame without the metal part is somewhat not perfect.

This bothers me that the diagrams of the frames are the same design. Maybe, the dealer made a mistake that it was a different brand. Now, I don't know what to believe.

Do you think that this window brand is good or not? The manufacturer's name is Alside. Sound familiar?


Off subject -

Wood frames are the most expensive than Vinyl windows. I understand that a wood window could be a problem for molds that requires a replacement in 30 years. Well, it seems to me that it doesn't make a sense for the prices.

Three type of window frames that some dealers forget tell you:

(1) Two very tiny strings inside the window frame to make you feel easier to pull up the windows.

(2) Two metal thin metal parts inside the window frame to make the windows more stable.

(3) Without the strings or without metal parts, it is probably not perfect to close the windows.

 

[morphocoelestis]

Yeah, I find it shocking that people are just "going green" now. I was raised not to buy stuff you don't need, recycle/compost everything, don't wash your cars, don't buy what you can make, try to avoid using heat/AC whenever possible, drive as little as possible, etc.. I thought everyone always did that-- until I looked out the window and saw a Hummer.

 

[webexplorer]

PVC window issue

I noticed that every house has white window frames. The color the white frames are everywhere which surprised me. I have a grey/green house with wood green window frames which look natural to me. Actually, I plan to buy new windows this year. I probably would not buy woods/doors frames because of the swelling during hot weather.

Many houses have new white windows that are made of PVC or plastic. I am being to wonder about this type of plastic. Is the plastic really made in China? How much toxic the new frames are? I'm not talking about the compressed woods. I asked some window dealers, and they did not know where the plastic is made from. I am aware that they care about money than anything else.

Another in my mind, how long the PVC last? 20 years? My father installed a PVC pipe in the ground. After 10 years, we moved old PVC in other area but, the pipe is easy to break so I had to buy new one. I know that PVC windows and PVC pipes are different type, but they are really PVC.

 

[scottw]

Good new, Gallaudet University student want to learn Green!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm glad they plan for that.

Well, the best is use Energy start for computer and etc. That is good save power bill.