September 6, 2010
Dear Readers: I took a little heat for my column last week about tankless water heaters: I think they are too expensive, and they take too long to return the initial investment-maybe 15 years or more-before you start saving anything. One guy pointed out that there are innumerable rebates available for these systems, which makes them much more affordable than I let on. I'll leave it to you to decide how fair it is for other folks to pay for your water heater, but the point is that SOMEONE is paying the extra money; whether it's you or the taxpayers in the next county over, it's still not a good deal. The money you save by buying a much cheaper regular water heater, can be saved or given to the restaurateur down the street.
To go from the macro to the close-in, I make energy-saving decisions for my household based on simple arithmetic: what is the payback time? For example, what good is it to buy a super high efficiency furnace and move before you start saving money? The next family benefits, but it's you who are out the scratch.
It's fairly easy to estimate the savings and return on investment for a particular system. For example, new insulation pays for itself in just a couple of heating seasons, as does a high tech setback thermostat. A new set of windows or a new furnace may take 7 to 10 years before you amortize the cost and begin to reap the payback dollars. However, there are other rewards, too, like a more comfortable house and a prettier exterior with the new windows. These costs, of course, are hard to quantify.
Saving energy regardless of cost to "go green" and "save the planet" may be OK for some folks, but not me, necessarily. It may feel good to install a new $30,000 photovoltaic electric system, but the math may tell you otherwise.
Dear Ken: My mom lives in an older ranch style home. She reports that there is some sort of vibration that happens at odd times, especially at night. Any ideas? Debbie
There are lots of candidates. Does she have a sump pump? They usually make a horrible sound, because their drain is attached to the wood underpinnings of the house. How about her water softener? They recharge themselves in the middle of the night, and can produce vibration and thunking sounds in the water piping system. Other candidates include a leaking toilet tank flapper valve, the heating system duct work, or the refrigerator compressor as it shuts itself off. You may have to spend a night at mom's house to get to the bottom of this mysterious noise.
Dear Ken: We are adding heating cables in the north side gutters, per your advice. Do you think the outside outlet is a GFI type? It's an '02 house. Olivia
I'm sure it is. For the last 15 years or so, it's been a requirement to protect any outlets in "wet" areas. That includes around all sinks, the garage, the outdoor plugs, and storage sheds to name a few. Older houses may not have protection near the kitchen sink, the laundry or at the wet bar. Buy a tester with a little GFCI trip button to check which is which.
Dear Ken: I've tried everything I can to remove old wallpaper. I've scored it, soaked it and scraped it. What now? Stephanie
You could steam it off. Rent a wallpaper steamer and give it a try. I've also had folks tell me that they "tented" the wall with heavy plastic sheeting and ran a couple of cold steam vaporizers-like we use in the kids' bedrooms--underneath.
If you feel you've tried everything, then why not cover it up with more wallpaper? I'm sure your goal was to paint this wall, but that often is not possible on these old surfaces, without overlaying new drywall or retexturing. Apply a liner paper , then cover with a light, textured wallpaper in a muted color. By the time you hang your pictures and doo-dads, it won't look wallpapered at all.
