LudwigVonDrake wrote: davidmbedard wrote: Speak for yourselves....the Canadian Economy is very, very strong.David BI did'nt know the Loonie was doing so well. Any chance of sending some of that stability back to the Motherland?
davidmbedard wrote: Speak for yourselves....the Canadian Economy is very, very strong.David B
Speak for yourselves....the Canadian Economy is very, very strong.
David B
I did'nt know the Loonie was doing so well. Any chance of sending some of that stability back to the Motherland?
Just curious, how much is gasoline up there?
I save by not going to the hobby store nearly as much.
Come to think about it I dont even drive anymore.
andrechapelon wrote: loathar wrote: As I was standing at the kitchen sink waiting two minutes for the hot water to heat up I thought, Hmmm...One of those instant hot water heaters that mount under the sink would be a good idea. They only use energy on demand and your not wasting water waiting for it to heat up. I remember seeing them 20 years ago and thought they were a joke, but these days they make a little more sense.Anyone have any experience with these?Last Chance-Unfortunately, many people living in rural areas are forced to make 60 mile(or more) commutes to work because that's where the jobs are.Will let you know. We're installing one in our lake cabin that we're remodeling. The new one is electric and it's replacing a 20 gallon electric tank heater. When everything is hooked up and the water is back on, I'll post about how well it works. I first ran into demand heaters on a trip to Europe in the 80's. They seem to work pretty well and should save about 50% over the energy usage of a standard water heater. As for commuting, not a problem for me. I'm retired. Andre
loathar wrote: As I was standing at the kitchen sink waiting two minutes for the hot water to heat up I thought, Hmmm...One of those instant hot water heaters that mount under the sink would be a good idea. They only use energy on demand and your not wasting water waiting for it to heat up. I remember seeing them 20 years ago and thought they were a joke, but these days they make a little more sense.Anyone have any experience with these?Last Chance-Unfortunately, many people living in rural areas are forced to make 60 mile(or more) commutes to work because that's where the jobs are.
As I was standing at the kitchen sink waiting two minutes for the hot water to heat up I thought, Hmmm...One of those instant hot water heaters that mount under the sink would be a good idea. They only use energy on demand and your not wasting water waiting for it to heat up. I remember seeing them 20 years ago and thought they were a joke, but these days they make a little more sense.Anyone have any experience with these?
Last Chance-Unfortunately, many people living in rural areas are forced to make 60 mile(or more) commutes to work because that's where the jobs are.
Will let you know. We're installing one in our lake cabin that we're remodeling. The new one is electric and it's replacing a 20 gallon electric tank heater. When everything is hooked up and the water is back on, I'll post about how well it works.
I first ran into demand heaters on a trip to Europe in the 80's. They seem to work pretty well and should save about 50% over the energy usage of a standard water heater.
As for commuting, not a problem for me. I'm retired.
Andre
Let me know how thay works out for you. I thought about a smaller one just for in the kitchen. That seems to be where most of the hot water gets wasted. Not trying to replace my tank heater, just save on the water bill.($50/month for only 2 people!!)
I knew we were in trouble when the oil companies pioneered all these new space age plastic packaging methods. Wal Mart is going back to paper milk containers. They're cheaper and they can fit more product in a single truck load. They said it should be 30-40 cents/gallon cheaper. Let's see if that savings gets passed along to the consumer or not.
They now have a way to make a biodegradable plastic from corn ethanol that's cheaper than it's oil based counterpart. (till the price of corn artificially goes through the roof too.)
Autobus Prime wrote:Folks:General tip: You can keep a relatively well-insulated house comfortable without A/C. Temperatures always drop at night, usually a lot. Put box fans in several windows. Install ceiling fans in the rooms. Now, turn the box fans on in late, late evening after sundown. All night, they will blow in cool air. In the morning, turn them off and leave them off all day. Use the ceiling fans to provide cooling breezes in the house. You will find that the house usually stays quite comfortable.(Model railroad tips moved to other thread)
The secret to nighttime cooling with box fans is simple: place box fan(s) in window on one side of house/floor, open only one window on the opposite side of the house/floor! This exhausts the air from the house/floor and sucks in the cool night air, rather than blowing in cool air to try to push out warmer indoor air. I lived year-round in a 4-room summer cottage (model RR in the large back bedroom with me!) and by exhausting all night, then shutting windows during the day and circulating the inside air all day, it would remain relatively cool right up until evening--and time to do the exhaust thing again!
johncolley wrote:Discipline will go a long way. People don't think of the real costs of using the "convenience" of plastic. Paying only the minimum due on credit cards keeps you right where the banks and card companies want you. Unless something is a really good deal, don't make a habit of charging things you can't pay off at the end of the month. If you want something larger than that, save for it! Check your statements and negotiate the lowest interest rates you can. They would rather lower your rate than lose you as a customer. They make big profits by increasing your rates and adding late fees, so time your payments to get there before the due date, allowing time for mail delays. Anything you buy with cash will save you from compounding interest costs. It's time America turned this credit abuse around before the whole thing collapses in our face, see the current rash of housing foreclosures as a warning of how close we really are to danger. jc5729 John Colley, Port Townsend, WA
Amen to that! All that interest you pay with credit cards is you paying the banks for having more money than you. And the less you have, the more you must pay for it. Credit card companies will offer a low "teaser" interest rate to snag you in, then use the fine print clauses to jump it up to loan shark levels. They will receive your first payment before the due date, but not open it until after that date (and they do know when that is) so they can call it late, hit you with late fees, and raise your rates. I tore up my credit cards 12 years ago and have done fine without them. I have a debit card that I use when something "requires" a credit card number.
Take advantage of the new law that allows you to receive your credit report from each of the big three credit reporting firms, and you will be shocked at what is on it. These companies have ZERO obligation to verify the accuracy of the claims they report. Even if you have proof that the hit on your report is invalid, they "cannot" remove it until the person or company that made the claim reports it is settled.
A whole lot of people would be better off if they paid off the cards, closed the accounts, and just put away half of what they save on interest payments into a savings account for big ticket items.
Pardon the ranting.
John Fallon
If everybody is thinking alike, then nobody is really thinking.
http://photobucket.com/tandarailroad/
Dean-58 wrote: Autobus Prime wrote:Folks:General tip: You can keep a relatively well-insulated house comfortable without A/C. Temperatures always drop at night, usually a lot. Put box fans in several windows. Install ceiling fans in the rooms. Now, turn the box fans on in late, late evening after sundown. All night, they will blow in cool air. In the morning, turn them off and leave them off all day. Use the ceiling fans to provide cooling breezes in the house. You will find that the house usually stays quite comfortable.(Model railroad tips moved to other thread)The secret to nighttime cooling with box fans is simple: place box fan(s) in window on one side of house/floor, open only one window on the opposite side of the house/floor! This exhausts the air from the house/floor and sucks in the cool night air, rather than blowing in cool air to try to push out warmer indoor air. I lived year-round in a 4-room summer cottage (model RR in the large back bedroom with me!) and by exhausting all night, then shutting windows during the day and circulating the inside air all day, it would remain relatively cool right up until evening--and time to do the exhaust thing again!
Couldn't agree more! Had an old 2 story house with a basement back in the good old days. No AC. I put a big attic fan in and would open two basement windows and that fan would suck all the cool basement air into the upper living space. Closing the window blinds on the sunny side of the house makes a huge difference in Summer months too.
My mom "claims" she has asthma and says she can't breath the cool night air. She runs the AC 24/7 even when it's 50 degrees out at night. Then she sits in her chair smoking two cartons of cigarettes a week complaining about the electric bill and how she can't breath!! I have a little 20" box fan in the layout building and she blames me, my box fan and my Bachmann EZ Command for the high electric bills!
loathar wrote: andrechapelon wrote: loathar wrote: As I was standing at the kitchen sink waiting two minutes for the hot water to heat up I thought, Hmmm...One of those instant hot water heaters that mount under the sink would be a good idea. They only use energy on demand and your not wasting water waiting for it to heat up. I remember seeing them 20 years ago and thought they were a joke, but these days they make a little more sense.Anyone have any experience with these?Last Chance-Unfortunately, many people living in rural areas are forced to make 60 mile(or more) commutes to work because that's where the jobs are.Will let you know. We're installing one in our lake cabin that we're remodeling. The new one is electric and it's replacing a 20 gallon electric tank heater. When everything is hooked up and the water is back on, I'll post about how well it works. I first ran into demand heaters on a trip to Europe in the 80's. They seem to work pretty well and should save about 50% over the energy usage of a standard water heater. As for commuting, not a problem for me. I'm retired. Andre Let me know how thay works out for you. I thought about a smaller one just for in the kitchen. That seems to be where most of the hot water gets wasted. Not trying to replace my tank heater, just save on the water bill.($50/month for only 2 people!!)I knew we were in trouble when the oil companies pioneered all these new space age plastic packaging methods. Wal Mart is going back to paper milk containers. They're cheaper and they can fit more product in a single truck load. They said it should be 30-40 cents/gallon cheaper. Let's see if that savings gets passed along to the consumer or not.They now have a way to make a biodegradable plastic from corn ethanol that's cheaper than it's oil based counterpart. (till the price of corn artificially goes through the roof too.)
We actually installed a unit smaller than the one we originally intended as our electrical service is only 100 amps. However, initial tests indicate that it will be adequate (this is a seasonal cabin, after all) for our uses. To go to a higher capacity electric unit would have required replacing our 100 amp service with at least a 200 amp unit. A gas heater would have been significantly more expensive and would have required the additional expense and trouble of venting the unit.
Because we're using the unit as a central unit rather than point-of-use, there is some lag time from long pipe runs. I'm sure there's heat loss as well. Since we have to insulate the cold water pipes to prevent condensation as our well water is only about 50 degrees, I went ahead and bought insulation for the hot water side as well to reduce any heat loss. The cold water pipes condense incredible amounts of humidity out of the air and drip onto the floor.
This is the unit we used:
http://www.amazon.com/Bosch-Powerstream-Electric-Tankless-Heater/dp/B0012QKO5M
Like I said, this is NOT designed to be a whole house unit. We're just using it that way for our small (700 sq ft) cabin. It's a very small unit measuring 12" wide x 7" high x 3 1/2" deep.
This would be a more appropriate unit as a whole house unit for a 4 season house:
http://tinyurl.com/62gpf2
The best way TO SAVE $$ IN TOUGH TIMES LIKE THIS-
Don't spend any you don't have to!
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
Those credit card bills is the biggest whores of the money. Make them zero balance and no more payments to the card holder or bank. This way you are free from the shackles of debt.
Ever wonder why South Dakota and Delaware are big credit card company states? No rules or limits to how they can do business in those states.
They recently jacked up interest from 5 percent to 12 percent and told us that we are given the very best rate. We plan to remove the card and the account pernamently soon.
All of it zero balance. However we swipe it to buy a pack of gum once a year so they dont force-close the account due to non-activity.
During the height of our crisis years ago, we were paying a minimum of 350 per month of credit card debt. All of that is gone bye bye (That was at 7 percent back then... whew) Now we try to stick that 350 into a regular boring savings account each month unless something comes up like shop work for the cars.
Recently we drew onto those savings to pay for necessary work, we realized that we provide for our own credit line all cash to ourselves now. We dont need credit card companies anymore.