shadesofmauve (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shadesofmauve) wrote2013-08-02 11:41 am
shadesofmauve) wrote2013-08-02 11:41 am
Entry tags:
An Educational Morning
I've been spending a lot of time on PSE's website (the power company), keeping track of rebates and things, and rather on a whim I scheduled a HomePrint assessment a few days ago, because, hey, I've been having trouble with decisions, and more information is good, and it was free.
I was a bit worried that it wouldn't be useful, since there are things about my house I *know* are bad that I can't fix, like the minimal wall insulation, and other things I'm planning to fix but haven't gotten to yet. (I was also afraid the guy would see my house and go 'how can you live in such filth and squalor!' but that didn't happen). It was actually pretty interesting, though, and, hey, I got a bunch of free CFLs, and free stuff is cool.
And I learned things! I even learned things I can do immediately, and things I can work into my remodel, and potentially a way to get the benefit of furring out the wall without actually doing all the tedious work with furring strips -- all of which is awesome!
From top to bottom --
I was a bit worried that it wouldn't be useful, since there are things about my house I *know* are bad that I can't fix, like the minimal wall insulation, and other things I'm planning to fix but haven't gotten to yet. (I was also afraid the guy would see my house and go 'how can you live in such filth and squalor!' but that didn't happen). It was actually pretty interesting, though, and, hey, I got a bunch of free CFLs, and free stuff is cool.
And I learned things! I even learned things I can do immediately, and things I can work into my remodel, and potentially a way to get the benefit of furring out the wall without actually doing all the tedious work with furring strips -- all of which is awesome!
From top to bottom --
- I need to unkludge the bathroom fan vent that dad I kludged because it was raining. Currently the very nice bathroom fan takes up one of the roof vents, and the roof could really use more ventilation. More roof vents or a ridge vent would be good in future.
- I need to replace the cardboard baffles in the attic, not just make new ones for the new area, because they've fallen from the right position and are actually hindering things. That job takes zero money, but it'll be miserable to actually do. NOT looking forward to it. Ick.
- In related news, he suggested a 2x4 two instead of the 2' OSB I have up there to make it easy to get through the attic, since the OSB seriously reduces the insulation in the areas it's in. I knew it was an issue; 2x4s are a decent solution, I suppose. I'll probably put up more than one, though.
- vent hood for the oven, for CO and moisture reasons. Well, that's not news. What is cool is that the guy suggested moving the old bathroom fan -- which has been replaced but not removed -- into the kitchen in the interim between now and actually shelling out for a vent hood and possibly moving the stove, which is a nice idea.
- Should do lots of caulking for air sealing around joints and electrical fittings and things.
- advice on water heaters. Apparently a gas storage heater (like I'd been planning) is a bad idea in a conditioned space, and I should either look at gas tankless, condensing gas (a fancy storage heater), or an electric heat pump water heater. Back to the drawing board -- but good to know!
- The walls are a problem, and will probably always be a problem. :( They're very poorly insulated, but since they do have some insulation, they're not candidates for drill and fill. Poo. Only way around that is to reside the house, and that's not in the cards.
- The floor is awesome! Not only is it well insulated (which I knew), but there's an air barrier between the insulation and the floor (which is 2x6 boards, not sheet stock, so there are lots of air gaps). Also, I managed to keep Calliope from following him down into the crawlspace. Yay!
no subject
We have a continuous flow gas hot water system which is very useful for households with lots of folk, and while we only have me & $wife in residence, we do occasionally get smothered in offspring with/without hangers on and it's comforting to know there'll still be hot water for the last shower...
I'm currently working my way through substituting LED lamps for CFL for two reasons; 1) they're cheaper to run, and 2) they are more reliable in the long run (switching them on and off in short repeated cycles destroys CFLs but not LEDs so far as I can tell). The last set of LEDs I bought at $NZ25 each say 30,000 hours anticipated life. Great for hall lights that tend to stay on all day and night ($wife was born in a tent and seems to not know how to turn off lights most of the time). I have a 2W LED lamp at the top of the internal stairs which never gets turned off.
An interesting thing I noticed about the LED lamps is the presence of a switched mode power supply in the globe which will run on 100-240VAC - so the same device for US/Japan (110/120) and the rest of the world (220-240) which improves the economies of scale for the product.
An aside: the wobbles continue apace...
no subject
I like the LEDs better than CLS -- as well as the benefits you mention, they come on immediately at full power instead of having a bit of a dim warm-up period -- but maaaan, they're expensive! I have ONE -- in a lamp by the door that I want to be at full brightness as soon as I walk into my dark house. The price is coming down fairly fast, though. A few years ago a single LED bulb was $40; I bought the one I have for $15.I recently saw a display for under $10 -- but only for one standard size and one wattage, subsidized by the utility company. Even at $15, though, I should be able to start changing them out slowly -- it's just that the guy yesterday switched my remaining incandescents (it's like the stone age!) over to CFLs for free. :P
I really want to use LED can lights in the studio, but it's proving more complex to figure out than I thought. See, there's this number you're supposed to look for to show that the bulb has high color accuracy -- I don't remember the details -- but since most people don't care that number isn't actually on the packaging. Thank goodness for the internet. One more thing to do exhaustive confusing research on.
Uh oh. Maligning your wife... :P
The power supply is interesting! That surely bodes well for prices continuing to come down, but perhaps it also explains why they started high. That's a lot more tech than a standard bulb!
LED lights
So far I've only seen warm white LED globes, which probably won't give you high colour accuracy, as I suspect the cool white colour temp is the more accurate for midday sun colour. I read (in IEEE Spectrum iirc) that our use of cool white in offices all day leads to disrupted circadian rhythms as the mind is attuned to a more yellow colour morning and evening with the bright bluer colour associated with midday sun, hence the body expects to wake up to warm white, peak activity with cool white, and wind down in the late afternoon with warm white again. The article went on to point out that technology is rapidly approaching the point where the colour temp of artificial light can be programmed to reflect the natural changes in colour throughout the day leading to a better balance in life. LEDs are really marvellous things in that respect.
I read on FB a quote from Einstein when he said The really important discoveries in science don't begin with "Eureka!" but with "that's funny".
LEDs being a case in point - the guy who discovered the LED effect had no idea what use it would be, but saw it as a solution looking for a problem to solve. And look where it's got to now!!
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