[Gandalf_The_Gray]

I don’t think the Federal government has any business getting involved in such mandates. But I suspect that these higher efficiency furnaces will save most users quite a bit of money.

I agree with you on the role of government but question the savings when you consider the "front loading" cost of the equipment and installation.

I would love to have one of those "demand" water heaters, either electric or gas and I suppose if I wait the government will "demand" that I install one. The problem is I have a private well and the pressure varies as the deep well pump cycles on and off. That means that the flow varies and the water temperature goes all over the map as the controller can't keep up with the fluctuations. I'm sure the bureaucrats won't care and tell me to go on "city water" which is miles away from my house...

Being a hydraulics educated engineer, I scoped out a way to get constant pressure but the required changes to my plumbing would probably cost more then I would ever save with the demand heater. Sigh... Maybe I can buy an old water tower from a bankrupt town.

Regards,
GtG

[WVKayaker]

but question the savings when you consider the "front loading" cost of the equipment

I love the folk that get rid of a perfectly good car or truck and take on a $4-600/month payment in order to save 10mpg. Yet, they only drive 8-10k miles a year. Even with $4/gallon gas, the payback would be 25 years!

[cableguymn]

install one of these or a device like it.

http://plumbing.hardwarestore.com/108-603-well-pump-parts/3-4-water-pressure-regulator—636483.aspx

our house has one. My shower use to have a heart beat. Now it’s steady and the demand water heater works just fine. Although I am rather sure it has a flow meter and can adjust on the fly to different flow rates.

[Cicero]

Because of taxes, money saved in expenses is better than money earned in income.

I did quite a bit of work improving the insulation in my house the last couple of years. It’s now much more comfortable when the temperature goes way down outside, and it saves me quite a bit on the fuel bills.

Let’s say you spend $10,000 in capital and save $1,500 a year on fuel expenses. If you invested that $10,000 in capital in today’s lousy markets, you’d be very, very lucky to make anything like that on it, plus you would pay taxes on any income you did make. And hopefully it will improve the value of the house.

I don’t save energy because I’m worried about global warming, which is nonsense, but I do try to save energy in order to reduce costs.

[Little Bill]

I have an on demand hot water heater on a well. Never noticed any temperature fluctuations, if there are they are minor, paid for itself in just over a year.