Classic Dave’s Air Conditioning Blog

Weatherization?? Hello?!!
hmm, still waiting on some more action from the government. Right now I haven’t heard anything more! Yes, there is a good incentive to purchase energy star products that qualify for a tax credit, and yes it is up to $1500. That is good! I like it! It’s definitely needed! But here is the deal you have to spend $5,000 Dollars in order to receive all of the tax credit!! Now let’s say your air conditioning system needs to be replaced. Since I’m in this field I see this scenario every day. An Air Conditioning and Heating system breaks down every second somewhere in the USA. So there is systems that we can upgrade to save energy daily!
Ok, let’s spend a few billion for some windmills, I’m into saving power, but the wind power is going to take some time to build! We have a simple way to start saving energy and saving home income right now! Let’s think about it for a second, Saving energy in the home helps not only the power grid but the home owner! The real little guy! It will save us money right now! Right now! Yes, the individual home owner Mr. President!!
I will say that a new energy star rated HVAC system that qualifies for the tax credit will cost more than $5000 allowance. The average cost of a Tax Credited Central Air Conditioning and Heating Systems is close to $6500 to $8500. Now how many people have that amount stuffed in a shoe box? Not many! So the next option I get asked is do I finance? I tell the customer we have a financing company that customers can use being that we are a Bryant Factory Authorized Dealer.
Customer says great! Sign me up!
So we fill out the finance form and call in the application. Unfortunately the same old answer the guy before him got, Sorry client doesn’t qualify! And these are good people who have good credit. It is getting ridiculous! Lenders have dropped like flies! I mean the same lenders that we the people bailed out!! And for the FEW that qualify, it’s not really a good deal! Between an initial finance charge and then a percentage rate the customer is not saving money!! The monthly cost of the system with all the crappy finance charges to the owner now does not justify in the savings saved over the life of the system!

Anyways my point! I’m talking for the people! So Mr. President, and all you Government Elects! Listen Close because this Idea will save the country and the American people millions to billions!

We need the $1500 tax credit but we also need low interest rate loans to buy energy efficient systems!!
I suggest the government have a Energy Loan Fund for home owners. The Energy Loan fund would be set up like a SBA loan. The government would guarantee 85% of these loans so BANKS will loan the money for these improvements!! The interest rate would be a low 3% on energy tax credit items! What this would do is help the home owner get the best quality products. These top quality, high efficiency products will help save the home owner up to 56% on their Air Conditioning and Heating bills. Not only will the home owner save on the initial expense of the system they will save monthly on their utilities. The equipment that qualifies for tax credits are much better built so they will last longer too! The Energy loan fund would help the ease of payment to the home owner. Plus the banks would make 3% on the money.
If the Banks aren’t in agreement with the idea then why should we the people want to help them? If not save some of that billion dollar stimulus loan you are giving them and make it a Government funded loan. Whatever it takes!

Another benefit of this would be, it would create JOBS!!!! Right now there has been ZERO jobs created with this so called weatherization program that was so heavily promoted during the elections!! As a matter of fact I see businesses in my trade closing their doors!!

It’s time to think, This is an idea that will work!

Per Letter I received stating more on the Tax credit.
Plus Update on Energy Star web site today

Energy Star Tax Credit

2009 Tax Credits for Energy Efficient HVAC Equipment
On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) into law. The bill combines spending and tax incentives designed to get the American economy moving again by investing in our nation’s road and energy infrastructure, and increasing the energy efficiency and performance of America’s homes and commercial buildings.

For qualified improvements, homeowners may be able to claim tax credits equal to 30% of the installed costs (up to $1,500).

The new tax credits are retroactive to January 1, 2009, and expire on December 31, 2010. The $1,500 limit is for all improvements made during the two year term, not $1500 each year.

Homeowners may use the entire $1,500 tax credit limit on a single qualifying improvement. The previous per-appliance caps that limited the homeowner to just $150 for a high efficiency furnace or $300 for a high efficiency central air conditioner or heat pump have been removed.

Homeowners that previously claimed tax credits in 2006 or 2007 are eligible for the full $1,500 limit.

Steven Chu, is the main man when it comes to energy. Dr. Chu is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. Not a politician. I love for him and another of my favorite physicist Kaku Michio to sit down and discus science stuff and how different concepts of energy would work and not work for the American people.
Count me in on that I’d watch that on the Science Channel.

It’s my belief maybe Dr. Chu can get things done if he continues to lead with his head and heart and not by the standard political way.
I like his stance so far. I like that he is considering the national grid as a high priority.

His Energy Department also plans to move quickly to distribute money under the weatherization program to help low-income families improve the energy efficiency of their homes. The economic stimulus package provides $11 billion to the weatherization plan. Ok CBSnews.com reported 11 Billion and GreenCollarEducation.net reported 5 Billion towards weatherization. It needs to be around 11 Billion Dollars to be effective. So I’m counting on CNN’s report.

I still have some doubts about the effectiveness on the weatherization program. But when I break it down, if done correctly would be very effective.

How many people will qualify, and will the weatherization improvement companies make enough money to create new jobs?

There is a lot of factors that have to equal up. A low income family, say a family of four needs to make less than $31,800. This is not a lot of income money so it is going to cut out a lot of deserving people who make more than this that could really use some weatherization relief too.

The president, stated that the weatherization program would effect around a million homes. This would average out to be $11,000 per home. This figure would be a good estimate to weatherize a home and this should provide enough money to the weatherization companies.
In another blog post, I’ll go into why weatherization is actually one of the only relief programs that will actually make and save money. This is the concept where you spend a little to save a lot.

I am still wondering if the Energy Star Tax Relief for high efficiency equipment is part of this plan or if it a different bird all together? Right now on certain energy saving air conditioning and heating systems you can get a $300 tax relief in 09. This is a good thing too for America, I’d like to see more of a tax relief than $300
which I will explain in another blog post.

Here is a list of what may be on the plan. I am always skeptical about job creation.
How is the government agency going to find the weatherization company?
Does the home owner get a check then they seek an estimate? Does the Gov agency have their good ole boy do the job/s? These small details and basic questions haven’t been answered at this time so how can we say about 32,000 jobs will be created?
It also depends if a company can make enough money to hire. As of right now the bidding on air conditioning installation is at it’s all time low. It is one of the causes that air conditioning companies are failing. They think by dropping the price they will get the job. If they get the Job they then figure out they did not make any profit and now they owe distributors and suppliers. The distributors and suppliers are feeling the effects!
This is something I warned our local distributor about over a year ago.
This is how our industry has failed.
Cheap bids do not work. Cheap work doesn’t produce quality or efficiency.
We need to get back to a fair market price structure as a industry whole and start
planning better to make every new home meet the Energy Star tax relief guide line.
Anyways here is some figures on the Weatherization Assistance Program provide by
GreenCollarEducation.net:

• $5 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program, sufficient to meet President Obama’s goal of weatherizing one million homes per year while creating an estimated 32,000 jobs in the auditing and retrofitting industries;

• $4.5 billion to make 75 percent of federal buildings more energy efficient;

• $3.1 billion for the State Energy Program (SEP), which delivers important energy efficiency services and innovations in every state and has the needed infrastructure to quickly absorb the new funding and create new jobs;

• $300 million for state matching grants for rebates to consumers who purchase higher-tier energy-efficient appliances;

• $3.2 billion in State Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants (EECBG) that will allow state and local governments to aggressively implement energy efficiency programs;

• $400 million of the EECBG funds to be awarded on a competitive basis to encourage states to adopt stronger building energy codes and to adopt utility regulatory reform leading to rate reforms, such as decoupling, that will help their customers save energy;

• More than $8 billion for state and local government investments in public transportation.

The Weatherization Plan has got my attention.
It’s actually been around, but to me, kind of ineffective.
Hence since no one really knew about it before this stimulus package

I have read a little on this plan, I do not know much since there isn’t much about
it only what was done last year.
I will say I will know about the weatherization package since I hope it will help
in business and possibly personal.

Hopefully in future blogs I will describe detail outlines of
President Obama’s Weatherization Plan. How it can effect a Company who participates in the plan,
will it be enough to make a company who participates in the plan grow so they can hire and create new jobs.

Second,
What does it actually take to qualify?
What will it actually do for a home owner who qualifies for the weatherization?
What paper work one must do to qualify?
Is there a cost to qualify?
How much can a home owner receive for weatherization?

I hope to find these answers out and more. Not by asking but by doing.

I have always stated in the grand market of selling,
Colorful brochures are nice, but I still like to put tools to things and prove
they are as nice as they look on glossy paper.

~Classic Dave

from Foxnews.com

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/02/05/obama-ordering-energy-efficient-standards/

Let me just add a thought to this plan.
In 2006 The energy efficiency rating for Air Conditioning rose from 10 SEER to 13 SEER. If you ask me,
I would encourage the President to give incentives to consumers to buy 15 SEER or above rated Air Conditioning equipment. If you want a true stimulus package, then there is no greater advantage then having the upper level of high efficient air conditioning systems installed in the common household. There is air/air systems that can save 56 dollars for every $100 spent on air conditioning. You want an American Saving plan? Here it is with Classic Dave’s recommend two speed/stage air conditioning systems. I’ve been there and done it and the saving I see with homes with 2 speed systems is incredible. Give the consumer a $3000 voucher towards a 2 speed air conditioning system! Yea give some of that 900 Billion dollars to the consumer so they can accomplish a real stimulus that they can actually see reflected every month in their utility bill. Just think every house hold that uses half the amount of energy on their air conditioning system would mean. I doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what benefit this means to America.

A few weeks ago, I finally got around to replace my water heater.

Was it broke? No,

Was it old? Yes.  Over 12yrs old. and I don’t trust any water heater over 10yrs. So yea I’m two years over due in my head. So before it sprang a leak or the heating elements left me with a cold shower I decided it’s time to change it out. Actually it was my neighbor that asked if I could help him do his  and with that I said you know now I have to do mine. Isn’t it great how neighbors sometimes get you going too, or your wife saying hey when are you going to do ours?! So the 40 gallon Hot water tank is in and working well. Today I thought I start an energy audit on my home starting with this brand new 49 gal water heater from Lowes.

This water heater is rated at 4500 watts but me being a tradesmen, data plates are nice but my meter rules.  I need to know what it cost me at my house not at a perfect lab room.

So applying a little ohms law Volts 246.6 x amps 18.44 gives me 4547.3 watts or 4.55kw JEA Jacksonville’s electric company charges .13cts a kilowatt(includes tax) so my water heater cost me 59cts/hr.

Right next to the water heater is my washer! hmm lets turn that on and wash some whites in hot water. And lets see how long my water heater stays on.  Well its 32F outside so the entering cold water may be a little colder than on a hot summer day. Well it took 28 minutes to reheat the water tank after a full load. So know I know it roughly cost me around 27cts to heat the water for a full load. I think soon I will be checking into a timer, it should save a little.

Time to blog! Setting out to be the hottest blog on the net from the coolest guy in the A/C business! Just kidding.
I’m just one of the cool guys around, I think?

Well it’s a Freeze time! Yes even here in the South, Jacksonville Fl where I live is going below freezing! Global Warming not tonight or tomorrow!
Looks like it may even be a Hard Freeze. This is a term to describe temperatures that drop below 32°F and remain there for several hours.  A hard freeze can do damage to plant life, and/or cause freezing of water in water lines and one thing I can’t stand is putting that nasty ice on your car/truck windshield!
Well we all know that you should cover or bring in plant life to keep the vegetation warm enough to service the
cold. That’s why my wife’s lemon trees are decorating our family room tonight.  For water pipes it is good if you
have exposed water lines to have the water drip from an outside faucet. What this does is relieve the expansion of
freezing water that could form in your waterlines causing your waterlines to crack or burst. This is the most costly
damage that can occur from a hard freeze so take precautions if you feel it is necessary.
The biggest small nuisance however is the Car Window! It’s cold and of course when it is cold you are late for work!
You have ice on your window but you got to go! So what to do?
Turn on the car and start your defrost! It is always good to let your car warm up for at least a minute before you
drive it anyways. This not only helps your engine, it will get things moving on your windshield too. Still not fast
enough? Time to break out the scrapper! Remember never hit the ice in a downward force because you may hit it too
hard causing damage to your window! When scrapping Start at the bottom middle of the windshield because that is
where the defrost air is warming the window surface the most.
Still need to go faster?  Water time?!
The Big question ~ Hot Water or Cold Water?  Does hot water freeze faster than cold?  Well there is something called
the Mpemba effect and it is the observation that, in certain specific circumstances, warmer water will freezes
faster than colder water. But will hot water help you with your windshield?
My observations and recommendation is to go with the cold water. First never use boiling water. carrying a pot of
boiling water is dangerous! If there is ice on your window there could be ice that you slip on in the drive way!
Plus because of shock effect you could do damage to your  windshield by pooring boiling water on a cold window. So
no boiling ok!

Hot tap water?  Well how long does it take to wait on the hot water? A minute or two? That’s too long you have to
go! So is it cold water then? Yes! Here is a couple reasons, one you don’t have to wait for the water to get warm
and even the cold water will melt the ice on your windshield. Second you want to get your cold water flowing in your
home’s water pipes. Just like the drip effect this filling the pot with water helps keep the water from freezing
plus  it helps with the expansion effect that causes the pipes to burst. If you must do water, watch your shoes! No
wet shoes because that would be bad and it always seems when you deal with water the shoes get wet! So my overall
suggestion would be take your time let the defrost work and use the scrapper if need be.

Welcome to Classic Dave’s Blog! If Plumber Joe can be in politics,  Classic Dave can do an Air Conditioning Blog!

What is the world coming too?

I’ll be talking here about everything in the trade of residential Air Conditioning from repairs,  maintenance, replacement to asking the right questions when dealing with a contractor.