kitsapfreeloader said:
Won't that dramatically increase your indoor humidity, possibly causing condensation on windows and other surfaces in your home? If so, you could be in for a mold problem and your energy savings would be lost in cleanup costs.

my house is incredibly dry in the winter, so far no negative effects. i don't know if its the climate or the house, but i know a lot of people actually buy humidifiers to combat dry winter air. in the summer it is humid and hot here so there is no way i would use it. my parents have had one of these contraptions on their dryer for 20 years and my mom just switches it from the 'summer' setting to the 'winter' setting after about 10 minutes when the large amount of moisture is out of the clothes...they haven't had any mold issues.

brokestudent said:if you use an electric clothes dryer - there is a little device you can buy for 5-10 bucks at a hardware store that will attach to the dyer vent and vent the heat and moisture into the house in the winter, then you can turn the switch the other way and send it back out of the house in the summer. i have been using it all winter and it really cuts down on heat usage when running the dryer. if i do a few loads of laundry i don't even have to turn on my heat, but i live in a decent climate and have a small, well insulated house.

the same thing can be accomplished detatching the vent, putting panty hose on the end coming from the dryer and sealing the other side.

it's actually against the building code (illegal) to not vent dryers directly to the outside. also, you are asking for lots of trouble with mold. a small well insulated house with excessive humidity differential with exterior = mold problems. this is got to be one of the craziest things i've heard. i don't know how much you think you may save, but you will pay dearly later.

>>> some of us have old, dry, drafty houses where venting a dryer inside isnt a problem.... <<<

Or, newer houses with gas heat, with resultant incredibly dry air. I spend a fortune on face, body, and lip moisturizer! My concern with indoor dryer venting is the lint/dust problem.

StevenColorado said:andre1000 said:
This last part is so true. Energy providers are requiired to provide services like lighting your pilot. So when it turns warm call them and see if they will turn off your pilot light or tell you how. Most furnaces now use electronic ignition (spark) to light rather than pilot. But it might apply to someone. Especially if you still have a floor or wall furnace.



ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!

The reason that pilots are used is to consume any possible gas leaks. If you turn off the pilot and you do get a leak, you are guaranteed a house-leveling explosion.

Also, in another post, the idea of using used frying oil on a car is mentioned. Don't consider this either. Your engine is optimized for gasoline, and buring other combustibles will cause all sorts of weird stuff to happen - IF the fuel is clean. Using dirty oil as a fuel results in crud traveling through your engine and carburetor.

The comment about using oils was strictly for diesel engines. Never use any other product but your gas station gasoline in your car engine.


Most people here in California who have Southern California Edison or Pacific Gas and Electric get to hear
regular advertisements on almost every radio station in the Fall inviting them to call PGE to come out and relight the pilot
light.

When the summer comes there is a valve in front of the pilot and gas burner. When this valve is shut off all of the gas that goes to that heater is shut off.

So there is no gas to be burned off. haha. I'm sorry that you are upset. But you have been
thinking too hard or been seriously misinformed by an alarmest.

If you ever do smell gas then you should call your gas company. A special chemical is added to all natural gas that
goes into homes so that people can be aware of the smell and ask for help.

But it would be irresponsible to require the pilot light to "burn off" gas.
Perhaps you're thinking of another situation.

kind
regards

hawaiirob said:Feedback...... instant feedback can help you modify your behavior. This $30 gadget measures the energy consumption of whatever you plug into it. Kill-a-Watt Electricity Usage Monitor. Using this device, I found that my 12-year-old fridge was using over 50% of the electricity in the house. I was also able to show my wife that our computer + monitor are using much less electricity than she thought.Great suggestion!! That one is out of stock at Amazon right now. I think I saw this one in some PC magazine recently. I didn't compare the two to see the differences (other than $10).

I have done the dryer trick when I was in college, Worked great to heat the whole 3 story 4 bedroom apartment. But on cold days the moisture on the windows was a bit to much.

I think the comment about opening it up 15-20 minutes into the dry cycle is the best bet. Invention time? That is an automatic flap that block the vent to the outdoors to the inside after say 20 minutes of dry time? I can see the infomerial now ....

brokestudent said:if you use an electric clothes dryer - there is a little device you can buy for 5-10 bucks at a hardware store that will attach to the dyer vent and vent the heat and moisture into the house in the winter, then you can turn the switch the other way and send it back out of the house in the summer. i have been using it all winter and it really cuts down on heat usage when running the dryer. if i do a few loads of laundry i don't even have to turn on my heat, but i live in a decent climate and have a small, well insulated house.

the same thing can be accomplished detatching the vent, putting panty hose on the end coming from the dryer and sealing the other side.

I did that a few years ago, and didn't like the smell of the dryer air and the extra humidity.
YMMV.

SUCKISSTAPLES said:some of us have old, dry, drafty houses where venting a dryer inside isnt a problem....

then you should insulate and weatherstrip your house so it won't be so drafty. use a humidifier not the leftover moisture from your clothes dryer to control your humidity.
it's like using a charcoal bbq to warm your house - it may do the job, but it's got a LOT of downside.

blueiedgod said
<< On another note, anyone done replacement windows? I was qouted $21,000 to replace 19 windows in my house, I thought it was pricey. This was from a sales man from Schuco, distributed by NES. They offered thirple pane Vynil windows with Crypton filled spaces. I am not sure what Nobel gas has to do with heat transfer, as far as I know vaccum is the best to lower heat transfer. Vaccum = no molecules = no free electrons = no heat transfer.
>>

I just got my windows replaced middle of this month. 21K is way too high for 19 windows, unless you are going for some designer windows. You should look for Vynil windows with atleast 3/4" thick. Also, the Nobel gas acts as an insulator. I got Argon. Make sure you have Low e with argon or Crypton filled. I paid 7.1K for 18 windows. My windows are above average size. Except for two bathroom and kitchen windows, rest are very big. I choose Reynolds 3000 series. The 6000 series is good, but costs about 3k more. Another thing is to talk to the owner, rather than the sales people. Then, you can cut the sales commission. I did that. First, the sales person quoted 7.9K for lower model. That sales person left the company, by the time I decided to replace and the owner quoted 7.1K and said, he is passing the sales commision to me to get my business. Avoid HD, Sears and Lowes. PM me if you need more info. I am in DC area.

This is a great thread! We've been trying to cut down on energy and have replaced old appliances with newer, more energy efficient ones. For ex: we bought a new set of LG/He washer/dryer last year. We have 2 kids under 5 so we go through a lot of laundry. We also recently replaced our 20 yr. old fridge with an newer energy star rated one. All our appliances are electric. We also use compact bulbs in the kids bathroom and for the outside lights at night. Fluorescent in the kitchen too. Keep the air filter in the house changed 1x month and installed vents in the attic this summer. We also have solar coverings on all our windows at 90% darkness - we live in Texas and ALL windows on the house are on the west! side.

I'm just not seeing a huge decrease in our energy bills. We switched to Reliant last year and pay (budget billing) $180/month. It seems high to me. (We have a SAHD, meaning we use a lot of E and our house is about 1,100 sq ft)

On this thread topic, I'm wondering if anyone has had better luck "shopping" energy providers, specifically, in Texas? I've done some research (powertochoose.com) and I've looked into Gexa and Cirro. What concerns me is the few times our electricity has gone out (for whatever reason, storms, etc.), I can't get the majority provider (TXU/Oncor) to recognize our house b/c we have no account with them. It's very frustrating.

Also, Reliant has given me a number of options (thru skilled negotiation on my part) including picking my billing date. Credit is not a problem, although some providers require a deposit and some don't.

Anyway, any thoughts/comments would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Edited to fix typo - add more info.