Screaming Deal on energy star fridge

Re: Screaming Deal on energy star fridge

benthere wrote: »

At least one of us was smart enough to wait for our fellow tax-payers to contribute before buying a fridge. One fine day, I'm going to learn that lesson.

Please let us know what the Kill-A-Watt thinks of it.

PS. Don't suppose you've got a deal like that lined up on solar hot water?

I wish, although I do have a solar hot water system coming on July 12th. In that I am replacing the gas hot water heater too, and adding a 80 gal storage tank. Should cover our total usage about 10 months out of the year.

I do have a kill-a-watt but it is "lost" in the garage after the new flooring job was done, still digging for boxes that might contain it.

PS found another $30 out of the old Fridge, APS is paying a $30 rebate on the pick of an old fridge or freezer. They recycle 95% of the materials including freon in the unit, RAD plan. Thank you APS for paying me for the removal.

Re: Screaming Deal on energy star fridge

Jburgess wrote: »

Well I splurged for the side by side Maytag 25 cuft energy star with ice and water in the door for $799 with the 300 rebate from Arizona and I can Get $30 from SRP for my old one. Net cost $469, but I have to pay sales tax on the $799, about $72. so for $541 I get a new energy star frig instead of my 1992 energy hog with a broken icemaker.

Solar_dave I would be happy to hear more about your solar hot water. What kind and how much roof real-estate. Also curious about why only 10 months of the year, too much extra cost?

Replacing my electric water heater with solar hot water is on my want list, but not my budget list right now.

Congrats on the new fridge, it should pay for itself in savings over time. Mine is to be delivered today.

The type is a single 5X10 flat plate collector, water heater preheat with 80 gallon storage tank and a new 95% efficient Gas hot water heater. The ten months is a roof real estate issue, I am pretty much done on the current roof(see picture). However, the new building (garage,workshop, office) will have some open real estate later this year. Not as much as I would have liked because the code guys have forced a gable roof line to meet setback requirements. We have yet to settle on AC unit (a Sanyo 3 way split system @ 16 seer sounds pretty interesting but the price is approaching what I would have to pay for a good Trane 17 seer ground mount) and for the insulation method, leaning to foam if I can get a decent price quote. Foam @ R3.7 per inch sounds pretty good on a 5 1/2 inch wall cavity plus 1.5 inches of foam board on the exterior under the stucco.

After the solar hot water, we are now back on conservation mode and have identified a few opportunities there, the old 2.5 ton 10seer AC unit needs replacing (hoping for another extension on the Fed tax credit, already used my $1500, the damn thing sounds like it is on its last leg anyway), looking at high efficiency pool pumping systems (pool equipment is pretty old as well and has issues), adding radiant barrier to main house roof, insulating main house's 3 car garage, adding radiant film to about half the windows the ones with direct sun exposure and possibly conversion from electric to gas on both stove and clothes dryer. Although I still suspect that the gas conversions may not make financial sense but the wife is pushing for gas cooking and the cheap builder electric range is pretty tacky looking after 15 years. (Happy wife, Happy Life) :D;)

Some interesting pool equipment is out there, like Solar PV direct DC pumping or VFD driven pumps with multiple programmable speeds. Neither is a cheap solution and with utility rebates and tax credits additional PV might just be the solution. The utility will kick in $200 towards a pool pump upgrade.

Really the conservation measures are an attempt to not have to add more PV to support the new building and offset it's installation with conservation. Also I think if we do a Volt next year for the wife's car that may force some addition of PV but with off peak rates of about $0.06 it will be a tough sell for me on the spreadsheet.

Happy to report that the "other" utility got only $27.53 from me for the month of June of that about $8 was off peak generation and the rest was fees. We even added a few kWh to the on peak bank which was a bit of a shock.

Re: Screaming Deal on energy star fridge

Jburgess wrote: »

Now that it's had a few days to settle in, I am impressed. The new fridge uses 1.75 KW a day, a little more than the sticker estimates, but the old fridge used 4.2 KW a day. That makes the payback about 2 years. plus I am not buying a sack of ice for a dollar every week.

solar_dave, any pics of the solar hot water system yet?

Nice one, I have not checked out the loads on the fridge, can't find my Kill-a-Watt after my flooring job in the house. I am sure it is packed up some place in the garage.

OK so pics of the solar hot-water you want here you go. The system consisted of a new Energy star Sears gas Hot water heater, and 80 gallon Electric hot water heater not wired as a storage tank. The damn thing produces so much hot water I think we will never run out. It will be interesting to see how it goes mid winter. I have the set point max @ 150 F now and there is a proportioning valve that mixes in cold water to prevent scalding. The gas is set to kick in @ 110F as a backup.