Delta Water Amplifying Shower Head

Posted on April 21st, 2008 in energy savings, green, home improvement, shower head by homeimprovement
I recently picked up the Delta Fluidics Adjustable Shower Head. I already head a 2.5 gpm navy shower head but never liked it’s look and it actually cooled the water as it delivered it to you. If the shower head considerably mists the water that actually cools the water being delivered to you. So although you are using less water than a normal showerhead, you are using more hot water than you need to because you are continually turning up the hot water.The Delta Fluidics Adjustable Shower Head doesn’t mist the water as much and actually feels like its delivering more water to you. It is adjustable between 1.8 gpm and 2.5 gpm. Since it doesn’t cool the water as much, you also use less hot water.My first water saving appliance was the 1.6 gpf toilet. I switched two 5 gallon toilets out with these water saving units and watched my water bill drop by a third. I’ll be interested to watch my water bill with the new shower head working at 1.8 gpm and it may have an impact on my natural gas bill as well if I do indeed use less hot water in the shower. Check it out, it’s only $25 and you get free super saver shipping at Amazon.

Update: A nice little benefit to this showerhead is that since it does not mist so much, your showers will be less steamy and thus less fogging on your mirror.

Update: Ok, let’s start measuring the savings, shall we? From 11/14/2007 through 02/16/2008, I used 11 CCF of water. Around the middle of May, I should get my next water bill. It will be interesting to see what water savings has resulted. Also, the Delta Shower Head seems unaffected by toilet flushings during shower time (at least when running in 1.8 GPM mode) - not bad!

Simple tips for keeping your home warmer in the wintertime

Posted on February 24th, 2008 in do it yourself, energy savings, heat, home improvement by homeimprovement
Here’s a couple simple tips for keeping your home warmer in the wintertime as well as cooler in the summertime. Have you ever gone to turn on a light and felt cold air streaming from the light switch? Or have you ever gone to plug something in an outlet and felt the same thing? These are basically holes in your wall and you need to seal them up to keep the cold out. Sealing them up is something you can do very simply and inexpensively.What you see to the left are Frost King Electric Outlet Sealers. They also make Light Switch Sealers as well. Grab yourself a few packs each of these and a cordless screwdriver and you can seal up all the electric outlets and light outlets in your house in about 30 minutes. Will you notice the difference? Definitely when you go to turn on a light or plug a light in. You’ve got to have at least 50-100 outlets in your home. I imagine sealing 50-100 or so will result in some appreciable difference in how your home feels. Besides they’re about a buck a pack. Give it a shot and see.
Another thing that I recently did was to take some thick plastic and wrap my screens with it to the windows of my back porch. These screens are about 4′ by 5′. My back porch is sort of a sun room with those old louvered windows that you crank open and close. Problem is - the windows don’t close all the way anymore which leads to some serious cold air intrusion. I took some packaging tape and some thick plastic and, after taking out the screens, wrapped the screens with the plastic. My back porch was over 20 degrees warmer than the outdoor temperature yesterday. This also creates a nice buffer zone between the outside and the house even when it’s only 5-10 degrees warmer in the porch than it is outside. I also get less worked up now when the wife leaves the door open which leads to the porch.

Has the new furnace lived up to its billing

Posted on February 21st, 2008 in energy savings, furnace, green, home improvement by homeimprovement

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I purchased a new furnace back in November. Let’s do a quick and dirty comparison of last year to this year on gas bills.

Nov 06 - 39 Ccf - Nov 07 - 14 Ccf

Dec 06 - 45 Ccf E - Dec 07 - 57 Ccf Estimated

Jan 07 - 56 Ccf - Jan 08 111 Ccf

Feb 07 - 53 Ccf Estimate - Feb 08 - 89 Ccf Estimated

March 07 - 128 Ccf - March 08 - 127 Ccf

April 07 - 35 Ccf - April 08 - 78 Ccf Estimated

Well it appears we’ve been using quite a bit more natural gas this winter. We have been keeping the thermostat at around 70 and one of us is generally home all day. Last year, we kept the thermostat at around 65 or so. Let’s look at some other factors as well.

Here’s electric usage for last year and this year

Nov 06 806 KWH - Nov 07 800 KWH

Dec 06 1200 KWH - Dec 07 1152 KWH

Jan 07 1258 KWH - Jan 08 1164 KWH

Feb 07 1677 KWH - Feb 08 1311 KWH

Mar 07 - 1322 KWH - Mar 08 1716 KWH took a beating in March!

Apr 07 1027 KWH - April 08 ???

So while natural gas consumption has gone up, electricity usage has dropped way down. Notice the huge drop in February. Also, I believe the date of the bill actually reflects usage for the previous month.

Why the change? Last year, we kept the old furnace at around 65 and relied upon portable electric heaters to heat the rooms we mainly used. This year, our reliance on electric heaters has dropped significantly (at least in the house). On top of that, I converted my garage into a full time office and despite heating that solely with electric heaters, my electric bill has fallen. Perhaps my garage was not as tough to heat as I previously thought.

I also imagine the furnace’s blower uses a lot less electricity than my old furnace’s blower. I’ve recently replaced several incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs so will see if that has a further impact on the electricity bill.

Stay tuned for my new water saving shower head report. This shower head saves water, delivers a full spray and doesn’t cool the hot water as it delivers it to you.