Biden declares a winter emergency for Texas.

[Brainonska511]

tricky to say because of two things:
First it was during the housing meltdown, contractors were very affordable at the time
Second Massachusetts has a insulation program where you get a shit ton of money off or back. We paid a few hundred for the work more than $200 less than $500. If I remember correctly we qualified for up to $2000 in materials and $2000 in labor. Going to guess it cost a few thousand at the time.

doing the walls trimmed about 15% of our oil usage. This number is tricky because we only had part of one winter in the home.
What I am saying is if your home doesn’t have any in the walls and everything else is sealed up do the walls. Unexpected side benefit is after having it done there is less noise from outside.

Tried to convince my landlord to use that program when they were offering 100% cost coverage for buildings with only a few units. He thought it was some random scheme to force rent control instead of an energy saving thing we all pay into on our electric bills.

Fortunately, for a 1000 square foot 2nd floor apartment, we use maybe 150 kWh/mo (a little more when we have window ACs on), and our gas bill is never more than $175/mo in the winter (average utilities over the year is about $110/mo).

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Tried to convince my landlord to use that program when they were offering 100% cost coverage for buildings with only a few units. He thought it was some random scheme to force rent control instead of an energy saving thing we all pay into on our electric bills.

Fortunately, for a 1000 square foot 2nd floor apartment, we use maybe 150 kWh/mo (a little more when we have window ACs on), and our gas bill is never more than $175/mo in the winter (average utilities over the year is about $110/mo).

He is a moron. Masssave has been around for decades. Effectively we all pay a percent or two extra for electricity and NG, that money goes into a pool to buy materials at close to cost because the state buys so much and guarantees qualified contractors who agree to a reduced labor rate x amount of business or more per year. If less than x they get paid the difference (I have heard). The dude that did my house explained the prefect review score is critical to him. Masssave was 2/3rds his business and he couldn’t figure out why more guys like him didn’t do the work. Less money but guaranteed work.

 

[Brainonska511]

He is a moron. Masssave has been around for decades. Effectively we all pay a percent or two extra for electricity and NG, that money goes into a pool to buy materials at close to cost because the state buys so much and guarantees qualified contractors who agree to a reduced labor rate x amount of business or more per year. If less than x they get paid the difference (I have heard). The dude that did my house explained the prefect review score is critical to him. Masssave was 2/3rds his business and he couldn’t figure out why more guys like him didn’t do the work. Less money but guaranteed work.

It's because he lives out of state and is super hands off. He is also a bit of a dunce. He grew up in my building, and gets things fixed when they break, but nothing ever really more than that.

There is also no incentive to dramatically improve housing stock though. Places in my area rent like hotcakes, even when their 100 year old and pretty meh, since we refuse to allow more and newer housing to be built.

If I owned a place, I'd totally take advantage of the MassSave program - it's a heck of a deal. So far, as a renter, I only did the programmable thermostat rebate, which is probably one of the reasons our gas bill stays in check (the shitty mercury round liked to short cycle the boiler and was just generally crap).

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Blow in cellulose, like most everything else, can have disadvantages. For one, over time it can settle in the wall, leaving empty space above it and packing more densely at the bottom. It can also trap moisture that gets in and attract insects if not treated. Some includes Borax for insect deterrent, but not all.


I had it blown into my attic and walls 15 or more years ago. I have no way of knowing what condition it's in inside the walls. The attic layer is still sort of fluffy but kicks up and makes a huge mess if I have to get in there for any reason.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Blow in cellulose, like most everything else, can have disadvantages. For one, over time it can settle in the wall, leaving empty space above it and packing more densely at the bottom. It can also trap moisture that gets in and attract insects if not treated. Some includes Borax for insect deterrent, but not all.


I had it blown into my attic and walls 15 or more years ago. I have no way of knowing what condition it's in inside the walls. The attic layer is still sort of fluffy but kicks up and makes a huge mess if I have to get in there for any reason.

Yeah cellulose does settle, I haven’t fluffed mine up yet but I am sure at some point I’ll have to do it.
To my knowledge currently all cellulose is treated for pests at least the stuff some in MA is.

 

[KMFJD]

'Woke up sweating': Some Texans shocked to find their smart thermostats were raised remotely

Some said they didn't know their thermostats were being accessed from afar until it was almost 80 degrees inside their homes.

www.khou.com

damn...Texas, smh

 

[esquared]

'Woke up sweating': Some Texans shocked to find their smart thermostats were raised remotely

Some said they didn't know their thermostats were being accessed from afar until it was almost 80 degrees inside their homes.

www.khou.com

damn...Texas, smh

How's that states rights and your personal freedoms working out?

Won't let you control your A/C?
WTF?

But you get to carry without a permit though.

 

[Zorba]

Gotcha, kinda what i expected - with todays inflation, etc... I would figure I'm paying $3-6k depending on the amount of work.

I'm just discovering that apparently our original home builders decided it wasn't needed for some of the walls to have the insulation that all the rest of the walls had.... *sigh*

Oh well. My AC guy came out with a thermal imaging gun the other day - certain parts of the wall had it coming in at 85+ degrees.

The thing is I'm going to want the insulation company to do similar where they look in every room and every wall to see anywhere and everywhere that it might be needed.

Something that is often very overlooked is your wall temperatures have a big effect on indoor comfort. So for the same inside air temperature you'll feel hotter when you don't have wall insulation.

 

[shortylickens]

theres a meme on the internet from an engineer who says he has nothing computer controlled in his house.

 

[Zorba]

He is a moron. Masssave has been around for decades. Effectively we all pay a percent or two extra for electricity and NG, that money goes into a pool to buy materials at close to cost because the state buys so much and guarantees qualified contractors who agree to a reduced labor rate x amount of business or more per year. If less than x they get paid the difference (I have heard). The dude that did my house explained the prefect review score is critical to him. Masssave was 2/3rds his business and he couldn’t figure out why more guys like him didn’t do the work. Less money but guaranteed work.

That's an incredibly intelligent program. There is so much waste from inefficient houses.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

But you get to carry without a permit though.

Ya' know, ya'd think the TexAss legislators would be really, really, really, REALLY worried about that, wouldn't ya'?

 

[Zorba]

How's that states rights and your personal freedoms working out?

Won't let you control your A/C?
WTF?

But you get to carry without a permit though.

Man they grew them stupid in Texas:

“They’d been asleep long enough that the house had already gotten to 78 degrees,” English said. “So they woke up sweating.”

Without anyone touching it, they said their thermostat was changed while they were sleeping, making their home unbearably hot.

“Was my daughter at the point of overheating?” English said. “She’s 3 months old. They dehydrate very quickly.”

Yeah dude, no human baby has ever survived 78 degrees...

 

[Fanatical Meat]

That's an incredibly intelligent program. There is so much waste from inefficient houses.

Yeah some dudes I worked with in NH were like “well you pay for that anyways”
My answer:
Exactly, I pay a like an average (at the time) $3 more per month on electric than you and this program allowed me to cut my oil use in more than half at a time when I could not afford proper insulation.

Deplorables before the term was coined. They just don’t get it. The goal is to pay the least for everything and FYGM. $20-$50 per year from everyone to allow everyone at some point in time to either get a rebate on energy efficient appliances and or better insulation and windows to a limited extent is totally worth the extra cost on my electric.

 

[balloonshark]

theres a meme on the internet from an engineer who says he has nothing computer controlled in his house.

Are you thinking of the one dank69 posted in the hume thread on July 11th?

 

[Jhhnn]

'Woke up sweating': Some Texans shocked to find their smart thermostats were raised remotely

Some said they didn't know their thermostats were being accessed from afar until it was almost 80 degrees inside their homes.

www.khou.com

damn...Texas, smh

Tough as Texas & whining about 78 degrees....

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Tough as Texas & whining about 78 degrees....

I don’t get why they are pissed about that. My previous nest and my current ecobee occasionally display a message “do I want to enroll in energy savings” then some stuff about peak times. Let the thermostat adjust the temp for energy savings and save money plus get a small rebate on your bill provided you follow the adjusted guideline.
Pretty simple to understand and pretty simple to say “no” to and even easier to adjust the temperature when you need to.

However this being Texas they probably didn’t get notice or got confusing notice or possibly no notice at all.

 

[sactoking]

My thermostat also automatically adjusts for "community savings events." (I just opted out of one right now) My main issue is the adjustments aren't reasonable. I have the thermostat set to 74. The power company will adjust it to 75 most days to save money and energy. But during a community event they set it into the mid-80s. That's just not reasonable when it's 100+ out; the house interior climbs into the 80s and we have two work from home adults and two kids on summer break. Plus when the event is over the AC then runs nonstop for several hours to cool the house back down to 74/75. I opt out instead and manually set it to 77.

 

[MrSquished]

My thermostat also automatically adjusts for "community savings events." (I just opted out of one right now) My main issue is the adjustments aren't reasonable. I have the thermostat set to 74. The power company will adjust it to 75 most days to save money and energy. But during a community event they set it into the mid-80s. That's just not reasonable when it's 100+ out; the house interior climbs into the 80s and we have two work from home adults and two kids on summer break. Plus when the event is over the AC then runs nonstop for several hours to cool the house back down to 74/75. I opt out instead and manually set it to 77.

is this in the libertarian utopia of Texas?

 

[sactoking]

No, just my experience with remote set thermostats.

 

[ch33zw1z]

No, just my experience with remote set thermostats.

Just out of curiosity, how does that work? I have two nest tstats on an isolated vlan and I'm not quite sure how I would safely allow an outside entity to control it.

 

[MrSquished]

No, just my experience with remote set thermostats.

phew. I would hope Texas would ban anything with something like that which can benefit the collective via something like a community event. Unless it's like a book burning festival.

 

[sactoking]

Just out of curiosity, how does that work? I have two nest tstats on an isolated vlan and I'm not quite sure how I would safely allow an outside entity to control it.

My thermo is owned by the power company. They came and installed it along with an adapter on my network. I don't have any control over it and recognize that it's a weak spot on the network but overall I like it better than the old industrial analog thermostat I had.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Just out of curiosity, how does that work? I have two nest tstats on an isolated vlan and I'm not quite sure how I would safely allow an outside entity to control it.

My nest used to occasionally as if I wanted to enroll in National Grids energy savings program and I could qualify for a rebate.
This was the auto adjust some temps at peak hours.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

My 20+ year old T-Stat has a digital clock that I don't set for DST. I set it for 60 in Winter and turn it off in Summer since it's heat only. Ain't no automahoogigigger gonna control it for me.

 

[ch33zw1z]

My nest used to occasionally as if I wanted to enroll in National Grids energy savings program and I could qualify for a rebate.
This was the auto adjust some temps at peak hours.

Ok, I won't be doing that at l, just curious though.