Muse
Lifer
I get an unsolicited call around a month ago and it's a woman who says they are with a program that might install a heater in my house (Berkeley, CA). She didn't say that exactly, but that's where the conversation went because that's what I need. The heater in my almost 2000 square foot two story 101 year old house was a floor heater that's been disconnected and in the crawl space under the house, rusting since I moved in here in 1983. I bought the house (was renting with others before) in 2000.
I'm very low income right now and have qualified for a few assistance programs but when contacted in the past I didn't qualify for help putting in a heating system because mine wasn't connected and functioning. I explained this to the woman but she seemed to think it didn't matter. She makes an appointment for a guy to come over and check out the house.
The appointment was yesterday and the guy was nice as hell, worked up a plan in a matter of 1/2 hour - 45 minutes and I asked him if I could have a few days to make up my mind. He'd said there was a time limit and a limit on the number of rebates that would be issued, so he'd made it sound like I better act fast (yes, a common tactic and I don't know how for real this was). I asked him if he could call me Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday (today's Sunday).
The old heating system sent up heat through a grate in the floor, AFAIK being only a single one in the center of the downstairs in the living room.
This guy asked me if there was any ducting or way to send ducts up to the 2nd floor. If not, he said I'd either have to have just one heater (heat gets to the 2nd floor by rising up the staircases, there being one in front and one in back) or have 2 heaters, one in the crawl space and the other in the attic. Without bothering to go up into the attic or have a close look to see if ducting is possible from the crawl space to the 2nd floor, he decides it's not feasible (he may be right in that, but I'm not at all sure), he tells me if I want other than heat rising up the stairwells I need that 2nd heater in the attic. He makes a cell call to a guy in the office and asks about that and says they can get me an even greater rebate on a 2nd heater. If I have just one heater it will cost me around $7500, with 2 it will be $13,290 after 2 rebates from my utility company, PGE (evidently about $150 each), a "voucher amount" of $4000, federal tax credit of $400. He says they will provide 6 supply registers, 2 independent digital thermostats (one upstairs and one downstairs). They will remove the old rusted heater in the crawl space. They will have to widen one opening to the crawl space to get equipment (i.e. the heater itself) into the space and remove the old heater. Most of the accesses are surrounded by brick, but I think there's one they can hack into with saws. Presumably they'll repair. They say they'll install ducting (2"). What it actually says on the form he gave me is "Add new (if required) PVC 2" flue system up to 10ft." The heating system is rated at 95.5% AFUE (efficiency). The form says "Seal ducting system to current Title 24 standards as required by law." He said this included pressure testing.
He tells me they have a program where I can go 1 year without interest if I start paying $450/month.
The system he's proposing is a "Trane System," (he said I may have heard of them, said they are extremely good, I may have seen them at Home Depot), said their warranty (10 year limited parts and labor and limited lifetime warranty on heat exchanger) would extend to new owner if I sell the house, something he said only Trane does. The form said it's a 2 stage variable air flow system.
Does this seem like a good/great smart deal? Or should I shop around? The company is California Energy Services, and their site is californiaenergyservices.com.
This morning it occurred to me that I maybe should ask if it's possible to close off some of the supply lines (registers, I think they're called?). I live alone here and in a cold snap in the winter I might want to just heat part of the house or even one room if possible. If I keep the whole house warm or even half, it would use more gas than necessary. Is that a reasonable idea?
I'm very low income right now and have qualified for a few assistance programs but when contacted in the past I didn't qualify for help putting in a heating system because mine wasn't connected and functioning. I explained this to the woman but she seemed to think it didn't matter. She makes an appointment for a guy to come over and check out the house.
The appointment was yesterday and the guy was nice as hell, worked up a plan in a matter of 1/2 hour - 45 minutes and I asked him if I could have a few days to make up my mind. He'd said there was a time limit and a limit on the number of rebates that would be issued, so he'd made it sound like I better act fast (yes, a common tactic and I don't know how for real this was). I asked him if he could call me Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday (today's Sunday).
The old heating system sent up heat through a grate in the floor, AFAIK being only a single one in the center of the downstairs in the living room.
This guy asked me if there was any ducting or way to send ducts up to the 2nd floor. If not, he said I'd either have to have just one heater (heat gets to the 2nd floor by rising up the staircases, there being one in front and one in back) or have 2 heaters, one in the crawl space and the other in the attic. Without bothering to go up into the attic or have a close look to see if ducting is possible from the crawl space to the 2nd floor, he decides it's not feasible (he may be right in that, but I'm not at all sure), he tells me if I want other than heat rising up the stairwells I need that 2nd heater in the attic. He makes a cell call to a guy in the office and asks about that and says they can get me an even greater rebate on a 2nd heater. If I have just one heater it will cost me around $7500, with 2 it will be $13,290 after 2 rebates from my utility company, PGE (evidently about $150 each), a "voucher amount" of $4000, federal tax credit of $400. He says they will provide 6 supply registers, 2 independent digital thermostats (one upstairs and one downstairs). They will remove the old rusted heater in the crawl space. They will have to widen one opening to the crawl space to get equipment (i.e. the heater itself) into the space and remove the old heater. Most of the accesses are surrounded by brick, but I think there's one they can hack into with saws. Presumably they'll repair. They say they'll install ducting (2"). What it actually says on the form he gave me is "Add new (if required) PVC 2" flue system up to 10ft." The heating system is rated at 95.5% AFUE (efficiency). The form says "Seal ducting system to current Title 24 standards as required by law." He said this included pressure testing.
He tells me they have a program where I can go 1 year without interest if I start paying $450/month.
The system he's proposing is a "Trane System," (he said I may have heard of them, said they are extremely good, I may have seen them at Home Depot), said their warranty (10 year limited parts and labor and limited lifetime warranty on heat exchanger) would extend to new owner if I sell the house, something he said only Trane does. The form said it's a 2 stage variable air flow system.
Does this seem like a good/great smart deal? Or should I shop around? The company is California Energy Services, and their site is californiaenergyservices.com.
This morning it occurred to me that I maybe should ask if it's possible to close off some of the supply lines (registers, I think they're called?). I live alone here and in a cold snap in the winter I might want to just heat part of the house or even one room if possible. If I keep the whole house warm or even half, it would use more gas than necessary. Is that a reasonable idea?
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