[ale] OT Just bought my 1st & 2nd "lighting-class" LED bulbs

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Hi Jim,

You might want to consider a powered thermostatically controlled vent fan for the attic.  It will keep your attic cooler.  It's fairly simple and cheap, but I don't know what the payback is.  If you have work done on your roof, you could add a ridge vent.  Those also help a bit.  Maybe a good bit.  A radiant barrier can be a good option but that costs some $$$ to get.  Payback is longer.

You could look up the heating degree days and cooling degree days for this area.  GA has both harsh winters (at times) and harsh summers.  There is hardly ever a time when my heat pump is neither heating nor cooling.  Black shingles help some with winter heating, but I would imagine they do more harm than good.  For better or worse, it would probably be harder to sell a house with a really light roof.

PS, get cellulose insulation if you can.  You'd have to check into the pros and cons.  A relative recently told me that, if your house is hit by a tornado, it blasts little bits of fiberglass insulation everywhere and into everything, so even if your clothes, bed, carpet, and sofa are intact, you can't use them again because of the fiberglass.

PPS, you didn't trim this message.  8-)  I chopped it for you.

Sincerely,

Ron



Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:

>must replace my SEER 0.001 with something MUCH better (looking at a
>SEER 16
>unit). Plus add a crapload of insulation in attic and glob on the
>ultra-bright white roof paint. My June power bill was $380.
>
>Why do people insist on BLACK shingles in the hot states? Aesthetics be
>damned! AC bills prevent me from have other fun :-(  The only black
>things
>I want my roof are solar panels for power and hot water.
>
>
>On Tue, Jul 23, 2013 at 6:02 PM, James Sumners
><james.sumners at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Do yourself a favor and learn to distinguish bulbs by their lumen
>output,
>> not their incandescent wattage equivalence. That's a practice that
>should
>> never have been implemented. It's not really a direct equivalence,
>and it
>> just ends up making folks say the wrong thing (e.g. saying 40w when
>they
>> really have a 7w).
>>
>> Also, make sure the Crees are rated for enclosed installation before
>> putting them in your outdoor fixtures. Most brands are not. I use the
>ULTRA
>> bulbs by Sylvania and the off-brand EcoSmart bulbs. Neither, of those
>that
>> I have bought, have been rated thus.
>>
>> My favorite LED bulbs so far are the Phillips (damn expensive, but
>coming
>> down; still worth it, though) and the ULTRAs. Just about every bulb
>in my
>> house is a LED. My power bill, with a SEER 10 A/C unit running, for
>May was
>> $99 after taxes and fees. They make a huge difference.
>>

-snip-



--

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Ron Frazier
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