chandru's Profile

Misiformation! Firstly, there's no such thing as 'rated to work there'...CFL's are replacement bulbs and since they draw less power & create less heat, can never be a problem, unless fully enclosed. Second, there are all kinds of reflector halogen spots which have screw bases.

But my question would be: what's the problem if the lighting is OK? The bulbs are way overhead and I'm surprised OP is bothered. I do agree this is very inefficient since the bulbs point up. Half-silvered bulbs will direct more light down, but are expensive & incadescent. I'd turn the fixtures to point down if possible, and use 35w halogen floods ($5) which give lots of light but are not blinding. 17w CFL floods are equivalent, but in my experience take 1-2 mins. to reach full light level.

A misconception: The minimal mercury in CFLs is less than the mercury spewed by the 4x power using incandescents. And you should recycle the CFL, so hopefully the mercury will be safely disposed of.

MJ, if your lamp is rated 100 and it blows bulbs at 125, you have a problem (the safety factor is usually way above 25% and bulbs do not burn out if it's exceeded); get a more knowledgeable electrician.

Second above. You can get pendant lamps which should hang 8-9' above floor for best lighting; you can get a fixture that just screws into the overhead lamp socket, a cord and the pendant and wire it yourself.

Use accent lighting - table/floor lamps also; more lamps (not necessarily more light, in fact most lighting standards specify way too much) are good and increase flexibility. A 13/15w cfl is enough for most fixtures.

Unless the fan is sentient, it's doubtful it can be heinous. And the one shown is not even hideous.

Makes much more sense if the faucet also retracts.

I'm not sure if the author was suggesting this is a "green" solution, but heating water with electricity is downright wasteful (if you have gas) and there's no way you can justify it. It is 3x the cost of gas, (so it's not just "cost less") regardless of the marginally more efficient electric heater. And if you live in NY with its 25c/kwH electricity, it would be worse. Studies show that you save 10-15% compared to a storage tank heater, good but not wonderful.

Tankless is great for casual or infrequent use, but the flow requirements will preclude some uses of hot water...ie the heater shuts off if the flow is less than 3/4 (some 1/2) gallon/min. So you couldn't get a trickle of hot water, or turn the shower down to low.

What utter overreaction to a mundane experience...people have no sense of what's dangerous and what's not, and the EPA just make it worse by their vastly overblown instructions, no doubt written by a cadre of lawyers.

See my complete rant on this issue at website:
http://seeinggreen.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/04/every-few-days.html

Wow, talk about being thin-skinned, sarahnnep! I'm glad I'd never want to post a comment on your forum and encounter your disapproval.

What molly said was quite reaasonable and not nasty, even if you think it should be directed at the editor. This is what comments are *for*, to allow us readers to share opinions, even if you don't accede to them.

And I fully agree with her. Your apartment, while superficially beautiful to look at, is an example of the well-staged space that makes it look as if no one was actually expected to *live* there. Obviously very expensively done, too. Do you have any books or are they well hidden away? And God forbid you allow a cat or dog in.

As with every article on tankless I've seen, there's a lot left out. Firstly, the heading---50 scalding gallons--makes for a good image, but in reality, with current levels of insulation, the heat/energy loss from the tank is small (not negligible, but not high.) With electric heaters which don't have a flue, it's even smaller.

Tankless heaters are expensive to buy and expensive to install, since a whole-house heater needs a dedicated extra gas line. All tankless heaters start up slow and take 15-20 seconds to really produce hot water, not a big thing in itself, but they also require a continuus flow, typically 3/4 gal a minute or they shut off, making rinsing dishes the way I do, in a trickle of water, impossible. Or shaving.

There's also concern that they "lime" up with deposits so their life may be only 6-10 years.

Finally, in actual tests, the savings is typically 10-15%, not bad, mind you, but far less than the image being touted. I computed that, in NYC with a summer gas bill of $90 or so, I would save less than $10/month.