I got a nice package today from Tina. It had some houseplant starts and some bulbs, which I hopefully will plant on Sunday as it is supposed to be nice, although snow tonight! Yuck :0 There were some nice goodies in ther for my house, candle and some fabulous incense which I am burning right now! A bulb hole digger, and some seeds, baggies and plant markers too! And a magazine for my downtime when feeding my baby, yipee :) Thanks Tina, no worries about taking longer, stuff happens, and I loved my package! Hope things are better for your family, loss of a loved one is all consuming, and I hope you are feeling better. Steph

omeyers, We are in Illinois. We build a 1800 s.f. home for us about 6 years ago and used Icynene (foam insulation) on 2x4 walls. We loved it! I think the savings were not that good in this size of homes, they say that homes bigger thn 3,000 s.f. get better savings. I liked the fact of knowing there was no fiber glass flying around (usually the insulation they pace at the rim joist is exposed) We sold the house last year pretty fast (1 month)and the insulation was a good factor. Last year we built another house for us, 2,500 s.f. and used 2x6 and blow in Spider Insulation with R-23 (DH just wanted to try something different). I loved the fact that it was a formaldehyde free insulation. DH wanted to see what people thought about the house (he is retiring in about 6 years and we will move down south)and we had an open house prior the closing - we received an offer the same day and decided to sell the house :( (we paid $5,000 and the attic was R-49) Now we need a house for us and getting ready to start building. The thing is, the foam insulation is just R-13 (officially) and they claim it performs a lot higher than that because it seals better (and it's true). DH wanted to try it again and the bid was 13,000. We supposely save in wood studs, vapor barrier and window extensions but still it is about 40% higher than the SPIDER. The way I see it, when promoting the house to sell it, isn't it better to say that the house is 2x6 with R-23 formaldehyde free than saying we have a 2x4 with R-13 -but very marbelous insulation? oh and the foam insulation people say that incresing the stud to 2x6 does not help and the price will be double!!! What do you guys think? we are still deciding. see the attached link, it healps to know what R-value to use depending on location Here is a link that might be useful: Energy Efficiency

Funny....I get this question every day.... You'll NEVER even notice the difference from 4.0 to 4.2, and I think it's funny when companies claim these statements. Even my Whirlpool Duet (which is 3.8 cu ft) can handle a HUGE LOAD OF CLOTHING! I can toss in ONE King-Size comforter, ALL my sheets AND pillowcases, and even some misc t-shirts....ALL in the same load...... 4.2 cu ft ain't gonna make much of a difference. Example: The difference from the Frigidaire Affinity 3.5 cu ft, to my 3.8 cu ft Duet machine, is one dress shirt.

scal. quote I am controlling the following items through the RS6 one touch: Low speed for 2 speed pump High speed for 2 speed pump spa pump (Jets) pool lights spa lights Solar control landscape lighting If your 2-speed is connected, it is connected as follows by protocol on the Jandy board. Assuming a Jandy 2-speed relay was used. PRIMARY RELAY = High speed on a 2-speed pump. AUX 2 (mandatory) = low speed of pump. AUX 1 = lets assume jets AUX 3 = lets assume pool light AUX 4 = lets assume spa light AUX 5 = lets assume landscape lighting SOLAR = lets assume plugged into the solar socket on board Based on this set-up you're fully loaded on an RS 6 which I assume you know. I'm guessing you do not want the long term energy usage of the high speed on the solar. But, the low speed is not sufficient. This is where the sales pitch works for the 4x160 (recommended for solar) as you can get it up there on less that 3450rpm but not quite with the 1725. In my opinion, if you have no plans on leaving, you are going into savings mode immediately and it is worth it. The IntelliCom will wire directly to a power source. It does not need a relay. Once you have that, here is what can be done. 1. You have used your "EXTRA AUX" for solar. Meaning, when you hit the solar button on the RS, you are rotating a valve to the roof. But, you also energize a DC socket. You will plug a Jandy relay (wire only) into the EXTRA AUX socket and wire it to IntelliCom port #1. After setting the appropriate speed on the 4x160 to hit the roof, you will set this speed to activate when the solar triggers the DC circuit to that plug. THAT IS ONE SPEED. 2. IntelliCom port #2 will wire to the primary relay of the RS. It will trigger a super low speed for daily filtration on your selected schedule. THIS IS TWO SPEEDS. 3. IntelliCom port #3 will wire to another Jandy relay (wire only) and plug into the back of the motherboard to a socket called SPARE AUX. With a DIP switch move, this socket energizes DC when you hit the spa button. This speed will be set to a high flow for your spa jets. THIS IS THREE SPEEDS. 4. Now, if you have a pool sweep. Your daily low speed may not run it if it requires more than say 30gpm. At this point, you can run IntelliCom port #4 to your existing two speed relay. Throw a 12 hour window of operation with a three hour window of "low speed". Example. 6pm - 6am run program. It will star on primary relay by default. Set you sweep to run from 7pm to 9pm. The two speed relay will energize at 7pm and kick on the pre-programmed speed through the IntelliCom. At 9pm, it will revert to the primary relay and lower speed and then shut off at 6am. THAT IS 4 SPEEDS. Relay and IntelliCom ports might be different but you can see it works. I DO NOT recommend you do this on your own though. You could kill a board real fast. It does require the purchase of the IntelliCom, two relays and if for some crazy reason you don't already have a Jandy 2-speed relay in there, you would need that. Expect about $480 for parts. Obviously it can be done but it is always cheaper to go with the Pentair automation if going with their pumps as it is not this complicated. Keep in mind, you have your $200.00 rebate from SDG&E if not claimed on the 2-speed.