Thanks, i am in northern michigan, zone 4. We are building a 2300 square foot 1 1/2 story home. 2x6 wall construction, sheeted w/ osb, vapor barrier and the 3/4 inch foam on outside. It will be covered with vinyl siding and stone when it is finished. I am very concerned about my insulation because the ceilings are high and fuel prices are rising. We will be using an outdoor wood stove for the most part w/ propane furnace back up. I would love to do the spray foam insulation but we are building ourselves and paying for this build as we go and i am not sure that we will be able to swing that. My original post in the other forum was asking if i could: use the foam on the exterior, foam and caulk all cracks and sill plates, beam etc(not a builder...just the researcher in the family) in the framing, use blown in insulation in the walls and attic spaces///// i have read much on here regarding the r value necessary. and in the living room and bedroom that are cathedral ceiling, i was thinking about using the ....duravent, and stacked foam sheets that were sealed with spray foam... from a can to get a higher r value in the 2/10 area of the cathedral. am i on the right track or would i be better off w/ batts. do you have any idea where i can purchase that tape for the exterior joints in bulk or large quanities, it was like 11.00 for 50 feet, i have LOTS of 50 feet rolls to buy.. depressing.

I am not the Ruud expert, but it appears to be a basic single stage system. Here is your Proposal 6: 2-stage, variable speed Carrier Furnace 59TN6080-14 (same as 5) 2-stage Carrier AC 24ANB736 Carrier evaporator coil CNPV3717 Infinity thermostat Comparing Carrier Proposal 6 vs. the Rudd system 2-stage 60KBTU vs. single stage 75KBTU (75K may be oversized) 2-stage 3 ton condenser vs. single stage 2.5 condenser 17 SEER (need to check) vs. 14.5 SEER Infinity thermostat vs. unknown thermostat The Carrier system is superior. You can get an equivalent Rudd system but it will cost more. I would spend the extra money on a variable speed furnace and a 2-stage condenser.

So I called Whirlpool. The WP rep, Chris, stated that the 84 degrees I experienced for "hot" is "not that far off" from the target temp, which is 90-100 degrees. He said, "Today's detergents dissolve better in cold water." I did not argue this statement, but it's NOT true. Nothing dissolves "better" in colder water. This is a principle of physics that's not going to change. I pointed out that the temperature I got when selecting "hot" in this machine with "6TH SENSE technology" was not by any stretch of the imagination even warm. He suggested that if I want hotter water, I should turn up my hot water heater. Well, THAT suggestion made me mad! I said, "Do you realize how WASTEFUL of energy it would be to turn up the hot water heater, especially my tank heater, and have unnecessarily hot water running in every tap in my house, just because your washer is designed to mix cold water with the hot?!?" He also said that a technician could come check the machine, but if it is working "as designed," I would be charged for a service call. All along I have sympathized with asolo's annoyance, but at this point I am even more annoyed than he is. I was so annoyed I forgot to ask what the target temp is for "warm." I mean, the cold water in my tap right now is 77 degrees! The description of ATC "6TH SENSE" gave me the impression that it works in a much more sophisticated way than it really does. It sounded to me like the machine senses the temperature and adjusts the hot and cold inflow. But it seems like it simply draws from each tap in some proportion, which has changed recently to favor more cold. So I did some more experimenting. I turned off the cold intake to the washer. I then ran the hot tap in my laundry sink till it was hot. I had to run OVER 2 GALLONS before it ran hot. I immediately started a load choosing "hot" as the temp. The wash cycle ran just fine. Toward the end of the wash cycle, however, the machine tried to draw water from the cold, and when it couldn't get flow, stopped and flashed "F 20" error code. I turned the cold back on, but had to cancel the load to get out of that state. It took a few minutes longer than usual to cancel the load. So bottom line, "6TH SENSE" or no, I get MUCH HOTTER in-the-tub temps if I run the hot tap first, and close the cold intake during the fill for the wash cycle. After the fill, I reopen the cold intake so that it will be set to rinse. The fill takes only a couple minutes, so this isn't too bad. (Disclaimer: This is how my CURRENT model of the Whirlpool Duet 9400 functions; there's no guarantee that other makes, models, or vintages will function the same way.) I would not be surprised if a few years from now, the govt requires the manufacturers to program the machine not to work if it can't draw from the cold intake. All of this experimenting has reconfirmed something I had learned in the past with my old top-loader: Hot water cleans much better than cold, with NO additional wear or damage to most fabrics.

As a general rule, potential heat loss through windows amounts to between 10 and 15% of the total for a house. The inability to insulate the pockets where the sash weights hang would be a very small percentage of the 10 to 15% total. Your house was built at a time when everything from the quality of the wood used to the craftsmanship of the builders was at a very high level. (There are exceptions, of course.) The old windows with added exterior storms are still a better option, IMHO. A $600 repair job plus a good quality storm window is going to cost just about the same as the replacements but is very likely to save you more in energy costs in the long run plus you will have kept perfectly good windows out of the land fill and preserved the original integrity of your house in a significant way. In regard to the siding: Painting Hardiplank every 10 to 15 years is recommended by many. There's also the issue of how difficult and potentially dangerous to human lungs this material is to cut, sand, etc. should any kind of repairs be needed - this product can crack and be damaged by impact. Fiber cement siding products are probably superior to vinyl, but they're not, again IMHO, at all a better choice than wood except in some very specialized applications.