Heres a Link: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/saving-energy-manual-j-and-manual-d Even when they do the calculations, the results are usually wrong In his posted comment, Bailes raised an interesting point: the problem of “garbage in, garbage out” (GIGO) Manual J calculations. Several energy experts have commented on the GIGO problem, including John Proctor, Hank Rutkowski, and Allison Bailes. Hank Rutkowski, the mechanical engineer who wrote the original Manual J document, was recently interviewed for a profile posted on the Green Building Talk Web site. The piece notes, “Rutkowski estimates that only 10% of heating and cooling equipment sizing decisions are based on some type of Manual J calculation and that less than 1% of the jobs are based on an aggressive implementation of the recommended design procedures.” Rutkowski explains the GIGO problem this way: “Manual J is a good tool if you use it aggressively. Follow the rules and it will give you a reasonable margin of safety. But the average contractor says, ‘Better safe than sorry,’ so he fudges here and there. He adds 5 to 10 degrees to the summer and winter design temperatures, calls the building ‘average’ instead of ‘tight’ and doesn't take credit for shading by interior blinds and drapes. Then when he finally comes up with a load number for sizing, he throws in an extra half-ton of AC just for the heck of it.” For a high-performance home, sizing by Manual J may still result in oversizing Several years ago, I had a conversation with building scientist Joe Lstiburek about air conditioners installed in Building America homes in Las Vegas. “HVAC designers are committed to the institutional oversizing of air conditioning equipment,” Lstiburek told me. “The average system is sized at 150% to 200% of the requirements of Manual J. They oversize because they don’t know what they will get for a building envelope, and to compensate for duct leakage and inappropriate refrigerant charge. If you size according to Manual J, there is already a fudge factor built in. But most designers then add another fudge factor.” According to Lstiburek, their experience proved the high-performance Building America homes in Las Vegas could have had HVAC systems sized at about 60% of Manual J. To be conservative, his team recommended installing systems sized at 80% of Manual J. Does oversizing matter? There are strong arguments against routine oversizing of HVAC equipment. The best argument is simple: oversized equipment usually costs more than right-sized equipment. Oversized equipment suffers from short cycling. For example, an oversized furnace brings a home up to temperature quickly, and then shuts off. A few minutes later, it comes on again, only to shut off quickly. Many homeowners find the see-saw sound of a short-cycling furnace to be annoying. When air conditioners short cycle, the units don't run long enough to achieve much dehumidification ��" at least in theory. (During the first few minutes of operation, an air conditioner cools a house. But not enough moisture has collected on the cold coil or on the pan below for any water to have actually gone down the drain. When the air conditioner turns off, all of the moisture in the pan and on the coil just re-evaporates.) The conventional wisdom may be wrong, however Increasing evidence shows that energy experts have exaggerated the negative effects of equipment oversizing, however. Studies have confirmed that oversized furnaces don't use any more energy than right-sized furnaces. Moreover, newer modulating or two-speed furnaces operate efficiently under part-load conditions, solving any possible problems from furnace oversizing. Although there are ample reasons to believe that oversized air conditioners are less effective than right-sized equipment at dehumidification, at least one field study was unable to measure any performance improvements or energy savings after replacing an existing oversized air conditioner with a new right-sized unit. The bottom line The main reason to choose right-sized equipment is to avoid paying too much money for equipment you don't need. A Manual J calculation will ensure you don't spend more than necessary for your furnace, boiler, or air conditioner. Moreover, a Manual J calculation will provide room-by-room heat loss and heat-gain information that is essential to good duct design. Without good duct design, you're running the risk of comfort complaints.

We are in a city with 5000sq ft of land with more than 1/2 built with garage and house. Geothermal is not physically possible. Even if it was possible, our heating cost is very low, ie less than $1500/year. We do not need AC in Seattle. Let's say that you my heating bill by 50% ie $750 per year. The reality of getting 50% reduction in the heating bill is extremely optimistic. I live in a very HCOLA. I am hugely underestimating the cost of geothermal installation at $20,000. The numbers comeout to 26 year payback. The numbers I calculated is the best case scenario. Our electric rate is 7 cents per KW. I do a lot of cost analysis to see how to create cost effectiveness of my decisions. The biggest unknown is the cost of maintenance which increases the actual cost of the system. When we installed our initial system, we were told 20 year life time. Well it barely made 1/2 of that. It makes a huge impact on the lifetime cost of the system when the appliances do not have real meaningful life time we can 'trust' and to make 'meaningful' calculations. This has been the biggest stumbling block on many of my 'expectations' regarding energy savings; lifetime cost and maintenance cost. No matter where I use the money, if I have to use MY money to keep up the system, it is still costing ME money. At a certain point, I would rather spend more of MY money and pay higher energy bill if I can be guaranteed that the products work without the hassle of repair and replacement. We cannot do a real furnace, ie traditional boiler with a flue, due to lack of space that can vent to the roof. That would require many thousands of modifications to the existing house to accomodate the flue. It is NOT possible. Had I known that the lifetime of condensing water heater(which is what died on me) was 10 years instead of 20 at the time of installation, we COULD have put in a traditional boiler. Unfortunately, we were told 20 to 25 with a savings of energy! The experience from Europe (England mostly) is that the plumbers are telling their customers 10 years for condensing boilers.... This is what led us to remodel and get rid of the flue etc etc.

Back when your mother was selling was at least 20 years ago. There wasn't anyway to buy things online. You went to a store or you looked at ads in a newspaper. Now you can find anything online anytime. You also were limited to your area. Now you can shop world wide. That has reduced the prices. Twenty years of everyone's parents passing and now Baby Boomers are going also. The market is flooded with everything you have. There are no less that 15 estate sales running this week in my area alone. They will have the same amount every week. They all have the same things you have. When you add in the fact, like others have said, that a large part of the younger people no longer want stuff, the price has hit rock bottom. The plates in your first picture that are priced $4, you would be lucky to get 25 cents. If you enjoy having the sales, by all means keep on doing them. The professional estate sale companies here price everything and it is full price the first day, 25% off the 2nd day, and 50% off the 3rd day. After that it goes to a charity or the dumpster. I am not saying that you don't have nice or pretty things, because you do. They just don't sell anymore. Pink depression glass that was $50 in the 90's won't even sell for $5 now. If you look on E-Bay for current prices, be sure to go to the side and check the box that you want to look at sold listings.

It sounds like some ventilation might help. Maybe when the weather gets a little nicer. http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/spray-foam-jobs-lingering-odor-problems