I have a Heartland stove 9200 that is about 26 yrs old. Bought it for the look. No problems for 19 yrs. Then the burner knobs started getting difficult to turn. Paid for appliance repair to come out but they were unable to repair. Situation worsened, called Aga Marvel and bought some repair parts. They never supported my efforts. Called Thompson Appliance in Tacoma, Wa. My experience with them leads me to to say never call them. The stove new was almost $5,00. delivered and installed. Thompson came out said I needed to have it taken into the shop, polished up and rehauled. They reportedly went to a recent seminar on the stove at Aga Marvel. I paid 2,500 with the parts and after a few months, same problem. They are a dishonorable team of father and son (son being the worst). I lived with one working burner for about 2 yrs. until I found an excellent repair person on Vashon Is, Wa. Issue with these burners: careful to not get water spilled down into the burners. Rust develops. I believe that was the only problem. Heartland was bought out by Aga Marvel and now have some stove parts but phasing out. Good luck.

Good golly Miss Molly, I did not say that rest of the unit is immaterial. I only stated that the OA glass unit, and the the Low-e selected is a very big component of the overall effectivness of the the unit. Millworkman, you are absolutely right about the aspect of a poorly constructed window. As regards to adequate weatherstrip, I've got my opinions on that one too. Most window companies that manufacture easy-tilt windows use "finseal" weatherstripping. This is a "woolpile" with a thin film of plastic designed into the pile to stop air infiltration. Most window companies have two rows of the "woolpile" designed into the systems. Premium window companies have three rows of this weatherstripping. A lot of other systems rely on a jambliner with a foam backing to "press" the jambliner against the sashes. This system makes the window easier to install because the window can be slightly "out of square" and still perform adequately. The problem, for a consumer standpoint of these systems, is that the sashes are more difficult to tilt-in. The "Achilles heal" that many companies have is the sill tower. Many companies do not have "finseal" designed into the sill tower, which can cause massive air leakage. As far as whether or not 0.29 is a good U-value: hey, shop and compare. I'll say this, I've seen a lot of numbers out there and there is a lot of distortion out there. Numbers can be manipulated by the size of the unit tested. I've seen it, I've personally been to the testing labs and I know what some people are doing. A lot of the purchase decision is going to made by the reputation of the manuacturer as well as the reputation of the distributor. OK, now about materials: *Is wood a good insulator: yes. *Is vinyl a good insulator: yes. *Is fiberglass a good insulator: yes. *Is non-thermally broken windows good insulators: NO. *Is thermally broken aluminum windows good insulators: Somewhat Regarding the differences between the energy efficiency of wood vs vinyl, the differences are marginal. To millworkmans point, the quality of the manufacturing plays a big role into the overall efficency of any window.

"but is there no way to clad a window properly? " None besides paint that requires periodic renewal as it weathers and develops breaks in the film. There is no way to make a seal that will exclude water indefinitely (or in many cases even for a reasonable time). "I have see clad windows that are 20+ years old that are fine." Have you taken them out and apart to determine if they really are in good shape? I would bet money that there is rot under the cladding. The cladding may still look good, and the wood surface on the interior may still look good, but there is no way to tell without tearing them apart if rot has started. Solid wood windows can almost always be repaired (unless they have really been allowed to decay extensively). Every piece of the window frame and sash can be replaced. I have worked on wooden double hung windows that are original from the late 1700s (old town Alexandria, VA). No one wants to perform maintenance, and the continued search for 'maintenance free' has led to all sorts of solutions that are never going to last as long as a plain old wooden window. Windows being made now are generally estimated to have a life of only 30-40 years.

Patricia, My mother was born in 1912 and had no vaccinations. But she did live her whole life in the northern hemisphere. She was diagnosed at 45 with MS and was told she probably had had it for 20 years. I too worry about the family history, not neccesarily for my self now, but for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Also am concerned about lead etc. But, in spite of those in my family who did not live a long life, many of them did live (and still are) living into their 80's, 90's and 100's. I don't think science as of yet has determined the exact cause of MS or many other diseases. That said, I wish the very best to you and a long life even in the midst of living with MS! Many blessings for this coming new year.