Thull makes a good point - the heater fan is noisier than the exhaust fan on the WhisperWarm. I have both the Whisperwarm and the BOL smallest fan. Both are solid performers and unlike the Nutone crap they replaced in 2003, they have remained very quiet. The WW is definitely louder than the much smaller 70cfm exhaust-only unit, but if I walked outside the bathroom into the master bedrm, I can't tell it's on. The WW needs 4 switches: heat, exhaust, big light, small nightlight. You can combine some functions or just eliminate them. We didn't need the big light, for example, and only had 2 switches available. So we combined the exhaust with the night light, and have the heat on separate switch. Our 13x7' master bath is the coldest room in the house - we live in coastal Northern CA, so altho it doesn't freeze often it can get windy, rainy and cold - and the Panasonic WW works far better than the idiot infrared bulb that was almost totally useless unless left on for hours and hours....! If you have a large bathroom, I'd get two rather than trying to overwork a single WW unit. They are big, but we had no trouble with it fitting between the joists in the ceiling when we replaced the Nutone. The smaller Panasonic in the main floor bathroom is so quiet, it's often left on accidentally because even inside the bathroom, it's barely audible. The WW in the master, when you put the exhaust on, is louder but still quiet compared to the Nutone it replaced - not at all obtrusive or objectionable.

Happy new year! I would normally have replied much sooner, but everything has been so busy with Christmas, then new year and all the rest. Anyway, I have to agree that conservation is by far the best thing we can do right now, and I believe that it will allways be useful as almost all energy comes with a penalty. Both environmental and financial. I've been thinking about conservation quite a bit recently as I'm trying to get a rough idea how much it would cost to build an affordable house (you might have seen my posts about it?) and I want it to be economical to live in. This is partly an environmental concern, but also because it would be misguided to build an affordable house that isn't also affordable to live in. The majority of most anyone's wages go towards their house, so if I can build a house that uses minimal energy I can spend the money in other more enjoyable ways. I can also design it in such a way it comes in to the lowest possible tax category, but that's beyond the scope of this forum. One of the things that surprises me is when I say I want to build a low energy house that uses renewable energy, people tend to picture something very expensive and custom built. When I researched it I found that commonly they're high end houses built for wealthy customers who were willing to spend a lot of money to have luxury items, like solar PV panels and houses built half underground. I don't however see why houses that use very little energy have to be reserved for wealthy people building custom houses, after all one of the main attractions of a low energy house is the very small monthly bills. A low energy house design/concept that comes within (preferably below) average house prices is long overdue, and also has a massive market potential. Admittedly domestic energy use is a fraction of that used by industrial processes, and also accounts for a similarly small percentage of pollution, but I know nothing about industrial processes and (thankfully) don't pay the bills for them either. At least not directly. I do however know something about houses and how I believe they could work better. My main aim is to build it smaller, but use the space in such a way it's relatively spacious with plenty of storage. I also want to exchange traditional and generally energy wasting and expensive materials for newer materials that cost less. Insulation, and lots of it, is important. I also want high quality finishing materials, but avoiding ornate details and using a more minimalist style should keep the costs reasonable. The other main issue is using the most energy efficient appliances possible, and also installing some renewable stuff like solar hot water heating. At least in concept it seems to work, and hopefully one day I will be able to try it out.

klem's response was unwarranted. There's nothing wrong with asking questions. Bus_driver's initial response was because usually when someone comes on here asking about something that their 'handyman' couldn't figure out, it's because the handyman is clueless and unqualified and the homeowner is usually not really interested in DIY which is why they hired the handyman in the first place. So hiring an electrician is usually the end result. Your handyman is clueless and unqualified. You never just hold connections together to 'test it out'. Twisting a wirenut onto the connection literally takes 5 seconds. And the fact that he even wanted to test it before finishing the installation is worrisome. That's basically him admitting that he doesn't know what he's doing. Electrical connections need to be tight in order to work properly. Electricity is not something that someone should just 'play' with. You need to know what you are doing before you do it. So, rest assured, your timers are probably fine for the job. Just call up an electrician and get him to install them.

My neighbor switched to LED outdoor Christmas lights last year. What I didn't like was how puny the light was....toooooo dim. Big contrast between our C9 reds and his LEDs. We usually run four or five strands of outdoor lights 24 hours a day for the month. We turn off the regular outdoor lights for December. In the house, the tree and a lighted garland and a couple of small lighted things are the extent of it. Our electric bill doesn't rise that much...a couple of dollars from the lights. One of the keys is that we turn off our regular outdoor lamp post and garage light. Indoors one lamp doesn't get used during Christmas. It's a trade-off. We are slowly replacing all our incandesent bulbs in the house. I'll miss the warmth of the old bulbs, but the new energy savers are looking better and better each year. For now, the LEDs are staying in the stores. Someday....maybe..... Here is a link that might be useful: Creative Soul