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Water heater
or floor air conditioning?
The answer may
be both. You're looking at a heat pump water heater. It sucks heat
and moisture out of your basement (or wherever you locate
it) and puts that heat (but not the moisture) into
your tap water. It's a great idea for those with chronically
moist basements. It may not be so great for those with
uninsulated floors. Frozen toes anyone?
Update: Rheem has their answer
here. |
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Apple gets
into the thermostat biz?
No, but ecobee
certainly looks like it could have been designed the
Cupertino based fruit company. Their
thermostat has a gorgeous touch screen display and Wi-Fi,
giving you the ability to program it from your local
computer or over the internet. |
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Murdered in
the Prime of Life
Murdered? Well, vandalized
is more like it. But hey, if you were writing about
something as dry and esoteric as HVAC you'd take a little
creative license too.
That used to be an air
conditioner. Copper theft hit an all time high a few years
back. Your air conditioner has lots of the almost precious
metal. AC Armor has the answer.
Just be careful who installs it.
Apparently one of their
competitors had
problems. |
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Clothes hanger
not included.
Some of the best ideas are
the simplest. Air balancing is at best an educated guess.
Why? Because you are so dog gone finicky. To just set
the damper and forget it is sometimes an impossibility. This
device sits just below the diffuser and saves us the hassle
of traipsing through the attic or crawlspace. To
adjust it grab a clothes hanger; reach through the diffuser
to hook the eyelet; and futz with the setting to your
heart's content. |
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Zone control
without a zone system?
Uh... no.
That would be getting something for nothing. However, this
is a nice compromise. The thermostat, remote and outdoor air
sensor are all wireless. You
can place the remote unit in that cold bedroom for better
morning comfort. I've personally installed this system many
times. It's slick as snot and rock solid to boot. |
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Trendy meets
practical.
Spending many
hundreds of dollars to save a few bucks a month is the
trendy part. Your energy bill will drop by $1.50 and arctic
ice will stop melting! But seriously,
the practical part is that after more than a decade of
making them available in new furnaces they're now available
as a retrofit. In certain specific applications it can save
more than just a few light bulbs' worth of juice.
Update: Emerson
has their answer
here. |
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So easy an
undocumented
worker can install one.
That's not their
slogan, but it could be. It doesn't take much to install
one.
See for yourself. This is one slick boot, damper and
diffuser combination. Now if they could just get widespread
distribution I might actually buy a few. |
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If Flash
Player could sell thermostats...
...you'd have no choice but
to buy this one. Their website is slick. So are their
interchangeable faceplates. I still prefer the functionality of
the VisionPro 8000 mentioned below. But if you
prefer lots of style with some substance, then this
is one flash-y thermostat. |
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Install one of
these and
call him in the morning.
It seems like
every washed up electronics geek has at one point or another
invented an add-on zone system. But this particular geek has
a Ph.D. in physics. I must admit it's a pretty cool idea. In very limited applications I could see spending eight grand
or more on this system. |
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A Multiplexer
for the Masses
Say that ten times fast. Or
use it when you need to send a half dozen control signals over
just two wires. It's great for retrofits. |
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I'm hooked.
Or at least I would be if
there was some place locally to buy these things. The
Paramount J looks to be a very nice way to hang flex ducts.
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It slices! It
dices!
Well... not
really, but it does almost everything else. Honeywell's
VisionPro is the nicest thermostat you can buy in my
opinion. I've installed a lot of them. |
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Hidden yellow
ping pong balls?
Not exactly. But it certainly
serves a useful purpose for negative pressure drains. Still
don't get it? Watch the
video. |
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Pressure
relief at last.
No... The ex didn't drop the
lawsuit against you. This is a different sort of relief. A
real jumper duct is the superior solution to
pressurization issues. But when a quick and cheap
solution is wanted then this might be the ticket. |
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The world's
smallest 13 SEER AC...
...at least it was when it
came out. Unlike
York's football themed air conditioners, that is
innovative. From a technician's point of view I dig the MicroChannel design.
While it's not exactly the quietest air conditioner around,
I installed one in a space challenged situation and it
worked like a charm.
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The Quietest Air
Conditioner You Can Buy
You have to be careful about
marketing claims. But whether it's actually the quietest or
not, it's still a nice unit for those that can afford it.
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No more brain freeze for you.
Do you get ice cold air
dumped on your head at work? This might be the solution.
Well... it could be if your boss wasn't such a cheap son of
a gun. |
