In the vein of "doing one's best," I re-opened negotiations on getting a ventless dryer yesterday.

The HVAC maintenance guy came by to do the semi-annual checkup. Great young man. I talked with him about our present heat pump system, how efficient it is compared with newer ones on the market.

He said ours was "pretty good," (thankfully, the "anti-woke" mob was still asleep when the building codes were being revised) and that I'd pay a lot more money for just a little more efficiency if I bought a new one today. He also said that we had at least three to five more years on this system before we should consider replacement.

For those who are considering a new heat-pump system, he also mentioned that the industry will be transitioning to a new refrigerant, probably for environmental or climate reasons, in 2025 and costs will increase significantly. So if you're thinking about it now, you may want to look hard at whether to do it now. I haven't looked into it, I could be wrong.

Anyway, Mitzi overheard our discussion, and I took the opportunity to suggest that one of the best ways we could increase the energy efficiency of our home would be to get a new ventless dryer. While we're solar-powered, we dry clothes at night from time to time, which is an enormous electrical load. Running electricity through resistive heating elements to dry clothes just seems foolishly extravagant to me now.

I'm cautiously optimistic. There's also a sales tax holiday on Energy Star appliances in Florida. But the "anti-woke" mob also enacted a sales tax holiday for gas stoves because Biden was coming for our cook-tops!

The real challenge will come when it's time to re-paint the house. Choices have consequences, and in a warming world, in the "sunshine state," a dark home for aesthetic reasons seems foolish to me. But, "Happy wife, happy life" may win the day.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 06:27 Thursday, 14 March 2024