The tech costs more than conventional options upfront, but federal tax credits, new 120V models and strong savings have made them more appealing than ever.
As a half-plumber, mostly-IT guy, I despise how tech is (very poorly) applied and implemented in devices like these. It’s always short-life tech attached to stuff that lasts 10-20 years, with complexity beyond necessity.
Lower tech would suffice just as well (think fewer integrated control boards and more external relays). Getting a replacement board in even a few years can be problematic.
Why does my furnace need a convoluted control board, when the primary control is the t-stat, and everything else could be done with a couple relays and a small, simple, timer circuit? Oh, that’s right, let’s make it harder/more expensive for the homeowner to repair.
If you don’t already know about it, I think you’ll like low tech magazine. It’s basically an entire website saying what you just said for over ten years now.
Boy, forced air heat is the worst. I’m convinced it caught on because it made installation faster and cheaper for builders, and they used all sorts of arguments to make it sound better than radiant.
As a half-plumber, mostly-IT guy, I despise how tech is (very poorly) applied and implemented in devices like these. It’s always short-life tech attached to stuff that lasts 10-20 years, with complexity beyond necessity.
Lower tech would suffice just as well (think fewer integrated control boards and more external relays). Getting a replacement board in even a few years can be problematic.
Why does my furnace need a convoluted control board, when the primary control is the t-stat, and everything else could be done with a couple relays and a small, simple, timer circuit? Oh, that’s right, let’s make it harder/more expensive for the homeowner to repair.
If you don’t already know about it, I think you’ll like low tech magazine. It’s basically an entire website saying what you just said for over ten years now.
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/
Damn, no, I didn’t know of it. That’s brilliant. Thanks!
My favorites, though it’s really hard to choose:
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2020/04/fruit-trenches-cultivating-subtropical-plants-in-freezing-temperatures/
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/12/fruit-walls-urban-farming-in-the-1600s/
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/02/restoring-the-old-way-of-warming-heating-people-not-places/
Boy, forced air heat is the worst. I’m convinced it caught on because it made installation faster and cheaper for builders, and they used all sorts of arguments to make it sound better than radiant.
I feel like that stuff could be done with a physical dial for temp and some version of this for recirculating.
Hahah, right?
Troubleshooting a gas heat system recently, watching stupid led blinks on a board to figure out a limit switch was bad. Really? Uggh.