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From: garys@bunker.UUCP (Gary M. Samuelson)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: House improvements--solar water heaters
Message-ID: <1005@bunker.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 1-Oct-85 10:40:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: bunker.1005
Posted: Tue Oct  1 10:40:02 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 3-Oct-85 04:34:40 EDT
References: <37@drutx.UUCP>
Organization: Bunker Ramo, Trumbull Ct
Lines: 35

> which improvements are good ones to make?  Does anyone out there
> have any information on some? 
> -- 

>                                      

We had a solar water heater installed in the house we had when
we lived in Tempe, Arizona (right next to Phoenix).  I don't
know if it detracted from the property value, but when we had
it appraised prior to selling it, we were told that it was an
"over-improvement," which means, as far as I can tell, that it
tended to make the house too expensive for that neighborhood.
Therefore, the increased value of the house, due to the solar
system, was significantly less than the cost of the system,
even taking tax breaks into account (which were considerable --
40% from the state of Arizona and 35% from the U.S. government,
or vice versa).

All things considered, our purchase of a solar water heater was
a mistake.  Other factors leading to this conclusion: we replaced
a gas water heater with the solar.  It turned out that the gas
water heater was cheaper to run than the solar -- on cloudy days
the solar water heater turns into a very expensive electric water
heater, which was more expensive to run than the gas water heater
it replaced.  Furthermore, the reserve capacity (meaning the time
it would keep the water hot in the absense of bright sunlight)
was much less than what the company boasted.  And the installation
was rotten.  In fact, even our *gas* bill went up after the solar
system was installed, because the bozos who installed didn't
properly seal off the gas line which used to be connected to the
gas water heater.

Gary Samuelson

Gary Samuelson


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