I spent many hours at the Minneapolis Home and Garden Show today and I came out of it with one conclusion- the people that sell replacement windows in the Twin Cities area don't really know much about windows. I asked a ton of questions and I got a ton of wrong answers.
Before I go into this too far let me qualify this attitude of mine. When I visited the Andersen, Preservation, Marvin, and Pella booths there were professionals there and they had good solid answers to every question. I was impressed by their professionalism across the board. Then I went to Western Remodelers.
I decided to tour the show systematically and Western Remodelers was along the first wall I started at. They set the tone for my overall disgust for the multiple sets of crap I had to listen to.
The sales manager for the company engaged me and we made some small talk. Then I asked a couple of questions about energy efficiency and he handed me a white paper from 1994. He cited their contention that anything beyond .30 for a u-factor was a waste of money and that everything I told him from the U.S. Department of Energy was basically crap. He knew more about windows than they would ever know! When I asked him if he was saying that the DOE was wrong he told me I wasn't their type of customer and I should leave! Wow, what a great start. I get some jerk who is stuck in 1994. As far as replacement windows go, anybody who had researched the products wasn't a viable customer....and please, hold the questions.
I went to a few others in the same row and, surprisingly, they sold the same brands but said different things. At Budget Exteriors I was shown a window "that qualifies for the energy rebate in the stimulus package." When I looked at it the u-factor on the label was .32, too high for the energy tax credit. When I pointed that out to him he said " is that right, I'll have to look into that." Wow, people come here for advice!
It was about half way through the show I realized that every booth except the manufacturer booths had doled out some form of misinformation. How does the general public come to any kind of a conclusion at a show like this? I wondered if I was expecting too much or if they just hire street people for this kind of home show? Are replacement windows that complicated?
I guess the bottom line is that I should trust that the general public will figure out what's true and what isn't. When it comes to replacement windows the only people I would trust are the manufacturers and websites like NFRC and the Effient Window Collaborative have. It seems that Billy Bob and Jerry Snyder surely don't know what they are talking about.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
An Easy, Common Sense Choice
I was surfing the Internet today and found a group of ads that was running on almost every search engine I looked at. What got me about the ads was that they were kind of annoying. I ended up looking into one of them and what I found was surprising. It was common sense.
The ad asked "Would you pay $3 per gallon for gas when it's selling for under $2?" My first thought was "What a stupid question." Of course nobody would pay and extra dollar per gallon for gas. I was indignant when I was thinking about it at first. What was the point?
When an ad says something like that to begin with it makes you wonder what the point is going to be. The next line of the ad was "You're Doing It Right Now With Your Heating Bills." Okay, now I'm a little more interested but I want proof. This particular ad was for replacement windows and it went on to make its case!
Think about this analogy. We all drive an extra few miles to get gas where it's three cents per gallon cheaper. We watch the signs and most people notice the fluctuation as the prices go up and down and back up, only usually a little further. Anyway, we may put fifteen gallons of gas in our cars so we probably save a little under fifty cents filling up at the cheaper gas station. let's say you fill up twice a week. By golly you've saved a whole four bucks this month and you're darn proud of it!
There is a replacement window company called Preservation Windows that has a 33% Heating and Cooling Fuel Savings Guarantee. They actually have a money-back guarantee if you don't save 33% of your fuel usage over the previous year. It seems like no big deal unless your an analytical sort like me.
At work today we had a meeting and the question was asked about how much the heating bills were last month for everyone. They ranged from $740 down to $390. One thing they all had in common was that they were their highest heating bills ever. Holy cow. That means these people could save from $129-$244 per month by installing Preservation Windows. No matter how you look at it these folks could save $750 to $1,500 per year by installing these windows.
The bottom line is that people go to great lengths to save $4 per month on gasoline but very few seem to care about the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars they are wasting by keeping their old windows. the next time I hear someone talk about how cheap gas is down the street I'm going to ask them how their windows perform.
The ad asked "Would you pay $3 per gallon for gas when it's selling for under $2?" My first thought was "What a stupid question." Of course nobody would pay and extra dollar per gallon for gas. I was indignant when I was thinking about it at first. What was the point?
When an ad says something like that to begin with it makes you wonder what the point is going to be. The next line of the ad was "You're Doing It Right Now With Your Heating Bills." Okay, now I'm a little more interested but I want proof. This particular ad was for replacement windows and it went on to make its case!
Think about this analogy. We all drive an extra few miles to get gas where it's three cents per gallon cheaper. We watch the signs and most people notice the fluctuation as the prices go up and down and back up, only usually a little further. Anyway, we may put fifteen gallons of gas in our cars so we probably save a little under fifty cents filling up at the cheaper gas station. let's say you fill up twice a week. By golly you've saved a whole four bucks this month and you're darn proud of it!
There is a replacement window company called Preservation Windows that has a 33% Heating and Cooling Fuel Savings Guarantee. They actually have a money-back guarantee if you don't save 33% of your fuel usage over the previous year. It seems like no big deal unless your an analytical sort like me.
At work today we had a meeting and the question was asked about how much the heating bills were last month for everyone. They ranged from $740 down to $390. One thing they all had in common was that they were their highest heating bills ever. Holy cow. That means these people could save from $129-$244 per month by installing Preservation Windows. No matter how you look at it these folks could save $750 to $1,500 per year by installing these windows.
The bottom line is that people go to great lengths to save $4 per month on gasoline but very few seem to care about the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars they are wasting by keeping their old windows. the next time I hear someone talk about how cheap gas is down the street I'm going to ask them how their windows perform.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Preservation Replacement Windows- Simply The Best
If you are like me you're already thing "how can this guy proclaim that his choice for replacement windows is the best?" Stay with me here and I'll make my case. I'll back it up with independent testing data too.
Preservation Replacement Windows feature EnergyMaxx10 high performance glass. Glass is 80-85% of the window unit so it's probably the most important piece of the energy efficiency puzzle.
EnergyMaxx10 uses the SST Warm Edge Spacer System (the spacer system is another subject soon to come on this blog). It also uses two chambers of krypton gas rather than argon. Krypton gas has two and a half times the insulation value as argon, commonly used by other manufacturers. It is more than 100 times more expensive but when the gas chambers total 1 full inch and there are two chambers rather than one you get a heck of a U-factor for the glass in your replacement windows.
One other point that will put things in a context that is easy to understand is that Preservation Replacement Windows already meet the proposed Energy Star Standards for 2015 . It is the first window to achieve that level. In fact, the "off the shelf" Andersen, Pella, and Marvin Windows don't even currently meet the 2012 proposed standards.
The Twin Cities Preservation Replacement Window Dealer of Distinction is Northland Home Exteriors. Northland is located in Oakdale and Forest Lake, MN.
My next blog will be about the SST Warm Edge Spacer system and what it means to the energy efficiency of replacement windows.
Preservation Replacement Windows feature EnergyMaxx10 high performance glass. Glass is 80-85% of the window unit so it's probably the most important piece of the energy efficiency puzzle.
EnergyMaxx10 uses the SST Warm Edge Spacer System (the spacer system is another subject soon to come on this blog). It also uses two chambers of krypton gas rather than argon. Krypton gas has two and a half times the insulation value as argon, commonly used by other manufacturers. It is more than 100 times more expensive but when the gas chambers total 1 full inch and there are two chambers rather than one you get a heck of a U-factor for the glass in your replacement windows.
One other point that will put things in a context that is easy to understand is that Preservation Replacement Windows already meet the proposed Energy Star Standards for 2015 . It is the first window to achieve that level. In fact, the "off the shelf" Andersen, Pella, and Marvin Windows don't even currently meet the 2012 proposed standards.
The Twin Cities Preservation Replacement Window Dealer of Distinction is Northland Home Exteriors. Northland is located in Oakdale and Forest Lake, MN.
My next blog will be about the SST Warm Edge Spacer system and what it means to the energy efficiency of replacement windows.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Preservation Replacement Windows In The Twin Cities Area
Preservation Replacement Windows are a hit in the Twin Cities area because of their energy efficiency. I've received letters and emails from several Preservation customers that have been nothing short of ringing endorsements for Preservation and, in particular, Northland Home Exteriors.
One customer says "I put Preservation Replacement Windows and Siding on my house. My heating fuel usage dropped slightly over 67%." He goes on to say that "the house feels warmer all the time now" and says "when I opened my first bill and compared it to last year I actually doubted that the bill was right."
I wondered if these reports were being prompted by the dealer so I checked Preservation Windows out on the NFRC website where the independent test results can be found. The results astounded me. The Preservation Replacement Windows that were described to me had a U-factor that was the best I've ever seen. Since U-factor is the measure of heat loss I can see why Minnesotans are so excited about these windows.
Visiting the Preservation Windows website I found another little tidbit that was extremely telling. Preservation claims that they are the first window to achieve the proposed Energy Star Standard for 2015. The claim was substantiated by Department of Energy documents and the NFRC data I mentioned earlier.
If you are serious about saving energy with replacement windows you have to look seriously at Preservation Windows. I can't tell you much about pricing but they certainly have an impressive pedigree.
One customer says "I put Preservation Replacement Windows and Siding on my house. My heating fuel usage dropped slightly over 67%." He goes on to say that "the house feels warmer all the time now" and says "when I opened my first bill and compared it to last year I actually doubted that the bill was right."
I wondered if these reports were being prompted by the dealer so I checked Preservation Windows out on the NFRC website where the independent test results can be found. The results astounded me. The Preservation Replacement Windows that were described to me had a U-factor that was the best I've ever seen. Since U-factor is the measure of heat loss I can see why Minnesotans are so excited about these windows.
Visiting the Preservation Windows website I found another little tidbit that was extremely telling. Preservation claims that they are the first window to achieve the proposed Energy Star Standard for 2015. The claim was substantiated by Department of Energy documents and the NFRC data I mentioned earlier.
If you are serious about saving energy with replacement windows you have to look seriously at Preservation Windows. I can't tell you much about pricing but they certainly have an impressive pedigree.
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