We've spoken often in these pages about preparing for emergencies. Food supplies, weapons, security issues, and a host of other topics have been covered. However, there are several areas that are seldom mentioned in "prepping" circles: threats that are so everyday, so routine, that we lose sight of how they might escalate into a real problem - or make preparing for a real emergency harder to afford, because of other drains on our wallets. I've been discussing some of them with correspondents in recent weeks, and in this article, I'd like to tackle a few of them.
Let's take property and vehicle insurance. They've gone up a lot over the past few years: I've seen estimates that they're up more than 25% since 2020, and some estimates put it at over 40%. Certainly, my wife and I have seen ours go up steeply, but that's partly because our insurer calculates the replacement value of our home at a considerably higher figure than we do. I'm in the process of discussing that with our insurer, citing local costs and sales prices to prove our point. That should help to bring our premiums back down, but it won't erase the higher costs completely.
How does one "prepare" for such increased costs? It's important to watch your premiums closely, particularly notices warning you of an increase. Your insurer will rate the value of your home according to a formula for your area, which might add too much value for your specific town or location (e.g. a valuation formula for "Northern Texas" is not as focused as one for "Arlington TX" or "Muenster TX"). Don't be afraid to raise such issues with your insurer, and negotiate the replacement value of your home down to a more reasonable level - one that'll cost you less in premium increases. By doing that every year or two, the cumulative increase in your insurance costs over several years might be quite a lot lower than if you didn't.
Another option is to buy less expensive vehicles; either a smaller, cheaper new car, or a used vehicle at a lower price than a new one. Their insurance rate is calculated according to their value. Buying the higher-end model might cost as much as $50-$100 more per month to insure than buying the entry-level model - and does it really make that much difference to drive the less luxurious version? When considered along with all the other increases, those savings start to look attractive. (Until recently, given the outlandishly high prices being asked for used vehicles, it was in many cases cheaper to buy a lower-priced new one such as Kia's Soul or Ford's Maverick light pickup. Not only did they cost less than a used smaller SUV, but they offered similar interior space for passengers, and depreciation losses in today's market are minimal compared to years past. I know a number of families who did that, and they've generally been happy with the deals they got.)
How about electricity bills? They've been rising pretty steeply in our part of the world. Even though we aren't major consumers of electricity, we're paying several hundred dollars a month for it, particularly now as the heat of summer makes big demands on our HVAC system. There are many ways to save electricity, from shutting off major appliances like water heaters, not using ovens to cook, adjusting the internal temperature to levels that don't require as much electricity to maintain, and so on.
I'm seriously considering installing a mini-split air conditioning system for our main room in addition to the central HVAC system, because the former functions off a 120-volt circuit instead of 240, and consumes less than a quarter of the power needed by the central system. If we shut off our central HVAC system when we're out and about, and run only the smaller unit for six to eight hours a day, it'll keep the central part of the house at a comfortable temperature but consume a lot less electricity. I figure that in two years, the savings will pay for the entire mini-split system, including installation, and after that the savings are all gravy, so to speak. I've not made a final decision yet, but it's a tempting thought.
If your HVAC system is getting old and you're considering replacing it, it might be worth your while to look at installing two or more mini-split or multi-split systems instead of one big central system. The cost of installing the former can be half to two-thirds the cost of the latter, and their power consumption, even taken together, will usually be at least a third less than a central system. Add up those savings and it becomes a rather attractive option, provided your home is constructed in such a way that the smaller systems can be "plumbed into" it relatively easily.
What about municipal and/or county rates and taxes? It's worth checking on their valuation of your home, and contesting any sudden increases. Too many counties issue bonds to construct new infrastructure such as schools, emergency services, etc. and then clobber residents with big increases in their rates. These can be contested, particularly if actual sales prices achieved by comparable properties in your area demonstrate that the valuation is too high. A lower valuation leads to lower rates, saving you money.
These are just some ways one can economize on one's overall household expenditure. I'm sure readers have more they can contribute. If you do, please share them with us in Comments. We're almost all finding it hard to make ends meet these days. Why not help each other to make our dollars go further?
Peter
17 comments:
Another advantage of said mini-split is the ability to power it with a 'normal-sized' generator in case of an extended power outage. Not a TEOTWAWKI event, but think "the grid's down again because summer", or post-hurricane flooding. We've considered the extra cooling for the bedrooms so we could keep them colder at night for better sleep without having to cool the main portion of the house (and increase failover/redundancy), but your scenario also makes sense...
We make do with one ac unit in the bedroom and a fan to move that cooled air to the area we are in.
A mini-split sounds good. Might have to look into it. A lot of different producers of them right now. Not a lot of long term reports of durability.
Anybody got a suggestion of a mini-split you personally have used over a 3 year plus time frame?
All of these things you mention are aspects of the general inflation problems we have. Insurance naturally costs more if the item it's replacing has to cost more - along with every cost the insurance company has to bear. My car insurance went up this year and I reduced my coverage. More risk against the fact that I barely put on 1000 miles per year. I know most people drive that in more like one month.
The problem there is political and the "something for nothing" world of Modern Monetary Theory. The ultimate cure there is to go back to real money that politicians can't just create out of thin air to buy votes. We have as much chance of that as finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It makes winning the lotto seem like sure thing.
I had to replace my central air three years ago, and my mini-split system last year. The central was around 12 years old and the much smaller split was eight. That one was a no-name, Chinesium system (AFAICT) while the new one is Carrier.
As is the Central, and that's mostly because the contractor we use is a dealer for them.
As to electric hot water heaters, look at the "Heat-Pump" water heaters. Sadly, both US brands (AO Smith and Rheem) appear to have problems, but there is a German brand which costs more--and works.
Great de-humidifiers, too!
SOME mini Splits use 120. Others use 240. Make sure you know what you are getting.
Note that heat pumps don't do well when they are asked to heat and the outside source is below freezing. Our neighbors use minis for summer, but in winter, it's the wood stove. (We get temps near or well below zero once or twice each winter. Personal "best" is -28F since 2003. We're in southern Oregon, above 4000'.) Another neighbor tried and abandoned a whole-house heatpump. Carrier's repair truck was a frequent visitor...
Since our summers feature cold mornings (33F yesterday) and hot afternoons (85F, also yesterday), we use a fan to dump heat in the morning and close things up when we're ready. It helps that our summers are dry. YMMV.
So... our central hvac system needs replacing.. the cost to cool in a hot month took our power bill beyond 300 a month on a 1100 sqft house. I had both the outside compressor unit worked on and the air handler inside.. replaced with newer used units. about 2000 dollars.... both of them had issues also and power bill was beyond painful, people that installed were people we had known for years and they just abandoned us after installing them. our power hasn't gone up much over the years and we used to be able to cool the house for 155 or 165 in a august dog days month. We don't have the money to put a new central unit in.
A good mini split is a good idea.. mr cool makes a 21 or 22 sear unit that is designed for self install. My preference would be a Mitsubishi 31 sear unit. Talk about just sipping power.
Alas.. we can't afford that either :(
So I purchased 3 midea inverter driven window units. I got the ones with a slot midway through the unit that the window actually closed through so that there is only a 2 inch gap in window height to close with foam. They come with the best instalation bracket and kit that I have ever seen. Basically a metal fram that attaches to window and side of house that the unit sits on like a shelf. They are controlled by included remote or app through wifi. The app lets you do all the crazy grouping, scheadules plus other stuff. I can voice control turning them on or off with our home automation system. Or control them and monitor them from a 1000 miles away. The important thing is that they are a 15 sear unit which is on par with mid/low efficiency central units. With a 12kbtu in the kitchen/living room center of house and a 8kbtu unit in master bedroom at one end of house and another in the children's room at other end of house, we keep the whole house in the low 70's. My power bill last month was 125ish dollars. That includes a 6000 btu old style window unit running 100% of the time on a trailer in the yard that we turned into a library.
I think max start up draw for these is about 700 watts and once it is just maintaining temp maybe 200 watts draw. A small ish 2000 watt solar panel system could run these during the day. They are also super quiet.. when new.. I would go up to one just to make sure it is running. after a year or two they are still very quiet and little more than a low background hum.. Sometimes a short noise when compressor kicks in or off.
One.. the 12kbtu unit died after a years use and midea refunded the purchase with a check under warranty. I purchased another one the next summer and it is doing fine. the bedroom units are doing fine at 3 years old now. They are a little pricey but not compared to a central system and my power bills are back to 20 years ago levels.
anyway... just thought i would mention something that has kept us cool and lowered our monthly bills.
Mini splits are very efficient, so are modern window units with softstart/inverter. The author should consider having an experienced and recently trained HVAC person who isn't selling anything take a look at his home layout, I've heard of this particular idea more than once not working as well as expected. Sometimes changes in return air and ducting or relocating the thermostat can reduce cycling and save energy while maintaining comfort. I wired a three phase Daikin zone system in a large beach villa after Katrina and was impressed with it's performance, but even traditional central forced air systems today are much better than the best available twenty years ago. It's going to typically be necessary to have a dedicated 20amp circuit for the mini split, whether it's 120v or 240v. Locate the outside equipment for unobstructed airflow and in the shade if possible. I've got window units and generators for hurricanes. Hope they aren't needed.
Make sure that the filter allows sufficient airflow across the A-coil. Inexpensive pleated filters can starve the air handler. I have to have my nonstandard size made at the HVAC supply house, and I use filter spray with good results.
I've done a lot of industrial refrigeration, ammonia freezers and ice makers, but don't let on to know much about house AC except those guys spend even more time in the attic than electricians and around here that sucks nine months out of the year.
Rick m
I live in the desert in southern California, a place where the electric bills are as blistering as the temperatures... Thanks again, NEWSOM. A few years back I installed a QuietCool whole house fan. Yes, these units ARE expensive. The 2-speed version I bought cost me $1200.00. The upside is that if you run the thing in the early morning when it's cool and again at night if it cools off enough, it SIGNIFICANTLY reduces the amount of time the A/C runs during the day. I run mine in the early morning with windows strategically opened around the house. When the house cools I shut the fan off and button the place up, closing all the curtains and shades as well. The A/C, set at between 78-80*, doesn't turn on until about 1:00pm. The average do-it-yourselfer can install one of these. If you get one, spend the extra $100.00 and get the wireless controller for it. This will save you A LOT of time, as it eliminates the wiring required for a hardwired controller.
As for mini-splits, I don't have any at the house, but my employer uses them in the telecom closets; ALL Mitsubishi units. Those things are BULLETPROOF. Ours are in operation 24/7/365 due to the amount of heat generated by the network equipment. VERY little downtime! VERY cold air!
If you can't afford the above, do whatever you can to make sure your A/C... and any other household devices... are running as efficiently as possible! INSULATE your water heater. CLEAN the coils on your A/C's condenser (outside unit). If you can get at the system's evaporator coils, CLEAN those too! Set your A/C a little higher and use small fans to move the air round your house. Look around for "vampire loads;" those innocent looking things that are on all the time, even when not in use. A bedroom TV that gets used once in a blue moon? Unplug it. Do you use an electric blanket in the winter? The blanket's off but the controllers are still drawing a few watts. When was the last time you used that DVD player; the one that's doing nothing but telling you the time and that there's no disc in the thing? 20 or 30 of these 2 or 3 watt loads is equal to your REFRIGERATOR running 24/7/365! Beware those "dusk to dawn" lightbulb controllers; the ones you screw into the fixture and then screw the bulb into! I was going to put in a few of these until I found out that the ones I was going to buy drew 39 WATTS just to run themselves! The bulbs they would've controlled only drew 9 WATTS!!! You'll be surprised at how much money you can save if you practice due diligence!
We’ve had a Mitsubishi heat pump for about 4 years. Cools the downstairs part of house nicely. It can also be used in dehumidify mode, which will make things more comfortable without blowing cold air.
In the winter we use it for heat, but also run a wood stove. The fan of the heat pump helps to distribute the heat from the stove.
We don’t run the heat pump overnight, since it isn’t needed. We only run it if we’re home. We don’t run it below 15 deg outside, since the efficiency starts to drop off.
Overall we’re really happy with it. Our electric bill went up about $50 - $75 month; depends how much you run it and what conditions. We run it about 75 or higher in the summer and 66 in the winter. Just enough to be comfortable.
Southern NH
We had a timer installed on the electric water heater. No sense heating water when nobody is going to use it. Amazon sells them for around $60.
We just replaced our heat pump, since it was low on refrigerant, and the type that it uses (R-22) is not made now. The system can't use the new refrigerant, so the whole thing had to be replaced. While we were suffering in the heat with no A/C, I was considering one of those portable units that sits on the floor, with a hose that sends hot air out the window. Much cheaper than a mini split system, 110 volt, and it looks better than a window unit from outside the house.
When I lived in California, we used a very efficient evaporative whole house unit (swamp cooler), but that would only work if you live in a dry environment.
I'd recommend a smart thermostat and a master (yes, I said it!) bedroom window unit. We have the 8k Midea like mentioned above and an ecobee thermostat that WASN'T 'gifted' from the power co. You can set up the thermostat to raise temp at night when window unit is in use and can set geofencing tied to your cellphones to raise temp when leaving certain area of neighborhood then it will resume normal scheduled temps once it 'sees' your phone back in geofence. Pretty cool. Be wary of the Nest thermostats as they will slowly lower/raise your setpoint to save the planet! Ugh!
Insurance rates have been rising steadily for years. A friend of mine had a “friend” that was his agent. When he complained about the constant increases in rates he told the buddy that he would seek coverage elsewhere…he had no choice. It was then that his friend confessed to him, (since he was no longer a customer), that it is standard practice to jack up rates until the customer cried uncle and went elsewhere.
To my limited knowledge, EVERY company does this crap. Keep shopping!
ultimate ordinance
We have used a couple of those over the years.... they work but not well in my experience and in our environment with high humidity the tanks fill so fast your emptying them every couple days and it isn't easy or graceful emptying them.. never was able to do it without have to clean up a few cups of water off the floor. Also their durability seems to be lacking ... not sure why that is but all the ones we have had died relatively early compared to windows units. They are pricier than a decent window unit also. just get one of the midea U shaped units I mentioned and use it... sips power and is very quiet and for us has worked very well.
I will second Audeojude's recommendation of the Midea U shaped window units. You will get 12,000BTU@15Seers for $350. The equivalent DIY mini-split is $1600+.
Get two, and the "two is one, one is none" criteria is satisfied. You can run one off a very small generator.
I keep looking at mini-splits but the payback time is ridiculously long.
I get the impression - no statistics - that the heat pump minisplits run at relatively high temperatures and pressures, and that longevity suffers because of it.
One thing to check is outside working temperatures - some units are only rated to about 100F ambient. You do not want a unit that shuts off when you need it the most. Mitsubishi seems to have the best numbers there, but it's pricey.
Note that efficiency will decline as the unit ages.
OTOH, if you use electric heating it should be more efficient than pure resistance heating.
We live in the high desert on twenty acres. We have 2 little houses. One is a 30year old double wide mobile. The other house, let's just say that it was built with LOTS of beer and perhaps much stronger alcohol for special tasks.
We get up about 5am. Start the coffee and the 2 harbor fright big fans. The houses are completely open until sunrise. Then we start closing windows and putting 1" foam from Home Despot in each window.
We have central air in one house, the other house relies partially on the cool from the walkout basement. The water heater is shut off in this house.
The foam is not a pretty window covering, but it sure keeps the heat out in the summer, and the warm in, in the winter. Put the reflective side in because the sun eats the shiny stuff really quickly.
We take a nap in the afternoon. Old people do that anyway.
I try to cook dinner outside on the barbeque if the flies aren't real bad.
After sundown we compare outside vs inside temperatures. The sides of the houses away from sunset get those windows opened first.
Usually we get to bed by 11pm.
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