Would vinyl windows be a benefit?

[crittercat]

I live in Iowa and have a 100 year old house. There's 19 windows and approximately 1400 sq ft. I also have $53. per month (average) gas bill for water heater and furnace. I have the original stained and varnished woodwork. Someone told me that I should replace the original wood windows with vinyl ones. How would vinyl windows benefit this house?

[Windows on Washington]

I live in Iowa and have a 100 year old house. There's 19 windows and approximately 1400 sq ft. I also have $53. per month (average) gas bill for water heater and furnace. I have the original stained and varnished woodwork. Someone told me that I should replace the original wood windows with vinyl ones. How would vinyl windows benefit this house?

They would be more efficient but at $53 a month heating bill, you might never recover the expense of the retrofit and the aesthetic implications would also be drastic when compared to your stained woodwork.

[crittercat]

Again, at that kind of heating bill, how much good would they actually do? Also, how long of a life span do vinyl windows have in Iowa?

[Windows on Washington]

Again, at that kind of heating bill, how much good would they actually do? Also, how long of a life span do vinyl windows have in Iowa?

Impossible to quantify even a range of the potential savings without doing an energy audit of your home.

Windows are not the only place a home looses energy and are typically responsible for much less of a loss in efficiency than people think.

Lifespan of the window depends on the product choice. A great vinyl window can outlast the home while a cheap one will need to be replaced in a matter of years.

[crittercat]

The brand I was told about was Vinylite. Do you know anything about them? The house was tested a few years ago for "tightness" and it was recommended to leave a window open a crack. Does this help at all for the efficiency?

[Windows on Washington]

Leaving a window open does nothing but potentially hurt efficiency of the home. If you home was that air tight that they recommended leaving a window open a bit to improve air quality and exchange, the home is very air tight and that is good.

An improvement in glass performance from single pane to double pane of triple pane with low-e/argon or krypton would improve the efficiency of the home but by how much depends on things like sun exposure, how many windows are there currently, size of windows, condition of existing windows, and so on.

[crittercat]

What I have been looking at is clear double pane windows, Vinylite brand.

[FenEx]

Leaving a window open a crack was silly advice. What was your ACH (air changes/hr)? This would have been and only could have been calculated with a blower door test using manometers. If your ACH was around or below 10-15%, you should have been moved towards mechanical ventilation utilizing an ERV or HRV. Leaving a window open defeats the benefits of a tight house.

[Windows on Washington]

FenEx,

Did you ever get my email...?

[FenEx]

Don't believe so. Send again and I'll respond with a phone number.

[crittercat]

Back to my question about the brand name?

[Windows on Washington]

Not familiar with the brand.

19 windows is going to run you a minimum of $7000 probably and at your current rate it would take you about 11 years to recover your expenditures in energy saving if your fuel bills went to zero.

Granted, your cooling bills would also drop but I just don't see how it is advisable to spend the money right now at your current fuel costs with the aesthetic implications as long as the windows are functioning properly.

Thats just me though. If the windows are non-functioning or leaking like sieves, get some new ones but we know the leaking part isn't true.

[Window4U (IL)]

I was just looking at big screen TV's and did a calculation to see how much more energy efficient the new one is over my old one. I found out it would take 240 years for the TV to pay for itself.
So much for buying a new TV.
I did the same type calculation a while back on a new truck. With the new truck only getting 1 mpg better than the old truck, it would take 71 years for the truck to pay for itself. And that new lighter color roof I need this year...53 years before that pays for itself. I'm not even going to bring up my new living room carpet....


Isn't it just amazing that here on the forum windows have to "pay for themselves" in 8 years or less or they're not worth buying?

[crittercat]

These Vinylite windows would run about $225 to $300 installed, depending on size. 8 larger windows, largest 30 x 65, most 29 x 60. 11 smaller, the largest 36 x 32, most 26 x 30. No low E. Opinion of quality?

[Windows on Washington]

I was just looking at big screen TV's and did a calculation to see how much more energy efficient the new one is over my old one. I found out it would take 240 years for the TV to pay for itself.
So much for buying a new TV.
I did the same type calculation a while back on a new truck. With the new truck only getting 1 mpg better than the old truck, it would take 71 years for the truck to pay for itself. And that new lighter color roof I need this year...53 years before that pays for itself. I'm not even going to bring up my new living room carpet....


Isn't it just amazing that here on the forum windows have to "pay for themselves" in 8 years or less or they're not worth buying?

Are you kidding me Dave. Did you read any of my previous posts whatsoever...?

What is with some of you "professionals" and you "e-tough guy" attitudes.

You have been on the warpath pretty religiously lately haven't you. Between Buddy pointing out when you were kind of soliciting business and you being the sole defender of a yet to be transferred company, you are firing with both barrels aren't you.

Are Vinylite windows ever worth buying....? You are the biggest advocate of not buying inferior products aren't you.

Did you miss the point that I raised in basically every single post about the potential aesthetics issues from going from stained wood work in a 100 year old home to a cheap vinyl window....?

The gentleman mentioned that his home is tight if not overly tight and I asked him specifically about the functionality of his windows. My point being that if they are working properly and his heating bills are less than $53 dollars a months (if you take the H2O heater out of the equation) what is the point of him spending money to "upgrade" his windows. That last post was about some rough calculations at best to demonstrate a point.

If I were spending sub-$50 to heat my home and they had historic functional wood windows in them, I would be hard pressed to replace them with some low grade vinyl windows to save how much money....?

What percentage of a homes energy really goes out the window anyway. I hear average ranges all over the place but most usually falling in the 20-30% max range at worst.

So he is going to spend minimum $5000 to increase the efficiency and recover maybe another $15 per month in fuel reduction....that make a ton of sense.

I will take the old, historic, wood windows.