Today marks the start of WEEK 3 in our four-week GE Appliances Home Improvement Give-Away. If you weren’t lucky enough to win the first week’s GE Hybrid Stainless Steel Interior Dishwasher ($699 MSRP) or last week’s GE Profile Slide-In Double Oven Electric Range ($2,799), perhaps this will be your lucky week!
ENTER TODAY and every day (through midnight EST Friday, September 21) to be eligible to win a new GE GeoSpring Hybrid Electric Water Heater, valued at $1,299 MSRP.
The GE GeoSpring Hybrid Electric Water Heater combines innovative heat pump technology with standard electric elements to deliver all the hot water you need at a fraction of the cost of traditional electric models. Using a heat pump as the primary means of heating, the unit absorbs heat in ambient air and trasnfers it into the water. Since the electric elements are only used when a faster recovery is required, the GeoSpring uses 62% less electricity than the conventional electric water heater. And that translates into annual savings of as much as $325 for the average homeowner (even more for those who qualify for Energy Star incentives and rebates).
Additional features of the GeoSpring include:
• An integrated control panel that offers exclusive features, like a “vacation mode” that lowers water temperature while you’re away and automatically restores it the day before your return.
• The GeoSpring offers greater control over water temperature, allowing you to adjust in one degree increments between 100 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Featuring the same footprint and connections as conventional electric water heaters, the GeoSpring can be installed quickly and easily.
For official rules and entry, click here. Be sure to enter Bob Vila’s GE Appliances Home Improvement Give-Away daily to increase your odds of winning—and come back next week when one lucky winner will have the chance to win a GE Profile Front-Load Washer with Steam and SmartDispense™ technology (MSRP $1,299) and companion dryer (MSRP $1,099).
To learn more about the new GE GeoSpring Hybrid Electric Water Heater and other innovative products, visit GE Appliances.
The “Bob Vila GE Appliances Home Improvement Give-Away” sweepstakes is open only to permanent legal U.S. residents of the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia; residents of Alaska and Hawaii are not eligible. Void in all other geographic locations. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Contest Period runs from 12:00 a.m. (EST) Saturday, September 1, 2012 through midnight (EST) Friday, September 28, 2012. One entry per household per day on BobVila.com. Alternative means of entry for Drawing is available by faxing your name and address to 508-437-8486 during the applicable Entry Period. Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received. See Official Rules.
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- MERV Ratings: What Do They Mean?
MERV Ratings: What Do They Mean?
Photo: Sympiontservice.com
When we set out to build a new construction home, we had a lot of research to do. Having lived in NYC apartments for the previous 20 years made the job a lot harder. We’d always relied on a superintendent to think about the furnace, the water heater, and all the other systems that made our building run. So we had a lot of catching up to do.
Now that our home has been built, we have begun doing regular maintenance on our HVAC system. In the process, we’ve been faced with something called a MERV filter. MERV? Like, Griffin? Or is that some robot from Star Wars? I had no idea. So for the uninitiated (like I was), here’s a quick primer on MERV ratings and what they mean:
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Bob Vila Radio: The Solar Decathlon
Today, September 14th, is the kickoff of the 2012 Solar Decathlon, and this year it’s being held in sunny Spain.
2007 Winner. Photo: solardecathlon.tu-darmstadt.de
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Listen to BOB VILA ON THE SOLAR DECATHLON, or read the text below:
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Jim Berger's original Frank Lloyd Wright-designed doghouse. Photo: takesunset.com
In the summer of 1956, a 12-year-old boy wrote a letter to Frank Lloyd Wright to see if the architect would design a doghouse for his Black Labrador, Eddie. The letter, in part, read:
“I would appreciate it if you design me a doghouse, which would be easy to build, but would go with our house…” (the Wright-designed Robert Berger House in San Anselmo, CA). The boy went on to write that his dog was “two and a half feet high and three feet long” and that “the reasons I would like this doghouse is for the winters mainly.” He offered to pay for the plans out of money from his paper route.
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