Are they just insane? Why do the American People overwhelmingly think the economy is doing poorly?

[Delarage]

38. Get a few estimates

On the AC. Just replaced a 16-year-old gas furnace/AC combo with a dual-fuel heat pump (should rarely ever use the gas backup) and a gas hot water heater (it was like 30 years old) with a heat pump water heater.

Up front price was 17,000

But....

Energize Delaware is sending back $4650 soon.
Federal tax credit for heat pump AC will be $2000
Federal tax credit for heat pump water heater will be $1027

= $9323

One of my credit cards has a 0% interest for 18 mos, so I put the money I would have used to pay off these upgrades into CDs getting 4.5% for 18 mos. That interest will earn about $1000. I'll pay the credit card off before I get charged interest.

So....all told will end up being $8323 (less than half of the list price) for state-of-the art heat pump technology (replacement of heater, AC, and water heater) and a move away from fossil fuels. Still significant, but the best I could do. You also have to factor in the lifetime savings of higher SEER2 numbers. The water heater "Energy Guide" yellow sticker says it should cost about $100 to run for a year---compared to $400 for gas versions. So that's $300/year for at least 10 years (warranty period)---more than paying for itself. AC should do the same with its savings.

The salesmen that came out all agreed that prices jumped a lot recently and that "the best time to have bought would have been a year or two ago." But the new rebates did help me a lot and the new equipment (with 10-year warranties) is great---water heater seems better than the old one, heat pump AC is virtually silent--and efficient. Can't wait to compare utility bills to the previous ones with the old equipment.