Window or toilet

[Eigenvector]

Nope I'm not missing a zero, but I never mentioned double glazed. Just a cheap vinyl replacement $222 at Lowe's.

[Eigenvector]

Hadn't thought of it from those angles.

[Eigenvector]

Originally that was my thinking, but somewhere in there I started reasoning that expecting massive benefits from a single window replacement is unreasonable, whereas with the toilet the benefits would be absolute simply because the design is different. But yes, at most I would save 10 bucks a month on my water bill, whereas if I shaved 50 bucks off my heating bill in the winter that's quite a chunk of change.

[Kitep]

Assuming you live in the USA, you can get a tax credit for the window, but only if you replace it by the end of 2007. It'll be 10% of the cost (insert usual disclaimers here :).

Again, the credit expires at the end of this year, so I'd do the window first.

[dadiOH]

And you think that's going to cut heat loss by $50 a month? Do the toilet. Or hang some drapes.

[Marilyn & Bob]

Yes, but this is only for an Energy Star or similarly rated window. A single pane vinyl window would almost assuredly not qualify. (Also note that $50/month savings in the winter is not much more than $10/month year round (if these figures are in anyway accurate). Perhaps the solution is the toilet plus caulking around the window (or as one poster suggested, drapes).

[DT]

Well, now any savings are pretty slim. All you are improving is the infiltration loss. The room will be more comfortable, but I doubt you will measure much in the way of savings unless the thermostat is in that room and was cycling too much, thus overheating the rest of the house while trying to maintain the living room temperature.

Even if you were upgrading to a double pane window, $50 was rather optimistic. After all, even a small house may have 1000 sq ft of ceiling and another 1000 sq ft of walls, and all you would have been doing was raising the R value on 32 sq ft from 1 to 3.

But for $200, it's an inexpensive upgrade and a more comfortable living room. I'm surprised they even make a single pane window that large anymore.

[Eigenvector]

Thanks, that was a pretty good summary.

Frankly I'm surprised they do too - but as luck would have it.