December 8, 2004 Title 24 Compliance

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The engineering for our house started this week and as planned, we submitted our project to a company that processes title 24 reports. At the same time the factory was finalizing our water heater and HVAC system so we would have the appropriate information to forward to the title 24 engineers. In doing so, they discovered a problem with our plans; here’s the story:

One of the goals for our house is for 100% of our energy needs to be provided by solar panels. Our plan is to finance this a few months after we receive our certificate of occupancy. With this in mind, we instructed the factory to install an electric water heater and furnace. Our planned washer/dryer combo as well as our range is electric. We wanted to avoid using any natural gas in the house because it would decrease the cost-effective benefit of financing a whole house solar system, especially since we are planning on installing the solar panels shortly. Besides, natural gas prices are very high these days…

The factory called me this Friday and informed me that if we installed an electric (tankless) water heater and an electric furnace, we would most likely flunk the title 24 report. They never had anyone request an electric water heater or furnace in their many years of building. The further they looked into electric furnaces and water heaters, the more troublesome they started to look. The State of California highly discourages the use of electricity for space and water heating. The factory recommended that we start the title 24 report without having any information about the heating, cooling and water heating. They suggested that the title 24 engineer could help us find an all-electric solution for a little extra money.

David found a company that could do the title 24 for only $150, Title 24 Express I believe they have the lowest prices of any company on the internet. After speaking with the engineer, who seemed very knowledgeable, I submitted our project. He agreed to help the factory find a solution for us. In fact, he suggested it before I asked… for only an extra $15. His opinion was that an electric water heater and furnace would definately cause us to flunk the title 24 requirements.

We mulled it over the weekend and decided to look into solar water heater/radiant floor units. However, doing this would decrease the cost-effective benefit of our forced cold air unit. To make a looooong story short, we discovered today that we will pass the title 24 report if we install radiant heating that works in consort with our water heater. We will also have to do one of two things: 1) Hook up the electric on-demand water heater to a supplemental solar water heater at the factory 2) Use evaporative cooling instead of refrigerated air.

We decided to go with the evaporative cooler, also known as a swamp cooler. I’ve heard so many derogatory things about “swamp coolers”; that they make your home humid and that you have to refill them often. We live in a very dry climate and I hear there is a new generation of “swamp coolers” that work very well with little maintenance, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.