An Inconsiderate Truth

I recently had a new gas (tank style) water heater installed at my home. While the plumber was here I took advantage of his presence to ask him what he thought about these "on demand" water heaters that we hear so much about through the magic of marketing (sic).

He informed me that if I chose to go that way I would likely have to increase the size of my gas supply line and the size of my flu pipe and chimney to accommodate the device. It seems that these "on demand" water heaters do their magic by consuming a very large amount of energy for a short amount of time whenever the heater is activated by turning on the hot water. They also recommend that you install separate heaters for kitchen and bathroom to be sure that you would have enough hot water.

The electrical utility that serves the woman in this story was never designed to accommodate this sort of peak amperage (the little factoid of amperage consumed by this system was left out of the story).

Now imagine if everyone in this womans community were to install this sort of system. An entire rethink and overhaul of the local grid would be required to handle the intermittent load - costing the community a whole lot of money to upgrade the infrastructure.

The main lesson that I gleaned from this little tale of buyers remorse is to do your research thoroughly before making any major investment. And no, the salesman is not a reliable source of information. Think about how your investment will impact the community at large and in this woman's case, she should have consulted with her utility first to see if they concurred with the information that was given to her.

As always in America and almost everywhere else - "Caveat emptor" - let the buyer beware is the mantra of the marketplace. The forces of the marketplace rarely act in your best interest. This woman made her purchase based solely on her own perceived bottom line and the line of BS spouted by the salesman. The company that sold it to her did so based on what they perceived as best for their own bottom line. This is a great example of how short term, myopic thinking can lead to problems for the community at large.

My own bottom line is this. We are all in this thing together whether we know it or not and we are going to need to cooperate and make some personal sacrifices to overcome the many obstacles and problems staring us in the face right now.

We need to look at this current crisis as a great opportunity to make the needed changes to ensure a decent, prosperous, livable future for ourselves and our decendents. When times are good, no social change is possible in America because this country has a disdain for change through planning. It smacks too much of socialism. Change in America is only allowed to come through a crisis. Planning, cooperation, long term thinking, self denial, self discipline, thrift, conservation, even sharing have all somehow become negative concepts in this bizzaro America. Consumerism, egotism and even greed itself have been held up as the true American values by the dominate culture and MSM.

"Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio?"

Time for big change. We can do this if we really want to do it. Wall Street and Madison Avenue will go along in the end, kicking and screaming as usual and then they will try to sell you the idea that they were right there with you all along leading the way. Sound familiar?

Now - Buy some more crap that you really don't need. This may be your last chance.