Quote Originally Posted by waterbear
going on Carl's estimate of $30/month for bleach and Pat's calculation of just over $20/month for a SWG then the SWG wins hands down!
But that ignores the initial cost. At $1000 initial cost to have the builder install it you're looking at an additional $100 per year for a 10 year period of ownership. Besides that, Carl's estimate was intentionally high to make his point ( I typically spend less than half that). Finally, Pat's supposition that power costs will drive bleach costs up in the long run applies more directly and at least equally to the power costs for operating the SWG.

I want to believe that an SWG will pay for itself (as that would make my decision very easy) but it just ain't so.

(On the other hand, it really doesn't cost that much more in the long run. I almost have myself talked into this; thanks Sean.)