Air conditioner poll-- who's getting by without?
I've been close to installing my window units several times now, but then we cool off and things are reasonably bearable again with windows and a box fan. Looks like we're supposed to get back down into the 70s in a few days . . .
Who all's getting by without AC, and who plans to do so through the summer?
Views: 1354
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kelvin Mulcky on -
Jim - I thought we could stretch the 8K unit to cool down the entire apartment. It's kinda cutting it....no, not really
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer on the lake on -
No AC for me, at least not yet. I really lucked out when I moved last year.
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Permalink Reply by MagMileMarauder on -
I can be comfortable in my place at 50F all winter long (as I rarely turn on the heater), but I definitely spoil myself with some AC! (just in one room, the rest of my place is a sauna). Sleeping under the covers rules.
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Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on -
Why didn't they just make ten colder and make ten be the top number and make that a little colder?
Duppie said:To offset all the eco-friendly smugness in this thread, I just turned up the AC to 11...
Seriously though, I cherish a good nights sleep enough to pay the $50-70 every month it costs to run two ACs in our house
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Permalink Reply by Sol on -
I just get in my car and drive around with the ac running at full blast when my apartment gets too hot!
Just kidding....I have 1200 square feet with east/west windows two floors up from ground level with no south facing windows. I have ceiling fans in most rooms combined with an old Westinghouse 5200 unit in the bedroom, an old Panasonic 7800 unit in the dining room and an old Panasonic 5800 unit in the living room. The Panasonics are 10.7 and 10.8 and the Westinghouse is "good" old 9.7 efficiency. All three are well installed with good insulation and no gaps (2 by x wood cut to size, painted white and combined with rope calk insulate better, look better and form a better seal for the gap between the window and the side of the ac unit than those flimsy leaky vinyl louvers which come with the ac units). All three units are also fairly quiet for window ac units.
I used to leave the ac on all day for the dog in past years, but he now spends his days with the dog walker in her slightly air conditioned garden unit so I simply seal up the apartment and close the blinds by day and have the Panasonics turn on in economy mode at 75 degrees using their timers a little before I arrive home on days when it is above 85 degrees. The Westinghouse has old school dials without a timer so I just turn it on when I get home or an hour before bed if needed. The ac runs until bed time on hot days and then I shut them off. The place cools down quickly and stays cool enough through the morning. On cooler or less humid days, I just open the windows at sun down and close them in the morning before it gets too hot.
My worst electric bill last summer when I ran all three ac units all day was only $85, as compared to $40 without ac ($1.50/day for the ac portion of the bill). My friends with central ac had much higher electric bills. I expect my bills will be somewhat lower this year as the ac is not on that much.
Newer window ac units with timers, energy efficiency mode and more ozone friendly r410 coolant can be very helpful on hot days with minimal energy usage and environmental impact when correctly installed and not overused. I would like to replace my Westinghouse with a more efficient unit and wish all my units had the r410 coolant, but it would be wasteful and in my opinion less environmentally friendly to simply chuck the old units for newer ones given my current low usage.
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Permalink Reply by Jerry Lee on -
no air condition here or in the car...I leave the door open all night, I don't goto sleep till 7am anyway. It's just me and my Patton fan.
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Permalink Reply by Kevin C on -
Tank-Ridin' Ryan said:Why didn't they just make ten colder and make ten be the top number and make that a little colder?
Duppie said:To offset all the eco-friendly smugness in this thread, I just turned up the AC to 11...
Seriously though, I cherish a good nights sleep enough to pay the $50-70 every month it costs to run two ACs in our house
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Permalink Reply by Melanie K on -
We usually only run the air for a a couple hours a day to cool down the place enough to be comfortable for us, our dog and kitten, but our air conditioning unit is pretty old and finally conked out on Sunday. Our place doesn't get much of a breeze no matter how many windows we open, so it's been pretty nasty the last few days with only fans running. I will be thankful for getting a new, more efficient a/c model, as our a/c unit has been on its last legs and would only run in a semi-cool mode anyway. So, in answer to the OP's question, I have had no choice but to be without air right now. Hopefully, the heat wave will soon pass as it is hard for us to get a good night's rest in this heat.
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Permalink Reply by Chris C on -
I went through my rubbermaid tubs last night and caressed all of my wool sweaters. As I refolded them I whispered to each: soon my lovely, soon.
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Permalink Reply by James BlackHeron on -
The thermostat was saying 78 this morning which should be comfortable but the humidity was beginning to cause some condensation on the tile floors so I turned on the Ac to 76 degrees. It brought down the temp and dried out the air quite well in about 45 minutes. Now it runs for a few minutes every hour and the humidity is way down. I suppose I'll have to let it run a few minutes every day for the next week or so or risk mold/mildew issues down in my basement garden condo.
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Permalink Reply by Tony Adams 6.6 mi on -
No AC for me. Made through last summer without it and I'm planning to do the same this year. We do have a window unit, but not installing it really helps with the resolve to not use it. When it gets super hot the last thing I want to do is schlep an air conditioner around.
Every summer I'm reminded that I should install some awnings on the west facing windows of our apartment. A lot of sun comes in during the hottest part of the day. At the moment we have some towels and sheets crammed into the windows as make-shift blinds - it helps, but awnings would be way better.
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Permalink Reply by h' 1.0 on -
I had my two window units in last year-- newish 5000 BTU Frigidaires with thermostats-- kept them on something like 78 degrees and still had $120 electric bills. My place is under 800 sf.
Sol said:I just get in my car and drive around with the ac running at full blast when my apartment gets too hot!
Just kidding....I have 1200 square feet with east/west windows two floors up from ground level with no south facing windows. I have ceiling fans in most rooms combined with an old Westinghouse 5200 unit in the bedroom, an old Panasonic 7800 unit in the dining room and an old Panasonic 5800 unit in the living room. The Panasonics are 10.7 and 10.8 and the Westinghouse is "good" old 9.7 efficiency. All three are well installed with good insulation and no gaps (2 by x wood cut to size, painted white and combined with rope calk insulate better, look better and form a better seal for the gap between the window and the side of the ac unit than those flimsy leaky vinyl louvers which come with the ac units). All three units are also fairly quiet for window ac units.
I used to leave the ac on all day for the dog in past years, but he now spends his days with the dog walker in her slightly air conditioned garden unit so I simply seal up the apartment and close the blinds by day and have the Panasonics turn on in economy mode at 75 degrees using their timers a little before I arrive home on days when it is above 85 degrees. The Westinghouse has old school dials without a timer so I just turn it on when I get home or an hour before bed if needed. The ac runs until bed time on hot days and then I shut them off. The place cools down quickly and stays cool enough through the morning. On cooler or less humid days, I just open the windows at sun down and close them in the morning before it gets too hot.
My worst electric bill last summer when I ran all three ac units all day was only $85, as compared to $40 without ac ($1.50/day for the ac portion of the bill). My friends with central ac had much higher electric bills. I expect my bills will be somewhat lower this year as the ac is not on that much.
Newer window ac units with timers, energy efficiency mode and more ozone friendly r410 coolant can be very helpful on hot days with minimal energy usage and environmental impact when correctly installed and not overused. I would like to replace my Westinghouse with a more efficient unit and wish all my units had the r410 coolant, but it would be wasteful and in my opinion less environmentally friendly to simply chuck the old units for newer ones given my current low usage.
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