Air Conditioning . . .

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Sep 12, 2004
16,852
59
86
Originally posted by: rh71
My house has tile floors and poor insulation so it's like walking into an air conditioned house everytime. The other day coming back from a warm day at the park we were reminded how lucky we are for the upcoming summer. The bad thing? $1200+ winter heating bills. 71F day and night during the winter months = ouch. Gotta keep the new kiddies warm.

To be honest though, the A/C didn't add that much to our electric bill for the nights that we had to use it upstairs. It was less than $25/mo. extra.
Many utility companies will come out and do an inspection of your house and tell you where you need seals and more installation. As a bonus, they'll also often pay for a percentage of the upgrades. You may want to see if your utility company offers that. $1200 a month during the winter is outrageous unless you're living in 8,000+ sf of house. You could potentially spend a few grand and make that money back in half of the first winter.
 

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
34,543
651
126
Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Originally posted by: rh71
My house has tile floors and poor insulation so it's like walking into an air conditioned house everytime. The other day coming back from a warm day at the park we were reminded how lucky we are for the upcoming summer. The bad thing? $1200+ winter heating bills. 71F day and night during the winter months = ouch. Gotta keep the new kiddies warm.

To be honest though, the A/C didn't add that much to our electric bill for the nights that we had to use it upstairs. It was less than $25/mo. extra.
Many utility companies will come out and do an inspection of your house and tell you where you need seals and more installation. As a bonus, they'll also often pay for a percentage of the upgrades. You may want to see if your utility company offers that. $1200 a month during the winter is outrageous unless you're living in 8,000+ sf of house. You could potentially spend a few grand and make that money back in half of the first winter.

He drives a X5, he can afford it. :p
 

theblackbox

Golden Member
Oct 1, 2004
1,650
11
81
Originally posted by: rh71
My house has tile floors and poor insulation so it's like walking into an air conditioned house everytime. The other day coming back from a warm day at the park we were reminded how lucky we are for the upcoming summer. The bad thing? $1200+ winter heating bills. 71F day and night during the winter months = ouch. Gotta keep the new kiddies warm.

To be honest though, the A/C didn't add that much to our electric bill for the nights that we had to use it upstairs. It was less than $25/mo. extra.

winter heat??? geez. i thought our electric bill was high at 85 bucks in jan. but 1200+ dam....

 
Sep 12, 2004
16,852
59
86
Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Originally posted by: rh71
My house has tile floors and poor insulation so it's like walking into an air conditioned house everytime. The other day coming back from a warm day at the park we were reminded how lucky we are for the upcoming summer. The bad thing? $1200+ winter heating bills. 71F day and night during the winter months = ouch. Gotta keep the new kiddies warm.

To be honest though, the A/C didn't add that much to our electric bill for the nights that we had to use it upstairs. It was less than $25/mo. extra.
Many utility companies will come out and do an inspection of your house and tell you where you need seals and more installation. As a bonus, they'll also often pay for a percentage of the upgrades. You may want to see if your utility company offers that. $1200 a month during the winter is outrageous unless you're living in 8,000+ sf of house. You could potentially spend a few grand and make that money back in half of the first winter.

He drives a X5, he can afford it. :p
Better hookers and better blow then. There's always a good reason to save on your utility bill. :)
 

cmf21

Senior member
Oct 10, 1999
977
1
81
Turned on our AC for the first time today. Was 97 expecting 101 in the next day or so. We keep it at set 78 which is just about right.
 

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,844
1,049
126
no no no guys, $1200 is for the season... $100/mo. if you want to spread it out that way. But realistically for 5 cold months a year, $1200 is still a lot. I'll ask my oil company if they do evals... but we're actually looking to move outta here soon anyway, otherwise the single-pane windows from the 1950s would've been replaced a long time ago.

EDIT>> Holy shit I just pulled my 4 oil fill-up bills from November till now and they total $2271. That kind of blows the $1200 out of the water... so it's actually $189/mo. for 12 months or $450/mo. for the winter months. :( This is with plastic insulation to prevent drafts. Hopefully we're outta here by next winter.
 
Sep 12, 2004
16,852
59
86
Originally posted by: rh71
no no no guys, $1200 is for the season... $100/mo. if you want to spread it out that way. But realistically for 5 cold months a year, $1200 is still a lot. I'll ask my oil company if they do evals... but we're actually looking to move outta here soon anyway, otherwise the single-pane windows from the 1950s would've been replaced a long time ago.

EDIT>> Holy shit I just pulled my 4 oil fill-up bills from November till now and they total $2271. That kind of blows the $1200 out of the water... so it's actually $189/mo. for 12 months or $450/mo. for the winter months. :( This is with plastic insulation to prevent drafts. Hopefully we're outta here by next winter.
Ouch.

Do you own or rent?
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,205
45
91

ed21x

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 2001
5,411
8
81
i live on the 12th floor of a 28 story highrise, so it stays relatively cool year round :)
 

MrDudeMan

Lifer
Jan 15, 2001
15,069
94
91
Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Originally posted by: rh71
no no no guys, $1200 is for the season... $100/mo. if you want to spread it out that way. But realistically for 5 cold months a year, $1200 is still a lot. I'll ask my oil company if they do evals... but we're actually looking to move outta here soon anyway, otherwise the single-pane windows from the 1950s would've been replaced a long time ago.

EDIT>> Holy shit I just pulled my 4 oil fill-up bills from November till now and they total $2271. That kind of blows the $1200 out of the water... so it's actually $189/mo. for 12 months or $450/mo. for the winter months. :( This is with plastic insulation to prevent drafts. Hopefully we're outta here by next winter.
Ouch.

Do you own or rent?

Who cares? His reason for keeping it at 71 is stupid. You realize you can cover your baby with a blanket and it can wear warm clothes, right? Somehow people managed to survive without heaters for thousands of years.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,761
13,863
126
www.anyf.ca
Originally posted by: MrDudeMan
Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Originally posted by: rh71
no no no guys, $1200 is for the season... $100/mo. if you want to spread it out that way. But realistically for 5 cold months a year, $1200 is still a lot. I'll ask my oil company if they do evals... but we're actually looking to move outta here soon anyway, otherwise the single-pane windows from the 1950s would've been replaced a long time ago.

EDIT>> Holy shit I just pulled my 4 oil fill-up bills from November till now and they total $2271. That kind of blows the $1200 out of the water... so it's actually $189/mo. for 12 months or $450/mo. for the winter months. :( This is with plastic insulation to prevent drafts. Hopefully we're outta here by next winter.
Ouch.

Do you own or rent?

Who cares? His reason for keeping it at 71 is stupid. You realize you can cover your baby with a blanket and it can wear warm clothes, right? Somehow people managed to survive without heaters for thousands of years.

71 is reasonable, that comes up to 21C. We usually keep ours around 15-20 in winter. 20 is comfortable, 15 is a little cool but livable.
 

queenrobot

Platinum Member
Aug 20, 2007
2,049
0
0
I turned mine on to 80 degrees yesterday. It was 90 degrees in my bedroom. :( I am in North Phoenix.
 

So

Lifer
Jul 2, 2001
25,923
17
81
Swamp cooler for the win...In dry climates where it peaks around 100, and summers average the 90s.
 

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,844
1,049
126
Originally posted by: MrDudeMan
Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Originally posted by: rh71
no no no guys, $1200 is for the season... $100/mo. if you want to spread it out that way. But realistically for 5 cold months a year, $1200 is still a lot. I'll ask my oil company if they do evals... but we're actually looking to move outta here soon anyway, otherwise the single-pane windows from the 1950s would've been replaced a long time ago.

EDIT>> Holy shit I just pulled my 4 oil fill-up bills from November till now and they total $2271. That kind of blows the $1200 out of the water... so it's actually $189/mo. for 12 months or $450/mo. for the winter months. :( This is with plastic insulation to prevent drafts. Hopefully we're outta here by next winter.
Ouch.

Do you own or rent?

Who cares? His reason for keeping it at 71 is stupid. You realize you can cover your baby with a blanket and it can wear warm clothes, right? Somehow people managed to survive without heaters for thousands of years.

Do you even have kids? I thought everything was fine as long as I was fine, but when your baby's hands and feet feel ice cold despite wearing a sweatshirt & vest, you can't have it any other way. And just because people live in Africa with little food doesn't mean my kids have to. 71F is a necessity in this house. Your place at 65F probably feels warmer than my 65F on the thermostat because of the drafts and tiles so even 71F is not as warm as you probably think.

You can't cover babies with blankets in their sleep, at least not above their armpits for fear of suffocation. Any baby older than a few months don't want to be swaddled either. Get a clue before you call anything stupid. Next I suppose you'll suggest a space heater and just keep my babies in 1 room or have them walk around the house with little mittens and boots every hour for 5 months. If so, clearly you don't have kids so why don't you go sit in the corner and just STFU.
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
66,415
14,819
146
It hit 100 here yesterday. Broke all kinds of weather records. Hottest 4/21 on record, earliest 100 degree day on record, etc.

TOO fucking hot.
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,354
1,863
126
My Air conditioning goes on the instant It gets above about 75 or so.

I prefer to be comfortable instead of dying in 80+ degree temperatures.
 

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
30,890
5,001
126
Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
My Air conditioning goes on the instant It gets above about 75 or so.

I prefer to be comfortable instead of dying in 80+ degree temperatures.

dying?
 

hanoverphist

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2006
9,867
23
76
Originally posted by: oogabooga
Anyone ever use a portable unit for single room cooling?

I don't need to AC the whole house, and I am renting and can't setup a full size window unit. I just need to cool the home office during the day and was wondering if it was cheap enough to consider.

the electrical room i worked in last week had one of those portable AC units. kept the room pretty nice, it was about 76 degrees in it. here in az the weather is getting hot faster than normal, ive had my ac on for a week or so now. some days it wasnt turning on at all, but this week it has. screw sitting in heat on purpose.
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,354
1,863
126
Originally posted by: Homerboy
Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
My Air conditioning goes on the instant It gets above about 75 or so.

I prefer to be comfortable instead of dying in 80+ degree temperatures.

dying?

I suppose you could replace dying with "being sticky and sweaty and generally uncomfortable."
 

bobdole369

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2004
4,504
2
0
It's Florida here. The air never gets turned off except that one night when it hits 45F. Then we put on sweaters and shiver.

 

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,484
8,345
126
More of a function of humidity + temp rather than absolute temp. 75 degrees and high humidity in the house is no pleasant. Sure you can run whole house humidifiers, but that's 60% of what AC does anyway. I'm fine spending the extra 40% to knock the absolute temp down a couple degrees while I'm at it.

In the fall when the humidity starts creeping away and it starts cooling down overnight I can get away with turning the whole house fan on and drawing in some cool air before bedtime and while we sleep.

During the months of June/July/August that's just not effective enough to combat the humidity.
 

MrDudeMan

Lifer
Jan 15, 2001
15,069
94
91
Originally posted by: rh71
Originally posted by: MrDudeMan
Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Originally posted by: rh71
no no no guys, $1200 is for the season... $100/mo. if you want to spread it out that way. But realistically for 5 cold months a year, $1200 is still a lot. I'll ask my oil company if they do evals... but we're actually looking to move outta here soon anyway, otherwise the single-pane windows from the 1950s would've been replaced a long time ago.

EDIT>> Holy shit I just pulled my 4 oil fill-up bills from November till now and they total $2271. That kind of blows the $1200 out of the water... so it's actually $189/mo. for 12 months or $450/mo. for the winter months. :( This is with plastic insulation to prevent drafts. Hopefully we're outta here by next winter.
Ouch.

Do you own or rent?

Who cares? His reason for keeping it at 71 is stupid. You realize you can cover your baby with a blanket and it can wear warm clothes, right? Somehow people managed to survive without heaters for thousands of years.

Do you even have kids? I thought everything was fine as long as I was fine, but when your baby's hands and feet feel ice cold despite wearing a sweatshirt & vest, you can't have it any other way. And just because people live in Africa with little food doesn't mean my kids have to. 71F is a necessity in this house. Your place at 65F probably feels warmer than my 65F on the thermostat because of the drafts and tiles so even 71F is not as warm as you probably think.

You can't cover babies with blankets in their sleep, at least not above their armpits for fear of suffocation. Any baby older than a few months don't want to be swaddled either. Get a clue before you call anything stupid. Next I suppose you'll suggest a space heater and just keep my babies in 1 room or have them walk around the house with little mittens and boots every hour for 5 months. If so, clearly you don't have kids so why don't you go sit in the corner and just STFU.

It's so easy to get you all hot and bothered. I should stop purposely doing it though because I want your reactions to stay this sincere.