Anyone with an AC window unit? Energy Cost?

[Mai72]

I have a Kenmore Elite 10,000 BTU window AC Energy Saver. I don't normally run it all the time during the summer, because I'm concerned about the energy bill. Today, I talked with a coworker and she told me that she has 3 window AC's running 24/7 and here energy bill is no more than $135 per month. That shocked me. I thought it would had been in the $300-400 range. 3 Window ACs running all the time. She didn't get into BTU's. air speed, etc. I do know that he units are 2-3 year s old and she occasionally leaves lights on as well.

Should I run the AC on while I'm away? It sucks that I have to come home to an apartment that resembles a sauna. I also have to put my olive oil in the fridge because my apartment gets so hot.

Thanks.

 

[Thebobo]

I dont have a window unit but if its hot your probably miserable. We don't want you miserable.

 

[lxskllr]

Look at the wattage, and compare that with your electric rate. If you can reverse the fans, and make it blow outside, That's what I'd do for the day, then use the ac when I was home. Aside from that, coming home to a hot house makes the ac feel that much better when you turn it on.

 

[Mai72]

Look at the wattage, and compare that with your electric rate. If you can reverse the fans, and make it blow outside, That's what I'd do for the day, then use the ac when I was home. Aside from that, coming home to a hot house makes the ac feel that much better when you turn it on.

True. I should try the fan trick.

Thanks.

 

[Mai72]

I dont have a window unit but if its hot your probably miserable. We don't want you miserable.

Oh, I've tried going without AC in the summer. I can't do it. I live in NJ so the humidity is crazy here.

 

[Herr Kutz]

I recommend going to the coworkers house for 24 hours (minimum) to see if you enjoy having the AC running all day. Only then you can come to an informed decision as to whether the extra cost is worth it or not to you.

 

[bbhaag]

We have a mid '40's cape cod with a 12,000 btu unit to help keep the upstairs cool. The home has central ac but with the roof being so close on the second story it can get hot up there without supplemental cooling.
It's around a 500 sq.ft. space and it costs around $20-$40 a month to run the window unit. We keep it set at 75* and of course depending on the outside temp it runs pretty much all the time.
Take today for example. 96* is the forecasted high with around 70% humidity so of course it's running overtime to try and keep up. On cooler days and in the evenings it doesn't run as much.

 

[Brainonska511]

Why would you keep it on while you're away? That's such a waste of electricity to cool a room no one will be in for hours. Even if it is relatively cheap to do it, it just seems incredibly wasteful. If you want to cool while you're at work, many units come with a built-in timer, or use a plug-in timer to control when it is on/off.

Other options: on hot days, keep the windows shut during the day and shades/curtains down. Your living space won't heat up as much.

 

[Ken g6]

You could put your air conditioner on a timer like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Fosmon-Outdoor-Mechanical-Resistance-Grounded/dp/B0779LVSB5

 

[Mai72]

Why would you keep it on while you're away? That's such a waste of electricity to cool a room no one will be in for hours. Even if it is relatively cheap to do it, it just seems incredibly wasteful. If you want to cool while you're at work, many units come with a built-in timer, or use a plug-in timer to control when it is on/off.

Other options: on hot days, keep the windows shut during the day and shades/curtains down. Your living space won't heat up as much.

I thought the same. I have a timer on my AC unit so I should give that a try.

Thanks.

 

[Franz316]

They are usually $1 to $2 a day in my experience, so not much at all for the comfort they bring.

 

[JEDIYoda]

We purchased a nice 6 bedroom 4 bath home out in the cape cod area and every room has a window unit that stays on 24/7 the comfort it brings really does out weigh the minimal cost!!

 

[local]

Why would you keep it on while you're away? That's such a waste of electricity to cool a room no one will be in for hours. Even if it is relatively cheap to do it, it just seems incredibly wasteful. If you want to cool while you're at work, many units come with a built-in timer, or use a plug-in timer to control when it is on/off.

Other options: on hot days, keep the windows shut during the day and shades/curtains down. Your living space won't heat up as much.

It doesn't have that much to do with heat actually. It is about keeping the humidity down so you don't spend hours wringing the water back out of the air every day. It takes a lot of work to get moisture out of the air, work that is not being used to cool the air. Keeping the humidity down 24/7 can easily result in a lower electricity usage than turning the A/C off when you are not using it. People that live in very dry areas or have a very tight house can get away with turning the A/C off more than those living in high humidity areas. This is why it is called air conditioning instead of air cooling.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You'd have to check the name plate with the power usage info. Generally a 1 ton (12,000 btu) unit will use less but close to 15 amps, so that's 1800w. So a half ton would be like 900w. Of course this is just a really rough estimate and it depends on if it has different speeds for the compressor and what not and whether or not it's running at full tilt. Some compressors are also more efficient than others.

The issue with window units is if they are not installed right they can be really leaky so they will cost more to run in that sense. Same with portable units if they only have one hose it means they are sucking your cold conditioned air outside and sucking outside air to replace that air. When I had a portable I modded it so it has two pipes, an intake and an exhaust and it pretty much doubled the efficiency. You can buy them that way but you pay 2x the price.

I typically don't run the AC if I'm not home though. There's a whole argument that it cost less to keep the house at a certain temp but that's mostly BS. If the unit is cycling all day, it will have more hours of run time than if it just runs continuously to bring the house down from one extreme to the other, for a few hours.

Typically on really hot days I might remote into my house to start the AC an hour or two before I get home just because I can. I feel AC is a bit more of a luxery than heat though. With heat, if that is off in winter then your pipes freeze, explode and you will get tons of damage. That said, you can't put a price on comfort, if it's super hot in the house it just sucks so bad.

 

[lxskllr]

I typically don't run the AC if I'm not home though. There's a whole argument that it cost less to keep the house at a certain temp but that's mostly BS. If the unit is cycling all day, it will have more hours of run time than if it just runs continuously to bring the house down from one extreme to the other, for a few hours.

I split the difference. I bump it up a couple degrees when I leave, and drop it when I get home. That way it shaves a few pennies, and doesn't have to work hard getting things right. That's central air, If I lived in Squirrel land, I doubt I'd use it all. If nothing else, I probably wouldn't fix it if it broke.

 

[balloonshark]

I live in an all electric apartment and my electric bill in the summer is way less than the winter. I leave my air on 24/7 and it cycles on and off as needed. My unit is even undersized and it can run for many hours at a time. My electric bill is budgeted and I pay $74 a month. This place stays about 75F all year long.

 

[pete6032]

You can do the math by checking the wattage of the window unit. Watts x hours per day you run it x price per watt hour on your electric bill = price of running the a/c.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I live in an all electric apartment and my electric bill in the summer is way less than the winter. I leave my air on 24/7 and it cycles on and off as needed. My unit is even undersized and it can run for many hours at a time. My electric bill is budgeted and I pay $74 a month. This place stays about 75F all year long.

Yikes, yeah electric heat is not exactly the most efficient monetary wise. (oddly it's the most efficient energy wise). Installing a natural gas furnace pretty much pays for itself in like a year. If they want us to reduce our carbon footprint, then slash hydro prices to like 1/10th of what they are now, and freeze them at that rate indefinitely.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Back in the day, running a window unit in my 500sqft studio cost me +$35/mo. I don't think energy costs are that much higher now. (I was paying about $0.10/kWh at the time.)

 

[Svnla]

First of all, you do not have a central AC unit in your apartment? It is required if you live down here. When I was in an apartment, I asked the manager if I could install a window AC unit in my bedroom in the summer to save money (use the window unit and turn off the big central AC) but the request was denied.

Here you go, this could help - https://www.consumerreports.org/win...t-window-air-conditioners-for-hot-days-ahead/

 

[Muse]

I have one in my bedroom. Takes up about 1/2 the width of the window next to my bed. In the other half of the space I've mounted two 200mm silent computer fans that are powered by an old wallwart I had lying around. The fans are turned on/off by a switch that's mounted to the nightstand by my bed. So, I can turn the fans on/off very easily virtually while I sleep if the room feels too hot/cold. The fans cool the room around 4-5 degrees over time. The cost of running the fans is likely about 1/20th the cost of running the AC window unit, which gets very rare usage and is never used while I sleep and rarely when I'm even in the room. In the hottest of weather I will turn on the AC unit for maybe an hour to cool down the room before I hit the sack.

 

[Muse]

You could put your air conditioner on a timer like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Fosmon-Outdoor-Mechanical-Resistance-Grounded/dp/B0779LVSB5

I have had this one for 5 years and it's still fantastic. I use it all the time to make automatic recordings off FM (turns my receiver on/off). Has up to 20 on/off settings that can be set for daily, any day, various combinations of days for each setting, is 15A. Only 2 prong, though, so maybe not best for an AC.

 

[who?]

The cost should be more reasonable if you use CFL or LED lighting. AC used a lot more energy when homes were lit with incandescent bulbs that heated a wire up until it glowed brightly because it was so hot.

 

[Muse]

The cost should be more reasonable if you use CFL or LED lighting. AC used a lot more energy when homes were lit with incandescent bulbs that heated a wire up until it glowed brightly because it was so hot.

I think that the sun is the culprit. I missed it today, all day here, it hid behind the clouds. No need for cooling today, though.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah the sun generates about 1kw of energy per square metre. It's not a little 27w bulb that's going to make the difference. But yeah replacing incandescent with CFL or LED will help with hydro bill at least so still a good idea.