The Money Mustache Community
Around the Internet => Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy => Topic started by: NorthernDreamer on July 04, 2017, 08:37:28 PM
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Out next door neighbours looooove air conditioning. We live in the 'burbs and do turn ours on occasionally during heat waves. Our neighbours run theirs almost constantly from May to September. Tonight it is 17 degrees celcius (62 F) and it's been running the past three hours. Seriously???
We keep our windows open most of the time so we are connected to outdoors. Theirs are firmly shut so perhaps they do not realize it is almost chilly (😉) outside.
It honestly blows my mind. My husband and I comment on it every night, it's now a source of amusement for us. I suppose this is how many people live but I just don't get it. I'd love to see their electricity bill compared to ours!
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I'll one up you. Today I heard the AC running next door more often than not. But here's the kicker........no one lives there. No one has lived there for 4+ years. In an equal display of absurdity the detached garage is also heated all winter.
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I went with my mom to her tour de Mcmanions, I mean local parade of homes this year. Many of the homes were OK but I noticed the higher the priced the home, the more likely to have windows that don't really open. Her home is in Michigan, I understand having the A/C on some days in the summer but there are many more days were it is pleasant with the windows open.
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Out next door neighbours looooove air conditioning. We live in the 'burbs and do turn ours on occasionally during heat waves. Our neighbours run theirs almost constantly from May to September. Tonight it is 17 degrees celcius (62 F) and it's been running the past three hours. Seriously???
We keep our windows open most of the time so we are connected to outdoors. Theirs are firmly shut so perhaps they do not realize it is almost chilly (😉) outside.
It honestly blows my mind. My husband and I comment on it every night, it's now a source of amusement for us. I suppose this is how many people live but I just don't get it. I'd love to see their electricity bill compared to ours!
I have the same situation next door to me as well. It's in the 60's outside and their AC is just running all night. People oblivious to this stuff just make me shake my head, laugh and feel much better about myself. More often than not their back door is wide open as well, a back door that has no storm door! So literally for hours, this door is wide open(dog always opens it) AC is blasting when its 85 degrees out, bugs have total access...
It's chaos...
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I got really irritated with this at the last apartment complex I lived in. I preferred to have my A/C off and all of the windows open, but I absolutely can't stand white noise. I hate the sound of fans, A/C, etc. All of my neighbors had their A/C units running continuously, so I could only keep the windows open for around 30 minutes at a time before it drove me crazy and I had to shut the windows and turn on the A/C. One day the high was 65F and they still had all of their A/Cs running! I made a facebook post ranting about it and I was astounded at how many people commented on it telling me I was in the wrong!
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Most of the time, I don't run air conditioning at all, but my mother-in-law is visiting so I am running it at 76 degrees. It's freaking killing me inside. All I can imagine is the cash that I'm currently setting on fire by running the AC. Darn it.
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I know this isn't nearly as common as the people who run AC constantly, but I have pretty bad allergies, and my area has a lot of allergens. Most days during the spring when it's nice to have the windows open, I can't open them. Luckily our winters are pretty mild, so I can open them then.
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I've had multiple people ask if it's better to keep the AC on when you're gone rather than turn it on and off constantly. Some insist it's better to just keep it running.
I moved in with a roommate and I asked if I should turn the AC off when I leave (he owns the house and is home often during the day) and he said to leave it on despite him not being home that day and that he's currently "spoiling himself with the AC". He claims to be an environmentalist. He IS making it more energy efficient by replacing various light fixtures and such, but rather than spend $1200 on six fancy fans that come with LED bulbs, plus more on bathroom lighting fixtures, he could just replace the bulbs on the existing fixtures (free or cheap) or just turn the AC down. The new fixtures do look way better, but it seems like he was more concerned about the energy efficient aspect of them which makes 0 sense because they just use regular removable LED bulbs.
I think I'm more of an environmentalist than he is without even trying to be.
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You must live on the other side of my next door neighbor. Sounds exactly like them. I love to turn on the AC on hot, sticky nights but it's pointless when the temp goes down to 65*F or less.
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I know this isn't nearly as common as the people who run AC constantly, but I have pretty bad allergies, and my area has a lot of allergens. Most days during the spring when it's nice to have the windows open, I can't open them. Luckily our winters are pretty mild, so I can open them then.
Our household is also held hostage by allergens. Even when it's down to 68F overnight the house has been sealed up all day and we insulated it so well that we have to keep the air conditioning on to sleep comfortably. My husband's allergies are so bad that he went to the allergist 2 weeks ago and did the skin test, came home with a Dr's note that he's not allowed to mow the lawn. Even with daily allergy medicine, nightly showers (for everyone in the household) to get off the pollen, and weekly vacuuming, we need to keep the windows closed to keep the pollen out so it's "only" a 3-4 month problem instead of trapping the pollen in for a year-round problem. On the upside: he's a good candidate for allergy shots, is starting them today, and it should only be ~$3000 for 3 years of allergy shots which should give him 20 years allergy-free. Are the allergy shots cost effective vs. 20 years of Allegra and air conditioning? Maybe not, but worth it in quality of life.
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To be honest, I did not consider using A/C because of allergies. That I can totally understand. I wonder now...but knowing them a bit, I have a feeling that is not the reason. But perhaps I should be a bit less judgy about all the humming A/C units when I walk the dog in the evening...
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I've had multiple people ask if it's better to keep the AC on when you're gone rather than turn it on and off constantly. Some insist it's better to just keep it running.
I moved in with a roommate and I asked if I should turn the AC off when I leave (he owns the house and is home often during the day) and he said to leave it on despite him not being home that day and that he's currently "spoiling himself with the AC". He claims to be an environmentalist. He IS making it more energy efficient by replacing various light fixtures and such, but rather than spend $1200 on six fancy fans that come with LED bulbs, plus more on bathroom lighting fixtures, he could just replace the bulbs on the existing fixtures (free or cheap) or just turn the AC down. The new fixtures do look way better, but it seems like he was more concerned about the energy efficient aspect of them which makes 0 sense because they just use regular removable LED bulbs.
I think I'm more of an environmentalist than he is without even trying to be.
Based on your location of Charlotte I wouldn't ever turn the A/C completely off on many summer days. When I was living in SW Georgia my A/C broke in July. I got a window A/C unit to cool one room. I had an indoor outdoor temperature gauge at the time so moved the sensor into my living room. My A/C room was at a bearable 80*, the living room was well over 100* and it melted a couple of candles.
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I've had multiple people ask if it's better to keep the AC on when you're gone rather than turn it on and off constantly. Some insist it's better to just keep it running.
I moved in with a roommate and I asked if I should turn the AC off when I leave (he owns the house and is home often during the day) and he said to leave it on despite him not being home that day and that he's currently "spoiling himself with the AC". He claims to be an environmentalist. He IS making it more energy efficient by replacing various light fixtures and such, but rather than spend $1200 on six fancy fans that come with LED bulbs, plus more on bathroom lighting fixtures, he could just replace the bulbs on the existing fixtures (free or cheap) or just turn the AC down. The new fixtures do look way better, but it seems like he was more concerned about the energy efficient aspect of them which makes 0 sense because they just use regular removable LED bulbs.
I think I'm more of an environmentalist than he is without even trying to be.
Based on your location of Charlotte I wouldn't ever turn the A/C completely off on many summer days. When I was living in SW Georgia my A/C broke in July. I got a window A/C unit to cool one room. I had an indoor outdoor temperature gauge at the time so moved the sensor into my living room. My A/C room was at a bearable 80*, the living room was well over 100* and it melted a couple of candles.
This should be based on the ability of your cooling system, and other factors such as tree cover, roofing material, and home insulation levels. My home is in Raleigh (not far from Charlotte), and on the hottest days the interior temperature rarely exceeds 81 or 82 degrees. My thermostat is programmed to be off during the day and then reach our desired temperature in the evening.
Unfortunately, I think that many people outsource their home heating/cooling needs to the thermostat. Windows are never opened, and its the "machines" job to keep me comfortable.
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Bear in mind that the a/c is also a dehumidifier.
Don't get me wrong, I generally tut as I walk around town on not-very-very-hot days, but yeah, there's something to be said for being both cool and dry.
Also, if you cook indoors, if your house has poor insulation and black shingles (seriously, why the fuck would anyone choose BLACK to go on their roof?!), it could absorb a lot of heat. I know our main bedroom is both hottest in the summer and coldest in the winter.
I'm too cheap ('frugal') to run ours much (in fact, after accidentally dropping a brand new unit out our bedroom window to the concrete below... I bought a 'portable' for our room which really isn't up to much), and I haven't put our window unit in this year yet (because. it. keeps. raining. more. tomorrow. yay.), but part of me goes... ohhhhh yeahhhhh.... air conditioning.... mmmmmmm.
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There's lots of reasons to keep the A/C running beyond just keeping the house cool. I live in the city and, as much as I would like to keep windows open, it usually isn't practical. For one, the air quality isn't the best. Second, my windows are virtually sound proof which comes in handy when the garbage truck bangs the dumpster at 6AM on a Saturday or all the usual police/fire sirens throughout the night. There's also the security issue (right or wrong) that drives some people to keep windows shut, especially at night. I suppose my main point is to not judge quite so much. Ultimately it might be on but set at 80 so really not so bad.
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There's lots of reasons to keep the A/C running beyond just keeping the house cool. I live in the city and, as much as I would like to keep windows open, it usually isn't practical. For one, the air quality isn't the best. Second, my windows are virtually sound proof which comes in handy when the garbage truck bangs the dumpster at 6AM on a Saturday or all the usual police/fire sirens throughout the night. There's also the security issue (right or wrong) that drives some people to keep windows shut, especially at night. I suppose my main point is to not judge quite so much. Ultimately it might be on but set at 80 so really not so bad.
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During the I lived in Japan I kept the A/C on more often than not because of air quality too. I lived only a few miles from a US Air Force base and the giant C-130s would fly directly over my house all the time. It literally left black soot everywhere outside. If you opened the windows on a nice day, the soot would actually start turning the insides of the curtains and the insides of the window sills black. I am not exaggerating. It was gross.
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My husband is also allergic to pollen and grass and cold, dry weather. So open windows are problematic. Another thing is that sounds can come in through an open window. So what we have in the bedroom is a wall ventilator that measure the CO2 level in the bedroom and blows in filtered, fresh air from outside when necessary. It does so very silently. This works normally and I don't think it uses a lot of energy. Now in the summer we noticed that our bedroom gets quite warm and I often wake up from the heat. So when we go to bed, I turn the ventilator on to blow in air permanently (very little, very silently) and turn it off again in the morning. In the rest of the house we do not have any form for ventilation other than a vent in the wall or opening a window.
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I know this isn't nearly as common as the people who run AC constantly, but I have pretty bad allergies, and my area has a lot of allergens. Most days during the spring when it's nice to have the windows open, I can't open them. Luckily our winters are pretty mild, so I can open them then.
Our household is also held hostage by allergens. Even when it's down to 68F overnight the house has been sealed up all day and we insulated it so well that we have to keep the air conditioning on to sleep comfortably. My husband's allergies are so bad that he went to the allergist 2 weeks ago and did the skin test, came home with a Dr's note that he's not allowed to mow the lawn. Even with daily allergy medicine, nightly showers (for everyone in the household) to get off the pollen, and weekly vacuuming, we need to keep the windows closed to keep the pollen out so it's "only" a 3-4 month problem instead of trapping the pollen in for a year-round problem. On the upside: he's a good candidate for allergy shots, is starting them today, and it should only be ~$3000 for 3 years of allergy shots which should give him 20 years allergy-free. Are the allergy shots cost effective vs. 20 years of Allegra and air conditioning? Maybe not, but worth it in quality of life.
I hope this works for him - a relative of mine received the shots and was told they last "up to 20 years", but the allergies returned 5 years later, and doctors are reluctant to give too many "update" shots.
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Along a similar vein to home A/C use;
I am always dumbfounded by how many people drive around with their windows up when it's 65*F - 80*F. It's freaking amazing weather. Bright sunny day, cool breeze, but you would rather breathe air recycled through your cabin air filter that is about 5 years beyond needing replaced? Absolute insanity.
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I gotta say, this is my pet peeve about most new home construction: they are designed for 24/7 artificial climate control. I grew up in a house without AC, but it was built in the late 19th c. in a summer home community, so it had high ceilings, big windows on almost every side, a side stairwell that got a little of the chimney effect going, and porches to shade the first floor windows from the sun. With fans running all the time, it was tolerable for all but about 6 weeks of the year (when we put window units in the bedrooms/study).
When I was in CO and we built our house, we installed a whole house fan that was mounted in the ceiling on top of the second-floor loft overlooking the family room. Because you get awesome temperature swings there, even if it was 90 during the day, when the sun dipped behind the mountain it would go to like 68, so we'd come home, open the basement windows, turn on the whole house fan, and the house would be cool in less than 15 minutes.
Now, though, most homes aren't designed for the local climate. I am back in the area where I grew up, but none of the newer homes are designed to manage the hot, muggy days naturally. So you really are forced to use the AC, because the inside of those homes gets much more miserable much more quickly than mine ever did. And the worst part is that people then learn that this is "normal" and don't consider any other options. My DH grew up in modern suburbia, and when we bought another one of those old summer homes, the first thing he did was install AC. Sigh.
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My boss just spent a week on vacation in New York. She complained about it being extremely hot outside. And the air conditioner being on extremely cold in every shop and restaurant. So much that you had to dress with a coat when eating. Maybe shops and restaurants overdo it a bit?
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Along a similar vein to home A/C use;
I am always dumbfounded by how many people drive around with their windows up when it's 65*F - 80*F. It's freaking amazing weather. Bright sunny day, cool breeze, but you would rather breathe air recycled through your cabin air filter that is about 5 years beyond needing replaced? Absolute insanity.
If I'm driving on a rural country road, or through a suburban neighborhood without any traffic, I agree with you. But if there are lots of other cars around (like there are 99% of the time) I don't want to hear the noise of the other cars, or breathe in their exhaust fumes, which set off my asthma like crazy and make me feel sick to my stomach.
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Along a similar vein to home A/C use;
I am always dumbfounded by how many people drive around with their windows up when it's 65*F - 80*F. It's freaking amazing weather. Bright sunny day, cool breeze, but you would rather breathe air recycled through your cabin air filter that is about 5 years beyond needing replaced? Absolute insanity.
If I'm driving on a rural country road, or through a suburban neighborhood without any traffic, I agree with you. But if there are lots of other cars around (like there are 99% of the time) I don't want to hear the noise of the other cars, or breathe in their exhaust fumes, which set off my asthma like crazy and make me feel sick to my stomach.
Fair enough. I should clarify that the vast majority of my driving is done through suburban areas with relatively low traffic.
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Along a similar vein to home A/C use;
I am always dumbfounded by how many people drive around with their windows up when it's 65*F - 80*F. It's freaking amazing weather. Bright sunny day, cool breeze, but you would rather breathe air recycled through your cabin air filter that is about 5 years beyond needing replaced? Absolute insanity.
If I'm driving on a rural country road, or through a suburban neighborhood without any traffic, I agree with you. But if there are lots of other cars around (like there are 99% of the time) I don't want to hear the noise of the other cars, or breathe in their exhaust fumes, which set off my asthma like crazy and make me feel sick to my stomach.
Fair enough. I should clarify that the vast majority of my driving is done through suburban areas with relatively low traffic.
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Definitely a disconnect on this issue between city and rural. If I'm on a country road or highway out of town then my windows are usually down. In the city, almost always up. Between the sitting in traffic and random people trying to talk/solicit when windows are down it's just better to have them up.
I had my windows down a few weeks ago and got called multiple derogatory names after a guy tried to give me a business card for his auto body shop due to a dent on the back of my car. Karma almost got him as he then ran a red light, nearly got hit by a truck, and nearly ran over a pedestrian.
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My boss just spent a week on vacation in New York. She complained about it being extremely hot outside. And the air conditioner being on extremely cold in every shop and restaurant. So much that you had to dress with a coat when eating. Maybe shops and restaurants overdo it a bit?
You have just described Miami.
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My inlaws have to have theirs running constantly due to my MIL's MS. Humidity is not her friend. She's also always cold, so she's bundled up. (Yes, they've tried, and still use dehumidifiers).
Ours is set to 71-73, depending on what the day looks like. But that is because of the dogs. If the weather report shows it will be nice all day I'll turn it off. When we were on vacation, I had it set to 80 except for about 45 minutes in the morning when I had it kick in for humidity control.
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Also, if you cook indoors, if your house has poor insulation and black shingles (seriously, why the fuck would anyone choose BLACK to go on their roof?!), it could absorb a lot of heat. I know our main bedroom is both hottest in the summer and coldest in the winter.
I live in Minnesota where it is cold for 9 months out of the year. Black shingles are the best idea here! If we don't have snow it warms the house some! Obviously if you live in Texas black shingles are a terrible idea!
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My neighbors air conditioner is humming along a good 2-3 times as often as mine. I don't get it at all, especially since they have a one-story ranch and I have a split level home.
I can see how they might not be able to keep their windows open at night, but they should be able to keep them open long enough to get in some good air.
It's July, so we're running the AC now, but we have it set at 74 and run fans on the upper level (which is probably more like 77 or 78).
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I know this isn't nearly as common as the people who run AC constantly, but I have pretty bad allergies, and my area has a lot of allergens. Most days during the spring when it's nice to have the windows open, I can't open them. Luckily our winters are pretty mild, so I can open them then.
This must be more common than you think. One of the first things the realtor told us, when we were looking to move to farm country, where something is blooming from March through October, is that you need to think about this is if you have severe allergies. For many the AC is the only way to hide from the pollen overload, and even days when the field adjacent to the back yard gets a sweet and delightful coating of wet cow, or even waaaaay worse, wet pig shit.
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I know this isn't nearly as common as the people who run AC constantly, but I have pretty bad allergies, and my area has a lot of allergens. Most days during the spring when it's nice to have the windows open, I can't open them. Luckily our winters are pretty mild, so I can open them then.
Our household is also held hostage by allergens. Even when it's down to 68F overnight the house has been sealed up all day and we insulated it so well that we have to keep the air conditioning on to sleep comfortably. My husband's allergies are so bad that he went to the allergist 2 weeks ago and did the skin test, came home with a Dr's note that he's not allowed to mow the lawn. Even with daily allergy medicine, nightly showers (for everyone in the household) to get off the pollen, and weekly vacuuming, we need to keep the windows closed to keep the pollen out so it's "only" a 3-4 month problem instead of trapping the pollen in for a year-round problem. On the upside: he's a good candidate for allergy shots, is starting them today, and it should only be ~$3000 for 3 years of allergy shots which should give him 20 years allergy-free. Are the allergy shots cost effective vs. 20 years of Allegra and air conditioning? Maybe not, but worth it in quality of life.
I had allergy shots, and while they did help a LOT, they didn't get rid of everything. Then I moved allergy zones and developed a new allergy which primarily comes out as asthma. Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. But, I don't need to use AC all the time.
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On the upside: he's a good candidate for allergy shots, is starting them today, and it should only be ~$3000 for 3 years of allergy shots which should give him 20 years allergy-free. Are the allergy shots cost effective vs. 20 years of Allegra and air conditioning? Maybe not, but worth it in quality of life.
I have had good luck with shots.
I have friends that have had good luck with Helminth therapy. http://helminthictherapywiki.org/wiki/index.php/Helminthic_Therapy_Wiki (http://helminthictherapywiki.org/wiki/index.php/Helminthic_Therapy_Wiki)
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Bear in mind that the a/c is also a dehumidifier.
+1
This is probably why we run ours in evenings when it's cool outside the most.
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I have a 1,300 square foot beach house that rents by the week in the summer months. So I pay utilities.
My June bill was $325. It's an old house, not very well insulated, and I assume tenants just keep it at 65, leave the doors to the screen porch open, etc. I'm temped to install a Nest or some other remotely programmable system, but the management agency discourages owners from doing so.
Plus I think it would just piss me off to look at my phone from 800 miles away and see what the temp is set at.
But every so often like this week I get a vacancy, which sucks in mid-July. On the bright side, my cousin and very-handy husband who live nearby go over and he fixes or updates a half dozen things. "Good news," my cousin said today when she called. "They heeded your request and turned the AC up to 84. The bad news is that window unit downstairs (where there's no AC) was blowing full-blast and two of your doors were left unlocked."
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It is too humid where we live to open the windows even when the temps are tolerable. We need to run the AC 24/7 just to manage humidity and not have mold on the walls. We still get mold and fungus in the closets. Our place also has no screens so in addition to dust and noise we would get mosquitos. No thanks!
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It is too humid where we live to open the windows even when the temps are tolerable. We need to run the AC 24/7 just to manage humidity and not have mold on the walls. We still get mold and fungus in the closets. Our place also has no screens so in addition to dust and noise we would get mosquitos. No thanks!
I have a buddy that worked forclosures in the southeast. Anything left vacant without HVAC running grew massive amounts of black mold in a very short amount of time.
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My allergies have steadily gotten worse as I age. 20 years ago I did allergy shots and they did not help at all. Recently I went back to the allergist and when tested almost everything came out at a 4+ which is the highest you can have. Now I am trying allergy drops specifically mixed for what I am allergic to. It cost 80/month and the insurance won't cover them. It has only been a few months but so far they are helping. I have lived all over the country and when young often didn't have air even in hot climates. It really depends on the temps, humidity, etc about usage. When I was young there were many times I wish I had it. It is really terrible to lay awake at night and not be able to sleep because of the heat.
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I grew up in WI and still live in the mid-west. My body is 110% cool-weather, even if it is mostly a mental thing. During the spring, summer and fall, we run the AC quite a bit.
Though, we make up for it by keeping the house colder during the winter around 62*F and set the AC during the summer at 68*F
Face punches welcome!
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My allergies have steadily gotten worse as I age. 20 years ago I did allergy shots and they did not help at all.
My understanding is that allergy shots need to be given multiple times a year for about five or six years for them to be effective. FWIW - I've had four family members who have followed this to largely resolve their allergy problems, and currently my wife is on year 3 of a round.
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We somewhat frequently run AC for an hour or so just after it starts to cool down outside, which might look wonky to an impartial observer. But we have the lower floor apartment with pretty good thermal mass, so it will stay habitably cool past noon even on 100F+ days...but by late afternoon/early evening it catches up and won't get cool enough to sleep until about dawn without intervention. Our upstairs neighbors seem to run theirs all summer, but they're older, and it's upstairs.
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I'm one of those people that feels the cold and also the heat! Of course, you need to dress appropriately (no t shirts and hot air blasting when it's snowing outside!) but heating/cooling is not something I skimp on. I believe it's a health issue not to have a warm house in winter, and being too hot in the summer prevents me from sleeping properly. I'll skimp in other areas!
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How did this turn from a mustachian topic to a bunch of people trying to justify being soft? You don't have to convince us. It's your wallet that suffers.
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I believe it's a health issue not to have a warm house in winter, and being too hot in the summer prevents me from sleeping properly.
How is it a health issue? Obviously I don't mean keep your house at 40F in the winter, but what is the issue with 60F? With warm clothes and small electrical blankets that shouldn't be a big deal at all. Some people go even colder.
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I grew up in WI and still live in the mid-west. My body is 110% cool-weather, even if it is mostly a mental thing. During the spring, summer and fall, we run the AC quite a bit.
Though, we make up for it by keeping the house colder during the winter around 62*F and set the AC during the summer at 68*F
Face punches welcome!
We do exactly the same thing ( we are from Minnesota ). The problem is...our summers are quite humid. Humidity just drives us nuts...we can't sleep well with high humidity, etc... So yes, we do run the A/C quite a bit. The thing is, I don't feel like our utility bills are exorbitant during the summer. Certainly more than the winter, but I'm not saving 'huge amounts of cash' by not running it.
Also, do realize that air-conditioner sizing has a lot to do with how long a unit runs. Many times A/C units are oversized so they don't run as long..but don't remove as much humidity ( not good ). A smaller sized unit that runs longer removes much more humidity.
There are also many newer A/C units with 'variable speed compressors' that are specifically designed to run longer in a more efficient manner to remove humidity.
My point is...the run time of an A/C unit can have very little to do with how much energy it is using.
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I grew up in WI and still live in the mid-west. My body is 110% cool-weather, even if it is mostly a mental thing. During the spring, summer and fall, we run the AC quite a bit.
Though, we make up for it by keeping the house colder during the winter around 62*F and set the AC during the summer at 68*F
Face punches welcome!
We do exactly the same thing ( we are from Minnesota ). The problem is...our summers are quite humid. Humidity just drives us nuts...we can't sleep well with high humidity, etc... So yes, we do run the A/C quite a bit. The thing is, I don't feel like our utility bills are exorbitant during the summer. Certainly more than the winter, but I'm not saving 'huge amounts of cash' by not running it.
Also, do realize that air-conditioner sizing has a lot to do with how long a unit runs. Many times A/C units are oversized so they don't run as long..but don't remove as much humidity ( not good ). A smaller sized unit that runs longer removes much more humidity.
There are also many newer A/C units with 'variable speed compressors' that are specifically designed to run longer in a more efficient manner to remove humidity.
My point is...the run time of an A/C unit can have very little to do with how much energy it is using.
No kidding--we're in Chicagoland and have had the AC running about 30 minutes every hour for the past week. Otherwise we'll get mold.
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I grew up in WI and still live in the mid-west. My body is 110% cool-weather, even if it is mostly a mental thing. During the spring, summer and fall, we run the AC quite a bit.
Though, we make up for it by keeping the house colder during the winter around 62*F and set the AC during the summer at 68*F
Face punches welcome!
We do exactly the same thing ( we are from Minnesota ). The problem is...our summers are quite humid. Humidity just drives us nuts...we can't sleep well with high humidity, etc... So yes, we do run the A/C quite a bit. The thing is, I don't feel like our utility bills are exorbitant during the summer. Certainly more than the winter, but I'm not saving 'huge amounts of cash' by not running it.
Also, do realize that air-conditioner sizing has a lot to do with how long a unit runs. Many times A/C units are oversized so they don't run as long..but don't remove as much humidity ( not good ). A smaller sized unit that runs longer removes much more humidity.
There are also many newer A/C units with 'variable speed compressors' that are specifically designed to run longer in a more efficient manner to remove humidity.
My point is...the run time of an A/C unit can have very little to do with how much energy it is using.
I'll have to keep this in mind when I replace the AC unit. Relative humidity in Chicago is 83% right now. The last 2 weeks have been "not fun"
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As a CA native I am somewhat shocked and disgusted to hear that there are places out there that are so humid that black mold will grow if you don't climate-control a building. Gross! Remind me why people chose to settle places like that to begin with?
I am always dumbfounded by how many people drive around with their windows up when it's 65*F - 80*F. It's freaking amazing weather. Bright sunny day, cool breeze, but you would rather breathe air recycled through your cabin air filter that is about 5 years beyond needing replaced? Absolute insanity.
As long as I'm not on the freeway, I get this. At higher speeds the noise really gets to me. Unfortunately my toddler can't stand the "wind" of open windows in the car. Every time I try to sneak some open windows past her she complains. The upside of having the quiet of closed windows is that I can hear and respond to her 500 "why?" questions. :)
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As a CA native I am somewhat shocked and disgusted to hear that there are places out there that are so humid that black mold will grow if you don't climate-control a building. Gross! Remind me why people chose to settle places like that to begin with?
I hear you. Many people seem to believe that Minnesota is up near the arctic circle somewhere (no joke)...but that's certainly not the case! Especially down here in southern MN. Summers can be hot and humid..and it seems to be getting worse. However, it is really only hot/humid a few weeks of the year. Spring and Fall are really great here.
With that being said, we have visited Orlando, Atlanta, etc... during the summer months and I honestly don't understand how people down there cope with it..even with A/C. The humidity down there is overwhelming to me. May be you 'get used to it' but I'm not so sure.
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I believe it's a health issue not to have a warm house in winter, and being too hot in the summer prevents me from sleeping properly.
How is it a health issue? Obviously I don't mean keep your house at 40F in the winter, but what is the issue with 60F? With warm clothes and small electrical blankets that shouldn't be a big deal at all. Some people go even colder.
In NZ, people don't typically have any central heating. Our winters are cold and damp, and a huge percentage of our houses are as well (stems from people's stupid idea of building British style houses in a climate no suited for them). Damp houses grow mold, even if you can't see it, and mold leads to respiratory illnesses. We have one the highest rates of childhood asthma in the world, largely due to our crappy housing stock. I also believe that it's important to have a warm home as you get older - you have less physical resources to fight illness, and you're less likely to be able to shake off a cold if you're burning those resources just to keep warm. None of these things may be a problem for you. But I keep my home warm and dry in winter anyway. Yes, it costs money, but for me it's the same as buying decent quality food (which isn't expensive, not suggesting that) and making sure I service my car. It's all preventative maintenance.
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Our 100+ year old house doesn't have AC but we did put window units in the bedrooms for sleeping. We cook outdoors in the summer and try to enjoy the longer days. A cold shower feels refreshing and saves on the hot water bill!
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As a CA native I am somewhat shocked and disgusted to hear that there are places out there that are so humid that black mold will grow if you don't climate-control a building. Gross! Remind me why people chose to settle places like that to begin with?
Because you can run AC/heat full blast in a McMansion there for the price of Bay Area housing? ;) That's what I'm guessing, anyway. (No malice, I grew up in the Bay Area, lived a while in IL-Chicago and Champaign, now in SoCal and hate it.)
Apparently many places in the Northeast use heating oil which is freakishly expensive instead of natural gas or electric even? Every geographical location is inefficient in its own way...
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With that being said, we have visited Orlando, Atlanta, etc... during the summer months and I honestly don't understand how people down there cope with it..even with A/C. The humidity down there is overwhelming to me. May be you 'get used to it' but I'm not so sure.
I've lived in Orlando for roughly a month, having moved from Richmond, Virginia. The summer heat and humidity in Richmond is WORSE than Orlando. Also, Florida almost never goes above 100 degrees. Richmond is guaranteed at least a collective week of triple-digit temperatures along with 95% humidity in summer. It's hot here, but it's not nearly as swampy as it was in Richmond. Thanks to ceiling fans we actually have the thermostat set higher than we did in Richmond, and we're quite comfortable.
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With that being said, we have visited Orlando, Atlanta, etc... during the summer months and I honestly don't understand how people down there cope with it..even with A/C. The humidity down there is overwhelming to me. May be you 'get used to it' but I'm not so sure.
I've lived in Orlando for roughly a month, having moved from Richmond, Virginia. The summer heat and humidity in Richmond is WORSE than Orlando. Also, Florida almost never goes above 100 degrees. Richmond is guaranteed at least a collective week of triple-digit temperatures along with 95% humidity in summer. It's hot here, but it's not nearly as swampy as it was in Richmond. Thanks to ceiling fans we actually have the thermostat set higher than we did in Richmond, and we're quite comfortable.
I always say that you can always add more layers during the winters up here...but there are only so many layers you can take off where it is hot and humid. :-)
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When living in a very sunny place, can you not use solar panels for cooling down your house? At least you are getting sun in the right time of the year to use the solar panels to the max.
And of course people can learn to cool the house in natural ways as much as possible, like shielding windows in the hottest part of the day. Ventilating with open windows at night (if safe enough).
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As a CA native I am somewhat shocked and disgusted to hear that there are places out there that are so humid that black mold will grow if you don't climate-control a building. Gross! Remind me why people chose to settle places like that to begin with?
I hear you. Many people seem to believe that Minnesota is up near the arctic circle somewhere (no joke)...but that's certainly not the case! Especially down here in southern MN. Summers can be hot and humid..and it seems to be getting worse. However, it is really only hot/humid a few weeks of the year. Spring and Fall are really great here.
With that being said, we have visited Orlando, Atlanta, etc... during the summer months and I honestly don't understand how people down there cope with it..even with A/C. The humidity down there is overwhelming to me. May be you 'get used to it' but I'm not so sure.
As an OH native, not all of us can afford the cost of living in California with the jobs that are available... My house that I purchased for $55,000 in Ohio would be a $500k-$750k property in most parts of California.
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When living in a very sunny place, can you not use solar panels for cooling down your house? At least you are getting sun in the right time of the year to use the solar panels to the max.
And of course people can learn to cool the house in natural ways as much as possible, like shielding windows in the hottest part of the day. Ventilating with open windows at night (if safe enough).
The initial buy-in and the break even for solar makes it difficult for many. It is getting more affordable every day.
Venting windows at night doesn't help when it's 90% humidity though. I drove my car to the train yesterday (2 miles) because I'd have shown up to work soaking wet if I didn't.
EDIT: For the Tesla Roof, I could not make it make sense... Well, ever really. Simply put, the technology is still too expensive when you consider how cheap energy is. Thanks to our whole house fan in the summer and huge amounts of insulation in the attic for the winter, we really don't have horrible electricity bills. Average combined electric and gas over the past 10 months has been $118.87--and we keep our house a a high of 73 in the summer, and a low of 66 in the winter. So its not like we go crazy with it.
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When living in a very sunny place, can you not use solar panels for cooling down your house? At least you are getting sun in the right time of the year to use the solar panels to the max.
And of course people can learn to cool the house in natural ways as much as possible, like shielding windows in the hottest part of the day. Ventilating with open windows at night (if safe enough).
The initial buy-in and the break even for solar makes it difficult for many. It is getting more affordable every day.
Venting windows at night doesn't help when it's 90% humidity though. I drove my car to the train yesterday (2 miles) because I'd have shown up to work soaking wet if I didn't.
Yep - Everyone seems to always mention the temperature. However, it is high humidity that makes things uncomfortable. It sounds Cliche but I can handle the 'dry heat' down in Utah/Arizona (within reason) much better than 'wet heat' in the SE states.
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When living in a very sunny place, can you not use solar panels for cooling down your house? At least you are getting sun in the right time of the year to use the solar panels to the max.
And of course people can learn to cool the house in natural ways as much as possible, like shielding windows in the hottest part of the day. Ventilating with open windows at night (if safe enough).
The initial buy-in and the break even for solar makes it difficult for many. It is getting more affordable every day.
Venting windows at night doesn't help when it's 90% humidity though. I drove my car to the train yesterday (2 miles) because I'd have shown up to work soaking wet if I didn't.
Yep - Everyone seems to always mention the temperature. However, it is high humidity that makes things uncomfortable. It sounds Cliche but I can handle the 'dry heat' down in Utah/Arizona (within reason) much better than 'wet heat' in the SE states.
For the sake of the discussion I'll bring this up--when we go on vacation, I program our AC to be set at about 83 for most of the day, but for 15 minutes at 3PM, 15 minutes at 9PM, and 30 minutes at 7AM it is set at about 64 to control the humidity. I should really get a dehumidifier.
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When living in a very sunny place, can you not use solar panels for cooling down your house? At least you are getting sun in the right time of the year to use the solar panels to the max.
And of course people can learn to cool the house in natural ways as much as possible, like shielding windows in the hottest part of the day. Ventilating with open windows at night (if safe enough).
Venting windows at night doesn't help when it's 90% humidity though. I drove my car to the train yesterday (2 miles) because I'd have shown up to work soaking wet if I didn't.
I believe opening windows will actually make everything even worse. Not an AC expert, but I've read that basically when you turn your AC on, it has to work a crap ton extra humidity out of your house. At this point my windows are going to be closed until September unless I accidentally set something on fire in the kitchen (which happened this last weekend actually....)
I walk a mile every day for work. I'm definitely sticky and damp by the time I make it to the train station.
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As a CA native I am somewhat shocked and disgusted to hear that there are places out there that are so humid that black mold will grow if you don't climate-control a building. Gross! Remind me why people chose to settle places like that to begin with?
Because you can run AC/heat full blast in a McMansion there for the price of Bay Area housing? ;) That's what I'm guessing, anyway. (No malice, I grew up in the Bay Area, lived a while in IL-Chicago and Champaign, now in SoCal and hate it.)
Apparently many places in the Northeast use heating oil which is freakishly expensive instead of natural gas or electric even? Every geographical location is inefficient in its own way...
Not just the Northeast uses heating oil it is actually quite common in the Midwest. My house has heating oil and for us to convert it to natural gas would be several thousands of dollars and it would never pay for itself. So we keep the heating oil which is pretty cheap right now because it directly tracks diesel prices(it is non road taxed diesel). We did however add a TON of new insulation and keep our house pretty cool in the winter and warm in the summer so our heating and cooling costs are pretty low and will be lower this year!
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As a CA native I am somewhat shocked and disgusted to hear that there are places out there that are so humid that black mold will grow if you don't climate-control a building. Gross! Remind me why people chose to settle places like that to begin with?
Because you can run AC/heat full blast in a McMansion there for the price of Bay Area housing? ;) That's what I'm guessing, anyway. (No malice, I grew up in the Bay Area, lived a while in IL-Chicago and Champaign, now in SoCal and hate it.)
Apparently many places in the Northeast use heating oil which is freakishly expensive instead of natural gas or electric even? Every geographical location is inefficient in its own way...
Not just the Northeast uses heating oil it is actually quite common in the Midwest. My house has heating oil and for us to convert it to natural gas would be several thousands of dollars and it would never pay for itself. So we keep the heating oil which is pretty cheap right now because it directly tracks diesel prices(it is non road taxed diesel). We did however add a TON of new insulation and keep our house pretty cool in the winter and warm in the summer so our heating and cooling costs are pretty low and will be lower this year!
Interesting, I never encountered it in IL or IA bit of course I haven't been to every house :) I was remembering over or more posts from people in MA, VT, or NH citing oil costs of hundreds per month! Compared to our NG heating of a small, poorly isolated house in IL that seemed huge and awful!
Now in SoCal our heating cost is...whatever bf's space heater runs up when he works from home, and our AC runs...maybe the equivalent to ~3 weeks continuous, per year? Barely a blip on the bill. But rent is 1.5x-twice the Midwest equivalent...
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As a CA native I am somewhat shocked and disgusted to hear that there are places out there that are so humid that black mold will grow if you don't climate-control a building. Gross! Remind me why people chose to settle places like that to begin with?
Because you can run AC/heat full blast in a McMansion there for the price of Bay Area housing? ;) That's what I'm guessing, anyway. (No malice, I grew up in the Bay Area, lived a while in IL-Chicago and Champaign, now in SoCal and hate it.)
Apparently many places in the Northeast use heating oil which is freakishly expensive instead of natural gas or electric even? Every geographical location is inefficient in its own way...
Not just the Northeast uses heating oil it is actually quite common in the Midwest. My house has heating oil and for us to convert it to natural gas would be several thousands of dollars and it would never pay for itself. So we keep the heating oil which is pretty cheap right now because it directly tracks diesel prices(it is non road taxed diesel). We did however add a TON of new insulation and keep our house pretty cool in the winter and warm in the summer so our heating and cooling costs are pretty low and will be lower this year!
Interesting, I never encountered it in IL or IA bit of course I haven't been to every house :) I was remembering over or more posts from people in MA, VT, or NH citing oil costs of hundreds per month! Compared to our NG heating of a small, poorly isolated house in IL that seemed huge and awful!
Now in SoCal our heating cost is...whatever bf's space heater runs up when he works from home, and our AC runs...maybe the equivalent to ~3 weeks continuous, per year? Barely a blip on the bill. But rent is 1.5x-twice the Midwest equivalent...
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I live in northern Minnesota so maybe a Minnesota thing? Our heating bill last year for a 1100 sf very poorly insulated home was around $150 a month in the coldest months. Were hoping that all the insulation will bring it down under $100 depending on gas prices for the year. It is an odd thing to have to plan for because I have to get 250 gallons of oil usually 2 times a year.
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As a CA native I am somewhat shocked and disgusted to hear that there are places out there that are so humid that black mold will grow if you don't climate-control a building. Gross! Remind me why people chose to settle places like that to begin with?
Because you can run AC/heat full blast in a McMansion there for the price of Bay Area housing? ;) That's what I'm guessing, anyway. (No malice, I grew up in the Bay Area, lived a while in IL-Chicago and Champaign, now in SoCal and hate it.)
Apparently many places in the Northeast use heating oil which is freakishly expensive instead of natural gas or electric even? Every geographical location is inefficient in its own way...
Not just the Northeast uses heating oil it is actually quite common in the Midwest. My house has heating oil and for us to convert it to natural gas would be several thousands of dollars and it would never pay for itself. So we keep the heating oil which is pretty cheap right now because it directly tracks diesel prices(it is non road taxed diesel). We did however add a TON of new insulation and keep our house pretty cool in the winter and warm in the summer so our heating and cooling costs are pretty low and will be lower this year!
Interesting, I never encountered it in IL or IA bit of course I haven't been to every house :) I was remembering over or more posts from people in MA, VT, or NH citing oil costs of hundreds per month! Compared to our NG heating of a small, poorly isolated house in IL that seemed huge and awful!
In various small towns around Champaign and Bloomington, I've seen and/or heard about people heating their house with wood, propane, oil, and with methane sourced from a methane well on their property.
Obviously that is not including the "normal" ways of natural gas and electricity.
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... (seriously, why the fuck would anyone choose BLACK to go on their roof?!)
We got a dark brown metal roof because it made sense for our area. Less then 2 weeks/year total with a high over 85F so the AC effects are minimal. It helps a lot with roof snow loads. Snow loads can be a big deal around here, and it's a huge pain with 2-story roofs. Combine dark color with metal and a decent pitch and the snow just falls off on warmer days.
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... (seriously, why the fuck would anyone choose BLACK to go on their roof?!)
We got a dark brown metal roof because it made sense for our area. Less then 2 weeks/year total with a high over 85F so the AC effects are minimal. It helps a lot with roof snow loads. Snow loads can be a big deal around here, and it's a huge pain with 2-story roofs. Combine dark color with metal and a decent pitch and the snow just falls off on warmer days.
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Just don't stand under it when it happens to fall off. Here in Norway we have small racks on roofs to prevent the snow from gliding off onto people's heads.
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As a CA native I am somewhat shocked and disgusted to hear that there are places out there that are so humid that black mold will grow if you don't climate-control a building. Gross! Remind me why people chose to settle places like that to begin with?
Because you can run AC/heat full blast in a McMansion there for the price of Bay Area housing? ;) That's what I'm guessing, anyway. (No malice, I grew up in the Bay Area, lived a while in IL-Chicago and Champaign, now in SoCal and hate it.)
Apparently many places in the Northeast use heating oil which is freakishly expensive instead of natural gas or electric even? Every geographical location is inefficient in its own way...
This is and isn't true, depending on exactly where oil pricing is at the moment, and what the alternatives are. Fuel oil has an enormous amount of BTUs per gallon, so it isn't a linear comparison to do things like switch to propane, which has 40% less heat value per gallon. At the moment, here in the mid-Atlantic, natural gas and propane are really low cost, due to the success of fracking. During the Clinton administration, oil was way cheaper than most other options here, as Russia flooded the market with crude. Currently, living in an area not served by natural gas, oil is a pretty reasonable choice for me. Propane and electric wouldn't be much cheaper, neither would installing a wood pellet stove. Coal and firewood would be a bargain, but they are a messy PITA. We currently spend roughly $2K a year to heat a 1450 ft. house with solid masonry walls, and no real insulation in the ceiling. I should be able to reduce that by half with improvements to the structure.
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AC is out at work. I think I'd rather have insane use than this. It doesn't help that I'm right next to a server.
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As a CA native I am somewhat shocked and disgusted to hear that there are places out there that are so humid that black mold will grow if you don't climate-control a building. Gross! Remind me why people chose to settle places like that to begin with?
Because you can run AC/heat full blast in a McMansion there for the price of Bay Area housing? ;) That's what I'm guessing, anyway. (No malice, I grew up in the Bay Area, lived a while in IL-Chicago and Champaign, now in SoCal and hate it.)
Apparently many places in the Northeast use heating oil which is freakishly expensive instead of natural gas or electric even? Every geographical location is inefficient in its own way...
This is and isn't true, depending on exactly where oil pricing is at the moment, and what the alternatives are. Fuel oil has an enormous amount of BTUs per gallon, so it isn't a linear comparison to do things like switch to propane, which has 40% less heat value per gallon. At the moment, here in the mid-Atlantic, natural gas and propane are really low cost, due to the success of fracking. During the Clinton administration, oil was way cheaper than most other options here, as Russia flooded the market with crude. Currently, living in an area not served by natural gas, oil is a pretty reasonable choice for me. Propane and electric wouldn't be much cheaper, neither would installing a wood pellet stove. Coal and firewood would be a bargain, but they are a messy PITA. We currently spend roughly $2K a year to heat a 1450 ft. house with solid masonry walls, and no real insulation in the ceiling. I should be able to reduce that by half with improvements to the structure.
Heat people, not spaces!
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/02/heating-people-not-spaces.html
I live in the south so it doesn't get too crazy cold, but I still barely use my heat. Most days I don't turn it on at all in the winter. It can get in the 20s or in the teens occasionally, I'll use heat those nights but never above 65 or so. Electric blanket FTW!
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Once upon a time I worked as a electrician in a manufacturing plant. Plants office manager asked me to overlook one of their open office rooms, there was something funny about it's ventilation/heating. That is what i discovered:
At the beginning, when building was constructed, that room had standard ventilation like all other rooms. Hot/cold water heat exchanger hidden in ceiling that cooled/heated air. Fast forward some years, people change in the office and knowledge, how to change temperature setpoint was lost (i never found control panel). People wanted to control temperature, and big electrical air conditioner was installed.
Sadly, ceiling ventilation and air conditioner had different temperature setpoints. Thus they fought each-other. One of them tried to cool and other tried to heat. Resulting temperature was not what workers wanted, thus they had electrical radiators besides their desks (apparently cooling ventilation won).
In the end there were three different heating systems in one office. A fragile peace between three systems.
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As a CA native I am somewhat shocked and disgusted to hear that there are places out there that are so humid that black mold will grow if you don't climate-control a building. Gross! Remind me why people chose to settle places like that to begin with?
Oh, you would love Florida. We head down every winter and hear from neighbors about failed attempts to properly bulletproof RVs that were left for the summer. A summer where the climate makes every possible attempt to turn anything of value into a mold colony. People do everything from running the AC all year, to leaving dehumidifers on the counter, draining in the sink, to running fans. Mostly it's a success, but it's pretty ugly when it all goes wrong. Nothing like driving 1000 miles+ south, while looking forward to a nice relaxing winter and finding that the interior of your motorhome is black and fuzzy. Sometimes if you're really lucky it's infested with roaches too. Sweeeeet.
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I know this isn't nearly as common as the people who run AC constantly, but I have pretty bad allergies, and my area has a lot of allergens. Most days during the spring when it's nice to have the windows open, I can't open them. Luckily our winters are pretty mild, so I can open them then.
Our household is also held hostage by allergens. Even when it's down to 68F overnight the house has been sealed up all day and we insulated it so well that we have to keep the air conditioning on to sleep comfortably. My husband's allergies are so bad that he went to the allergist 2 weeks ago and did the skin test, came home with a Dr's note that he's not allowed to mow the lawn. Even with daily allergy medicine, nightly showers (for everyone in the household) to get off the pollen, and weekly vacuuming, we need to keep the windows closed to keep the pollen out so it's "only" a 3-4 month problem instead of trapping the pollen in for a year-round problem. On the upside: he's a good candidate for allergy shots, is starting them today, and it should only be ~$3000 for 3 years of allergy shots which should give him 20 years allergy-free. Are the allergy shots cost effective vs. 20 years of Allegra and air conditioning? Maybe not, but worth it in quality of life.
Similar situation at my house. We don't keep the house super cool, but we close it up at night. If we had to inhale the pollen that is all around we would not sleep well at night. We've tried several times, but it's just not worth it for us.
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In Texas in the summer, there's no such thing as insane air conditioner use.
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As a CA native I am somewhat shocked and disgusted to hear that there are places out there that are so humid that black mold will grow if you don't climate-control a building. Gross! Remind me why people chose to settle places like that to begin with?
LOLOLOL
As a Southeastern native, I am shocked that people would choose to live where earthquakes and mudslides and wildfires are a constant concern, along with an insane real estate market.
I love the humidity here. When I'm out in CO, my nose bleeds from the dryness and the residents all look desiccated to me. Yes, your house can grow mold if you don't run the A/C but that's mainly if you keep everything shut up (which is what you'd do if your house was vacant). We keep windows open and fans running at least 2-3 months of the year. AC runs from Jun-Sept. Open windows in late Sept through Oct and again late Mar through May.
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Heat/AC are 2 of the basic comforts that I don't like to be wasteful with, but I do like to enjoy...
I'm always warm, so I'm completely comfortable with the house around 66* in winter. Wife, not so much.
Last month I had my 2 window air conditioners (8k and 12k BTU I believe) running a decent amount. Bedroom was on ~75% of the day (only way to get it cooled up there, insulation going in next month) and the downstairs is only when we are home.
Based on our prior bills, using the AC a decent amount to keep the place comfortably cool adds $30-$40 per month depending on the weather. I can't imagine heating/cooling the place when we're not there though.
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For all those complaining about humidity, what was done prior to the invention of AC? It is not needed, but a comfort that we want.
I use mine, a little bit when it his 35-40 deg c. But that is a handful of days here is Saskatchewan. We also keep our heat at about 15-18 even when it is -40 outside here.
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For all those complaining about humidity, what was done prior to the invention of AC? It is not needed, but a comfort that we want.
I use mine, a little bit when it his 35-40 deg c. But that is a handful of days here is Saskatchewan. We also keep our heat at about 15-18 even when it is -40 outside here.
There were different building materials then. Drywall does not work with humidity.
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As a CA native I am somewhat shocked and disgusted to hear that there are places out there that are so humid that black mold will grow if you don't climate-control a building. Gross! Remind me why people chose to settle places like that to begin with?
Because you can run AC/heat full blast in a McMansion there for the price of Bay Area housing? ;) That's what I'm guessing, anyway. (No malice, I grew up in the Bay Area, lived a while in IL-Chicago and Champaign, now in SoCal and hate it.)
Apparently many places in the Northeast use heating oil which is freakishly expensive instead of natural gas or electric even? Every geographical location is inefficient in its own way...
Not just the Northeast uses heating oil it is actually quite common in the Midwest. My house has heating oil and for us to convert it to natural gas would be several thousands of dollars and it would never pay for itself. So we keep the heating oil which is pretty cheap right now because it directly tracks diesel prices(it is non road taxed diesel). We did however add a TON of new insulation and keep our house pretty cool in the winter and warm in the summer so our heating and cooling costs are pretty low and will be lower this year!
Interesting, I never encountered it in IL or IA bit of course I haven't been to every house :) I was remembering over or more posts from people in MA, VT, or NH citing oil costs of hundreds per month! Compared to our NG heating of a small, poorly isolated house in IL that seemed huge and awful!
Now in SoCal our heating cost is...whatever bf's space heater runs up when he works from home, and our AC runs...maybe the equivalent to ~3 weeks continuous, per year? Barely a blip on the bill. But rent is 1.5x-twice the Midwest equivalent...
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I live in northern Minnesota so maybe a Minnesota thing? Our heating bill last year for a 1100 sf very poorly insulated home was around $150 a month in the coldest months. Were hoping that all the insulation will bring it down under $100 depending on gas prices for the year. It is an odd thing to have to plan for because I have to get 250 gallons of oil usually 2 times a year.
Yea Heating oil is pervasive in the Northeast and it's stupid expensive. I've compared the cost to Natural Gas in Colorado Springs where I have family and It's about 4 times higher. That's accounting for the various sizes of houses and therms vs gallons of gas. I don't understand how you get through winter in MN with only 2 tanks of 250 gallons. In Northern New england I was running about a tank a month for Dec, Jan, Feb. (at a cost of $700/tank - ouch!) for a 1100 sq ft rental. Now on propane with heat pump and down to 600 gallons/year for 1600 square feet.
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For all those complaining about humidity, what was done prior to the invention of AC? It is not needed, but a comfort that we want.
Buildings were designed differently. My apartment allows no cross breeze whatsoever. I also suspect people had different standards of BO hygiene.
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For all those complaining about humidity, what was done prior to the invention of AC? It is not needed, but a comfort that we want.
Buildings were designed differently. My apartment allows no cross breeze whatsoever. I also suspect people had different standards of BO hygiene.
Will a dehumidifier not work? It would be much less expensive then a AC compressor to run.
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For all those complaining about humidity, what was done prior to the invention of AC? It is not needed, but a comfort that we want.
I use mine, a little bit when it his 35-40 deg c. But that is a handful of days here is Saskatchewan. We also keep our heat at about 15-18 even when it is -40 outside here.
As the prior poster mentioned, building materials were different. House design was also different. Windows were placed to achieve maximum ventilation. Even if we aren't trying to cool our house, we still have to manage the humidity or our building materials will warp. Wood is especially bad about that. I imagine in the past, people just had to replace these things more often.
In the deep South, many houses had kitchens separate from the house so it wouldn't heat up the building with the cooking heat. Also, people had sleeping porches that they used in the summer. These things do not exist anymore now that we have central air conditioning.
It's also worth noting the south is now hotter than it used to be - many more days over 32 C/90 F than in the past. That's partly due to global warming and partly due to many more paved surfaces that absorb heat all day and release it at night.
Regarding a dehumidifier, those produce heat while they run so they would make it even hotter inside.
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For all those complaining about humidity, what was done prior to the invention of AC? It is not needed, but a comfort that we want.
Buildings were designed differently. My apartment allows no cross breeze whatsoever. I also suspect people had different standards of BO hygiene.
How far back we talking? Caves stay cool in summer...
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For all those complaining about humidity, what was done prior to the invention of AC? It is not needed, but a comfort that we want.
Buildings were designed differently. My apartment allows no cross breeze whatsoever. I also suspect people had different standards of BO hygiene.
Will a dehumidifier not work? It would be much less expensive then a AC compressor to run.
A dehumidifier dumps hot air out into any building or area that they're running as a byproduct of removing the water from the air. That might not be desired on particularly hot days . . . especially since you can't open a window to cool things down while running a dehumidifier (or you just let all the humidity back in).
FWIW - dehumidifiers are about as energy efficient as window unit air conditioners, and they function in almost the same way.
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Every time I see this thread pop up lately, I read "Insane HAIR conditioner use" and wonder what that might be.
For all those complaining about humidity, what was done prior to the invention of AC? It is not needed, but a comfort that we want.
In addition to different building/city design, the pace of life was different. I remember reading that NYC would often kind of shut down in August due to the heat. I'm sure such a privilege was more common to the richer and whiter elements of society, but even so...I don't think life in Phoenix skipped much of a beat even when it passed 120F this summer, except the flight cancellations. Now that AC is available, we don't really see heat as a reason to change our behavior.
PS this was a pretty good summary of some different architectural features that have become less common: http://mentalfloss.com/article/16842/life-air-conditioning Might help anyone looking for a less-AC-dependent home!
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Hmm, we run our air conditioner all the time during the day in the summer. We are not connected to the power grid but rather have enough solar on our RV that it can run the A/C and charge the batteries, so why not?
It is currently 94 degrees outside and 72 in our RV. It does tend to make me hide inside the RV though.