[MrJester]

Originally Posted by Florida2014

Our house fits your criteria with some well-positioned oak trees for shading the setting sun. In addition, I have installed plantation shutters in all windows which helps keep the sun's rays out. Having said that, the A/C still cranks out pretty regularly from April through October, with few (see: no) breaks. Even if the temps did lower a bit, you're still looking at likely lows in the upper 60s with very high humidity, not an environment I could sleep in.

Do you sleep in one of those sweat-wicking, short sleeve shirts and shorts, with no socks on, and without a blanket? I bet if you did just that and maybe turned the ceiling fan on, you could get away without any AC at night.

[Florida2014]

Originally Posted by MrJester

Do you sleep in one of those sweat-wicking, short sleeve shirts and shorts, with no socks on, and without a blanket? I bet if you did just that and maybe turned the ceiling fan on, you could get away without any AC at night.

Yes I do, with a ceiling fan (on low) and a small desk fan near my head for noise and to help stay cool. So A/C plus ceiling fan plus small desk fan on me at night. Zero chance I could sleep without A/C even with 2 fans on me. I can't sleep feeling even mildly warm.

[beach43ofus]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

We can check off most of the items on your list except trees. I dont want any trees that could possibly fall on or near our home in a storm. We have lots of trees to look at out all of our windows, but they are not shading our home, and could never fall onto our home. A couple could fall onto our property. Plantation shutters on every window, and we use them wisely.

We set our temp to 76 in the Summer, and leave it alone. If we leave for an overnight trip, or longer, I elevate it to 78. We are comfortable and our electric bills are small (<$100/month) for 3,000 sq ft home (no pool). We have natural gas, so that helps to reduce the electric bill.

In the Winter, we set it to 72, and are fine.

We leave doors/sliders open some mornings when its cool to let any radon that might be around escape. Otherwise, we're closed up.

Only use ceiling fans on the lanai, and sometimes at night in master. The other ceiling fans were a waste of money.

Our energy bills here are <1/2 than they were in Atlanta, so we're happy. We went from 6,000 sqft in ATL to 3,000 here, so they should be at least 1/2, but they are less than 1/2, so its cheaper here. We had 2 new units in ATL too so not so much the age of the system. We had gas there too.

We just checked our records...last months electric bill was $56, and gas $24, total of $80 for 3,000 sq ft home rear faces South, plantation shutters, built in 2018.

[kapikap]

Would a cross breeze concept even work in FLORIDA?

We set up our aunties home in PR where the use of a whole house fan kept things very cool and breezy.

Basically one window with a fan to vent out. While another window is kept open in the opposite side of the home, to draw that breeze. A box fan can be used, but more powerful fans are avaliable.

It sucks to depend on the ac all day long. Especially living near some trees, I need that fresh air.

[MrJester]

Originally Posted by Florida2014

Yes I do, with a ceiling fan (on low) and a small desk fan near my head for noise and to help stay cool. So A/C plus ceiling fan plus small desk fan on me at night. Zero chance I could sleep without A/C even with 2 fans on me. I can't sleep feeling even mildly warm.

Would you say you just have a low tolerance for heat?

[d4g4m]

Rear of my house faces south. There are many large trees that shade most of the roof all day. I have 8' Viburnum on the west wall. Ceiling has 12" insulation. Programmable thermostat at 78 evening. My electric bill has never been higher than $75 for 20 years.
Previously, when I rented a house, there was a huge eucalyptus tree on the s/w corner of the house. For whatever reason, the owner didn't like the tree and had it removed. My electric bill went up $15

[Fredesch]

Originally Posted by kapikap

Would a cross breeze concept even work in FLORIDA?

We set up our aunties home in PR where the use of a whole house fan kept things very cool and breezy.

Basically one window with a fan to vent out. While another window is kept open in the opposite side of the home, to draw that breeze. A box fan can be used, but more powerful fans are avaliable.

It sucks to depend on the ac all day long. Especially living near some trees, I need that fresh air.

The best chance you have with is by having air flow in through the windows and up out a coupla. That is what some innovative folks did in Charleston SC in post colonial times did. Swamp box coolers like they use in Arizona rely on low humidity and thus don't work in Florida. If you can locate to be a few hundred feet from the Atlantic Ocean, you will get a breeze every time the land is warmer than the ocean. The gulf is a warmer than the Atlantiic so relying on a ocean breeze isn't as effective.

Having a coupla on a house very near the Atlantic may cost you more in wind insurance than the additional cost of AC. Liking it warm and humid in your house will reduce your AC usage know matter where you are or how many trees you have.

[Florida2014]

Originally Posted by MrJester

Would you say you just have a low tolerance for heat?

Only when I sleep. I also have to shower immediately before sleeping to cool my body down. I could potentially get away with a few morning/evening hours without a/c but it's pointless here as the heat is never-ending basically 24/7 for 7-8 months out of the year. We set it at 77 and let it go.

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by MrJester

Do you sleep in one of those sweat-wicking, short sleeve shirts and shorts, with no socks on, and without a blanket? I bet if you did just that and maybe turned the ceiling fan on, you could get away without any AC at night.

I bet you would be wrong. Are you really trying to tell people who actually live here that they are wrong when they are trying to tell you how hot and humid it gets without air-even with ceiling fans moving the hot air in your house around? Now if you live on a river, have a swim pool, and put the big square fans in your open windows so it draws in the cooler air in at night that comes over the water, you might be able to turn off the air. We used 4 big window fans to cool a 4 room house that was surrounded by trees until Hurricane David hit and some of them came down. But....it will still be muggy enough to make the paint peel off the woodwork if it was painted over or for the walls to mildew and the shoes and leather stuff in your closet to become moldy. Been there done that for 8 years when I first moved here back in the 70s when using window air conditioning units cost a fortune and we were poor school teachers making $6000 a year. Opening windows makes it hotter and muggier unless it is windy and you can get a circulating wind, but you end up turning on the air anyway. You do realize that some days you may even wake up, turn on the furnace, and then later in the day-maybe 10-11AM you end up running the air again, right?

But having an all electric house without a pool now and signing up for the pay the same amount every month program, we pay $128 a month. Sometimes we have a + balance at the end of the year and sometimes we owe the electric company so it balances out.

[Thundarr457]

We HAD a shaded home until the 2 hurricanes hit and miraculously the trees didn't hit our house. Our neighbor had their pool screen destroyed by a dead tree falling on it. Another had a huge pine destroy their roof. We had some tree damage but it fell AWAY from the house. Since then we had the trees removed since they were dying anyway plus some other sick ones that were overhanging the house. We have friends in Tallahassee with lots of trees around their house and some fell after Michael came through. A well shaded house in hurricane prone areas is not a good thing. I'll take a higher electric bill to worrying about a 75 foot tall maple taking out half our house. We still have many trees including 30 palms and some assorted others but none really big near the house.