[Buzz123]

Coming home from Searchlight today, via Primm, the carmometer said 100º on I-15.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by Buzz123

Coming home from Searchlight today, via Primm, the carmometer said 100º on I-15.

Yup. I'm actually using our ceiling fans right now. The evap coolers are going online tomorrow. They'll keep us cool until June. Then we go to the time-of-use AC scheme that we use.

Gotta remember to check the gable vent fan tomorrow, too.

[LV2ndHome]

Originally Posted by aggrofish

I honestly think the power company is sticking it to me. I run the AC at my office all the time, which is about the same size as the house, excluding the warehouse, and the bill is about $250 in the summer.

I spend more hours at the office than at home, makes no sense to me.

There are a lot of possible contributory factors. Some of these may not apply to your particular case...

Generally anything generating heat consumes a lot of electricity. Think hair dryers, irons, cooking appliances, heating elements in dishwashers, clothes washer/dryers, hot water heaters, etc. The double edge sword is that after you have used a lot of electricity to dry your hair and iron your clothes, you now have to use a lot more on the a/c to remove that heat you just generated from your house. Usually not many, if any, of these activities are done at an office to any substantial degree.

Even if you use gas to cook, heat water, etc, you are still generating a lot of heat that the a/c must remove from the house every time you cook, shower, do laundry, etc. Typically you'll also have a lot more appliances plugged in at home than at an office like TV's, DVR's, stereos, toasters, etc (maybe a Betamax and 8-track player for some of you? ). Things like TV's use some power while plugged in even when turned off. I've noticed my sat receiver generates a lot of heat in addition to the power it consumes itself.

I also suspect that on average, the typical office has less window surface area than the typical residence. Even double pane energy efficient windows will not be anywhere close to the energy efficiency of an insulated wall.

It also seems offices are more likely to have florescent lighting while residences are more likely to have a high percentage of incandescent lighting. Florescent uses a lot less electricity and also generates a lot less heat, so the a/c has to work less as well.

My house has a lot of recessed can ceiling lighting that originally had incandescent 65w R30 flood bulbs. I first switched to 15w CFL floods which produced about the same lumens and a lot less heat. We didn't like those mainly because they aren't instant full bright on (they come on at about 50% brightness and take 45-60 seconds warm up time to reach full brightness), and also they aren't very green to dispose of since they contain mercury. We've switched a lot of those again to 10.5w LED flood lights which produce even more lumens, less heat, are instant on full bright, and rated at 50,000 hrs life expectancy, but they cost a lot more. We love these lights though.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by LV2ndHome

We've switched a lot of those again to 10.5w LED flood lights which produce even more lumens, less heat, are instant on full bright, and rated at 50,000 hrs life expectancy, but they cost a lot more. We love these lights though.

LED here, too. Lights typically consume 20% of a homeowner's electricity. Switching to LED will knock that 20% down to almost nothing at a stroke.

[las vegas drunk]

I have had to have my A/C on ever since I moved on February 1st. My friends thought I was crazy, but they sure found out when they stayed here last Friday the 20th. The high was 59 and the low was 44. I turned it off when we left for the strip. At 5 am when we came home the apartment was 85 degrees. That is with no a/c or heater on. It sucks because my electric bills have doubled from my last apartment. The apartment manager claims it is because of the concrete walls. I don't know, but this place seems to have a built in heater that cannot be shut off.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by las vegas drunk

I have had to have my A/C on ever since I moved on February 1st. My friends thought I was crazy, but they sure found out when they stayed here last Friday the 20th. The high was 59 and the low was 44. I turned it off when we left for the strip. At 5 am when we came home the apartment was 85 degrees. That is with no a/c or heater on. It sucks because my electric bills have doubled from my last apartment. The apartment manager claims it is because of the concrete walls. I don't know, but this place seems to have a built in heater that cannot be shut off.

You say 85f like it's a bad thing. That's just about where I like it. 85-95f. That's my normal comfort zone.

If you set your thermostat for 90, you will eventually get used to the temperature. It will take awhile. But it beats $500 electricity bills.


PS -- That "monster heater" is located roughly 93 million miles away. It's off half the day. But by then the concrete walls have heated up like a brick oven (which is essentially what it is). I'd move out of that place first chance I get.

[las vegas drunk]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

You say 85f like it's a bad thing. That's just about where I like it. 85-95f. That's my normal comfort zone.

If you set your thermostat for 90, you will eventually get used to the temperature. It will take awhile. But it beats $500 electricity bills.


PS -- That "monster heater" is located roughly 93 million miles away. It's off half the day. But by then the concrete walls have heated up like a brick oven (which is essentially what it is). I'd move out of that place first chance I get.

I prefer 73, but I now have set it at 76 with a fan blowing on me so my bills do not get too high. I would die with it set at 90. I have talked to my neighbor, and she told me her highest bills in the summer with keeping it at 75 were $90-$100. That is a far cry from my former apartment were I kept the A/C at 73 and had only $60 electric bills. I love this place otherwise, so I have no reason to want to move elsewhere. As a side note, the concrete walls keep out the noise, which I definitely like.

[mostlyinformative]

we just leave the doors and windows open

[jet757f]

We spent last weekend at our house when the temp was in the 90's. Never got that hot in the house where we needed the air conditioning.

[dynimagelv]

doors n windows open at night.....button up the house during the day time and you wont need AC till the temp goes OVER 105....then we turn it on for about an hour in the evening to bring the temp down a bit if it was REALLY hot out.