Summer Heat and Air Conditioning

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by complexity0

Air conditioners don't really cost that much anymore. A lot of people have the old thinking, because of the big ones. The winter is where you end up losing out on all of your money.

My house is 2400 sq ft, I would require four window A/C units. The wattage to power four A/C units is beyond what my solar system can support.

We had two heat pumps installed this Spring. So far I have been able to power them okay [during sunlight].

There is a difference between how much power A/C units consume as compared to how much a heatpump consumes.

a 15000 Btu heatpump consumes 600 watts. Two of them consume up to 1200 watts.

a 5000 btu Window Air Conditioner would consume 500w. Four of them would consume 2000 watts.


Neighbors have told me that having heatpumps installed has reduced their firewood consumption by half.
I normally consume four cords of firewood each year. [This past winter was a mild winter, I only consumed three cords] So in theory, by having heatpumps for the shoulders, I should only need two cords of firewood to take us through the winters.

[phoebesmom]

We have a window unit in bedroom only, as does my son for my granddaughters. It helps folks to sleep at night and the white noise is helpful for both young and old.

My son is going to break down and get one for their room next year.

[Boston_Burbs]

I live in VT and we heated all last winter either two mini splits. Worked very well until about 5 degrees and totally shut off at -5. Had to use electric baseboard after that. This year we put in a wood stove to run when it is under 20f Our mini splits are not the hyper heat versions which can go down to -15f. Even so, we only spent $1200 in electricity for the winter.l for a well insulated 1600sf house. $0.18/kWh

I hated how much we had to run them for AC this year. Some nights it’s didn’t get below the high 60s/low 70s which is not good for cooling the house with fans. We travel to Camden a lot and I never realized how much hotter VT is in the summer than the mid coast. But we get colder in the winter too.