Wages in Orlando area (condo, costs, bill)

[vkovac]

Originally Posted by EndersDrift

vkovac,
I turn my A/C off when I'm at work - what are you leaving it on for?

sorry EndersDrift, you pay more this way...

[JustinsMama]

Well, if you're to believe Mr. Electricity (whoever he is)...


Ask Mr. Electricity: Saving money on air conditioning

It's a myth that leaving the AC on while you're away at work uses less energy than turning it on when you get home. Here's why:
Heat goes to where it's not. That's why heat from outside goes into your cooler home. With the AC off, at some point your house will be so hot it can't absorb any more heat. When you come home and turn the AC on, the AC removes all that heat.

But if the AC is on when you're gone, then you've turned your house into a heat magnet. But keeping it artificially cool, there's no limit to the amount of heat it can absorb. It can always absorb more heat. And your AC has to remove that heat constantly. Your AC kicks in and removes some of that heat, then the house is cooler so it sucks in more heat from outside, so your AC kicks in again and removes that heat, and so on.
This means that throughout the day, your house has absorbed way more than one houseful of heat. And your AC had to remove it all. By contrast, with the AC off all day, then it has to remove just one houseful of heat when you come home and turn it on.

Let's say you leave the AC off, and your house absorbs 20k BTU's of heat and then stops, because that's all it can absorb.
Now let's say that you have the AC running instead. The house absorbs 5k BTU's of heat, so the AC kicks in and removes it. Then it absorbs another 5k BTU's, and your AC kicks in and removes that. Repeat that process several times during the day.

The actual numbers will vary, and I haven't tested this to see exactly how much the penalty for leaving the AC on during the day is, but there is zero question that running the AC all the time uses more energy than turning it on when you get home. This is not a gray area, it's simple physics, and no person with any knowledge of this subject disputes it. Running the AC when you're not home wastes energy, period.

[Shiyen]

wages in florida as a whole are a joke. and as far as turning the a/c off I'd rather not walk into a sauna when I got home bad enough it feels like one outside.

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by Shiyen

wages in florida as a whole are a joke.

cost of living elsewhere is a joke too. what's your point?

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by JustinsMama

Well, if you're to believe Mr. Electricity (whoever he is)...


Ask Mr. Electricity: Saving money on air conditioning

It's a myth that leaving the AC on while you're away at work uses less energy than turning it on when you get home. Here's why:
Heat goes to where it's not. That's why heat from outside goes into your cooler home. With the AC off, at some point your house will be so hot it can't absorb any more heat. When you come home and turn the AC on, the AC removes all that heat.

But if the AC is on when you're gone, then you've turned your house into a heat magnet. But keeping it artificially cool, there's no limit to the amount of heat it can absorb. It can always absorb more heat. And your AC has to remove that heat constantly. Your AC kicks in and removes some of that heat, then the house is cooler so it sucks in more heat from outside, so your AC kicks in again and removes that heat, and so on.
This means that throughout the day, your house has absorbed way more than one houseful of heat. And your AC had to remove it all. By contrast, with the AC off all day, then it has to remove just one houseful of heat when you come home and turn it on.

Let's say you leave the AC off, and your house absorbs 20k BTU's of heat and then stops, because that's all it can absorb.
Now let's say that you have the AC running instead. The house absorbs 5k BTU's of heat, so the AC kicks in and removes it. Then it absorbs another 5k BTU's, and your AC kicks in and removes that. Repeat that process several times during the day.

The actual numbers will vary, and I haven't tested this to see exactly how much the penalty for leaving the AC on during the day is, but there is zero question that running the AC all the time uses more energy than turning it on when you get home. This is not a gray area, it's simple physics, and no person with any knowledge of this subject disputes it. Running the AC when you're not home wastes energy, period.

Or you can believe me<VBG> For the first time ever this summer we set our thermostat to 78 and don't raise or lower it at all. We have had the cheapest electric bills this summer compared to previous years when we turned it to 82 while gone and then put it down to 76 to cool the house off when we got home and then back to 78 or 79 for sleeping at night. I think this summer has even been a hotter summer than the last few years, too.
This year compared to 2009.....June, July, August 2009
$210.78-- $265-- $264.03

2010
$190.31-- $241.37-- $230.58

Think about it this way..... if you keep the house at a set temp during the day there is no time where the air conditioner has to work to get it back down to the 78 degree area for a long period of time. When the house hits 79 the air kicks on and cools it back to 78 very quickly. With no one opening door for hours even when I am home sometimes the air just does not run. Previous years it would run continuously for an hour to get the temp back down to comfortable range. For us it has been cheaper to keep a set temp. BTW the house is 2050 sq feet built in 2006.

[JustinsMama]

Even though I'm not in Florida (yet) it's still hot here and I was going to do an experiment this month and cut our air off every day to see what worked better, but I'm too lazy and I'll take your word for it.

[g0gat0rs]

It really depends on where you work. I know souchefs at high end steak joints in Orlando make about 20/hr. On the other hand, if you're a souchef at a IHOP, if they even had one, you're looking at 10-12.

[EndersDrift]

Originally Posted by Rabflmom

Or you can believe me<VBG> For the first time ever this summer we set our thermostat to 78 and don't raise or lower it at all. We have had the cheapest electric bills this summer compared to previous years when we turned it to 82 while gone and then put it down to 76 to cool the house off when we got home and then back to 78 or 79 for sleeping at night. I think this summer has even been a hotter summer than the last few years, too.
This year compared to 2009.....June, July, August 2009
$210.78-- $265-- $264.03

2010
$190.31-- $241.37-- $230.58

Think about it this way..... if you keep the house at a set temp during the day there is no time where the air conditioner has to work to get it back down to the 78 degree area for a long period of time. When the house hits 79 the air kicks on and cools it back to 78 very quickly. With no one opening door for hours even when I am home sometimes the air just does not run. Previous years it would run continuously for an hour to get the temp back down to comfortable range. For us it has been cheaper to keep a set temp. BTW the house is 2050 sq feet built in 2006.

No. This is cheaper obviously than what you were doing but it is not cheaper than turning it off entirely when not home.

[Shiyen]

the col everywhere else is not always higher than fl, florida's col is actually on the high end if you did some research, and places that are around the same was fl (WA, OR, GA) the wages are MUCH better and offer other things like good public transpertation (saves on gas and in some places even insurance since you don't HAVE to have a car) THAT is my point.

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by Shiyen

the col everywhere else is not always higher than fl, florida's col is actually on the high end if you did some research, and places that are around the same was fl (WA, OR, GA) the wages are MUCH better and offer other things like good public transpertation (saves on gas and in some places even insurance since you don't HAVE to have a car) THAT is my point.

where are the links to prove it? I've already posted mine. I was just in Seattle recently. You can buy way more house in FL than seattle any day of the week. Sales taxes and gas taxes are also lower. Plus remember, Seattle, WA and surrouding areas are a tech-based economy with some light manufacturing, not a service-based one like FL, so it's pretty silly to try and compare them head-to-head.