Air Conditioner and manually turning on/off (moved)

[AZ_Rookie]

Originally Posted by elcajones

High SRP bills are a fact of life here. I just paid mine.... $380 hurts for a 2 bedroom apartment.

Why post your name and address on public forum?

[kell490]

Turning it off at night isn't going to do anything to the AC unit it could lower the bill 25% daytime use is when your hit with large cost like demand charges. I would suggest not installing a programmable thermostat it will be to complicated for her to figure out. I had to install an old non programmable one for my mother she just could not remember how to program it no matter how many times I showed her. If she doesn't like high AC bills I suggest moving to a cooler climate or leaving town during the summer months. My mother stays with her sister in Southern California from May-Oct just leaves the AC off the entire summer at her home saves her a lot of money.

You just have to factor in cooling cost here like heating cost in other states. She could buy a energy star home and save half the money on the electric bill so I have heard never seen it first hand. At least in cold states you can put on a jacket here not much you can do.

[john3232]

Originally Posted by elcajones

High SRP bills are a fact of life here. I just paid mine.... $380 hurts for a 2 bedroom apartment.

Did you check your window? Perhaps the windows don't close tight enough and hot air from the outside is getting in?

Are you running the ac during peak rates (35 cent per kilowatt per hour with SRP)

[jamies]

A lot of the issues with electric are insulation and sealing. For the OP - have your mother seal any possible air leaks. Also use thermal insulation panels or rolls in any windows not needed for view or light. On our front side we have both reflective mirror coating on our glass and special insulated window shades - you can still feel some heat. If I was really cheap I'd put insulted panels in the windows.

Computers and TV's put a lot of heat into the house, as does cooking. We try to cook as much as we can on the outdoor kitchen grill and burner. Also going in and out a lot adds to it - as does just having several people breathing. Families with kids will always have higher bills.

Light bulbs also add a lot of heat. We switched to LED and some CFL bulbs several years ago and that reduced the heat.

Our house also has a full length awning that keeps the sun off our south and west walls and that helps a lot with heat. I will probably install an attic fan this winter to help cool the attic space.

We keep our thermostat at 73 day and night and have ceiling fans in all rooms (three in the living room). The warmest area is the kitchen, it hits about 78.

Our AC cycles on about 5-6 minutes, then off anywhere from 6-25 minutes depending on outside temps. At 90 it runs about 10 minutes an hour and at 120 is runs about half the time.

Like someone else said, ideally be gone from May 15 to Oct 15 and you will never seen a bill over $80 again!

[jamies]

I forgot - for the OP - turning the AC off won't hurt it. BUT why be miserable? Also, if you are constantly trying to cool the house down you are overworking the AC.

By leaving it at a set temp like 73 or 76, everything inside will reach that temperature, then your AC will run less.

For example we try to leave about two week a month in the summer (we have a business so can't be snowbirds) when we leave we turn the thermostat to 90 so our pantry food and artwork doesn't get cooked. Upon return it takes about 4 hours to bring the temp back to 73, and the AC cycles on a lot for the next 36 hours before it stabilizes again.

We used to turn it to 78 during the day when we'd be out - but same thing, we found it is better to just leave the temp even all the time.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by elcajones

MPP? what's that? My boss was whining about $900 bill at his 4,500 SF house. I told him it wasn't too bad considering mine is almost half for 1,000 SF

Managed Payment Plan. Same amount every month.

[elcajones]

Originally Posted by AZ_Rookie

Why post your name and address on public forum?

Because I didn't realize it was in the pic...stupid.. Pulling now.

[elcajones]

And the edit button is refusing to show up for it now... Such is life.

[AZ_Rookie]

Originally Posted by elcajones

Because I didn't realize it was in the pic...stupid.. Pulling now.

I purposely deleted that part of your post when I quoted it... good idea to remove.

[AZ_Rookie]

Originally Posted by elcajones

And the edit button is refusing to show up for it now... Such is life.

maybe send a PM to moderator and ask for it to be removed... I would.