The Chainlink

Air conditioner poll-- who's getting by without?

I've been close to installing my window units several times now, but then we cool off and things are reasonably bearable again with windows and a box fan.  Looks like we're supposed to get back down into the 70s in a few days . . .

Who all's getting by without AC, and who plans to do so through the summer?

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 19, 2012 at 6:44pm

I turned off the fan in the window and shut it, lowering the insulating cellular blind and closing the inner plantation shutters.  It's way hotter outside and too humid.  It's nice and cool in here down in the basement.  The cats have taken to laying on the ceramic tile floors.

Yesterday I painted a fork outside and the stupid paint dried before it hit the fork and powdered on the surface.  Too hot & humid to paint with a rattle-can!  If I had a real sprayer I'd just change the reducer to a slower-drying mix to account for the heat and humidity.  Today, after baking it I had to wet-sand it down smooth with 1500-grit and soapy-water to prep for a better final coat.  I'll try again when it cools down a little and isn't so humid -next month?  August?

At least it is cool and comfy in the house.  No spray-painting in there or the wife will NOT be happy.

Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on June 19, 2012 at 6:50pm

If you came from South Sudan this would seem a cool spring night.

h' said:

I dragged one window unit down from the attic last Saturday but didn't put it in.

Temp is 91 in here right now, and sitting down to evening coffee.

Starting to like the way it feels in a perverse way . . .

Am I nuts?

Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on June 19, 2012 at 6:56pm

Bought a portable AC unit today online.  It was a pleasant 88 degrees in my apartment last night even with all the windows open and fans going.

Permalink Reply by S on June 19, 2012 at 7:36pm

Technically it's still spring in chicago for another 2 days or so

Gene Tenner said:

If you came from South Sudan this would seem a cool spring night.

h' said:

I dragged one window unit down from the attic last Saturday but didn't put it in.

Temp is 91 in here right now, and sitting down to evening coffee.

Starting to like the way it feels in a perverse way . . .

Am I nuts?

Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on June 19, 2012 at 7:54pm

I bought a 8,000 BTU window unit on sunday. I kinda with would have gone with the 12,000....

First time for everything.

Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on June 19, 2012 at 9:16pm

Is it just for your bedroom, Kevin?

My wife and I use a 5200 BTU unit for our bedroom, which works sufficiently well. Our bedroom is also the commonly small types (14x9, maybe?)

We've got a brand new 12,000 BTU Frigidaire that we use for the back-room when guests come over. We tried it in the main living area which is one of those open living room/dining room floor plans, but the A/C unit was never able to cool it down sufficiently. It "says" that it'll cool 700 sq feet, but I think they stretch the truth. 

Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 19, 2012 at 9:37pm
To offset all the eco-friendly smugness in this thread, I just turned up the AC to 11...

Seriously though, I cherish a good nights sleep enough to pay the $50-70 every month it costs to run two ACs in our house
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 19, 2012 at 10:03pm

We're still getting by, but it's getting ugly. Our old A/C units are OLD - not very efficient. We're considering buying a new one soon.  Meanwhile, I'll probably sleep in the basement tonight - much cooler.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on June 19, 2012 at 11:06pm

Jim - I thought we could stretch the 8K unit to cool down the entire apartment. It's kinda cutting it....no, not really

Permalink Reply by MagMileMarauder on June 20, 2012 at 12:17am

I can be comfortable in my place at 50F all winter long  (as I rarely turn on the heater), but I definitely spoil myself with some AC! (just in one room, the rest of my place is a sauna). Sleeping under the covers rules.

Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on June 20, 2012 at 1:57am

Why didn't they just make ten colder and make ten be the top number and make that a little colder?

Duppie said:

To offset all the eco-friendly smugness in this thread, I just turned up the AC to 11...

Seriously though, I cherish a good nights sleep enough to pay the $50-70 every month it costs to run two ACs in our house
Permalink Reply by Sol on June 20, 2012 at 3:21am
I just get in my car and drive around with the ac running at full blast when my apartment gets too hot!

Just kidding....I have 1200 square feet with east/west windows two floors up from ground level with no south facing windows. I have ceiling fans in most rooms combined with an old Westinghouse 5200 unit in the bedroom, an old Panasonic 7800 unit in the dining room and an old Panasonic 5800 unit in the living room. The Panasonics are 10.7 and 10.8 and the Westinghouse is "good" old 9.7 efficiency. All three are well installed with good insulation and no gaps (2 by x wood cut to size, painted white and combined with rope calk insulate better, look better and form a better seal for the gap between the window and the side of the ac unit than those flimsy leaky vinyl louvers which come with the ac units). All three units are also fairly quiet for window ac units.

I used to leave the ac on all day for the dog in past years, but he now spends his days with the dog walker in her slightly air conditioned garden unit so I simply seal up the apartment and close the blinds by day and have the Panasonics turn on in economy mode at 75 degrees using their timers a little before I arrive home on days when it is above 85 degrees. The Westinghouse has old school dials without a timer so I just turn it on when I get home or an hour before bed if needed. The ac runs until bed time on hot days and then I shut them off. The place cools down quickly and stays cool enough through the morning. On cooler or less humid days, I just open the windows at sun down and close them in the morning before it gets too hot.

My worst electric bill last summer when I ran all three ac units all day was only $85, as compared to $40 without ac ($1.50/day for the ac portion of the bill). My friends with central ac had much higher electric bills. I expect my bills will be somewhat lower this year as the ac is not on that much.

Newer window ac units with timers, energy efficiency mode and more ozone friendly r410 coolant can be very helpful on hot days with minimal energy usage and environmental impact when correctly installed and not overused. I would like to replace my Westinghouse with a more efficient unit and wish all my units had the r410 coolant, but it would be wasteful and in my opinion less environmentally friendly to simply chuck the old units for newer ones given my current low usage.

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