So I got this portable a/c thing
 

Just curious if anyone has ever owned one of these before. We have been having ridiculous temps. here and in my inefficent, old ass rental the regular central air just ain't cuttin' it. That thing runs constantly to try and maintain even 80+ degrees. Upstairs is like a sonna. To top all that off, I'm now getting 300 dollar+ electric bills when I'm still living in hell from this heat. I have fans in every room and all the lights off all the time but what does it matter if the room is already hot.

So I invested 300 bucks in the portable a/c thing. I just hooked it up to the window and it runs like a hotel unit...loud but eventually cools down. Now the thing I'm still worried about is this electric bill. Does anyone know how much these window units use? This thing is rated for 9000btu(whatever that's good for). I'm just praying that I'm pretty much not running two central air conditioners.

What is the amp draw? Figure out how many watts it uses, how many hours you run it and what does a kilowatt hour cost you on your electric bill. Pretty simple math if you want to know before sticker shock sets in.

I was going to go with one of those this summer too, but because of bad reviews I heard of them being inefficient and over rated (btu wise) I went with a permanent wall mounted unit. Got it for a steal too, $200 for a 10,500BTU Samsung. Install wasn't bad either, just cut a hole in my perfectly good bedroom wall and mount it up. So far my electric bill has only gone up a few dollars a month, but its hard to really tell with the normal central unit running at the same time this season. Seems like the energy rating on mine was like $140 a year to operate (sure its more). Not sure how they figure that out though. It would be worth 5 times that to stay cool in the summer, especially since its upstairs in a semi attic area with sloped walls (the roof). It gets HOT up here in the summer. With this thing I freeze my ass off, just how I like it.

I really feel bad for you guys that pay for electricy (I live on base housing, so I dont pay for it)

I keep my thermostat set on anywhere from 64-69 all day every day :laugh:

300 dollar electric bills!

step one, buy a smaller place

step two, try some insulation

my electric bill has been $324 total since feb.

Speaking of high electric bills. I spent the July 4th at my aunts new house in Charlotte, beautiful house. She had water falls, Koi ponds and lighting ALL over the place. My mom was curious and asked what her bills ran every month. $800! :barf: Thats a fucking house note lol.

i wonder why there's an energy crisis.

My house was built in 1964, so there is little insulation. We got one of those portable units and use it in the bed room at night. If you turn it on about an hour before bed, we can keep the rest of the house at 82 and we are at 74. Has helped out some on electric bills and now we don't have to sleep with the central unit at 78 at night.

because we don't go nuclear?

i don't have central air yet, it's in the plans, but my house was built in 1959 so i need to replace all the windows and probably reinsulate all the exterior walls. my gas and electric bill is combined. in the winter it was 300/month. summer last month was 63$. To help with the heat i installed 4 ceiling fans i got off craigslist, actually helps a lot more than i thought it would. other than that just deal with it, it hasn't been a hot summer for me anyway

Most people don't think the little things help, like closing the blinds/curtains to keep radiant heat out. I bet my room stays 5* cooler just because I hung dark curtains and keep them closed in the day. Two windows that are about 16''x42''. Also, if you have an overwhelmed air conditioner, use the doors and vents in your house to help control where the air goes. Rooms that don't need to be cooled, close that door! The little things really do add up. I can't wait to build my house and go with some little energy efficient designs.

see that's the problem right there. instead of putting in insulation and low e windows, people want more power plants. plants going up aint gonna lower your bills much.

not to mention the 10-100,000 year lives of the spent fuel.


see that's the real trick. point the AC at your nutsack and let the back rooms heat up.

Funny you should say that. As we speak I am swinging from the ceiling on my leather swing with the breeze on my sack as I club the controls with Hustlers rubber fist. Quite comforting.

Yeah, I'll add a big +1 to that. I just checked this past months' electric bill. $116 for 1,008 kWh.

This is for a ~1,700 sf house in southwest Florida. It's been in the mid 90s pretty much every day this month. The house is about 12 years old, and the central A/C system is original. Hot water, stove, etc., are all electric. Windows are non double-glazed, and I run the A/C at 78°F typically.

OTOH, because I'm a lazy SOB I keep the hurricane shutters up on all but one window and one sliding glass door (and the door is in the shade). They're not airtight, but they are solid aluminum sheet about 1/16" thick, and highly reflective.

By contrast, at my mother's place a few miles away, they average about $400-$500 a month. Granted, they're doing a few more loads of laundry than I am, but that's still a pretty stunning difference.

I assume if you have a rental, that you have a super. Tell the super you are spending 300 a month and it aint working. The super works for you remember.

I've been trying to get this landlord bitch to get someone over here for probably a month now. This place is fucking ridiculous. It may 2 beedroom 1200sp ft duplex for 650 a month but fuck they suck on maintainance. I've had so much shit break that I just ended up fixing myself because they would never come out. But whatever though. Just talked with the moms today and she is talking about going in with me on my first home. It would actually be cheaper than all this rent going towards nothing. Nothing too fancy...found a 2 bedroom+studio for 45. Needs a little work but it sure is a start.

Send them the bill, or find out who they use and leave out the middle man

When I was in Richmond we never had an apt with a/c. I picked up a 20,000 BTU a/c unit that my roommate would always bitch about because he was beyond hippie. I never remember our power bill being anything outrageous. There should be an energy power rating that estimates the cost per year of the unit.

Turbo 4, the coolant in your central AC is probably leaking out.

As for an electric bill, I've seen $400+ when I had a leaking upstairs unit in the winter because the auxilary/emergency heat was always on.

My current bill is around $250/month. That's with dual units, programmable t-stat set to sane levels (78 during day when nobody is home, 74 at night). Curtains are closed but I don't have any trees for shade.

My house was built in 2000, so it's relatively efficient.

BGE has been raping people on rates.

Frank

I have a 1800sqf house in central FL, keep it at 79 and due to my Core i7, am now over $200/mo. My problem is huge windows, ceiling up to the rafters (no attic), and poor insulation. My stove runs off gas, but everything else is electric. I've wanted to get the UV/hurricane film for my windows. I bet it'd save at least $20/mo.

Best things to do are:
fix any windows/doors that have cracks - usually bottoms of doors or windows
put up UV protectant films
blow good insulation into your walls and attic if you can access them easily