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AC Efficiently tips?

Climber said:
Also, getting the hot air out of the house at night is a key strategy, one powerful fan high up pulling hot air from inside house and opening windows to let cold air in would get you starting at a lower temp at the start of the day.
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I installed a whole house fan in my house a few months ago. It does a good job of cooling the house and attic at night. My thermostat said 65F when I left for work this morning.

No central AC at my house. The heat on Sunday was brutal. I think the highest I saw was 101F...we're not used to this on the Peninsula.
 
msethhunter said:
Like other people have said, attic fans, clean filters, and clean ducts for inside. For outside, make sure the fan is working properly on the condenser, and that it's clean.

Everyone always forgets the outside bits of an AC system.
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I took a hose to my window ac unit yesterday. Removed about a one gallon zip lock of debri from the unit. It's much cooler and more powerful now. Not quite where I want it tho.

How big is the room and how many btus does the ac put out?
 
byke said:
I'll jump in the unheated hot tub and dry myself off just enough so that I'm not dripping and then just lounge around in wet swim trunks. It basically makes it so that even 80 degrees feels cool and 76 would have you feeling cold.
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Summertime I'm only in boxers when home. If someone knocks on the door they're usually gone by the time I get my cloths on and presentable.
 
Mr. White said:
I installed a whole house fan in my house a few months ago. It does a good job of cooling the house and attic at night. My thermostat said 65F when I left for work this morning.

No central AC at my house. The heat on Sunday was brutal. I think the highest I saw was 101F...we're not used to this on the Peninsula.
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The cottage I lived in when I got out of law school had no insulation. My roommate and I would see how hot or cold we could stand it before turning on the swap cooler or heater. We had to get a thermometer because our thermostat one didn't go above 90 degrees. We did a full length nascar race on the plastation at 102 or above. Drinking beer not only kept us cool, but sufficiently numb we didn't care. Didn't help the driving game much.
:laughing
 
Climber said:
Try adding a fan near a key vent to blow the air further into the room.

Also, getting the hot air out of the house at night is a key strategy, one powerful fan high up pulling hot air from inside house and opening windows to let cold air in would get you starting at a lower temp at the start of the day.

Without a fan, running AC at night gives you better exchanger numbers, then just button everything up in the morning and hope your insulation is sufficient to slow the raise throughout the day.
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+1 on Fan running overnight to bring cool air inside. Not only cooling the air, but cools the walls, furniture everything else. A good start for the next day with everything cooled down. It can keep the temps comfortable until late afternoon.
With air being drawn through Bedroom Windows. At night water the Plants outside near the windows. Water evaporation cools the air another ten degrees and that air is brought into the bedroom ahhh nice and cool. :party

Close curtains or shades over windows that allow afternoon direct sunlight through.
 
Bronto said:
At night water the Plants outside near the windows. Water evaporation cools the air another ten degrees and that air is brought into the bedroom ahhh nice and cool. :party
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What?

Humans are very sensitive to humidity, as the skin relies on the air to get rid of moisture. The process of sweating is your body's attempt to keep cool and maintain its current temperature. If the air is at 100-percent relative humidity, sweat will not evaporate into the air. As a result, we feel much hotter than the actual temperature when the relative humidity is high. If the relative humidity is low, we can feel much cooler than the actual temperature because our sweat evaporates easily, cooling ­us off. For example, if the air temperature is 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius) and the relative humidity is zero percent, the air temperature feels like 69 degrees Fahrenheit (21 C) to our bodies. If the air temperature is 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 C) and the relative humidity is 100 percent, we feel like it's 80 degrees (27 C) out.

One of the secondary functions of air conditioning is dehumidification.
 
Yakoo752 said:
What?

Humans are very sensitive to humidity, as the skin relies on the air to get rid of moisture. The process of sweating is your body's attempt to keep cool and maintain its current temperature. If the air is at 100-percent relative humidity, sweat will not evaporate into the air. As a result, we feel much hotter than the actual temperature when the relative humidity is high. If the relative humidity is low, we can feel much cooler than the actual temperature because our sweat evaporates easily, cooling ­us off. For example, if the air temperature is 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius) and the relative humidity is zero percent, the air temperature feels like 69 degrees Fahrenheit (21 C) to our bodies. If the air temperature is 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 C) and the relative humidity is 100 percent, we feel like it's 80 degrees (27 C) out.

One of the secondary functions of air conditioning is dehumidification.
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he's right, if you live in the desert. ain't you never heard of no swamp cooler?
 
Yakoo752 said:
good thing Walnut Creek is the desert :laughing

relative humidty in Cupertino was upwards of 40% on Sunday. A swamp cooler would have just made things worse.
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true, but it doesn't discount the fact that that thing in the air conditioner is called an evaporator because it gets cold.
 
Seen a Swamp Cooler used on Walnut Creek. A three by four foot Cube of green algae dripping water from rusted holes along its top edges. :laughing
 
In case of emergency i.e. a Heat Wave in the afternoon during a power outage. Portable 12 vdc swamp cooler. :teeth

We made a DIY one using a soaking wet towel laid flat in a cookie sheet. Blowing air over it using a 12vdc fan. It suxed but it kept our minds off the heat trying to get it to cool better. :laughing.
 
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asthmodeus said:
true, but it doesn't discount the fact that that thing in the air conditioner is called an evaporator because it gets cold.
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Ummm it's called an evap coil because of what happens inside of it (a liquid evaporates into a gas)

You know what a compressor does?!? :laughing
 
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whole house fan and attic insulation is crucial, as someone else said.

Once ambient air temp drops to around 70, the whole house fan will quickly and efficiently swap every bit of air in your house to the cooler air. What it also does, is it rapidly cools down your structure, which gets heat saturated.

attic fans, portable fans, and ceiling fans are a little helpful, but not enough.
 
Bronto said:
Seen a Swamp Cooler used on Walnut Creek. A three by four foot Cube of green algae dripping water from rusted holes along its top edges. :laughing
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You just described the entire south.
 
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