Comments on: How To Stay Efficiently Cool This Summer

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 07:20:10 +0000

How about covering your windows with cheap alum. & foams boards with you have no larges to shade you.

I also wear a wet headband or cap.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 05:21:08 +0000

Andy: I don’t run central A/C except when it’s close to 100 degrees outside but I think it depends on your house and your furnace. My furnace fan uses a fair amount of power and keeping it on all the time makes the compressor run more when it’s very hot (because it circulates the warmer air from the attic into the rest of the house). So, in my house, running the fan all the time uses more power (and furnace filters). The only way I think it could save energy is if you had a very very cold basement (with air returns) that stayed cold on the hottest days and a new, efficient furnace fan. Even then, I’m not sure.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 05:06:28 +0000

One point about the portable A/C. I have the exact portable A/C unit in the pic, and it does have a high EER rating. I had to buy that because my attic windows were too small for any window unit. Now that my dog can’t go upstairs, I’m downstairs. I bought a small Kenmore window A/C and use that instead of the portable one. Even though it has a lower EER (10.2), it uses much less power to cool the same room. I think this is because: 1-It has a lower BTU and therefore uses less watts and 2-It is more efficient because it does not pull warm air in from other rooms. In the same room, the portable’s compressor would run almost all night and use 7kw/hrs per night while the window unit runs about half the time and uses about 3.5 kw/hrs per night. If you don’t need a portable, a properly sized window unit seems to be more efficient.

By: How To Stay Efficiently Cool This Summer - Zidee.com

How To Stay Efficiently Cool This Summer - Zidee.com — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:09:36 +0000

[...] Summertime is almost here, but hot weather doesn’t have to mean skyrocketing power bills and nonstop air conditioning. We’ve compiled these tips to help you maximize your summer comfort and energy efficiency. (more…) [...]

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:51:12 +0000

I have a question: Is keeping the A/C unit fan on all the time ideal, verses having unit fan on Auto? Will keeping fan on keep my home cooler, thus saving energy or will the constent fan use more energy?

By: Dean

Dean — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:51:18 +0000

Delighted to see you included shade trees and lawn vegetation in your article. My home was shaded by a large tree on the west until two years ago, when it died; the difference is striking. I have trees growing to replace it; many quality trees like pinoaks grow quite quickly. A friend’s home was shaded by a large sycamore in my childhood and they never had air conditioning and only a few days a year was uncomfortable.
Trees also provide huge benefit for noise and air pollution and reducing the wind in the winter.

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:55:10 +0000

LED lights seldom produce more lumens per watt that compact fluorescent lights. That’s part of the reason ENERGY STAR only certifies a few specialty LEDs so far.

Disabling the air-dry feature on your dishwasher will typically turn on the heated dry option, which adds even more heat to your home.

By: James Bergstrom

James Bergstrom — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:29:36 +0000

Whole house fans are an amazing way to cool down a structure at or after sunset. In humid areas like Florida they are very common. I live in Arizona at a 4,400 ft elevation and an hour or so after sunset the temp drops significantly. The typical differential between day and night in the summer is 25-30 degrees. At higher elevation (think Flagstaff at 7,000 feet) the differential is 40 degrees. The later you operate the fan the cooler the house becomes.

Kick on the whole house fan with windows cracked and screen doors open and within 10-20 minutes the inside temp is the same as the outside. It is particularly effective for wood frame houses since they do not have masonry or brick walls to absorb the daytime/seasonal heat and will not continue to radiate that heat after the inside air has been exchanged with the cooler outside night air. Masonry houses are a bit more difficult to cool down however will retain the cool longer the next sunny day.

There are excellent modern whole house fans that are metaefficient. Old units like my friend’s in Sedona are 36 x 36 inches and can suck a letter out of your hand if you stand below it while it’s running. New models have super-efficient fans with high-tech bearings. Less noise and less friction. One unit I resarched was a mere 16 x 16 inches. These newer units also have digital settings (of course) for auto-opening and closing of their louvers and user-set operational times.

By: Mark Bartosik

Mark Bartosik — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:47:40 +0000

If you have forced air HVAC system and a basement with a return in it, and ideally a HVAC system with an efficient fan (e.g. with ECM motor) then consider running the fan to mix air from cooler basement with the rest of the house.

If you are upgrading HVAC consider a zone controller with SmartVent e.g. RCS ZCV series (resconsys.com). This will automatically draw in cooler air in the evening to cool house down. But you need a duct from the outside of the house to the return of your air system.

If you are reroofing go to buildingscience.com and find out about installing about 4″ of polyisocyanurate on top of the existing deck and then a new deck on top of that. Also consider a white roof, especially for low slop roofs using TPO membrain rather than asphalt based.

Consider using a small efficient dehumidifier to reduce humidity (and latent heat), this may have more effect than A/C. Ideally position the dehumidifier close to the return of a forced air system to help circulate around the whole house.

By: The Money Game « Quarter Acre Homestead

The Money Game « Quarter Acre Homestead — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:40:09 +0000

[...] leave the thermostat (result: 80 during the day, 78 at night–remember you’re not doing polar testing in your house); can I drive to and from work without AC (result: no problem); how far can we [...]