At 05:31 PM 7/25/2005, you wrote:
Unfortunately, air conditioning in the Seattle area is rare. It is just not
cost effective for the handful of days that traditionally get this warm. I
have the windows open and the fans running. It will get down to the mid 50s
to low 60s during the evening, so this is only a problem during the mid to
late afternoon. During the rest of the year, temperatures are not a problem.
You could probably go to Wally World and get a 5000 BTU window unit for
around $100.
I'm in Santa Barbara, CA, which is similar in that very few homes have any
kind of AC. However, a couple of years ago I picked up a room AC for my
home office for 85 dollars at Home Depot, and installed it my self. It only
pulls 4.5 amps max and I probably use it only 14 full days out of the
year... like now... but it is great to have when the temperature and
humidity start to rise. These kind of days I would normally shut down until
evening other wise the room temperature would rise to 10 to 15 degrees
above ambient.
That would make a significant impact on a single room, and just pack it
up in the garage when it gets cool enough to not need it. Even if you ran
it for 10 hours a day, you're still talking less than $0.50/day in energy
costs.
here in SC where we are getting reamed because of the Enron swindle, it
cost me around 1.50 per day. So 14 days = 20 bucks... it is well worth doing.
P.S. I don't even set my thermostat to 70 in the winter. 68 is plenty warm
enough :)
Oh, 70F is my summertime setting. I set it to around 65 in the winter. I
like it cold. :)
Greg
