Weather Thread

[skullman80]

I'll take 20 degrees with a wind chill of -5 to this any day.

damn straight.

[Kaiser]

i hate that the deck in our new Apt. is staring right into the afternoon sun, but it will be much welcomed for the 8 cold months.

[PFiDC]

Getting rid of the window units and doing Mini-splits has been great. So much quieter and cooler, plus electric bill has gone down quite a bit.

If we owned this is totally the way we would go. Since we're outta this house to later than end of April I'll stick with the window units.

[skullman80]

Getting rid of the window units and doing Mini-splits has been great. So much quieter and cooler, plus electric bill has gone down quite a bit.

If we owned this is totally the way we would go. Since we're outta this house to later than end of April I'll stick with the window units.

Mini-splits are nice. I mean if I have the choice and the $$$ I probably would have ripped everything out and done a full central air/furnace set up. It was just too much money though. To rip all the baseboard stuff we have now, rip out the boiler, install ductwork throughout the entire house because we have none... all the bids I got were over 10k, a couple were over 12k. Just not in the budget. The mini-split stuff still wasn't cheap, but it works for us, cause we only need to cool the upstairs, mainly the living area and our master bedroom. Our downstairs is below ground so even on a muggy, humid day like today... as long as you got fans running down there it's cool and comfortable. Mini=splits just made the most sense for how we were set up currently.

[count2infinity]

Turned the AC on in the bedroom. Went in about an hour later and thought "wow, it's really nice and cool in here." Took a look at my wife's alarm clock that has a thermometer in it. 81 degrees. This heat has me thinking 81 is "nice and cool".

[DigitalGypsy66]

Heat advisory here (central SC), but I saw a dude with a snowplow driving down the road. Made me feel cooler at least.

My building at work has a broken HVAC system. It is either on, 50% power on, or off. When I got here this morning, it was 58. It will be 100+ outside here today. We all have heaters and wear coats indoors...

The system that controls the thermostat has been broken for most of this past fiscal year, and they've finally ordered a replacement. It will have to be installed and reprogrammed, which is problematic for our physical plant.

Very strange...I don't want to complain, because no A/C is far worse (we've been there, done that) but it's ridiculous...

[dodint]

Source of the post Mini-splits

Never heard of this. I've been looking for a solution for my home. We have a split level and the downstairs is no kidding 15F cooler than the upstairs. We have to keep the thermostat on 65 or lower to keep the upstairs below 80. Was going to supplement with window units next summer but maybe something like this could be an option. hmmm.

[columbia]

110 heat index today, which is especially jarring after having been in the mountains.
I get that people like the beach, but it is a bit perplexing that people in the North travel and pay money to "relax" in this (and worse) climates during the Summer.

[shafnutz05]

Central air is definitely a game changer, I've had it for the first time in my life the last two years and it's been wonderful. Out of curiosity, what do yinz generally keep it on? For me, it's 75 during the day (I work from home) and 72 at night.

[count2infinity]

I might have to take a sick day Thursday. Looking too damn beautiful Wednesday and Thursday to be stuck inside all day.

[columbia]

Central air is definitely a game changer, I've had it for the first time in my life the last two years and it's been wonderful. Out of curiosity, what do yinz generally keep it on? For me, it's 75 during the day (I work from home) and 72 at night.

I just paid a $215 electric bill, so I have to be careful.
77 when away and 75 when I'm at home.

[Silentom]

Central air is definitely a game changer, I've had it for the first time in my life the last two years and it's been wonderful. Out of curiosity, what do yinz generally keep it on? For me, it's 75 during the day (I work from home) and 72 at night.

68°

[DigitalGypsy66]

My home HVAC issues have been well chronicled both here and at LGP, so I won't repeat them again.

But we keep our A/C on 76 when home at 81 when away. The placement of the thermostat and general crappiness of its airflow keeps most of the house temperate at 76. We have ceiling fans in most rooms, which keeps costs down. We took our FROG/Room over the garage off of the main 1 ton unit and put a mini split there, which was a great idea. We don't run the mini-split unless someone's in that room...and even then, it's negligible. We generally have a $100-175 electric bill for a 1900 sq. foot home. Before our HVAC issues got fixed, we would routinely have $200-275 electric bills AND be freakin' miserable (cold or hot when you don't want to be).

I need to get a programmable thermostat, but I feel like that's putting $5000 rims on a Pinto at this point.

[robbiestoupe]

Anybody have an attic fan in their house? Our old house had one and I only used the AC when temps were above 90. I'm still thinking of installing an attic fan in the new house, because our upstairs is probably 10 degrees warmer than downstairs where the thermostat sits.

[meow]

I feel like attic fans are only useful when it cools down outside, but inside is still warm. Our first house had one and we used it in those situations.

[blackjack68]

I agree with Meow.

I suppose it helps somewhat, but not so much that I can notice.

[skullman80]

Source of the post Mini-splits

Never heard of this. I've been looking for a solution for my home. We have a split level and the downstairs is no kidding 15F cooler than the upstairs. We have to keep the thermostat on 65 or lower to keep the upstairs below 80. Was going to supplement with window units next summer but maybe something like this could be an option. hmmm.

Basically Mini-splits are set to heat/cool specific rooms rather than the whole house. Ours are cooling only as we have hot water baseboard heat that works fine. Basically there is one(or more) condenser units outside then they run the coolant lines etc from those to wherever the units are. We had one put in our main living room and one in the master bedroom. It's not cheap. We were around 4k for what we did, but that included installation, running electrical etc. Still cheaper than 10k+ to rip out boiler and run ductwork all over the house. Got a 7 year parts warranty and 3 year labor warranty, plus one free checkup a year. Much quieter than window units, much more efficient(electric bill has dropped quite a bit, they are 19seer or so I believe).

We went with a Mitsubishi Unit.. you can see more info here...

http://www.mitsubishicomfort.com/products

[count2infinity]

Anybody have an attic fan in their house? Our old house had one and I only used the AC when temps were above 90. I'm still thinking of installing an attic fan in the new house, because our upstairs is probably 10 degrees warmer than downstairs where the thermostat sits.

we currently have one. When it's hot outside it's doesn't really do much, but it's nice when evening hits to just open all the windows and crank the attic fan.

[meow]

Anybody have an attic fan in their house? Our old house had one and I only used the AC when temps were above 90. I'm still thinking of installing an attic fan in the new house, because our upstairs is probably 10 degrees warmer than downstairs where the thermostat sits.

we currently have one. When it's hot outside it's doesn't really do much, but it's nice when evening hits to just open all the windows and crank the attic fan.

Ours seemed to work better if we only cracked our windows an inch or two. Do you do the same or do you open the windows the entire way?

[count2infinity]

I just open 'em the whole way. I've never tried the cracked windows thing. Wonder why that would work better...

[meow]

You can feel more air flow, but I don't know if there is more draw. It might just be a perspective thing. Same amount of air pulled through a smaller opening makes it seem more drastic.

[dodint]

Source of the post Basically Mini-splits are set to heat/cool specific rooms rather than the whole house. Ours are cooling only as we have hot water baseboard heat that works fine. Basically there is one(or more) condenser units outside then they run the coolant lines etc from those to wherever the units are. We had one put in our main living room and one in the master bedroom. It's not cheap. We were around 4k for what we did, but that included installation, running electrical etc. Still cheaper than 10k+ to rip out boiler and run ductwork all over the house. Got a 7 year parts warranty and 3 year labor warranty, plus one free checkup a year. Much quieter than window units, much more efficient(electric bill has dropped quite a bit, they are 19seer or so I believe).

We went with a Mitsubishi Unit.. you can see more info here...

http://www.mitsubishicomfort.com/products

Awesome, thanks for taking the time to expand on that.

In my case, since I already have the ductwork I could probably just find some kind of AC unit to pipe into the existing stuff then? My house is begging for a dual zone climate control system but unfortunately runs with just the one downstairs. It's okay for the winter, but in summer the upstairs is just not good. I wonder if I could get a system that could be installed in the attic or something and service just the upstairs and only A/C (no heat).

Should probably just get an estimate.

[skullman80]

Source of the post Basically Mini-splits are set to heat/cool specific rooms rather than the whole house. Ours are cooling only as we have hot water baseboard heat that works fine. Basically there is one(or more) condenser units outside then they run the coolant lines etc from those to wherever the units are. We had one put in our main living room and one in the master bedroom. It's not cheap. We were around 4k for what we did, but that included installation, running electrical etc. Still cheaper than 10k+ to rip out boiler and run ductwork all over the house. Got a 7 year parts warranty and 3 year labor warranty, plus one free checkup a year. Much quieter than window units, much more efficient(electric bill has dropped quite a bit, they are 19seer or so I believe).

We went with a Mitsubishi Unit.. you can see more info here...

http://www.mitsubishicomfort.com/products

Awesome, thanks for taking the time to expand on that.

In my case, since I already have the ductwork I could probably just find some kind of AC unit to pipe into the existing stuff then? My house is begging for a dual zone climate control system but unfortunately runs with just the one downstairs. It's okay for the winter, but in summer the upstairs is just not good. I wonder if I could get a system that could be installed in the attic or something and service just the upstairs and only A/C (no heat).

Should probably just get an estimate.

If we had the room and didn't have hot water heat I probably would have went with full A/C. It was just too expensive and too muchwork since we have no ductwork at all and really no place to run it, plus pulling out all the baseboard pipes.. just a PITA. Also though about going with air handler in the attic and running mini ductwork from the ceiling, but out attic is not well insulated so I figured it would not be efficient to do that plus I worried about the noise.

the mini splits you honestly don't even know they are on even if they are on full blast. The one is 12,000BTU the other 9,000 BTU and even the spare room that doesn't have one stays cool with a fan going. Our downstairs as I said earlier just doesn't need cooled, its cool even on super hot days with a fan going since its under ground for the most part.

Mini-splits aren't for everyone, but they worked for our situation, and I was so happy to ditch the window units.

[dodint]

Yeah, I'm looking at the ceiling ones right now. They look like heaven.

I'll have to do some research. Given how cold it is downstairs I wonder if I can use a fan(s) to move some of that air up and save $3K. hmm.

[tifosi77]

Central air is definitely a game changer, I've had it for the first time in my life the last two years and it's been wonderful. Out of curiosity, what do yinz generally keep it on? For me, it's 75 during the day (I work from home) and 72 at night.

We have the thermostat set to 75 degrees pretty much year round. Any cooler than that and the thing would be on non-stop during July and August.