how to survive the heat and cold on a low budget
phil scott
Keep the house more or less at outside tempurature, except in the
winter heat it to 45F or so... then sleep and read and watch da tee
veee in one room.... that one you keep heated and cooled with a
chinese window heat pump..... costs about $200 bucks.
then at night in the winter set its thermostat to 50F or so, and use a
matrress warmer.
if you want to run even cheaper in hot weather, put yer easy chair and
bed near the air conditioner and put the fan ON and set the thermostat
up to 78F or so... the breeze and dehumidified air will keep you cool.
If you want to save even more, insulate the windows with reflective
insulation about 1" thick.... blow some extra insulation into the
attic above the room, insulate the floor of the room under the
house.....and walk around free bird :).... coolness will ensue.
cheap.
Phil scott (hvac contractor)
Vic Smith
<ph...@philscott.net> wrote:
>
>Keep the house more or less at outside tempurature, except in the
>winter heat it to 45F or so... then sleep and read and watch da tee
>veee in one room.... that one you keep heated and cooled with a
>chinese window heat pump..... costs about $200 bucks.
>
An electric space heater might work better for that room up north.
>
>then at night in the winter set its thermostat to 50F or so, and use a
>matrress warmer.
A mattress heating pad does work wonders.
>
>if you want to run even cheaper in hot weather, put yer easy chair and
>bed near the air conditioner and put the fan ON and set the thermostat
>up to 78F or so... the breeze and dehumidified air will keep you cool.
>
We keep the A/C on 80F, sometimes 79F. Ceiling fans make that pretty
tolerable.
>
>If you want to save even more, insulate the windows with reflective
>insulation about 1" thick.... blow some extra insulation into the
>attic above the room, insulate the floor of the room under the
>house.....and walk around free bird :).... coolness will ensue.
>
>cheap.
>
That's right. Why heat and cool places you don't use much.
But I spend a lot of time in the basement or outside.
My wife, who cooks, cleans house, etc, has other ideas about
how to heat and cool the house.
--Vic
phil scott
> On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:46:38 -0700 (PDT), phil scott
>
you are right about the electric heater for a room in cold climates..
heat pumps fade fast below 35F outside temps .. or so.
re the wife, maybe you can tell her she looks hot in thick socks, long
pants and heavy sweaters..
Vic Smith
<ph...@philscott.net> wrote:
>
>re the wife, maybe you can tell her she looks hot in thick socks, long
>pants and heavy sweaters..
>
She does look hot no matter how she's dressed, and knows it.
Trouble is, she don't care!
She just wants to cook and do dishes without shivering or sweating.
And I can't sweet talk her out of that, as much as I've tried.
--Vic
phil scott
> On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 18:27:50 -0700 (PDT), phil scott
>
>
> >re the wife, maybe you can tell her she looks hot in thick socks, long
> >pants and heavy sweaters..
>
> She does look hot no matter how she's dressed, and knows it.
> Trouble is, she don't care!
> She just wants to cook and do dishes without shivering or sweating.
> And I can't sweet talk her out of that, as much as I've tried.
>
> --Vic
Ok ok.. she cooks! does dishes! and is hot!!!... you cant beat
that. you have to keeep her cool.
you could buy her an ice cube maybe.
L\\
Stephanie
For us, we can spend some time and not money by harvesting the dead trees on
our property for the wood stove. Last year we were able to barter almost a
year's worth of wood for 4 days of labor with a logger and sugar maker. I
know not everyone has access to this sort of thing. But it can help to think
outside the box a bit.
A Veteran
<88a48c30-8526-4327...@j1g2000prb.googlegroups.com>,
phil scott <ph...@philscott.net> wrote:
Ice cubes have really gone up in price.
--
If guns are out-lawed. Only the Out-laws & politicians will have guns.
Jeff
> Keep the house more or less at outside tempurature, except in the
> winter heat it to 45F or so... then sleep and read and watch da tee
> veee in one room.... that one you keep heated and cooled with a
> chinese window heat pump..... costs about $200 bucks.
I haven't seen one for anywhere near that price. Many of the window
AC/heater combos use resistance heating, not a heat pump, for the
heating cycle.
Which units have you found?
>
>
> then at night in the winter set its thermostat to 50F or so, and use a
> matrress warmer.
>
> if you want to run even cheaper in hot weather, put yer easy chair and
> bed near the air conditioner and put the fan ON and set the thermostat
> up to 78F or so... the breeze and dehumidified air will keep you cool.
I've switched my heating/cooling plan. I only heat/cool the rooms I'm
using and I've added insulation to those rooms in particular. I set the
temp to what I want and don't bother with trying to live in a
tool cool or too warm room.
Bills are down and the comfort factor is way up.
>
>
> If you want to save even more, insulate the windows with reflective
> insulation about 1" thick.... blow some extra insulation into the
> attic above the room, insulate the floor of the room under the
> house.....and walk around free bird :).... coolness will ensue.
All great ideas.
Jeff
Lou
"Vic Smith" <thismaila...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:409q841fllisj6orc...@4ax.com...
Sure you can - all you have to do is do the cooking and the dishes yourself.
Marsha
> Dunno anything about air conditioning; never had it in the home or
> motor vehicle. I put it into the same category as cable teevee: Don't
> need it; don't know anyone who does. My body has a self-contained (and
> free) system of temperature regulation that simply requires that I keep
> a reasonable level of physical fitness in order to work at peak
> efficiency. I do, however, know of a number of out-of-shape chubbies,
> for whom I have no sympathy at all, who continuously whine about being
> "hot" or "needing" air conditioning when all they really need is an
> exercise program -- one that begins with the arms: Using them to push
> their lard asses away from the table....
Air conditioning sure helps in extreme heat and humidity, especially if
you're female and going through menopause.
Marsha/Ohio
Goomba
> Dunno anything about air conditioning; never had it in the home or
> motor vehicle. I put it into the same category as cable teevee: Don't
> need it; don't know anyone who does. My body has a self-contained (and
> free) system of temperature regulation that simply requires that I keep
> a reasonable level of physical fitness in order to work at peak
> efficiency. I do, however, know of a number of out-of-shape chubbies,
> for whom I have no sympathy at all, who continuously whine about being
> "hot" or "needing" air conditioning when all they really need is an
> exercise program -- one that begins with the arms: Using them to push
> their lard asses away from the table....
Spoken a tad pompously, lol.
I am curious as to where you live?
clams_casino
> Dunno anything about air conditioning; never had it in the home or
>motor vehicle. I put it into the same category as cable teevee: Don't
>need it; don't know anyone who does.
>
>
When we moved to RI, I resisted putting in air while trying a portable
unit. We finally put in central air a few years ago, thinking the
installation cost would mostly be recovered in a sales price.
I was concerned about the running cost. Just got our bill for last
month - even with the country's highest electricity costs ($16.5/KWHr
and soon to go up another 20%), the cost of central air from 6/26 - 7/28
was only about $75 (over the typically cost for lights, etc). That
was half what we spent several summers ago for the single unit & July
was one of the highest monthly average temperature on record for RI.
That $75 was well worth every penny. We tend to keep the living areas
about 74-75F (80F in alternate area), using programmable thermostats to
separately control up (night) / down stair (day) areas.
Marsha
> When we moved to RI, I resisted putting in air while trying a portable
> unit. We finally put in central air a few years ago, thinking the
> installation cost would mostly be recovered in a sales price.
>
> I was concerned about the running cost. Just got our bill for last
> month - even with the country's highest electricity costs ($16.5/KWHr
> and soon to go up another 20%), the cost of central air from 6/26 - 7/28
> was only about $75 (over the typically cost for lights, etc). That
> was half what we spent several summers ago for the single unit & July
> was one of the highest monthly average temperature on record for RI.
>
> That $75 was well worth every penny. We tend to keep the living areas
> about 74-75F (80F in alternate area), using programmable thermostats to
> separately control up (night) / down stair (day) areas.
Same here. We had a large window unit. When we added on to the house,
we would have needed a couple. So we got central air. Keep it around
75 and it's quite comfy. Much cheaper and more efficient than two
window units.
Marsha/Ohio
Vic Smith
I like central air. Put in a new furnace anyway when I bought the
house, so it wasn't much more to add the air.
Really opened up the light too, getting rid of a couple big window
units.
We keep it at 80F and sometimes drop it to 78-79 if we feel
uncomfortable. Ceilings fan make that work for us.
It really doesn't cost much to take the heat edge off.
Also good to know the outside temps and open the windows when
it's right.
Bricks hold the daytime heat and opening windows when the evening
temps drop enough sometimes cools the house faster than the A/C.
--Vic