Record high of 111 today. 99 now at 8:45

A 20 SEER A/C, R79 insulation, and all LED fighting has kept my electric usage in check. 769 kwh last cycle. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1724118276.jpg

^^^

That's pretty amazing.

I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum, compared-usage wise, as I always use 35-40 percent more energy than similar homes in my area.

My little, 1960s place is sorely lacking in insulation and sealing efficiency (projects for the future), but I am also an energy hog as I use central air (thermostat never set higher than 77, and that is only when I am not home - I drop the temp to 70 at night during high heat and to mid-lower 60s in more reasonable outside temperatures), plus I use a 2 ton mini-split in one room, along with an 8000 BTU window unit on genuinely hot nights, in order to super cool that room way below what any normal person would want to relax and sleep in (46-48 degrees year round, made possible by using aftermarket controllers, with both the mini-split and window a/c, that override the built in temperature controls of those machines).

Any outside entity that is monitoring electrical consumption must always wonder WTF is going on over there, during nighttime hours. :D

Oh, and in the past year I have added two dehumidifiers to my climate battling tool supply - one medium size and one that is bigly yuuuugggeeeee, so even more kilowatts pumping through this place.

Did my usual non-A/C run from the Phoenix metro to Monterey. Left 2 weeks ago today at 345AM. Temp around 90. At that time of the morning it is still dropping so Wickenberg at 430 at around 86, tolerable. Cloud cover all the way through Parker and to about 30 miles from Needles. This is where it got really hot. Through in then towel in Bakersfield after 8 hours in the seat. 107 there. Same as Phoenix. Got up on Wednesday to run over CA58 to Atascadero. Hot at 8am. Though in Cambria I needed to break out the jeans

I have been making this run for 11 years and each year it just gets hotter. It is not really the high temp, it is the high low temp. At 4AM this time of year I could count on the low in the high 70’s or low 80’s. That makes the trip more tolerable since max temp in later in the afternoon. Now I am lucky if the low is 90. I may be getting too old for this

It's still H&H AF!

We're paying right around $.011 per KH here, current month just paid $128. for 1123 KH. House is high ceilings 2700 SF built to 1999 standards. Lots of glass too. Back to the mid - 90's, typical August around here. Not complaining for sure.

Wow! Here we have a three tier system. The first tier (cheapest for those who use the least electricity - the next two tiers go way higher) costs $.44/kWh. Since I have solar and only pay a true up bill once a year, I don't know what my exact monthly bills are. Last year it averaged out to a little less than $45/mo.

I love the recent surge in coverage of the great "corn sweat". It's probably breaking news to the people in the stanky sweaty August midwest to learn that their more-or-less normal stanky sweaty August weather has a cool "new" phenomenon.

After the Weather Channel media complex started naming winter storms, perhaps this is the newest thing? Every (predicted, blah blah) hot flash gets a stanky sweaty name? What would this first(?) case of the corn sweats be named?

More importantly, in the case of a breaking-news report of the corn sweats, will Jim Cantore lash himself to a grungy fencepost somewhere in eastern Iowa?

Mine is also a 60's place with plenty of opportunities for improvement of insulation and air leakage. However, my goal for air temps inside at night during sleep is only 75, so very do-able and this time of year I raise the thermostat up to 79 when I get up where it will stay until I get back in later in the day.

I too have an 8K BTU window unit (located in one of my living room windows) to assist my 2.5 ton central air and mitigate some of the wear and tear. The outside Goodman condenser unit is around 10 years old now so doing good. The Trane furnace (gas) & air handler was installed around 20 some years ago and also hanging in there.

Putting in a ductless mini-split is an objective of mine but would need to upgrade my electric box first. I'd leave the central air in place and use the mini as a supplement as you do and then when the central system fails the mini-split would be my main HVAC system.

My utility bills have been quite reasonable. I also have an 8K BTU window AC unit for my 2 car garage, operated on a timer to run around 12 hours/day - just enough to take the edge off the extreme heat during the day.

============

Yesterday afternoon after working outside for a while at one of my monthly accounts, I left to head home but stopped at the Dollar General on the way to grab a few groceries. Not unusual to need some recovery time in the AC after spending time working outside here this time of year but yesterday I admit I had to sit in my truck engine running and AC on for about 10 minutes before I felt recovered enough to go inside and get what I needed. Part of it is I'm getting older and part of it is just the suffocating heat and humidity here this time of year.

Fall/Winter is on the way and will be welcomed!

In the meantime....thank the Lord above for AC!!!

I do take time out though for bike rides on the beach, FWIW, with the Labor Day w/e coming up, and along with it crowded beaches, I've been trying to get rides in every week day. We call these days "local days" because we have the beach to ourselves.....

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1725014885.JPG

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1725014885.JPG

Fall has officially arrived! It's just about perfect out right now. Slight breeze and 73. Humidity is reading in the 80's...but you wouldn't know it, for some reason. It just feels nice and cool!

I have a 10 trunk Areca Palm (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens) with a couple LED uplights on it that rotate through several colors. When the blue shines upward into it's canopy....it's like you forget everything else in the world.....

We've had a run of weather that has negated the necessity for us to run heat or AC for about three months at this point. I have turned on the AC a couple of times for a short time in the late afternoon and the heat a couple of times to take care of a slight chill in the morning. I don't remember a time when I haven't needed to run HVAC this infrequently. We've been opening windows at night & closing up during the days. This has been great.

Forecast is for a low of 43 here tonight......coldest it's been since last Winter!

Days have been sunny and in the 60's.....almost perfect !

49 out right now.....but sun is out and it's a beautiful morning here!

83 all week in Palm Springs.

Time for my annual trip to the Date Gardens for some high end Dates, They keep me moving.
https://shieldsdategarden.com/

60 degrees and will dip down to 48 tonight. Brrrrr..........

We've had a power shut off since Monday at 3:15 PM because of high winds. Power just came back on after 1:00 PM this afternoon. The power company shuts off power when they deem it necessary to prevent possible fire resulting from downed power lines. It's always interesting to live without electricity. We once had to do it for five days several years back. I had to replace the fuel pump on my generator, Went to a local place that fixes them to ask if they had one. There was a line of generators extending 30 feet out the door of the repair shop.

Glad your power is back on now, Marv!

Our power outages are usually tied to hurricanes so sorta seasonal and sometimes we go years in between episodes.

But......when it happens......you really learn to appreciate what a generator does for you!

I bought a dual-fuel portable a few years ago that also has an electric start Honda engine. I liked it so much I bought another and keep it in it's original box for when this one is no longer usable.

It's usually a fuel related problem so keeping a spare carb and replacement fuel lines aren't a bad idea either, just in case. The previous model didn't have an electric start but I kept a spare starter recoil assembly for it - just in case.

I have natural gas for heat here but also have some electric powered portables...just in case.

Backups and contingency plans are worth the effort!

Mine is 17 years old now. It's a 10 kW running/12.5 kW peak with an electric starter. It started running rough this morning before I shut it off. It's a fuel feed problem I'm taking it to the same shop I mentioned to have it tuned up and serviced. Should outlast me after that.

74 out today. Lows in the 60's tonight. A bit of humidity (86%) and some showers coming later.....

We were 52º this morning. We're forecast to be 75º this afternoon and 83º tomorrow afternoon. Wed & Thu morning it's supposed to be 40º & 38º. We've been lucky so far. Our last 4 winters have had temps in the 20s by now.

I'm sure we've got some folks in Oz that are having a toasty summer right now.

After spending 2 months in Idaho, I welcome the humidity!