Cooling your home for less.........a LOT less!

jeff kushner

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I am an Mechanical estimator.....I know this field pretty well after 40 years but some things just defy explanation!

How for instance that I can cool my 3200sf home with less than 2 tons of cooling?


As temps here in Maryland soared to over 90F on Saturday, Kerry and I were working on bikes in my garage, air conditioned of course with a window unit.

My home is a rambler, roughly 2,200sf Above grade and an additional finished 1000sf below grade. I have a high-efficiency Gas heat and 4 tons of Central AC, I do not use the Central AC unit.

For cooling.........I use, wait for it.........window shakers! Yes, those tacky looking window units! I love them! Redundancy, quiet, cheap to run or replace.....

Right now, I have a total of 1.9 tons of cooling(1-8K BTU unit in my Master BR, 1-10K unit in the kitchen area and 1-5k unit in the living room) in my house and Saturday afternoon, it was an honest 73F inside at 4PM, when the sun was at it's strongest.

For grins because I own a dosimeter, I measured the sound in the living room, 6 ft from the window unit and it's quieter than if I run the Central air unit.


I have posed this on HVAC pro forums......and no one can tell me how this is working so effectively.

FWIW- my home was built in '69 and is not insulated better than other homes built at that time. Budget billing for Gas & Electric is $226 per month

Just interesting that this works so well......
 

Yvonne G

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Yes, but what's the cost of running those window ACs? Here in CA running the AC costs a helluva lot. I'm lucky I have an evaporative cooler, which is cheap to run. When I was still working I had an AC unit (heat and cool) installed on the roof, but I can't afford to run it.
 

Tom

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I am an Mechanical estimator.....I know this field pretty well after 40 years but some things just defy explanation!

How for instance that I can cool my 3200sf home with less than 2 tons of cooling?


As temps here in Maryland soared to over 90F on Saturday, Kerry and I were working on bikes in my garage, air conditioned of course with a window unit.

My home is a rambler, roughly 2,200sf Above grade and an additional finished 1000sf below grade. I have a high-efficiency Gas heat and 4 tons of Central AC, I do not use the Central AC unit.

For cooling.........I use, wait for it.........window shakers! Yes, those tacky looking window units! I love them! Redundancy, quiet, cheap to run or replace.....

Right now, I have a total of 1.9 tons of cooling(1-8K BTU unit in my Master BR, 1-10K unit in the kitchen area and 1-5k unit in the living room) in my house and Saturday afternoon, it was an honest 73F inside at 4PM, when the sun was at it's strongest.

For grins because I own a dosimeter, I measured the sound in the living room, 6 ft from the window unit and it's quieter than if I run the Central air unit.


I have posed this on HVAC pro forums......and no one can tell me how this is working so effectively.

FWIW- my home was built in '69 and is not insulated better than other homes built at that time. Budget billing for Gas & Electric is $226 per month

Just interesting that this works so well......
This whole thing would work much better if you just spoke English... :)
 

ArmadilloPup

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That's honestly one of my favorite parts of going to a fishing cabin on the lake. The smell of those old window units (kind of basement-y) makes me nostalgic, and the air doesn't set off my Raynaud's like the central air unit does.
 

Maro2Bear

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We have/use a very quiet “window shaker” in our bedroom to keep the BR cooler during the hot/humid Maryland Summer. The nasty heat was pretty nasty on Saturday & Sunday so we also turned the central a/c on to keep rest of the house comfy at about 73.

We also have good old fashioned curtains & blinds drawn to keep the sun’s rays from shining in.

We have a few centrally located fans - including two that are solar powered.

Today it’s 59 so no issues. 😀
 

Yvonne G

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S'posed to be in the 90's here today, so I've turned on the cooler already. I had thought about getting a window unit for my bedroom, but I don't think I have the right kind of windows. They slide back and forth to open instead of up and down. I don't know how a window unit would fit.

Any body have any experience with the ductless type?
 

Len B

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S'posed to be in the 90's here today, so I've turned on the cooler already. I had thought about getting a window unit for my bedroom, but I don't think I have the right kind of windows. They slide back and forth to open instead of up and down. I don't know how a window unit would fit.

Any body have any experience with the ductless type?
Google floor models air conditioner. I picked up a couple a several years ago at auction because I have the same type of window's you have and they will work on them. I have never liked the slide to the side windows so I'm in the process of switching 3 out so I can raise them up to open. Also replacing a large bay window with 2 new regular windows to get better air circulation throughout the house.
 

jeff kushner

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Len nailed it for you! The simplest and least expensive to buy & operate too! For reference; A 12,000 BTU model will consume approx 1.3KW per hour of full-power operation. It varies but that's a good metric to use for home calculations. You can use that with your electric bill to see how much it will cost you to run, per hour. Most folks are billed by the KW.


You don't need to be in that heat Y......even though I suspect you are very used to it.....this is the time in life to pamper yourself a bit more. I know there are other factors....but personal comfort is a biggie and we don't want anyone to stroke out cause they got too hot!

Those evap-coolers are what they are now using in Data Centers. It's the latest "big thing" in the DC market. These are huge, upscaled versions of what you have but it's very effective.

The floor AC units are a tiny bit more than a window unit and you have to empty or connect a hose to a drain but they are thee single most flexible solution.

Ductless splits run 600 & up and are generally foolproof. Everyone makes one now. If you have a young friend who's sharp, they do make complete kits in the 750'ish range I believe.....but the pricing in my head is a few months old.
 

Maro2Bear

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jaizei

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S'posed to be in the 90's here today, so I've turned on the cooler already. I had thought about getting a window unit for my bedroom, but I don't think I have the right kind of windows. They slide back and forth to open instead of up and down. I don't know how a window unit would fit.

Any body have any experience with the ductless type?

How wide is the opening when the window is open?; if the window opens wide enough for the unit to fit, install is about same as normal window, just have to use something to fill the space above it, plywood (if you don't care how it looks), or plexiglass to recreate the look of the window.

A ductless would be more complicated.
 

Jan A

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I am an Mechanical estimator.....I know this field pretty well after 40 years but some things just defy explanation!

How for instance that I can cool my 3200sf home with less than 2 tons of cooling?


As temps here in Maryland soared to over 90F on Saturday, Kerry and I were working on bikes in my garage, air conditioned of course with a window unit.

My home is a rambler, roughly 2,200sf Above grade and an additional finished 1000sf below grade. I have a high-efficiency Gas heat and 4 tons of Central AC, I do not use the Central AC unit.

For cooling.........I use, wait for it.........window shakers! Yes, those tacky looking window units! I love them! Redundancy, quiet, cheap to run or replace.....

Right now, I have a total of 1.9 tons of cooling(1-8K BTU unit in my Master BR, 1-10K unit in the kitchen area and 1-5k unit in the living room) in my house and Saturday afternoon, it was an honest 73F inside at 4PM, when the sun was at it's strongest.

For grins because I own a dosimeter, I measured the sound in the living room, 6 ft from the window unit and it's quieter than if I run the Central air unit.


I have posed this on HVAC pro forums......and no one can tell me how this is working so effectively.

FWIW- my home was built in '69 and is not insulated better than other homes built at that time. Budget billing for Gas & Electric is $226 per month

Just interesting that this works so well......
Growing up in an old house with only a window fan in a room upstairs, my folks broke down & bought a window AC unit for the downstairs while I was in high school. They bought a small used window unit for my room upstairs my first summer home from college, & I thought I'd died & gone to heaven.

I also like the portable evap coolers that sit on a stand but they drive my allergies bonkers.
 

Yvonne G

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I bought one. Yes, it puts out cool air, but you can only feel it if you're immediately in front of it.
 

Maro2Bear

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Nice here in Maryland after our big weekend storm. 68 degrees outside, slightly overcast, a slight breeze, with humidity at 70%. We are still filling, pushing & dumping wheel barrows of mulch into the back garden pathways. 50 so far.

EFECD52B-D87A-4C68-8FF5-93CA194927F1.jpeg
 

Cathie G

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I personally don't like air condtioners at all but the older I get the more I have to use them. I used to just use a fan and open windows. Now I still do whenever I can and window ac units if I have to compensate for global warming 😁
 

jeff kushner

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Well, Kerry and I got a chance to test my theory out at her home this weekend when her 2.5 ton(30,000btu) central AC unit stopped working. Her guy will come out today to give her the damage estimate, but what I found when I opened her unit in her crawlspace was mold, the entire inside of the unit and wiring was covered in mold. The Humidifier makeup solenoid had failed, dripping just enough water into the unit to promote the growth but that will be another story!


So, in her 1,800SF Cape Cod, we installed 2- 5,000BTU window units. One upstairs and we put a sheer curtain across the stairwell to keep the bulk of the cold air upstairs and one downstairs in a shaded bedroom. It was 88F yesterday when I left and will be 90F today but her home is nice and cool. Even after a day near 90, her upstairs was a cool 73.
and she's using about a third of her normal power consumption to do it!
 

jeff kushner

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FWIW; As Maro noted in another thread, it has been 94-95F around here pretty much all week...........Kerry's house was 73 inside when she got home at 5:30.

My home was 74F when I got home with 2 of the units on Low, and my room on Auto-74F

That casement unit look like a charm but a ripoff for the price, should be 375-450 tops.............searching will cut the price.
 

Blackdog1714

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My house was built in 1923 and it is brick. No duct work as we have a boiler with radiators. We have used window units for years and their noise keeps out the noise from outside. I especially love the unit in my bedroom as it's noise negates the ringing in my ears and really drowns out outside noises.
 

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