Would you replace your exisiting AC if it wasn't broken

[mvscal]

*Anything you can think of I'm not taking into account?

B.b.but what about the environment?!? ~sniffle~

--Feelsdicks

[Mikey]

More like 40% more efficient.

In terms of the amount of energy input for equivalent output, (13-8)/13 = 0.385.

If you get rid of the old one, dismantling and scrapping it might provide jobs for several people for an hour or so, so that would be helping the economy even on top of the stimulus provided by purchasing and installing the new one.

[ChargerMike]

"dismantling and scrapping it might provide jobs for several people for an hour or so, so that would be helping the economy even on top of the stimulus provided by purchasing and installing the new one."


...Onoggaspeak

[BarFlie]

25yrs old sounds like a good initial investment. Even if still working well I think it time for an upgrade. jmo

[Dinsdale]

And the children can continue striping the pvc off the copper to help feed grandma.

Wow, what a strange difference in regional dialect we have here...


'Round here, "children" refers to a couple's offspring -- you know, those little people that run around your house after you knock the OL up. Apparently, where you are, "children" refers to what we call "tweekers," and what you call "grandma," we call "a nose."


To-May-to, To-Mah-to, I suppose.

[Dinsdale]

And the children can continue striping the pvc off the copper to help feed grandma.

And another thing...

we'll assume you meant "stripping" rather than "striping"...

And by "stripping," you mean "chuck it in the firepit until all the insulation is gone, and you have clean copper for scrap," right?

Just to make sure our regional dialects gel and whatnot.


And yes... I am ashamed to know how to do that, since you were bound to ask.

[Mikey]

You gotta cut old Roach some slack. He's old.

And who knows what "children", "grandma", and "striping" might mean in Utah.

[Diego in Seattle]

What's AC?

Sin,
Left side of the Cascades

[Dinsdale]

What's AC?

Sin,
Left side of the Cascades

Maybe your Soggy Side. Usually gets quite a bit hotter in my neck of the woods (house has AC, doesn't get used too often). And last I checked, Medford is still on the left side of the Cascades, and it's hot as fuck there.

[War Wagon]

*Wags Joke*

Take it to The One Forum, stalker.

[smackaholic]

i assume KC summer is about like nashville, in which case, you are pretty much at the mercy of AC, but, here in the U&R where we do have oppressive humidity as well, just not quite as oppressive, smart folks like myself invest in whole house fans and ceiling fans. Whole house fans are pretty fukking epcot. they replace the air in you house like about every second and a half, so at night the inside of your crib will actually be as cool as the outside, rather than 15 degrees warmer. this and a few well placed fans will allow you to ask wtf is a SEER rating. I do have a few window units for the occasional mid july spell where it gets stupid hot, but, not worth dropping $$$$ on a high efficiency central unit.

[socal]

Anything you can think of I'm not taking into account?

Five more Seer's.

That's gonna be quite a drain on the liquor industry in Mexifornia.

[Roger_the_Shrubber]

I thought this was about knee stuff.

Never mind............

[Truman]

i assume KC summer is about like nashville, in which case, you are pretty much at the mercy of AC, but, here in the U&R where we do have oppressive humidity as well, just not quite as oppressive, smart folks like myself invest in whole house fans and ceiling fans. Whole house fans are pretty fukking epcot. they replace the air in you house like about every second and a half, so at night the inside of your crib will actually be as cool as the outside, rather than 15 degrees warmer. this and a few well placed fans will allow you to ask wtf is a SEER rating. I do have a few window units for the occasional mid july spell where it gets stupid hot, but, not worth dropping $$$$ on a high efficiency central unit.

Whole house fans are pretty much Standard Issue in these parts as well, and they're pretty much nailz 'til mid of May before Summer takes interest. Any attic fan usage past that point are for days deemed "unseasonable"... Or for those who wish to provide a rain forest experience for their houseplants. We use ceiling fans to spread conditioned air around some....

[Dinsdale]

Whole house fans are pretty fukking epcot. they replace the air in you house like about every second and a half, so at night the inside of your crib will actually be as cool as the outside

More quirky differences in regional dialect.

'Round these parts, we call that device a "window."

And the joys of the maritime climate -- even if it's triple-digit temps (not a common occurence here, generally), it generally cools to the low 60's (although (I think we threw down our highest overnight low last summer, or tied it, or some such shit). Open the window, and put up a window fan. Since I live in a single story adjacent to a business/transient/Mexican gangbanger hiway, the window fan has it's companion device called a "handgun," to secure the open window, but this cooling system works fairly well when coupled with the white comp roof (cedar shake RULES, except you can't walk on it, it get's dirty as hell, rots/UVs away in our climate, and also goes by the name "kindling") and the large capacity attic fan (good setup for our summertime Sahara-like conditions, but I could see where humidity could be a problem).

Without the AC, the abode rarely gets above 80-81, unless it's ridiculously scorching... then screw the AC, let's go to the river (or better yet, the Coast, where 75 is considered a "scorcher").

[smackaholic]

yes dins, we have windows in the east as well. trouble is, the air on the outside is not in all that big a hurry to come inside. a whole house fan, which, btw is worthless if you don't have a very well ventilated attic, changes this. that biggass fan, usually a belt driven 30 inch fan, creates a pretty good vacuum in the house. this is especially beneficial if you have a crib that soaks up lots of heat during the day such as a brick or stucco house.

[Mace]

I would concur on the benefits of the attic fan. We've had one for 8-10 years and it cools the house at night in the spring and fall, and saves big time on the electric bill. Four ceiling fans also help to circulate the air.

[trev]

We have 2 whole house fans which we love.

25 years is old for A/C and it will probably die this summer. We finally replaced our 25 year old unit last summer. Yes, we waited until it died. In So Cal, you don't need A/C all that much, but when you need it, you need it. We ran the thing the entire months of August and September because the A/C guy (which happens to be our neighbor) said to set it on your desired cool temperature and leave it at that. Our monthly gas and electric bill for running it all month is $270.00. Our old unit would cost about $400.00 (including all g & e) during a heatwave month and that is with a bit of suffering until we broke down and turned it on.

[smackaholic]

spring and fall are pretty damn awesome without any sort of climate modifying devices here. today was high seventies, probably goo down to low fourties tonight. shouldn't have the need to cank up the house fan till at least sometime in may and only sporadically till summer really shows up in late june.

damn i'm glad i don't live in iowa. summers about like tennessee. winters about like siberia. no thanks.

rack living near a large body of water, even if it is not the "good ocean" that makes left coasters such weather pussies.

[trev]

'Round these parts, we call that device a "window."

A window doesn't quite work the same way an attic fan works, but ok.

[smackaholic]

We have 2 whole house fans which we love.

25 years is old for A/C and it will probably die this summer. We finally replaced our 25 year old unit last summer. Yes, we waited until it died. In So Cal, you don't need A/C all that much, but when you need it, you need it. We ran the thing the entire months of August and September because the A/C guy (which happens to be our neighbor) said to set it on your desired cool temperature and leave it at that. Our monthly gas and electric bill for running it all month is $270.00. Our old unit would cost about $400.00 (including all g & e) during a heatwave month and that is with a bit of suffering until we broke down and turned it on.

i don't buy that bullshit about leaving the AC cranked all day. the rationale that it's cheaper and easier on the system to work lightly all day long rather than letting the house heat up when no one's home during the day and turning it back on late in the afternoon about the time you get home.

an AC system doesn't work hard or easily. it is either on or off. being on more costs more and results in a shorter life, imo. and a house that is kept cool all day has a higher rate of heat transfer than one that is allowed to heat up a little. it's no different than a heating system in that regard. but still, i hear people say "no, it's cheaper to run it all day. my hvac dude told me so." yeah, you know, the dude who makes a living by repairing/replacing systems.

[trev]

I didn't buy it at first either. It actually took this new unit a couple days to really cool the house down nicely. Whereas the old unit would cool it down right away. (When it wasn't dying).

[smackaholic]

I didn't buy it at first either. It actually took this new unit a couple days to really cool the house down nicely. Whereas the old unit would cool it down right away. (When it wasn't dying).

and that has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

all that means is that your old unit was probably not sized properly. it was too beau coup, just like soul brother and therefore inefficient.

keeping the house cool all day means there will be a greater transfer of heat which means the unit will have to run more.

end.

of.

story.

mikey will probably come in here with his 50 cent engineer geek words and say it more better, eventually.

so long as it is able to get things cooled down to a reasonable level WHEN you want it to, give it a freaking rest during the day.

[trev]

Actually I'm home in the summer so I had it on. It was great. If we go away for a weekend or vacation, it'll get a rest.

I think I'll take the word of my A/C guy who owns the company.

[smackaholic]

Actually I'm home in the summer so I had it on. It was great. If we go away for a weekend or vacation, it'll get a rest.

I think I'll take the word of my A/C guy who owns the company.

take whoever's word you want. it doesn't change the laws of thermodynamics. and if you are home and want it cool, then by all means, crank that fukker till you got icicles hanging from the ceiling.

[smackaholic]

I didn't buy it at first either. It actually took this new unit a couple days to really cool the house down nicely. Whereas the old unit would cool it down right away. (When it wasn't dying).

and that has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

Actually it does.

One of the things the AC guy told me was due to EPA regulations, If i was going to buy I could still get an R-22 unit now, but htey are about to be phased out. However, it will cool the house much slower than my existing 25 year old Carrier

No, it doesn't.

The topic was whether or not it made sense to leave the unit on while you are away for the day. Some folks are under the impression that leaving it on all day saves power, because it means it doesn't have to work hard to cool off a hot house late in the day.

This is bullshit.

What kind of refrigerant or how rapidly it works was not being questioned. Wouldn't doubt what your AC guy told you though. The fukking hacks at EPA are gifted in the art of coming up with senseless new regs to ban efficient products in favor of "safer" ones, even though, quite often that's horseshit as well.

My guess is the R-22 patents are running out, so they gotta ban the shit and go to something with a patent that is still in effect. I have heard that this was the case with R-12. Might be complete horseshit, but, who knows.