Been able to keep our air conditioning usage at a minimum this summer.

[arcadian]

The weather has been cooperative enough that if we only run the AC at certain times of the day we can keep the whole house cool without running it all of the time. House is shaded in the morning and late afternoon. The nights and mornings are still pretty cool. We usually endure some uncomfortable heat in the mid afternoon 3:00 pm to 7:00pm but we know that it is going to cool off soon so, it isn't that bad. A lot of times we just run the AC at night to bring the house down to a cool temperature that matches the outside temp and then turn it off and open the windows for overnight. We also set up a shading umbrella on the deck that shades the kitchen, this has helped enormously. The kitchen obviously is the hottest part of the house.

We have been cooking out and grilling out so as not to raise the temp in the kitchen. By "cooking out", I mean we have a small two burning Coleman stove that is out on the porch and we use it to boil pasta or anything else that takes a long time on the stove top. Grilling out is awesome, been doing yellow squash, zucchini and onions on the grill a long with italian sausage and chicken. I used to never grill stuff like chicken and sausage on the grill, it tastes really good along with the grilled veggies. Also eating a lot of "summer food", like cold pasta salad, BLTs, etc.

We normally turn the AC off if we are going anywhere for longer than an hour. We leave it on only if the heat is too unbearable, like that heatwave we had a couple of weeks ago. We also are keeping our eye on all the appliances and do not leave any lights or anything going if it's not being used or if we are away. For example, if we were going anywhere at night we used to keep a light on the front porch or leave a light on to make potential burglars think there was somebody at home. No more. Now we fumble around in the dark to find the house key.

All of these things have helped save on our electric bill, just thought I'd pass them along. Of course June seems to be the gentlest of summer months, we'll see how July and August go. :hi:

[hobbit709]

1. We've had a heatwave for over a month.

Above or near 100° for 30+ days. Wouldn't make it without the AC on. We've had 16 days of 100+ so far and the average is 11 for the whole summer.

[bullimiami]

2. where are you at?

[arcadian]

8. 39°N Eastern U.S.

elev. well below 1000

[NightWatcher]

3. also look into window film (tinting) it can cut down on the uv rays getting in

and it can help keep window heavy rooms a little cooler.

they make it in almost clear forms all the way to dark "limo" tint, but be sure to get the stuff at a home improvement store and not the same stuff for your car windows.

[NNN0LHI]

4. Keep in mind that AC is not just for cooling its for humidity removal too

Excess humidity in your flooring, furniture, inside of the walls, etc. is not a good thing.

Keep an eye on this so you don't shoot yourself in the foot financially. Mold removal can be very expensive and most insurance companies don't cover it any more.

I know my central air removes gallons of water from inside my house on a day like today.

Don

[arcadian]

6. It's been real dry here.

n't

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. I haven't owned one for 23 years..living at higher altitudes has its perks

[Occam Bandage]

7. Have yet to turn it on. You get used to the heat after a little while.

The car, though, is a different story.