Air con

[flossybeth]

Listening to two mums yesterday at swimming talking about the air-con not being cold enough at the swimming centre made me wonder what is actually an acceptable level of cooling. Should we expect to be cold - or just cool enough. I know when it's 40+ outside you obviously want to find somewhere cool but should we all expect our houses to be below 25 or is acceptable (and better all round for the power usage) if we're happy to live with an acceptable cool-er temperature in the same way that in winter it's more acceptable here to put on an extra jumper and use a blanket than to install central heating?

[Guest Claire-n-tel]

Our air-con is set to 25 at the moment, when i came in from watering plants earlier it felt freezing!

[Keith & Linda]

The recommended main living room temp in the UK is 21deg, in Australia (Queensland at least) it is 24deg. I am sure there are some government web site which will tell you what the ideal is.

 

My mother back in Yorkshire England did, against advise, place the thermostat in the coldest place in the house, this house is now the central point for global warming! she can grow pineapples year round.

[Rachiegarlo]

Your body and mind just adjust without it. You do little during the day if possible, cook outside or just have cold foods, keep the blinds down, curtains drawn until the sun goes off that part of the house and as soon as the cool front comes fling open doors and windows to let it blow through. You visit libraries, cinemas and shopping centres for relief and have the fan to move the air around, even if hot. After a day or two you sleep at night, accept it's going to be hot and don't try to do things that can wait until cooler weather arrives, which always does! Until last summer I had no aircon in car or house. This year, new car and a window aircon but due to enjoying nice low power bills, we don't run it until the house is hotter than outside.

[Guest Claire-n-tel]

The recommended main living room temp in the UK is 21deg, in Australia (Queensland at least) it is 24deg. I am sure there are some government web site which will tell you what the ideal is.

 

My mother back in Yorkshire England did, against advise, place the thermostat in the coldest place in the house, this house is now the central point for global warming! she can grow pineapples year round.

 

Ha!.....my mum did the opposite Keith.....when she moved to her new house she inadvertantly put the tv in front of the thermostat so the heat from said tv kept heating turned off......we arrived for a visit last november and it was bloody freezing she was waiting for someone to come out to 'fix' it which Tel did in 30 seconds by moving the tv!

[Blossom]

The air con in my new rental keeps tripping out once the temp gets to the mid 30s. The repair person came out and said its just an old unit (about 15 years apparently) and they don't like to work when it's hot. :-O

They seemed to think this was totally acceptable. Not when I have three cats (one a long hair) and look for a rental with air con exactly for exactly this time of year. My last rental had window units which coped with high temps fine. Grrrrr

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

The air con in my new rental keeps tripping out once the temp gets to the mid 30s. The repair person came out and said its just an old unit (about 15 years apparently) and they don't like to work when it's hot. :-O

They seemed to think this was totally acceptable. Not when I have three cats (one a long hair) and look for a rental with air con exactly for exactly this time of year. My last rental had window units which coped with high temps fine. Grrrrr

 

I have a new Fujitsu Siemens inverter reverse cycle system in a house. It cost $9000 and has individual zone control. in the instructions it says "Cooling is ideally set around 24 degrees. Lowering by 1 degree will increase running costs by 10%. Further lowering of the temperature will possibly risk overheating the unit during a heatwave".

 

I called them out soon after it was installed and the aircon bloke said that it's a thermal overload protection that's built into the units.

The standard thing thatt people do is to set it on its lowest temperature which is 18 degrees...at this temp it uses 50% more power and to protect itself it switches off in extreme conditions!

When this happens it has to be left off for a half hour and then started up at 24 degrees.

I could have installed an evap unit for a quarter of the price! It works fine within it's instructions though.

Tamara

[snifter]

Oooo aircon.

 

We only have one unit in the lounge room and then it's fans everywhere else. No clue as to temp it's chucking out as it's bit archaic but it's set to 4 on the cool setting, coolest being 10. Am trying to be frugal with it as don't want to be spoilt. I'm the same with heating though, always have it turned down and put an extra sweater on instead.

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

Oooo aircon.

 

We only have one unit in the lounge room and then it's fans everywhere else. No clue as to temp it's chucking out as it's bit archaic but it's set to 4 on the cool setting, coolest being 10. Am trying to be frugal with it as don't want to be spoilt. I'm the same with heating though, always have it turned down and put an extra sweater on instead.

 

i just know that someone is going to tell you to take your clothes off!!

[Toni]

The air con in my new rental keeps tripping out once the temp gets to the mid 30s. The repair person came out and said its just an old unit (about 15 years apparently) and they don't like to work when it's hot. :-O

They seemed to think this was totally acceptable. Not when I have three cats (one a long hair) and look for a rental with air con exactly for exactly this time of year. My last rental had window units which coped with high temps fine. Grrrrr

 

That's a bit rough - aren't the landlords responsible for providing something that works? That would really annoy me especially after uprooting yourself from your previous place for that same reason.

[Keith & Linda]

Oooo aircon.

 

We only have one unit in the lounge room and then it's fans everywhere else. No clue as to temp it's chucking out as it's bit archaic but it's set to 4 on the cool setting, coolest being 10. Am trying to be frugal with it as don't want to be spoilt. I'm the same with heating though, always have it turned down and put an extra sweater on instead.

 

I didn't think you were from Yorkshire snifter, as Yorkshire folk are well known for being FRUGAL:wink:. Must say though I cannot understand people that don't have aircon, surely in a cold country, like England, you have some form of heating, then it stands to reason in a hot country, like Australia, you would have some form of cooling! Also these days how many of us would dream of buy a car with out aircon? that uses fuel, and quite an expensive fuel too, but we never hear any body moaning about the cost of running that like we do a home aircon! We came here for a better life, and that means being comfortable at home, must add though that the unit I am staying in at the moment the aircon is crap so I am sat here writing this with very little clothing on..........let your imaginations run wild!

[Keith & Linda]

The air con in my new rental keeps tripping out once the temp gets to the mid 30s. The repair person came out and said its just an old unit (about 15 years apparently) and they don't like to work when it's hot. :-O

They seemed to think this was totally acceptable. Not when I have three cats (one a long hair) and look for a rental with air con exactly for exactly this time of year. My last rental had window units which coped with high temps fine. Grrrrr

 

May I suggest you get rid of the cats Blossom there combined body heat does not help, better idea though:idea: you could freeze them, then place them around your house like ice blocks:biglaugh:

[Blossom]

May I suggest you get rid of the cats Blossom there combined body heat does not help, better idea though:idea: you could freeze them, then place them around your house like ice blocks:biglaugh:

Lol. Oddly, one of them is outside in their run sunning herself!

The long haired one I just took in the shower with me. He's such a good boy. :-)

[Blossom]

That's a bit rough - aren't the landlords responsible for providing something that works? That would really annoy me especially after uprooting yourself from your previous place for that same reason.

Probably, but if the end up having to replace it I'm sure the rent would go up. :-/

[Keith & Linda]

Your body and mind just adjust without it. You do little during the day if possible, cook outside or just have cold foods, keep the blinds down, curtains drawn until the sun goes off that part of the house and as soon as the cool front comes fling open doors and windows to let it blow through. You visit libraries, cinemas and shopping centres for relief and have the fan to move the air around, even if hot. After a day or two you sleep at night, accept it's going to be hot and don't try to do things that can wait until cooler weather arrives, which always does! Until last summer I had no aircon in car or house. This year, new car and a window aircon but due to enjoying nice low power bills, we don't run it until the house is hotter than outside.

 

Gee Rachiegarlo when does work fit into all this? but as you say the body sort of gets use to it, I have been working outside in this all week and not really suffered too much, but hey! early day today 4.30 finish:jiggy:

[Blossom]

I have a new Fujitsu Siemens inverter reverse cycle system in a house. It cost $9000 and has individual zone control. in the instructions it says "Cooling is ideally set around 24 degrees. Lowering by 1 degree will increase running costs by 10%. Further lowering of the temperature will possibly risk overheating the unit during a heatwave".

 

I called them out soon after it was installed and the aircon bloke said that it's a thermal overload protection that's built into the units.

The standard thing thatt people do is to set it on its lowest temperature which is 18 degrees...at this temp it uses 50% more power and to protect itself it switches off in extreme conditions!

When this happens it has to be left off for a half hour and then started up at 24 degrees.

I could have installed an evap unit for a quarter of the price! It works fine within it's instructions though.

Tamara

Thanks very much. Just turned it to 24c. It cut out. :-/

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

Thanks very much. Just turned it to 24c. It cut out. :-/

 

As Toni said...get the landlord to sort it out! I had a couple of the wall units that came off the ark...binned them...and spent $9000 for a system that also trips!

[jtct]

Our evaporative system is currently running at its lowest setting even with 40+ outside and the house is a comfortable 25/26. Don't like coming into a freezing cold house in Summer so unlikely to set it much lower. We also draw the curtains and blinds. Haven't needed it on at night either ........... so far. We have solar and haven't paid for electricity since it was installed.

[Blossom]

As Toni said...get the landlord to sort it out! I had a couple of the wall units that came off the ark...binned them...and spent $9000 for a system that also trips!

We've tried it on 29c.... Tripped.

It's hard when the company coming to fix it just says 'its old and too hot'. No solution. They don't seem to think it's a problem. It is odd as we had the window units in my last house and they never once tripped.

[Guest Guest75]

Our evaporative system is currently running at its lowest setting even with 40+ outside and the house is a comfortable 25/26. Don't like coming into a freezing cold house in Summer so unlikely to set it much lower. We also draw the curtains and blinds. Haven't needed it on at night either ........... so far. We have solar and haven't paid for electricity since it was installed.

 

 

You are lucky it is pulling down that well ,evaporatives (Swampies) are normally not that good over 35c

[Guest Guest12727]

I think new evaps must be far more efficient. Ours is about 2 years old. In our current house we have evap for the first time, and it is working extremely well, far beyond my expectations. Don't know what the temp is, but cool enough that I have just turned it down as we were too cold, and we only had it on low anyway. Now it has clicked off, as it is on auto and just keeps ticking over. Electricity use extremely low. Turn it off when we go to bed, just have ceiling fans in the bedrooms and we have slept perfectly this week.

 

Just thought I would ad - I got the service guy out at the start of last summer to check it over and asked him for some tips on running it. You really do need to have windows / doors open and without this the humidity builds up. The wider the openings, the better it works and the cooler the room gets. Apparently the open window draws the air across the room. I open up all the blinds when the sun has gone down, so they aren't blocking the open windows. When I want to draw cool air into our bedroom, I open the windows as wide as I can. Seems counter intuitive, and I can hear my Dad's voice saying 'we are not cooling the garden, shut that door', but honestly, the aircon draws barely any electricity - far less than our reverse cycle did (with all doors and windows shut).

Edited January 16, 2014 by Guest12727

[sidestep]

Lol. Oddly, one of them is outside in their run sunning herself!

The long haired one I just took in the shower with me. He's such a good boy. :-)

Beats a loofah I guess

[Guest Guest75]

Beats a loofah I guess

 

 

 

:biglaugh:

 

Just my sort of humour ......................

[Diane]

Caught my other half sneakily turning the thermostat up to 28 on ours yesterday to save a few $$... I was wondering why I was so hot even with the cooling on!

[Kirbs]

Thanks very much. Just turned it to 24c. It cut out. :-/

 

Ours cuts out above 40 degrees outside temp. The previous owners of the house worked out that all they needed to do was to cool the outside unit down for a few minutes with water and then it would work again. So when it trips out we just use a fine mist spray on the hose to cool down the metal box and the wall of the house behind it, then reset the unit by turning the power on and off again and hey presto we are back in business. May work for you??