We're getting a new AC/heat-pump.

[phantom power]

We had a warm spell here, and turned on the AC, and discovered the compressor was completely fucked. Dead short too. I tried replacing the breaker, and gave our house a brown-out, incidentally causing my wife to think I had electrocuted myself with our breaker box.

Energy efficiency costs money. $10K for 16.5 SEER. Which is $3K cheaper than it was 6 months ago, thanks to our imploding economy. That's going to leave a mark.

[Bluzmann57]

1. Glad you didn't electrocute yourself

And energy efficiency is expensive, but hopefully, costs will go down as more and more people use things such as that. And it must be nice actually have a heat wave which causes you to turn on the AC. That is a fantasy here.

[phantom power]

2. It wasn't exactly a heat wave, but it did hit 84F. In January...

In this case, we were kind of lucky that my wife indulges her addiction to sleeping at 70F. If it had just been me, I would have slept with the windows open for a couple more months. But then we might not have realized our AC was dead until the busy AC season. And then we would have been making a purchase under pressure, and I doubt we would have gotten the good deal we did.

The other thing we're doing is switching from NG heat to electric reversible heat-pump. I'm glad to be getting away from NG. I don't think the future of NG is going to be a very happy one from here on out.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. For what it is worth...

During a short spell last summer when our A/C unit was incapacitated,
we got a window unit for the bedroom.
It only runs at night, we can close off the rest of the house, and have been saving around 100.00 or more a month during the hot season, because we are not in the rest of the house that much during the day.
This works if both people can agree on night time temps.

[phantom power]

4. That makes sense, but is not an ideal solution for us because...

we have no windows in our bedroom. We have a sliding door. Also, our daughter sleeps on the other end of the house (split floor plan).

We did consider re-organizing our HVAC so that there were *two* AC units: one on each side of the house. But it would have required totally reworking the ducting system, etc. Lots of extra expense. Like a lot of good ideas, it's great if you design it right when you build the house. Otherwise, it's harder and more expensive. Our house was built out here in AZ, in 1972. I can only conclude that energy efficiency codes in AZ were quite shoddy back then. Crappy single-pane windows, no insulation, poor weather stripping...

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. 16.5 seer? Holy shit!

I think mine is 3 or 3.5

[Nihil]

6. For the benefit of anyone else who didn't know ...

> Both central AC and air source heat pumps are rated according to
> seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER). This is the cooling output
> divided by the power input for a hypothetical average U.S. climate.
> The higher the SEER, the more efficient the air conditioner.

(http://www.aceee.org/consumerguide/cooling.htm)

We don't do A/C at home here in the UK so I hadn't the foggiest what
SEER meant ...
:hi:

[jpak]

7. Good for you PP!

:toast:

:hi: