heat

[TC Chris]

Here in Michigan it's in the mid-90s, not a welcome phenomenon. My niece and her family are coming from Montana to visit on the shore of Saginaw Bay.
It was 38 degrees at their home yesterday. Somewhere in the middle would be just fine.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Out here, the mid 90's would be a nice summer day. Of course, the humidity would be maybe 5%. You probably have humidity to match the temperature. Plus, not every house in Michigan has "refrigeration". You have a lake nearby as I understand. Maybe this would be a good time to visit one.....

[TC Chris]

I've never lived in a house with AC. At work there's a malicious HVAC system. It's way too cold. We all put on sweaters or fleece. I have an electric heater in my office to counteract it in the winter. But I m grateful for the faithful red Ranger whose AC is still blowing cold after 20 years, no refills. It's the only vehicle I've ever had with working AC.

Chris Campbell

[danrclem]

Here in the Ohio Valley, which is famous for its high humidity, it's 94 and going up to 96 today. Yesterday supposedly got up to 96 also. The rest of the week until Saturday is supposed to be about the same. Saturday, Sunday and Monday are supposed to be around 91 or 92 degrees so that will be a big relief from the high temps.

I've been to places where it's been hot but when the humidity is low it isn't bad.

When I grew up, we didn't have AC either. We were lucky when we had a box fan to put in the window. I was married for several years before we got a window unit AC for the bedroom. It sure makes it a lot easier to sleep in the hot weather. We were in this house for a few years before we got central air in it. It sure would be hard to go back to the old days without AC.

[electra225]

When I was coming up, we had a screened porch on the back of the house. This is where we slept in the summer time, on old army cots. No fan, just the breeze that always seemed to be there. The screens were good enough we didn't have to worry about bugs, but grandpa would spray bug spray before we went to bed, so it smelled like bug spray out on that porch. When I was 12, I built a box fan for a 4-H project. Grandpa got a 1/3 horse electric motor from GM. It was new, Delco brand. We had Mr. Porter get us a 16", four-wing fan blade. Uncle Fort cut me some white oak and we put the boards together to make a box. It was heavy, so we put it on casters and put a handle on each side. We put a bakelite box switch on the side, then used 25' of 12-2 wire and a good heavy plug. I took first place for my fan with the fancy white oak box. It had hardware cloth to keep critters and folks out of the fan blade. After 4-H was over, we put this fan in the upper bedroom window in the house, then opened windows opposite of the sun. That fan ran 24-7 and sounded like a B-47 idling, but it was a blessing because we could sleep in our normal bedrooms. Grandpa's old house was insulated with saw dust, so when you got the heat out and kept the air moving, it was tolerably cool in the house.

[TC Chris]

Fans are most effective when blowing out. That depressurizes the house and you can decide where you want some cool breeze and open windows there.

Chris Campbell

[William]

On days with low or lower humidity, I take two 20" box fans and put them in the dinning room windows, they face west, turn them on high, and draw air from open windows in the house. It really does a great job of lowering the temp during the night and then in the morning I close the house up and it stays pretty cool until late afternoon. I also get to sleep with fresh air coming in all night long and living in Michigan where ones house is closed up for about 7 months of the year that is a nice change.

Bill

[danrclem]

Bill, I do something similar to what you do. I put a fan in the master bedroom blowing in and a fan in the kitchen door blowing out. If it's cool outside, it'll cool the house down too. The only problem right now is that the nighttime temps are staying in the mid and upper 70s (low tonight is 79) so the fans don't help right now. I just checked and it says the Louisville temperature right now is 96.

[William]

And, you and I are in the same kind of climate where the temp usually matches the humidity. I really does not help to have the windows open when the humidity is high. I was a bit cooler today, it was only 84 compared to the last three days of 89.

Bill

[danrclem]

https://youtu.be/XzGtBJXcytY?si=xytINttOxiY36smB

[walyfd]

It's horribly hellish in the northeast. Hit 98 here yesterday. I have 2 15k btu window also. If I didn't turn them on at 5 AM, I never could have held the first floor at 75 degrees. By 7 PM when everything was totally baked it crept up to 77 inside. Still over 20 degrees cooler than outside.

[William]

That must have been exciting to experience, not! Thanks for sharing, Danny.

Walter, I am guessing your humidity was about the same as your temp and even though it is hard for your two units to keep up with the temp at least the humidity in your house is down. That is the killer for me.

Bill

[Motorola minion]

Lower PA is just as bad, no relief even in the mountains. Living in the same 1800s farmhouse since 1997, we learned where to place 3 window units to keep certain areas cool. If not for some very large trees, this would not have worked too well.

In 2013, natural gas became available, so I had two furnaces installed with central AC duct work. Not cheap to do but using oil (HW baseboard) and electric for water heating was getting expensive, so I got an outdoor boiler only three years before and it needed a backup system, gas was the only real choice. I got guidance from HVAC designers at work, produced drawings for contractor to price what to install. No BS rebates on heat pump equipment that can fail sooner, got old Rheem straight-up AC

After cutting ceilings and floor for duct installs, we had 100% of house covered with two 1.5 ton outdoor units, (40K btuh each heating) not heat pumps. No more need for a basement dehumidifier or attic ventilation. Attic does get minimal cooling, THIS IS necessary to help downstairs unit maintain 70 degrees with 50% humidity. The wife is NEVER too cold these days and that is no small detail to overlook.

[Conelrad]

If any of you want to put in an AC unit to help in the Summer, I highly recommend DIYing a Mini-Split (or 2). I have 7 in our home, and have installed many in broadcast transmitter buildings over the years.

The electrical load is minuscule, compared to any other standard system, especially window units. The indoor units are silent in operation, and the condenser units make a gentle whirring sound that is easily tolerated. Zoning is a natural, put locations not used to sleep until needed.

Most of them are heat-pumps as well, and the SEER is in the mid-20s. With the inverter-based topology, everything ramps down to low energy to keep thermostat temps after the initial cooling/heating target.

I've bought all mine off eBay, and the best brand is Cooper-Hunter. You can select three basic styles: Wall-mount, recessed ceiling mount, or a hidden unit with your existing ducting.

There are some installation quirks, but as most of us do lots of technical things to begin with, putting one in is no big deal. The wall units are the easiest to install, with a single umbilical to the outdoors.

With all my installs, none have failed in over several years now.

DG

[electra225]

#1 on that, Dennis. I have a mini-split in the shop and it works great. IT was initially low on charge. Parker and Sons tried to sell me a new one for $8000. Said it had a .....wait for it.......bad compressor. I had our normal AC guy check the charge. It was about a half pound low. Works like a champ the last two years. I personally recommend having the charge checked after the unit is installed. Our mini split uses less power to run than a 1/2 horsepower motor on a floor fan.......

[Conelrad]

Mini-splits usually come pre-charged with whatever refrigerant necessary, the charge being dictated by the line kit (copper tubing) supplied with it.

If one has to add tubing, a little more will have to be added. I see what is the normal low side pressure is on a unit with standard tubing, and try to get the same on the one with longer pipes. Doesn't take much. Some units will have a hi-side port, most will have a low-side, and few will have both.

Most states have Freon sales restricted to professionals. A few will sell you a small can without any trouble, most will refuse and want to do the work, as DIY stuff doesn't make them any $. eBay can have small cans of R32 or R-410a from time to time before they get pulled, if you set a search for it.

Other than basic hand tools and a drill, you will need a vacuum pump and gage. Those can be rented at O'Reillys and Auto-Zone.

D

[danrclem]

I didn't do much yesterday except go to the doctor and drive about 20 miles to pick up some medication for my wife. I mostly sat around for the rest of the day until late yesterday evening. Oh yeah, I did stop at the local Goodwill trying to find some CDs but didn't have any luck.

It was fairly late when I decided to go work on my trailer. The jack was broken off, so my son bought me a new one for Father's Day. The old one was welded on so I had to grind all of the welds down and straighten all places where the new one would go. By the time I got all the grinding and straightening done, I was pretty much soaked. I've decided to bolt the new one on because it has holes and the hitch has holes to match. It's going to be mounted from the bottom so it should hold up well. I'll just have to put some Loctite on the bolts so they won't loosen.

It's been hotter than this before, but my age plays a big factor in not being able to tolerate it as well as I used to. I might go back out this evening after it cools down in the low 90s and work on it again.

[TC Chris]

I had to wear a jacket to ride the bike to the movie last night, and to work today. At lunch I walked down to the bank to get a cashier's check for the new truck (flying out to pick it up on Tuesday) and it was OK walking with short sleeves. But at bicycle speeds, some insulation helped. I left some windows open all day at home to let the house cool a bit.

My weather gripe of the day was (1) rain predicted for after-work hours (has not really happened) , plus (2) no wind (none visible), which means no sailing here this week. Tomorrow it will be raining and Friday I'll head downstate to visit with my brother and his family, all in town at the beach from out west. I'll stay through Monday, and then fly to VT Tuesday afternoon for the truck.

I've been following articles on heat pump systems for several years. Their efficiency is vastly improved. If I wanted AC, I'd be tempted to go with mini-split systems or one of the ducted heat pump systems. Of course, the cheapest efficiency and comfort upgrade is improving your house via sealing, insulating, and shading.

Chris Campbell

[William]

With in floor radiant hot water heat I have no central A/C. I also have no close shade to the south to help keep the house cooler. Needless to say, the house can get pretty warm in the summer from all of the sun hitting the south side. The normal window units did not keep up during the hottest parts of the summer so I had a mini-slit installed and I am so glad I did. Much cheaper to run, keeps everything nice and cool and dry and I can get some sleep which everyone appreciates because I get really grumpy when I don't get enough sleep.

Bill