Heat

[the Ogre]

??

Joking, I've only been there once. It's just not fair.

[Guest Emma Hale Smith]

Today in Pittsburgh it was upper 70's, right now out side its about 60 :)

But it's a muggy heat, right"?

Regards,

Emma

[StrawberryFields]

Since this thread is about HEAT I thought this might be nice to give some suggestions in staying cool.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Savin...ouseCooler.aspx

25 cheap ways to keep your house cooler

Simple changes such as moving lamps away from thermostats can save you hundreds of dollars. Here are more money -- and energy -- saving tips.

Sure, go ahead and turn that thermostat up to 80. You'll be sweaty and still shelling out a bundle -- unless you take other steps to make summer heat more bearable and reduce stress on your air conditioner.

Most of these cost little or nothing. Thank the Department of Energy's Energy Savers program, which provides most of these tips (and more) on its own Web site.

Get the most from your air conditioning

Open windows and use portable or ceiling fans instead of operating your air conditioner. Even mild air movement of 1 mph can make you feel three or four degrees cooler. Make sure your ceiling fan is turned for summer -- you should feel the air blown downward.

Use a fan with your window air conditioner to spread the cool air through your home.

Without blocking air flow, shade your outside compressor. Change air filters monthly during the summer.

Use a programmable thermostat with your air conditioner to adjust the setting at night or when no one is home.

Don't place lamps or TVs near your air conditioning thermostat. The heat from these appliances will cause the air conditioner to run longer.

Consider installing a whole house fan or evaporative cooler (a "swamp cooler") if appropriate for your climate. Attics trap fierce amounts of heat; a well-placed and -sized whole-house fan pulls air through open windows on the bottom floors and exhausts it through the roof, lowering the inside temperature and reducing energy use by as much as third compared with an air conditioner. Cost is between $150 and $400. An evaporative cooler pulls air over pads soaked in cold water and uses a quarter the energy of refrigerated air, but they're useful only in low-humidity areas. Cost is $200 to $600.

Install white window shades, drapes, or blinds to reflect heat away from the house. Close curtains on south- and west-facing windows during the day.

Install awnings on south-facing windows. Because of the angle of the sun, trees, a trellis, or a fence will best shade west-facing windows. Apply sun-control or other reflective films on south-facing windows.

Landscaping for a cooler house

Plant trees or shrubs to shade air conditioning units, but not block the airflow. A unit operating in the shade uses less electricity.

Grown on trellises, vines such as ivy or grapevines can shade windows or the whole side of a house.

Avoid landscaping with lots of unshaded rock, cement, or asphalt on the south or west sides because it increases the temperature around the house and radiates heat to the house after the sun has set.

Deciduous trees planted on the south and west sides will keep your house cool in the summer. Just three trees, properly placed around a house, can save between $100 and $250 annually in cooling and heating costs. Daytime air temperatures can be 3 degrees to 6 degrees cooler in tree-shaded neighborhoods.

Little things mean a lot

Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents; they produce the same light but use a fifth the energy and heat

Air-dry dishes instead of using your dishwasher's drying cycle.

Use a microwave oven instead of a conventional electric range or oven.

Turn off your computer and monitor when not in use.

Plug home electronics, such as TVs and VCRs, into power strips and turn power strips off when equipment is not in use.

Lower the thermostat on your hot water heater; 115° is comfortable for most uses.

Take showers instead of baths to reduce hot water use.

Wash only full loads of dishes and clothes.

Don't air-condition the whole neighborhood

Caulking and weatherstripping will keep cool air in during the summer.

If you see holes or separated joints in your ducts, hire a professional to repair them.

Add insulation around air conditioning ducts when they are located in unconditioned spaces such as attics, crawl spaces, and garages; do the same for whole-house fans where they open to the exterior or to the attic.

Check to see that your fireplace damper is tightly closed.

Plan ahead

More costly but effective cooling measures are available as your home undergoes normal upgrades and repairs.

A 10-year-old air conditioner, for example, is only half as efficient as a new one. A quick check of your air conditioner's efficiency can help you decide whether to call in a service professional. Use a household thermometer to measure the temperature of the discharge air from the register and the temperature of the return air at the return-air grill. (Keep the thermometer in place for five minutes to get a steady temperature.) The difference should be from 14 to 20 degrees, experts say. An air conditioner that's not cooling to those levels could be low on refrigerant or have leaks. A unit cooling more than 20 degrees could have a severe blockage.

Using light shingles on a new roof can cut the amount of heat the house absorbs. Repainting in a light color, especially south- and west-facing exterior areas, helps as well.

Upgraded insulation in the attic and double-paned windows all around, complete with tinting to reflect sunlight, are good ideas, too.

[pam]

I for one am ready for the temps to drop a bit in Utah. Triple digits several days in a row are getting a bit old. Only one day in our 7 day forecast below 100. I don't know how those in LV and Arizona do it.

[Dr T]

What happened to Emma and MrsS? Why are they unregistered now?

[Guest Emma Jr.]

What happened to Emma and MrsS? Why are they unregistered now?

Hi Dr. T,

This is Emma. I'd like to know the reason as well. I probably will get in trouble for using second screen name, so I'll bow out.

Emma

[Guest MissyCat]

<div class='quotemain'>

What happened to Emma and MrsS? Why are they unregistered now?

Hi Dr. T,

This is Emma. I'd like to know the reason as well. I probably will get in trouble for using second screen name, so I'll bow out. Emma

This is MrsS, and I would like to know why Emma, Mishmash and I were wiped off the forum too. I don't believe that I am violating the rules by opening this new account, considering my old account was annihilated, even my blog - and I wasn't reprimanded or put into "Time Out" or officially told that I was getting banned from the forum.

Thanks for asking about us Dr.T, at least you noticed and said something. Hey, Emma Jr. Come back and post. I really don't think the multiple screen names applys in our case.

[pushka]

Wow!! I'm so pleased to see that Emma, Mishmash and Mrs.S haven't really left the site!! I was beginning to think it was something in the water, lol.

Btw Mrs. S. I was about to open a thread because so many people appeared to be unregistering lately!!

:)

[Dr T]

Did the site crash for awhile yesterday? That's happened in the past and people were deleted (like AK/CK). I think the mods would explain any rule violations. We'll see I guess.

[Iggy]

Since this thread is about HEAT I thought this might be nice to give some suggestions in staying cool.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Savin...ouseCooler.aspx

25 cheap ways to keep your house cooler

Simple changes such as moving lamps away from thermostats can save you hundreds of dollars. Here are more money -- and energy -- saving tips.

<<snip>>

Get the most from your air conditioning

Open windows and use portable or ceiling fans instead of operating your air conditioner. Even mild air movement of 1 mph can make you feel three or four degrees cooler. Make sure your ceiling fan is turned for summer -- you should feel the air blown downward. Can't do that here in Arizona - it is hotter outside

Use a fan with your window air conditioner to spread the cool air through your home. We have central cooling, but we have fans in every room - moves the air, and helps us to cool down.

Without blocking air flow, shade your outside compressor. Change air filters monthly during the summer.

Use a programmable thermostat with your air conditioner to adjust the setting at night or when no one is home. Actually it is better for us to leave the thermostat at one setting- we have it at 74.

Don't place lamps or TVs near your air conditioning thermostat. The heat from these appliances will cause the air conditioner to run longer. Our thermostat is in the hallway, right under the light! If I am too warm, I turn the hall light on, about 3 minutes later the AC turns on - I trick it into running

Install white window shades, drapes, or blinds to reflect heat away from the house. Close curtains on south- and west-facing windows during the day. Didn't get this done this winter so will have to do it next winter, but I am going to put on those UV blocking films. Cuts 90% of the heat coming in through the windows. Drapes rot here in about 3 years from the sun and heat.

Landscaping for a cooler house. Plant trees or shrubs to shade air conditioning units, but not block the airflow. A unit operating in the shade uses less electricity. Grown on trellises, vines such as ivy or grapevines can shade windows or the whole side of a house. Nothing will grow out here on our 1 1/2 acres. Brother-in-law killed off the soil with all of his wrecked cars, trucks, leaking oil & gasoline and all of the meth kitchens he had going out here! Weed won't even grow!

Avoid landscaping with lots of unshaded rock, cement, or asphalt on the south or west sides because it increases the temperature around the house and radiates heat to the house after the sun has set.

Deciduous trees planted on the south and west sides will keep your house cool in the summer. Just three trees, properly placed around a house, can save between $100 and $250 annually in cooling and heating costs. Daytime air temperatures can be 3 degrees to 6 degrees cooler in tree-shaded neighborhoods.

Little things mean a lot

Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents; they produce the same light but use a fifth the energy and heat. If you can't afford the compact fluorescents, then buy a lower wattage bulb, but use Real light - It is not incandescent. Incandescent gives off a yellow/golden light. It is dimmer than the real light. Real light is sharper, bluer. AND wash off or dust your light bulbs on a weekly basis. They get covered with dust, dirt and grease too, and this can dim their brightness.

Air-dry dishes instead of using your dishwasher's drying cycle.

Use a microwave oven instead of a conventional electric range or oven.

Turn off your computer and monitor when not in use.

Plug home electronics, such as TVs and VCRs, into power strips and turn power strips off when equipment is not in use.

Lower the thermostat on your hot water heater; 115° is comfortable for most uses. During the summer we don't even need to use the hot water heater. Our cold water at the tap is 95 degrees at night, and about 100 degrees during the day.

Take showers instead of baths to reduce hot water use. During the summer we bathe with the cold water only.

Wash only full loads of dishes and clothes. Do this year round not just in the summer

<<snip>>

[Dr T]

Thank you for the post and welcome Iggy

[shanstress70]

Our cold water at the tap is 95 degrees at night, and about 100 degrees during the day.

Seriously, Iggy? You mean if you turn on the cold water faucet, the temp of the water that comes out is this high? Does it cool off if you leave it running for a minute or so?

[Iggy]

<div class='quotemain'>

Our cold water at the tap is 95 degrees at night, and about 100 degrees during the day.

Seriously, Iggy? You mean if you turn on the cold water faucet, the temp of the water that comes out is this high? Does it cool off if you leave it running for a minute or so?

Yes seriously! I have to clean the toliet every other day - never realized that cold water inhibited growth, 'till I moved here. No, the water doesn't cool off except some at night.

Our water comes from this HUGE water tower on top of the mountain about 2 miles from here. I don't know how deep the pipes are buried, but the water pipe coming into the house is exposed- there is approximately 4 feet of pipe secured against the outside of the house. Our hot water heater sits outside on the ground, exposed to the sun. We have it set at the lowest possible setting and it still gets real hot.

Not everyone here has exposed hot water heaters, but a lot of homes have their washing machines and dryers out side of the house - generally with a lean-to roof of some sort over them, or the machines placed under the car port. No way do we want to heat the house up when we wash and dry clothes. There is not enough grass,or low growing vegatation to keep the dust down, and I won't hang clothes out just to get dirtier after they dry from the blowing dust.

I have extremely sensitive teeth/gums, so I can not drink refridgerated drinks - I keep a pitcher of water on the kitchen table and drink room temp water. it is WAY cooler than tap water!

[Guest Yediyd]

Remind me never to move to a desert!!!! Ughhh! God bless you, Iggy!!! You must really love your husband!!!To leave your home state for his!!!!

[shanstress70]

Wow Iggy!

[StrawberryFields]

I really like the idea of setting the thermostat and leaving it there. So far we are most comfortable at 73 in the summer.

I would also like to add that it is important not to leave the doors open or even cracked, this is one of my pet peeves. Our front door is close to our thermostat and it will run all day if the door is even cracked.