Since your personal preference is to sleep in a warmer room, I
suggest trying 4am/8am settings, but closing the vents in your
bedroom. Close the bedroom door when you go to bed too.
That will keep your bedroom warmer to sleep in, and the rest of the
house will still get cooled off at the best time and temperatures.
If you have a separate zone in your bedroom, then you'll want to
program it's thermostat accordingly.
--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, rebecca hughes <rlhw00@...>
wrote:
>
> while i have a real problem getting up when nice and comfy cool in
the morning lol, i'll give this a try. normally we turn off the
main air when we go to bed. we don't have a timer on the window
unit. what results did you get when you did this at about 5:30-6 am?
> thanks,
> rebecca
>
> --- On Sat, 8/23/08, slurryguy <slurryguy@...> wrote:
>
> From: slurryguy <slurryguy@...>
> Subject: [papercreters] Off Topic: Proper programable thermostat
settings for Air Conditioning season.
> To: papercreters@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Saturday, August 23, 2008, 8:15 PM
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Many of our papercrete enthusiasts are fans of papercrete because
of
> its high insulation properties. We are concerned about energy
> consumption. The idea of creating our own insulation out of waste
> paper is a big motivating factor for joining Papercreters.
> http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/papercrete rs/
>
> I would like to share the following REAL LIFE story.
>
> My white haired mother (feel free to call her slurryMom) is getting
> up in years, but is still happily living in her house alone. I try
> to be a good son and check on her from time to time.
>
> She recently expressed interest in saving money on her Electric
Bill.
>
> I looked around her house for the common obvious easy things.
>
> Efficient light bulbs? She had them.
>
> Insulated Storm windows? Check. (Mom did manage to do that arm
> twisting thing she does and draft me into washing a few of them. I
> tried to explain that we were washing insulating dirt off the
glass,
> but she wasn't buying that story. Moms always seem to have a "to
do"
> lists when you visit them, don't they?)
>
> Attic Insulation. Well above building code.
>
> Weather Stripping. In good shape. I glued down one piece little of
> rubber gasket that had come loose.
>
> Caulking. Very good. She recently had her house painted and they
> did an excellent job of re-caulking.
>
> I was starting to feel a little glum and gloomy. My Mom wanted to
> lower her electric bill, and DANG IT. ... I wasn't finding anything
> to make even tiny differences. It was TICKING ME OFF!
>
> Finally I looked at her thermostat. It's a nice digital
programmable
> thermostat.
>
> I looked at her settings. Her air conditioner was set at 80degF
> 24/7. BINGO!! This was something I could help her with that would
> make a sizable difference!
>
> I'll save everyone the long list of various temperature settings
that
> were tried and evaluated. I'll skip to the ones I discovered that
> worked the best.
>
> Keep in mind that SlurryMom lives in the Midwest. Typical summer
> heat is 90+ with plenty of 100+ torture days. Typical outdoor
summer
> relative humidity ranges from 60% to 85%.
>
> Typical night time temps range from 70degF to 85degF with some rare
> dips into the high 60's and once in a while those horrendous 90degF
> high humidity nights that can sap the life out of someone trying to
> sleep with no AC.
>
> I tested many different thermostat strategies and settings. I
> monitored the kwh used on the electric meter and the total hours
that
> the AC ran each day. (The thermostat tracked the hours it ran.)
> Following are the settings I found that are the best for my Mom.
> They will seem very strange, they'll seem the opposite of logical
to
> some people.
>
> 4am 73degF
> 8am 82degF
>
> That's it.
>
> That's all.
>
> Nothing more complicated than that.
>
> AMAZINGLY SIMPLE ISN'T IT?
>
> These settings reduced Mom's electric bill by 25% last month
> (compared to the previous year's bill). They will save her close to
> $200 over the summer cooling season this year.
>
> Mom claims that her house is actually far more comfortable this
year
> than last year. The humidity inside is DRASTICALLY lower. Even
> though the indoor temperature is a couple of degrees higher at the
> hottest part of the day, the lower indoor humidity makes that
> temperature much more bearable. Turning on a small fan is a great
> way for her to adjust her personal comfort level.
>
> Here is the logic behind using those settings:
>
> 1. Air conditioners take heat out of the house, pump it outside,
and
> transfer that heat to the outside air. The warmer the outside air
> is, the harder the air conditioner has to work. It makes sense to
> pump as much heat out of the house as possible when the air
> conditioner will have the easiest time doing it. Programming the
> thermostat to spike the temperature down during the coolest part of
> the day accomplishes this.
>
> 2. Fluctuating the temperature also allows the AC to really drive
> the humidity down. It's very noticeable. That early morning burst
> of work driving the temp down really wrings the water out of the
air.
>
> 3. Allowing the temperature to coast for the rest of the day is
> easy. The AC almost NEVER turns on. It just sits there all day long
> during the heat of the day sleeping. All the neighbor's AC units
are
> humming away and fighting with everything they've got to keep the
> neighbors cool. Mom's house is already cool and comfy. A simple fan
> can keep the air moving and pleasant.
>
> 4. I suggest that this same strategy for summertime programming of
a
> thermostat will be equally effective even if someone is out of
their
> house for work every day. Many people think that they are saving
> money by allowing the temperature of their house to heat up to
> uncomfortable temperatures during the day while they are gone. Then
> they drop the temperature of their house right before they are
> scheduled to get home from work. That is exactly the WORST
> strategy. You are forcing your Air Conditioner to work it's hardest
> at the worst part of the day for it to succeed.
>
> 5. This strategy should be even MORE effective for people that have
> peak demand metering or might have rolling blackouts. Shifting your
> electricity demand from the worst demand period to the best demand
> period could radically change your electric bill.
>
> 6. Feel free to tweak the settings for your personal comfort level
> if you try this technique.
>
> Total Cost of Energy Upgrades = ZERO
>
> Total Summer Saving = about $200
>
> Scoring major points with your mother = priceless.
>
> (She hasn't tried to tell me how to live my life for at least a
week
> now. A NEW RECORD!)
>
> ------------ --------- ---------
> Sharing this post:
> I know that I've ventured off topic a little. My apologies. I hope
> some of our members appreciate this post anyway. I also anticipate
> that many people will want to share this post with others. I
> wholeheartedly endorse and encourage it. Please feel free to copy
> and past the above post to friends, family, and other message
groups
> where it will be appreciated. All I ask is that the link for
> Papercreters remain intact. Some people may want to learn more
about
> papercrete and how they can use waste paper to make their own
> insulation and even build structures with it. Use of my above post
> without keeping the link to Papercretes intact shall be considered
> copyright infringement.
>
> I hope this information can save some of you some money!
>
> slurrguy
> http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/papercrete rs/
> (joining Papercreters is free)
>
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