Educating others

[sully108]

Due to the cool, damp summer we've had so far, I've been quite proud of the fact that I haven't turned on my central A/C til this point.

Well, sure enough the past couple of days were fairly warm and my wife was suggesting (forcefully) that I fire up the compressor. Normally she is quite considerate of my ways of conservation and tolerates small indignities to her well being. Not this time. when she "suggested" that the air-conditioning was to be turned on, it wasn't directed as a request. So yesterday the A/C gets turned on.

Yep...you guessed it. A cold front blows in last night and I've got the house bottled up tighter than... (insert joke here). Very cool this morning and as I left the house this morning the compressor fires up. Needless to say, I turned around and shut it down. I guess my rant request is: Does anybody know how to handle an angry woman with unreasonable requests that affect my conservation practices?

Advice relating to alcoholic or chemical responses should be used with discretion.

Lol. Keep up the good work on this forum.

Sully.

[old55olds]

Three ways

#1 Send her shopping with lots of money

#2 Promise you will leave home

#3 Leave home.

Sorry there is no winning. Welcome to the real world.

Ken

[laskey]

I've had similar "requests" before... Face it there's nothing you can do.  When she hot you gotta cool her down and when she's cold you gotta warm her up... for me, it's worth an extra hundred bucks a month in electricity not to have to suffer any "requests", but that aside there are things you can do.  Our house doesn't get much heat when we're not there, nor does it get AC either.  We both work during the day, so I have the set-back thermostat automatically turn the heat down after we leave in the morning, and warm the place back up before we get home.  

I just have a window AC unit so I don't run it if we not home.  Oddly enough, she doesn't mind waiting a half hour or so to get some cold in the house, as long as it's running and she knows it's coming.

Hope that help some.

Cya,

Chris

[BT Humble]

Don't worry about it mate, she'll soon leave you and take your money/house/car/kids leaving you free to conserve to your heart's content.

BTH

(Bitter?  Me?  Never.)

[TomW]

BT;

leaving you free to conserve to your heart's content.

Ha Ha, that should be:

forced to conserve to survive the sudden loss of both a large chunk of your income and your home.

Tom

[old55olds]

No it isn't that I'm bitter. Just Realistic.  Females are always right. No matter how wrong you think they are.  I wake up and the first thing that I say is I'm sorry.  And the last thing she hears at night is I'm sorry.

Ken

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

Very cool this morning and as I left the house this morning the compressor fires up. Needless to say, I turned around and shut it down.

WHY?

If it was firing up you've got heat to dump.  And if you turn it off when it's still cool, you'll cook the wife once it gets hot later in the day.  Leave the bloody thing on.

If you're concerned about it starting up when cooling is not necessary because the temperature outside is too low, arrange some thermostatically-controlled venting to cool the house with outside air when the temperature balance is right for that.

Meanwhile don't sweat it.  The compressor won't be running as long or pulling as much power when it runs when the temperature outside is low.  It doesn't have to work as hard to liquify the refrigerant, nor as long when it's just pumping the heat generated in the house (LESS that leaking out through the walls to the colder outdoors) rather than that PLUS the heat coming in through the insulation.  Both effects lower the bill.

Keep the wife happy.  And if the bill is going up, hoist another windmill or put in more panels.

While you're at it:  When you mount panels on your roof with an air gap below them they significantly lower your cooling load.  It's the PANELS, not the shingles, that achieve thermal equilibrium with the air plus sunlight, while the roof achieves thermal equilibrium with the air plus just a little infrared from the back of the panels.  Meanwhile the warm back of the panels provides just enough heat to pump the convection, moving warm air out and cooler air in.  (Venting your attic does the same thing, but this gives you two layers of the effect rather than one.)

This is very much like the enormous daytime temperature lowering achieved in some camping tents by putting a second hunk of fabric a couple inches above the first with a gap around it, by bungi-ing it to the TOP of the supporting structure the tent hangs from.

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

If it was firing up you've got heat to dump.  And if you turn it off when it's still cool, you'll cook the wife once it gets hot later in the day.  Leave the bloody thing on.

Or turn it off at the system switch on the thermostat (leaving the compressor enabled and the temperature setting where you want it), open the windows, and tell the wife to close the windows and turn it back on when the temperature starts to go up  (Show her what switch to throw if necessary, and point out that lowering the setting won't cool the house off any faster, but WILL lead to it eventually getting too cold, running up the bill and making things uncomfortable.)

That way you'll get points for keeping her cool, empowering her, AND saving money.  Then spend a little on a flower for her when you come home, give her a hug, and tell her what a great helpmate and environmentally-conscious person she is.

[laskey]

Ah Ungrounded is a romantic... Say why not a candle light dinner? that way you've got the lights off now too.

Cya,

Chris

[elvin1949]

and  with your best friend to

can't win for loosing

later

[drdongle]

It's like Entropy, you can't win, you can't break even, and you can't get out of the game.

Carpe Vigor

DR.D

[juiced]

Hi all! My name is Juiced!

                I decided I wanted to be involved in the A.E. feild about 4 years ago. I was traveling at the time, and tried to learn as much about application as i could.

  I still dont know that much. I found trying to learn from the net was a little shady, because of the pure quantity of info availible. I decided to create a website, in order to catagorize A.E. topics and info.

   I also decided this site should have discussions (i only found this site last night, so to me, untill yesterday, i was pretty unique), debates and product reviews.

      The address is: http://www.juiced.ca" class="bbc_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://http://www.juiced.ca

 I hope to see people come by and contribute as much as possible. The site's theme is a little bit differant then this one, as i am focusing on people who are hooked on the grid, not people who already made the leap. I am trying to sway attitudes if you will; yet i did promise myself that the site would remain unbiased.

   I post alot of outside source news, and so far no one seems to care (im not making $$ or ads off it). You may find articles you have written even. If you do, and would like me to remove; simply notify me.

       Well, i guess this is an introduction for me, So -VERY- glad to make all your aquintances!

   (BTW, i dont have a clue and need a few experianced people who would like to help moderate my dicussion forums/news)

        Now... off to search the quickest motor i can use to get some juice.

 ( i just invested a WAD in tools, in anticipation of finally learning how to do this. )

                              A.B.

                           juicy@juiced.ca