Year you were born-- What 1987?-- 1997? My heater was put in in 1961 :-) AC was added in 1975-- still works good though-- Only had to change a starter capacitor- not bad for the last 13 years :-) Carolyn wants to upgrade or system next year to one of those ultra efficient ones-- (7 grand) That way we might be able to cut down our $100 a month electric bills.

 

Let's see if the math works. You average $100 per month for electricity, if you cut your bill in half(not likely) you will save $50 per month times 12 equals $600. Now if the new unit costs $7000 it will only take you a little over 11 years to pay for itself. Sounds like a plan to me. Of course given the age of the current unit it probably won't last another 11 years and there are the inconvenience of it dying at the worst possible time.

 

Thats the part that worries us :-) my neighbor lost theirs and and it was 2 years before they could get it fixed. I gave them a few electric heaters and a couple kerosene heater to help them this winter-- and they ran fans all summer. It was brutal for them.

 

On an average it cost us nearly 3-4 hundred to A/C this house during the hot months, and nearly that for the cold months. It would drastically change in cost if Julie didn't have the daycare with people leaving the front door hanging open while they drop their kids off, or pick them up, and the front door probably opens 20 or more times each day, and the back door opens about 10 times per day letting dogs in and out.

 

we're pretty luck- no dogs and no one home during the day- we have shades that block out the sun in summer and cold in the winter. Extra insulation in the attic and solar heat that is very efficient. All and all we do pretty good-except somone leaves the lights on in every room in the house -- and somoe else gets addicted to 9 computers 2n dvrs and various stuff in the office
.

 

Amen to the front door hanging open man, drives me freakin' nuts. Parents come in, start chatting with Jamie, kid gets bored, opens door and stands in doorway, 100+ degree air pours in and nobody even bats an eye to it. Except me of course, I'm sitting in the corner with my eye twitching, watching those energy bucks blow right out the front door.

I'm surprised your A\C bill is that high though, usually the highest we see is $225 during the summer for electricity. What temp do you usually have the house set at?

 

 

My wife likes it a little warmer in the house then I do-- about 3 drgs cooler then the surface of the sun will do.

 

only supposed to be in the 70s this week here :-)

 

In the 40's tonight! Brrrrrrrrrr

 

Yeah!!! way better then 80s

 

I like to keep it 72 or 71. One of the downfalls of our house is the back side faces the sun in the afternoon, and we have lots of windows on that side. Plus the sliding glass doors. We have the shades pulled, but that only helps a little. Plus it seems we leave every light on in the house all day long, plus multiple devices plugged in at once (one PC for each of us, except for Sophia who plugs in her iPad)
Washer and Dryer runs twice a day, dishwasher runs once or twice a day. Deep Freeze, two refrigerators, two microwaves, multiple hair straighteners, etc... etc...

 

We usually set ours at 73 in the summer and 71 in the winter so we're about the same there. I'm sure the sun beating down has something to do with it, our keeps warm without the heater sometimes in the winter if the sun is out. We may be tied in everything else, we only run the washer\dryer once a day, dishwasher once or twice, a deep freeze, 2 regular refrigerators (small one in the bar) two microwaves, but only ONE hair straightener! Must be the haircare appliances man, they're costing you a fortune to run

 

Well, and it seems it's important to have lights on in every room that you are not in, plus some sleep with a light on at night, and some sleep with the radio on at night, and our clothes dryer takes sometimes two cycles to get clothes dry because of the long run to the outside from where it is located. (Runs to the opposite side of the house, and then drops down 6 inches, then out to the end of the deck.)
We could do a lot of things differently to save money in electricity, but sometimes it seems I am the only one listening when it comes to that talk.

 

We do pretty well with just the two of us, but she must be scared of the dark even during the day because lights will be on all over the house. I shut them off in the other rooms and magically an hour later they are back on.