Does anyone penny pinch house AC/Heat?

[fishingsetx]

You still running a single speed pool pump?

24' above ground so yea. Pulls about 9 amps at 120. Runs 24/7 in summer. Just got a timer that I hope will handle the motor. If not, I'm building one. I've burnt up several cheapo ones. This one is supposed to handle 40A but only a 1hp motor. Pool pump is 1.5 hp.

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[ZX9RCAM]

I bumped my AC setting to 74 a while back.

Just got latest bill, it's $103 higher than last month, which I believe had been my highest bill to date.

 

[Brains]

Yeah, mine's up about 75 bucks over last month, 20 bucks over my previous high last year. Got another year left on my 3 year rate plan, hopefully the crazy world isn't so crazy by then.

 

[2ManyGuns]

I keep the AC at 76, cool enough to keep the humidity under control and I won't sweat like a pig when asleep. At 77+ degrees I remain drenched, my body has always run on the hot side.

In the winter I keep the heat at 70, when I purchased this central system, I got one that heats from propane, just the air handler moving the air is electric. I buy between 200 and 300 gallons per year, I cook with propane as well.

 

[Coyote9]

I keep 78 degrees ,cook on my patio grill and kitchenette...open the garage doors around 6 am then shut as sun comes around the corner. My bill last month was $72

 

[Fishkiller]

We paid right around $100 last month. Run the AC at 72 or 73. We have cheap power here in the Big Town

 

[Coyote9]

I keep 78 degrees ,cook on my patio grill and kitchenette...open the garage doors around 6 am then shut as sun comes around the corner. My bill last month was $72

Update,June bill $67

 

[skfullgun]

I keep the central a/c set on about 78° in the summer and run a window unit in the bedroom at night - keeps it about 68° in the bedroom.

In the winter, I keep the central heat at about 68° and run an electric oil-filled radiator in the BR if I get cold.

I average around $90 per month on the main house (1,850 sq ft).

 

[TipBledsoe]

24' above ground so yea. Pulls about 9 amps at 120. Runs 24/7 in summer. Just got a timer that I hope will handle the motor. If not, I'm building one. I've burnt up several cheapo ones. This one is supposed to handle 40A but only a 1hp motor. Pool pump is 1.5 hp.

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Our 3hp pool filter pump went out a month or so ago. Apparently it is impossible to find a 240V 3hp single-speed motor anymore. The only ones I could find were variable speed and cost $1,500.
… I saved $1,000 and replaced my filter pump with two 120V 1.5hp single-speed motors plumbed in parallel and each running off different legs of the 240V that used to power my one 240V pump.
… Our filter pump runs constantly because the pool is 45,000 gallon - in ground with a salt chlorinator.

 

[Brains]

Yep, single speeds over 1.5HP are going to be tough to find, and impossible from a pool store. They made some kind of "rule change" in the name of efficiency.

You could have probably found a two speed motor and done that, I did a 2.7HP last year when a brownout took mine out. Motor was still like 600 bucks though. 45k, yikes. That's a big pool.

 

[wakosama]

wow... 80 in summer, 65 in winter. no water lawn either. and I walk to the store sometimes. But I do get to look at my neighbor's pools.

 

[Alpha.Geek]

In my prior place, a 2-story, we kept the Air at like 68, but only because upstairs would be 10 degrees warmer...

I'm okay with 75, but higher than that, in the summer, I can't sleep.
I could stand to lose some weight, and although I am not very round, TX BBQ is so flippin' good...

My 15Y/O daughter, who is rail-thin, says she can't sleep in over 78-80 degrees, either.

I do recall the 2-story electric bill was ludicrous-high... but we needed to sleep, and the wife even let me beat-it-up once in a while... .

Funny when I was traveling in LA recently, I had the hotel thermostat at like 67, and I woke up sweating-horrible, but the humidity down there is as bad as the Houston area.
Usually that low I freeze all night, the night prior I was fine, but kept it lower than 65 when I was in the room, as I didn't want to wake up like that again...

It might have been the drinking, or might have been the hotter Cajun-food before bed?

 

[Mowingmaniac 24/7]

We save a lot in winter as we rarely put the heat on and in summers AC set at 75.

With a ceiling fan blowing it's plenty cool.

 

[majormadmax]

Don’t know what all has been said, but my experience is that when the good Lord wants me to be miserable, mother nature and/or the military arranged for it in spades.

Therefore when I can control the environment, I make it good and comfortable for me.

Concur, there's an old USAF axiom that goes "Any fool can suffer!"

Of course, we were talking about the Army, which for some reason strives to do so!

 

[Mike_from_Texas]

Hell no. I won’t be uncomfortable in my house.

I have 2 units and the house has 4 zones and is 100% spray foam encapsulated.

72° in the summer with a pool pump that runs 12 hours a day. 67-68° at night while sleeping.

70° in winter pool pump runs 2 hours a day.

Average bill $300 summer $180 winter. 3900 sq/ft. On co-op power so no option to shop rates.


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[billtool]

I will forgo food before I forgo air conditioning….

 

[avvidclif]

Forgo food and you won't need as much AC.....GRIN

 

[skfullgun]

Hurricanes Ike and Harvey both left me without power for over two weeks. In preparation for Ike, I installed a window unit in the bedroom, and had plenty of gasoline for the generator.
I slept so well with the noise and frigid air from the window unit that I've had one in my bedroom ever since. I run it nightly, even during the winter, with the thermostat adjusted accordingly.

 

[tonelar]

winter bill is around $45
my W cannot stand heat so my AC bills were $100 more at 74 (wasn bad but it was too warm to sleep comfy.
so, now a days we pay @ $160 but we’re keeping the house between 72 and 73.

 

[striker55]

I bumped my AC setting to 74 a while back.

Just got latest bill, it's $103 higher than last month, which I believe had been my highest bill to date.

Wife likes 78° I like 80°, no kids around so less clothes is okay with me.