During the summer, I keep the office at 85. Mainly to save money.
I Can Sweat My Butt Off All Summer...
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Last: 9 yr ago by MasterAggie
My grandfather worked an oilfield in NW Houston (between Houston and Jersey Village) in like the 40's. He said they got hazard pay (double time) for working in Houston from June through September.
bunch of badasses and barbarians on this thread.
I thought I was conservative with AC and mine never gets over 75. 73 is ideal.
In the winter its usually a little cold in my house but not becuase I really like the cold but because I hate the feeling of a heater so much. I will usually turn the heater on every few hours just to break the chill if its that cold. but constant running heat and I cant breathe.
I thought I was conservative with AC and mine never gets over 75. 73 is ideal.
In the winter its usually a little cold in my house but not becuase I really like the cold but because I hate the feeling of a heater so much. I will usually turn the heater on every few hours just to break the chill if its that cold. but constant running heat and I cant breathe.
Very curious about everyone's electric or gas/electric bills considering their area, size of house and temp preferences.
72-74 in my house during the summer, probably in the high 60's during the winter.
I see no reason to be uncomfortable in the one place of all places I should be comfortable in. It's not worth saving that $30 or $40 a month to sweat/freeze balls in my own house.
I see no reason to be uncomfortable in the one place of all places I should be comfortable in. It's not worth saving that $30 or $40 a month to sweat/freeze balls in my own house.
73 was hot? My thermostat is between 74-76 during the summer. Turn a fan on and quit sleeping in PJ's.
quote:Nope. 72 is the high setting in my house. And the fans run year round.
and 80-85 in the summer. That's where my thermostat sits. Suck it up.
quote:70-72 in the summer; 68-70 in the winter. But otherwise the same sentiment.
72-74 in my house during the summer, probably in the high 60's during the winter.
I see no reason to be uncomfortable in the one place of all places I should be comfortable in. It's not worth saving that $30 or $40 a month to sweat/freeze balls in my own house.
Same thought process behind paying a yard guy. I work my ass off to make money, $30-$40 extra per month in electricity is worth it to be comfortable. And why not pay a $30 to get the yard done when it would take me 3 hours on my weekend to get the same result? That's 3 hours I could spend doing something I enjoy.
We're 70 in winter and 75 in summer. I go with the same philosophy as above - I work hard and make a good living, and spending a few extra bucks making my house completely comfortable is absolutely worth it.
totally agree.
78 in summer is perfectly comfortable for us as long as the fan is going.
72 in the winter is already too cold for my wife.
72 in the winter is already too cold for my wife.
quote:And to answer this.
Very curious about everyone's electric or gas/electric bills considering their area, size of house and temp preferences.
My winter Gas bill is usually about $80-$110 depending on how cold it is outside and how much we use our gas fireplace (gas fireplace is a big part of that difference), house at 72-74. Electric runs about $60-$70 in the winter. Total $140-$180 Gas/Electric.
Summer electric bills average pretty steady around $150 in a 2100 sqft, 1 story ranch built in 1970 (meaning terrible insulation that I've never upgraded and single pane windows), house at 78 Gas is $20-$30 in the summer. Total at about $170-$180.
Spring and fall are a bit cheaper on each because neither system runs as much.
It's not about the inside temp so much as it is which type of heat I have to use. For those of us that have a heat pump, they dont warm your house very well if the outside temp is below 35-38 degrees. The coils ice over and cease to be as efficient as possible because the compressor has to run more to generate the heat needed.
They have what is called emergency heat which you have to use when it gets really cold outside. Heats well, but the difference is, it has a conventional heating element as most units have. Big difference in electricity consumption. If it stays cold for more than a week below 38 degrees, my bill runs between $75 and $100 dollars more. Big difference in wattage consumption than when just running the heat pump.
I usually run between 63 in winter and 72 in summer. As of this week It's been almost 2 weeks I've had it shut completely off. I get a weekly update from Champion Energy each week in my email that gives details about my weekly consumption. Last week was around $23 dollars. Havent seen this weeks yet but I think it will be even lower cause there was the weekend and Monday we were gone.
They have what is called emergency heat which you have to use when it gets really cold outside. Heats well, but the difference is, it has a conventional heating element as most units have. Big difference in electricity consumption. If it stays cold for more than a week below 38 degrees, my bill runs between $75 and $100 dollars more. Big difference in wattage consumption than when just running the heat pump.
I usually run between 63 in winter and 72 in summer. As of this week It's been almost 2 weeks I've had it shut completely off. I get a weekly update from Champion Energy each week in my email that gives details about my weekly consumption. Last week was around $23 dollars. Havent seen this weeks yet but I think it will be even lower cause there was the weekend and Monday we were gone.
quote:
I see no reason to be uncomfortable in the one place of all places I should be comfortable in. It's not worth saving that $30 or $40 a month
to sweat/freeze balls in my own house.
This
What is the point of working hard and making money just so you can live like them folks did a 100 years ago? F that.
I mean what the hell. Let's ride horses to work and disregard modern medicine too.
quote:
72...winter or summer....never changes.
Sound good to me.
I keep it at 85 at the office to save on my office budget. At home I'd be way pickier about saving money with lower or higher temperatures if my wife wasn't picky about a narrow temp range. I generally believe that you can easily get comfortable if you stay slightly uncomfortable.
Like I said before, spend 6 summers working at a Texas boy scout camp in July, you can easily sleep while sweating. 20+ years later, not a problem at all.
I keep it at 85 at the office to save on my office budget. At home I'd be way pickier about saving money with lower or higher temperatures if my wife wasn't picky about a narrow temp range. I generally believe that you can easily get comfortable if you stay slightly uncomfortable.
Like I said before, spend 6 summers working at a Texas boy scout camp in July, you can easily sleep while sweating. 20+ years later, not a problem at all.
I've done more than my share of camping on the beach when it's 80+ degrees and muggy. But in those cases I typically am sleeping in the open and the breeze of the water keeps it comfortable.
As long as there's a breeze I can handle sleeping in warm, muggy conditions. But last year we were in St. John in the USVI and they had a blackout. The place where we were staying had no generator so the AC went out and very quickly became unbearable for me. It was in the upper 80s, muggy as hell, and zero wind. That sucked.
As long as there's a breeze I can handle sleeping in warm, muggy conditions. But last year we were in St. John in the USVI and they had a blackout. The place where we were staying had no generator so the AC went out and very quickly became unbearable for me. It was in the upper 80s, muggy as hell, and zero wind. That sucked.
Spent a couple of years in Lubbock living in a fifth wheel trailer. Didn't intend to, but circumstances (a protracted divorce and no money as a student) forced the issue.
The first winter quickly revealed a broken heater. No money & no place to live while it was being repaired required me to live without heat. There were several times that it was colder on the sofa than it was in the refrigerator. I could run a small space heater or an electric blanket but not both at the same time. During a particularly cold period my plumbing froze and broke so in addition to not having heat I also didn't have running water. When the wind blew (i.e. - every ****ing night) the part of the trailer where the bed was would buck the whole time. I was winter camping every single night and using the trailer park facilities for basic hygiene.
Spring came along with the infamous Lubbock sandstorms. Then sometime in May the thunderstorms came and the baseball sized hail one of them produced took out my AC. It was a long, windy, hot summer with daytime temps inside the trailer frequently flirting with triple digits. I didn't spend a lot of time there during the day and the only thing that saved me was that it does cool down to the 70's there at night.
The divorce was finalized in July, but there were still money issues (legal fees, qualifying for loans, child support, still not able to work, etc). Spent winter #2 without heat but was finally able to move out the following spring.
So a total of two straight winters & one summer of camping out every night. After that, I'm seldom aware of what the room temperature is until someone else complains.
Some of the whining on this thread makes me laugh...
The first winter quickly revealed a broken heater. No money & no place to live while it was being repaired required me to live without heat. There were several times that it was colder on the sofa than it was in the refrigerator. I could run a small space heater or an electric blanket but not both at the same time. During a particularly cold period my plumbing froze and broke so in addition to not having heat I also didn't have running water. When the wind blew (i.e. - every ****ing night) the part of the trailer where the bed was would buck the whole time. I was winter camping every single night and using the trailer park facilities for basic hygiene.
Spring came along with the infamous Lubbock sandstorms. Then sometime in May the thunderstorms came and the baseball sized hail one of them produced took out my AC. It was a long, windy, hot summer with daytime temps inside the trailer frequently flirting with triple digits. I didn't spend a lot of time there during the day and the only thing that saved me was that it does cool down to the 70's there at night.
The divorce was finalized in July, but there were still money issues (legal fees, qualifying for loans, child support, still not able to work, etc). Spent winter #2 without heat but was finally able to move out the following spring.
So a total of two straight winters & one summer of camping out every night. After that, I'm seldom aware of what the room temperature is until someone else complains.
Some of the whining on this thread makes me laugh...
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Sounds good to me. "Sorry boss, I can only work 2 days a week due to me living a days journey away."
If I'm at home and awake during the summer the A/C is at 74-75, when I go to sleep it goes down to 70-71. In the winter I have started setting the heat to 59 during the day and completely off at night, any higher than about 63 and I will start sweating, there is just something different about when the heat is running that I can't take.
64 winter
79 summer
79 summer
Someone asked earlier about cost savings due to where thermostats are set.
I mentioned we keep ours 80-81 in the summer... Sounds warm, but you get used to it quickly... and on a 98 degree day, it feels quite comfortable walking inside.
Our highest electric bill was $118 last summer. That's a two story 2800sqft home in the DFW area. I have a friend with a comparable sized house that's paying closer to $500. Now obviously, the electricity provider also plays a role here, as is house orientation and some other things.
If others want to spend a few more bucks to keep it cooler.... more power to 'em.... (literally)
I mentioned we keep ours 80-81 in the summer... Sounds warm, but you get used to it quickly... and on a 98 degree day, it feels quite comfortable walking inside.
Our highest electric bill was $118 last summer. That's a two story 2800sqft home in the DFW area. I have a friend with a comparable sized house that's paying closer to $500. Now obviously, the electricity provider also plays a role here, as is house orientation and some other things.
If others want to spend a few more bucks to keep it cooler.... more power to 'em.... (literally)
quote:
bunch of badasses and barbarians on this thread.
I thought I was conservative with AC and mine never gets over 75. 73 is ideal.
In the winter its usually a little cold in my house but not becuase I really like the cold but because I hate the feeling of a heater so much. I will usually turn the heater on every few hours just to break the chill if its that cold. but constant running heat and I cant breathe.
Likewise. I hate the heater. I'd rather pile on the blankets.
Unfortunately, these days both the heater and AC running at night scares the crap out of me. I can't really have any kind of potentially dry, moving air around me at night, so fans are immediately out.
quote:Slightly smaller house than you in SA, 2 stories with the majority of the living space on the 2nd floor with carpet, I keep the AC between 74-76 when home during summer months, and I pay about the same as you. Now, the AC climbs in the middle of the night, and during the day when not home, but it's still set at 74-76 a lot of the time as well. Fans definitely help...before I had ceiling fans in all of the rooms, it was more in the 72-74 range.
Someone asked earlier about cost savings due to where thermostats are set.
I mentioned we keep ours 80-81 in the summer... Sounds warm, but you get used to it quickly... and on a 98 degree day, it feels quite comfortable walking inside.
Our highest electric bill was $118 last summer. That's a two story 2800sqft home in the DFW area. I have a friend with a comparable sized house that's paying closer to $500. Now obviously, the electricity provider also plays a role here, as is house orientation and some other things.
If others want to spend a few more bucks to keep it cooler.... more power to 'em.... (literally)
Fans and a programmable thermostat help a lot to keep electric/NG bills down.
quote:
Unfortunately, these days both the heater and AC running at night scares the crap out of me. I can't really have any kind of potentially dry, moving air around me at night, so fans are immediately out.
Dude, whatever you've done in the past, remind me not to do. I may never go around bears if you have to have it that quiet after working with them. Is it a "I've gotta hear them coming" thing?
No, it's a corneal erosion issue. Moving air dries out the surface of my cornea, and sticks to the back of my eyelid. No biggie if I wake up slowly and realize it, and can force myself to tear up. If I get startled awake (I have a 5 year old son, so yeah) or sleep too deeply and rub my face into the pillow, I can rip 60-80% of the surface of my cornea off. For about 3-4 hours, I'd honestly prefer to break my leg again. After about 4 hours the burning pain goes away, but my depth perception is messed up for 3-5 days.
So, no moving air around my head.
So, no moving air around my head.
thats a thing? holy hell that sounds terrible.
I have recurrent corneal erosions associated with map dot dystrophy (what ultimately causes the erosions). I've had corneal debridement surgeries (didn't realize was actually having a "surgical procedure" the first time it happened) twice in both eyes. It's honestly why I haven't pursued, often much higher paying, jobs out West that would be my dream jobs. The worst erosion I have had was on a camping trip to Colorado with my dad back in 2008. It scared the crap out of him because I am known to have an extremely high pain tolerance, and stubborn. I agreed to go the ER, and as we pulled into the parking lot the pain subsided. The catch is there really isn't much they can do for it in the ER. Eye numbing drops can only be used extremely sparingly. In the weeks leading up to my son being born, it was actually a major source of contingency planning for what to do if my wife went into labor at night. You can drive pretty easy with a broken leg (I have), or a jacked up knee (did that one too), you can't drive when you can't see.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1195183-clinical
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1195183-clinical
Ya know, we have frequent "when TSHTF" threads around here, something I think we've learned from this thread is that if TSHTF involves losing electricity, several TexAger's weapons and ammo caches are likely to outlast their delicate constitutions...just sayin...
There's a difference between being unable to deal with extreme temperatures, and choosing not to deal with extreme temperatures. Given the choice, especially indoors - I choose to be comfortably temperature controlled.
A real Texags Badass turns his heat on in the summer and AC in the winter, just to toughin' up.
quote:I suppose therein lies the difference of opinion.
There's a difference between being unable to deal with extreme temperatures, and choosing not to deal with extreme temperatures. Given the choice, especially indoors - I choose to be comfortably temperature controlled.
I don't consider 80 degrees in my house to be an example of "extreme temperatures" by any stretch.
quote:quote:I suppose therein lies the difference of opinion.
There's a difference between being unable to deal with extreme temperatures, and choosing not to deal with extreme temperatures. Given the choice, especially indoors - I choose to be comfortably temperature controlled.
I don't consider 80 degrees in my house to be an example of "extreme temperatures" by any stretch.
I let you in on a little secret : your guests do.
quote:I'll usually turn mine down to be courteous if i'm expecting overweight guests. Most of my friends keep their places at similar temps to ours, so there is no concern with them.quote:quote:I suppose therein lies the difference of opinion.
There's a difference between being unable to deal with extreme temperatures, and choosing not to deal with extreme temperatures. Given the choice, especially indoors - I choose to be comfortably temperature controlled.
I don't consider 80 degrees in my house to be an example of "extreme temperatures" by any stretch.
I let you in on a little secret : your guests do.
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