Pemolis

I "hopefully" will have an apartment soon (Still hunting), but from what I can expect, I won't have central air. What is the cheapest way of ACTUALLY cooling an apartment (1 fan on swivel is NOT cooling).

I'm considering AC units, both window and portable. But are there any other methods I'm not considering, sometype of active/passive cooling methods?

Consider that I don't want a 100 dollar electric Bill. So the more Energy Efficient, the better.

Update:

New York City, Bronx Area. Fairly humid during the summers.

Markel

Some options will depend on the climate where you live. If it is dry, an evaporative cooler might work (blows air over evaporating water to cool, which is much cheaper than running a compressor) at the "cost" of raising the humidity. But if it is humid and hot, your best route is likely going to be window air conditioners. The portable units have convenience on their side, but as far as I've read their cooling capacity is limited (and they probably aren't going to be as efficient as window units).

Depending on the electric rates where you live, it might be a choice between a $100+ electric bill and comfort. If a month is unusually hot, my electric bill (central air in a 4br tri-level home) is over $200 (at last year's rates, so probably $275 this year, unless the Illinois legislature has the courage to stand up to the electrical utility lobby).

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Pemolis

Thanks for the Reply Markel, slight update on location.

Bronx, New York. Normally hot and humid during June-early September.

Just figured a way to cut down my energy cost by a ton..

http://www.amazon.com/Globe-Fluoresc...0029547&sr=8-1

Ultra Compact Fluorescent Bulbs. 1/4 the power usage, 10X the lifespan of a regular light bulb.

AC issue unresolved.. but that was a nice sidetrack.

Markel

And, they generate much less heat than incandescents.

Pemolis

Little more info on location and price.

Average Electric Bill Minus the Cooling from what I understand averages around 30 to 40 dollars.

I'm a fairly wired in person so I expect about 40 to 45 dollar bill a month on power.

This will most likely be a Large Studio apartment in a building.

zenbooty

You won't get your place cooled in the summer in the Bronx for less than $100, I assure you, unless your apartment is like 100 square feet or less or something.

And while flourescents are definitely less energy hungry than incandescent bulbs, those bulbs don't really eat up tons of power anyway. Its appliances like your fridge, TV set, and computer equipment that chew that up.

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Pemolis

I'm a bit afraid of that.. thats why I want to know if there are any natural/alternative methods of lowcost cooling (I know the curtain deal, close the bathroom door deal, etc).

johnnymk

You may be able to turn off the automatic defrost in the refrigerator; buy a high EER air conditioner; use a laptop instead of a desktop and turn the switch off for the heater until you have to take a shower and/or wash dishes.

Showtime

One option is to seal and cool 1 room. It sucks when you have to leave that room, but it's a lot cheaper than cooling the whole place.

Or do the blowup kiddie pool and a fan in the middle of the living room thing.

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InfiniteNothing

Cover the outside of your windows with foil. Get the landlord to fix any air leaks. Leave windows open at night. Box fans are nice.

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Pemolis

From what I believe I maybe getting, its a fairly large room which is somewhat unsealable (2 rooms, + kitchen (tiny one at that) + bathroom (surprisingly large).

Bathrooms easily sealable (door, etc).

I'm thinking of hooking everything up to a kill switch circuit breaker (a powerstrip that actually KILLS all power, not just cycles through it when shutoff). I find that having stuff on standby drains about 1/2 the amount needed normally to operate it. In the case of the TV. It takes juice to keep the internal clock going. Frankly what tv needs the clock? Same with the Playstation 2 (Draws juice when plugged in.. regardless if its on or not), as well as 90% of every other electrical item out there (computer for instance, being plugged in, etc).

I can probably save about 20 to 30 dollars a month by killswitching everything when I'm away (which is often), and not having the items suck power when its off.

The PC.. I've been debating on buying a laptop.. but changed my mind when I picked up my 20 inch widescreen... I need the juice to run that cool monster Though I did pickup one of those energy saver models (I almost bought one that was nearly 50w, this ones about 30. Which I'm happy with.

Silly as it sounds, if you know of any of these Energy Items Mentioned in this thread.. link some info on them (would help me especially since I don't know the technical name of 1/2 of this crap).

redcolours

i vote for comfort.

window AC IMHO would be best in an apartment, but make sure you calculate the cubic feet area of your apartment. then check for that on the AC unit your getting. getting something too small wont cool the room at all, and you end up paying for energy wasted.

if you wanna save a lot, then just turn it on only when the heat is unbearable. i find that here in the northeast, thats around mid-July to August. i just literally sweat it out. i try to think of the people in the old days when before AC was even invented and how they lived thru it.

in the past i used to simply leave the window partly open (with the screen on of course), and sleep in my underwear (Sometimes buck nekkid). you can do that if security/privacy is not an issue.

if you ARE gonna turn on the AC it would help to have your PC close by, so your PC is also cooled down easily. In the summer months it runs much hotter with the ambient heat helping it...

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Napoleon54

Mang, first you want an apartment in NYC but you don't want to pay NYC prices. Now you want AC but don't want to pay for that either? C'mon, you must think this is a perfect world.

CFL bulbs are move efficient than incandescents, sure. But don't expect that to save you more than a few bucks per month.

Powerswitching your TV to turn off the internal clock won't save you a dime in ten years. Your computer clock or wrist watch runs for YEARS on a tiny button cell battery; the TV clock isn't using any more electricity than either of those devices.

You're either going to be hot or you're going to pay more for electricity, get over it.

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cruelpupet

You got him there.


But they also generate less heat, so that should help keep the place cooler.


Youd be surprised by the draw of an "off" TV/VCR/etc... its not the clock thats drawing all the power, its because its in stand-by mode so its quicker to turn on, as well as being able to detect the remote input.


Yes he is.

Also, Id like to suggest setting your pc to hibernate, or at least shut down the HD (a major power eater/heat generator)

A window unit is your only option for AC. Dont diss the oscillating fan, moving air around will help it feel cooler.

Try not to use the oven, if its a small dish use a toaster oven instead.

Keep your freezer and fridge full. An empty freezer uses more electricity then a full one.

Move to a basement apt.

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utcpal

In extreme cases, when its really hot..
1) Dont wear any clothes at home.
2) Keep your credit cards/cash at home and drive to a shopping mall (ofcourse, with your clothes on!).. i.e.. Dont stay at home at all.. :-)
any other innovative idea ?

zenbooty

cold showers are cheap.

A lot of new air conditioners have a power save mode where you can set a temp and it will intermittently turn on and off to just maintain the temp there. A lot of times I can just turn it on when I get home in the early evening, turn on the a/c and let it jam until the day heat is gone, and with the cooler night temps the A/C spends little time running after that.

Like someone else mentioned, I keep one room (bedroom) air conditioned, and close it off from the rest of the apartment by shutting doors and such. I open all the windows outside the room, so the rest of the house can at least get air circulation.

cold lemonade is very therapeutic when facing the heat.

Natural fabrics breathe better and are more comforatble in the heat, and button shirts are cooler than pullover shirts. A nice pair of white dress pants are cooler than dark colors or jeans, and also look good and summery with any brightly colored shirt!

Backpacks will make your back sweat like a pig, and soak your shirt. The subway stations are NOT cooled or heated, though the cars are.

Jcranmer

You could always try the Homemade AC Unit

cruelpupet

Something tells me an AC would be more efficient. Unless you have a free source of ice.

mcs328

Have you thought about getting that Kill-A-Watt doodad to measure how much juice your stuff uses? I believe it's 30-50 bucks but you can see how much things cost turned on and off.

http://www.amazon.com/P3-Internation...0228042&sr=1-1

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Jcranmer

Unless you have a hotel / motel close by.

Pemolis

Follow up on this.

Yea standby stuff does drain power (you'd be surprised how much). A plugged in playstation 2 draws 17.52kWh per year... off.

thats bout 3 bucks.

Add in your TV, Computer, Microwave, Monitors, every brick that has a standby mode, external hard drives, cablebox, VCR, DVD players, Radio's, Diskmans, Chargers that are plugged in that aren't actually charging anything, Telephones, etc...

Adds up to anywhere between 100 to 200 bucks of excess wasted electricity.

While not allot, it adds up.

On the apartment thing (yes some have commented on it). Found one for about 820 a month. 6th Floor Studio (roomy one), nice bathroom (has a tub), extremely nice building (no grafitti, a gigantic washroom). Its doable, just takes some searching.

But back to the cheap cooling... whoever posted that link.. its actually a bit interesting... issue I find is this..

Where to produce that much ice... That definitely is a nice read though.

Jcranmer

Jcranmer

Yeah that is a real issue. Especially if you have any area of real size to cool. You could look at the main page, which has some additional ideas including a better heat exchanger and an option that keeps cool water flowing by using a garden hose rather then ice. Although I am not sure if the additional cost of the water would offset the savings in electricity.

http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~gmilburn/ac/

It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure any of it would really work. It's just a link I found a long time back and thought was interesting. (it might have even been from here) If you decide to try it, let us know if it actually works!

johnnymk

http://www.xantrex.com/forum/forum_p...p?TID=196&PN=1

Other energy robbers, defrost cycle is usually 500-1000 watts. Last for 5 to 20 minutes on every 16 hrs or so cycle.

The Happy Squirrel

you want your entire place cooled off in a hurry and cheply?
hire my ex wife to come stay with you
she could freeze the sahara with one cross look

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ArkiStan

If you have a choice, try to get a apt that's at least two floors away from the roof. The roof will radiate heat all through the night.

BTW, NYC is already in its 80s with high humidity right now. I just had to install my AC today. Thank god I'm in university housing--I DON'T PAY FOR ELECTRICITY!!!!