Yep, Gringation, 25 degrees can feel mighty cool when your body slows down during the night. When that happens, though, I have the advantage that my wife wants to snuggle! ____________________ I agree with you, Life, that checking to be sure no one is stealing from you is worth the trouble. A simple way to do it is to take a meter reading when you're going to be gone, overnight or longer, before you leave and immediately when you get back. If all you left on is a refrigerator that was untouched while you were gone, with its doors closed, and seals intact, very little electricity would have been used. (Gotta make sure, though, that that frig is not set at a super cool temp, or is old and worn out, in which case it may still use a lot).
How did that finally work out, Steve? Did it turn out to be any cheaper, so far, compared to previous years' bills? We've now moved to a condo which came with central air: one unit is 36,000 BTU, the other 24,000. I'm a little nervous about what to expect during the summer months.... Still, it should not be as bad as those who live in Playa del Carmen have it. One couple we know there says their smallest electric bill, running a home office with several computers going, and using mainly ceiling fans, was 4,000 pesos! I know we won't hit that, in any case, with the much larger subsidies we have, here, in Cancun. Viva Cancun! _______________________
Worked out much cheaper, we've been using the air con much more liberally and our bills have reduced significantly. Our most recent bill was $3,800 and we've been running the air con almost all night every night in two bedrooms since about early Feb. We still dont use it in the day time though. Last year we wouldnt dare put our old central air con on until about May and then when we did, as you'll recall, we got bills of $10,000 plus
I've got no real way to prove it, but my "logic" tells me minisplits have several, practical advantages which could make them, in actual use, cheaper to operate than central systems. We'll give our central system one season to prove itself, after which we'll consider the economics of going to minisplits. Aside from air conditioning, our electrical consumption is practically nothing, amounting to something under 5 KWH/day, and producing a bill of about $10 USD/month, after subsidies!
I still cant figure out how people get by using so little electricity! We dont use our mini-splits yet but we use an average of 14 KWH/day. Do you guys just sit around in the dark and read by candlelight?
I'm with Trina on this one. In this apartment, I only have to pay the bill for my air conditioner (220v) and, in the Summer, the bill is easily $2,000 pesos or more. Imagine if I had my fans, fridge, TV, and computer on the same meter?!
I started unplugging appliances when i leave the house or sleep...and the amounts dropped considerably ,from 280 /300 to 89 ,so now i do unplug them it does make a big difference!!I should have listened before,i would have saved a ton of money!
I've not tried Violet's experiment, but I'd say it's the combination of a lot of little things, such as turning off ceiling fans when no one is in the room, turning off TVs when no one is watching them, turning off coffee makers as soon as the brewing cycle is over, etc. Motors- including swimming pool pumps- and appliances that heat (electric hot water heaters), or cool (including refrigerators and freezers) are the big consumers of electricity, not lights.
Oh yeah when I had to use electricity for everything my bills were humongous...water heater and electric stove...omg and now i sleep with the tv on everyday ..i have ac and the bill came tiny,dunno what did it but im happy about the ridiculous amount i paid last time
Just for a heads up guys ...... Being a a/c contractor (own my own company) something you guys might want to consider when replacing mini split systems ...... Check out the Dakin mini splits they have 1 condenser unit that will run up to 4 indoor heads and it's inverted so pretty much you feed it with 220v and the built in transformer drops the voltage to 48v also the compressor is internally valved so that if only 2 heads are calling for cooling it will significantly drop the amperage load of the compressor and not to mention its a 21 seer system..... Just a thought
