A/C Time in Florida

[Tampa Mom]

I don't know about the rest of the country, but it's A/C time in Florida. My benchmark for turning on the A/C is that the house is 80 degrees (or higher) when I get home from work. For the last three days we've been running it for several hours in the evening and at night (althought the thermostat is turned up to 78 then). We're also running the fan with it and off it goes when I get up in the morning. Soon enough the humidity will kick up to the hot, wet blanket stage and it will stay on daily. May through October is when it's on all the time. *sigh* But the good news is that it stayed off for six months and I've lasted longer than my neighbors in not turning it on. LOL

Thursday after next I'm getting my ducts resealed and next month we'll be getting more insulation put in. Fingers crossed that that helps keep the summer electric bill jump to more of a low jump.

[Jeepgirl]

The night before last and last night were the first times we ran the AC here in VA. I just couldn't take the heat anymore...it was only about 80, but the humidity was what got me, the evening thunderstorms are just starting so the humidity is going to be with us til fall... boo hoo. We just got notice that our power is going to be more expensive...ugh. I'm beginning to think that solar power might be the way to go. We put a gable fan in a few years ago that sucks the heat out of the attic space, the first year we had it we saved about $20.00 a month, it was amazing. As long as the nights are somewhat cool I shut off the AC, open the windows and run a fan in one window and the ceiling fans and it keeps the house pretty cool, but soon we'll be running AC all the time.

[momma2girls]

A/C here in Arkansas too. It doesn't even seem like we had a spring this year

We had the warmest March/April on record here and it looks like May will be about the same.

[Tampa Mom]

It doesn't even seem like we had a spring this year

We had this problem the last two springs. It was cold longer than usual and just not the regular 'chamber of commerce' spring we're used to. This spring was more usual with beautiful weather and temps to match. Now that the hot weather is returning, I hope it's bringing the rain with it. Spring is our dry season and we could sure use some!

[Girleymom3]

I fear we will be in for a long hot Summer here Our "winter" was very warm and we have gotten more rain this Spting than we did in the Winter, and even then it hasn't been much! We have been 96 one day then 55 the next...crazy! I'm not looking forward to the hot weather at all!

jeepgirl, how much did you spend for your gable fan? I'm assuming it's the same thing as a whole house fan? We are looking into that as well.

[Doodlebug]

We have had ours on for about a full month. Our electric bill was $130 this last time--$100 the month before (we are all electric). It was 94 here today--unusually warm for this time of the year. We had little winter, a beautful spring that lasted for what seems like just a few days--but now summer is here full force!! I don't know how you have held off this long =)

[Tampa Mom]

I don't know how you have held off this long =)

Up until May 1st (which is like D-Day for summer in this part of Florida), it stayed below 90 and the evenings cooled off fairly quickly. I would come home from work, open all the doors and windows, turn on the fan in the livingroom and it was beautful. I have the advantage of several big trees shading the house and back yard. But for the past week it's been hot and sticky. Last two nights I haven't slept worth a flip due to waking up hot. I'm just gonna have to suck it up and leave it on. This morning I said to heck with it and kept it on. I'll just pay the extra money on the bill. Come late October, I can turn it back off. LOL

[Doodlebug]

I pretty much always turn our off in October and keep the air off until around April. The heater only runs as needed--you can always put on clothes, but you can only take off so many! LOL Ours will get to be like $230 only one month a year--in the hottest part of summer, which coincides with me being off for summer. The rest of the year, our bill isn't terrible. My DHs favorite thing to say, when it starts warming up in the house, is, "I work too hard to lay here and sweat!" It makes me laugh every time =)

[Tampa Mom]

My DHs favorite thing to say, when it starts warming up in the house, is, "I work too hard to lay here and sweat!"

Sounds like our DH's were cut from the same cloth!!!

I will say this, I ran the AC and fan yesterday (even though the thermo was set to 76-77 degrees) that house was much cooler and I slept a bit better last night. Although thanks to my perimenopause, during the second half of my cycle I sleep pretty cruddily. So I can only blame part of sleeping badly on the heat. LOL

[Jeepgirl]

@ Girleymom: We paid about $75, but that was 3-4 yrs ago. I've seen some that are put into the roof. I think it is the same type, except no cutting involved, we just attached it to a stud in front of the gable vent, wired it in to an existing switch and set the thermostat. It comes on when it reaches 102 degrees in the attic.