Crazy power bill
- Thread starter shawndavid
- Start date
Brick means fuck all. Brick can be brick facing or structural. Structural brick with plaster walls is ok for cooling, pita to heat, and there isnt one hell of a lot you can do. Brick facing on a wood frame (more common in US residential than structural) has all sorts of issues. Tearing it off is even worse then pay extra to heat it though.
If you live in a heating climate (north of PA about) most houses should have some amount of air barriers on the INSIDE of the insulation (under the drywall over the studs). Keep the hot air in essentially and not let it leak out.
If you live in a cooling climate (called that cause you cool the living area) like the deep south or the non freezing desert (Washington is a freezing desert in the east, and parts of Idaho and Utah) where you will be running air conditioning the air barrier should be on the outside of the insulation. Keeps the hot air out.
Easier to retrofit shit in cooling climates because you dont have to gut the interior.
It's actually pretty easy to check for leaks, put a fan in the window blowing in (preferably a fan with some POWAR) shut all the windows and doors and have someone walk around smoking a cigar. Can also burn incense, etc. There is a blue dye stuff that has no odour too but I cant remember the name.
the location of the vapor barrier has everything to do with keeping the insulation dry. condensation will form on the warm side of the air barrier, so you want that side facing away from the insulation. hence, outside in cooling climates, inside in heating climates.
alternate way to identify leaks: have someone walk around the outside with a leaf blower pointed at the windows and doors while you stand inside with a smoke or candle.
alternate way to identify leaks: have someone walk around the outside with a leaf blower pointed at the windows and doors while you stand inside with a smoke or candle.
Judging by how much he's paying, he could just have his hand 1 inch away from each window/door and feel the cold air rushing in.
jeebus, you people's electricity is expensive. we pay ~8cents/kw typically. if you pay 10cents/kw or more, there's alot of really cost effective stuff you can do like change all your lightbulbs, replace water heater/ac/all other major appliances if they're over 10 years old, etc. to really save some money, and you'll see a payback on them all within the next 4-5 years.
i found out the other day i can order those 30watt lightbulbs for super cheap through work becuase apparently we own one of the major manufacturers of them.
i found out the other day i can order those 30watt lightbulbs for super cheap through work becuase apparently we own one of the major manufacturers of them.
I just opened my highest bill ever, $188.52. It's usually 150-160 in the summer. I'm in Hernando Co (up the Veterans Exp) and I keep my thermo @ 78 all day, cooling 1,900sf. It always feels good, never have I felt hot. We installed gray glass windows and radiant barrier in the roof when we were building, so I imagine that helps keep our bill low.
*We have Withlachoochie River Electric Co @ .093 per kWh
*We have Withlachoochie River Electric Co @ .093 per kWh
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Dude, dont you work for Siemens? They own everything GE and Rockwell dont...jeebus, you people's electricity is expensive. we pay ~8cents/kw typically. if you pay 10cents/kw or more, there's alot of really cost effective stuff you can do like change all your lightbulbs, replace water heater/ac/all other major appliances if they're over 10 years old, etc. to really save some money, and you'll see a payback on them all within the next 4-5 years.
i found out the other day i can order those 30watt lightbulbs for super cheap through work becuase apparently we own one of the major manufacturers of them.
One of the old towns I lived in was the first electrified in the state etc. One of the first hydroelectric plants in the WORLD actually (1882 Wisconsin). All original equipment, 4c a kwh all times of the day. 200 sq ft house never paid more than a $50 bill. It never broke down either. Not like NiMo or National Grid where they have to send repair people from all the way across the state.
Small scale electricity is pure win.
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pretty much. including osram sylvania which is a major lightbulb & led manufacturer... i can get the compact fluorescent lamps for dirt cheap.
they gave us a deal on solar panels too, but the payoff in my area with our amount of sunlight and how cheap our electricity is came up to almost 30 years for everyone that went through the calcs for their houses.
i'm waiting for them to give us a deal on windmills
i temporarily turn it down to 80 at bedtime. the program kicks back in after an hour and lets it go back up to 84 while i sleep, then it goes back down to 80 when it's time to get up.
i can't fall asleep when it's hot, but once i'm asleep it takes something really drastic to wake me. if it gets up to 90 i'd probably wake up, but 84 ain't bad with a fan on.
for me just boxers and a sheet...it's gotta be in the low 70's or I'm still going to boil even with just that
anything above 70, and I have to have a fan running against my balls while sleeping in the nude.