OT: Heat wave
Who else out there is soaking up as much MGoBlog as they can before the power lines inevitably start being fried by the air conditioners tonight? Before the little bit of rain we just had here in AA swept through, the heat index was 106 degrees. Now it's at 99. I can't wait until Thursday when the straight up temperature is predicted to be 99. If it's as humid as today, the heat index will be 115.
air conditioning?
Not a thing to be taken for granted. I would put money on it not being an option tonight around campus once everyone gets home and tries to turn it on.
No, it was a joke, Ero. As in: air conditioning? What is that?
I know it is bad for the grid.
You and your jokes.
......that I help design the grid of which you speak.
Part of me says, "Use your AC judiciously", but the other part says, "Fail, circuits, for I could use the OT"
This America, the land of excess. I'm going home, setting the A/C to 60 and if fails calling up DTE and screaming obscenities in the phone.
It won't be my phone, at least. Besides, I am now at home.
my central air is set at 70, and i still run a window unit all night on high cool 9/9 temp because i want to be able to curl up under the covers even though it's still 80 degrees outside.
no wonder i've had a cold for seemingly weeks.
You were really helpful during the power outages all around Ann Arbor during early June. Virtual high five.
I think that was the first time I was actually sort of doing my job while on MGoBlog.
I'm not going to begrudge anyone for running their AC when they're indoors right now - but leaving it on when you leave your home (as my neighbors do) is ridiculous. They walk out and lock the door with the AC unit loudly cranking in the background. You can survive a few minutes inside when you come home before it kicks in.
That's the worst thing you could possibly do. Lower your thermostat, sure, but it's even more wasteful to turn it off all day only to need it running full-bore for hours on end to catch back up.
For an entire house, perhaps, but not for a single apartment unit. It does not take long for my unit to kick in.
That makes sense. I'm referring specifically to central air and split systems.
Edit: and it seems that I was wrong, damnit. Hate when that happens.
I'm sorry, but that is simply not true.
Talk to someone who works in the trades.
The total energy removed in a day and the efficiency of the air conditioner. The amount of heat leak into the house is a function of the difference in temperature between inside and outside (the larger the difference the larger the leak). What this means, is that as your house heats up the heat leak into the house will be proportionally less. Therefore, from a total energy perspective you'll have to remove more heat to keep the thermostat at a lower temperature. See example below.
Say you have the thermostat set @ 70F, and the heat leak is 100 W, that means you have to constantly remove 100 W for the duration you're gone (say 5 hrs). So your AC has to remove 500 W-hr in that time period (a unit of energy). Now say you don't remove that heat during that time period, well that 100 W rate is going to drop over the 5 hrs as your house heats up, so that maybe now you only have to remove a total of 400 W-hr to get back to 70F.
Now the only thing that could negate this is efficiency. If your AC was less efficient at the higher temperature, then the two effects could cancel. However, air conditioning efficiency is based on temperature lift with the more lift required, the lower the efficiency. In other words, it actually takes more energy to remove 1W @ 70F than at 80F given a constant outside temperature of say 85F. So in fact, efficiency is also working in your favor. Case closed. And if you need another reference:
http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/144/five-air-conditi…
Hit with the knowledge, it seems. I was always told (I work with a lot of trades) that AC's run more efficiently if set at a constant temperature. I fail it seems...
But I will check out your link because now I'm really curious.
All of this is true, but the instantaneous strain on the grid could be worse if you wait until your house heats up to 95 degrees.
I was not trying to assess the implications on grid energy demands, mold, time to cool, or anything else. I have cats and set my a/c to 80F during the day, so there's yet another variable.
Care to expound? Are you talking from experience, or just talking?
An air conditioner is essentially a giant dehumidifier. Did you ever notice that your air conditioner drains into something? That is the moisture that is being pulled out of your air in your house. Without it, you would increase your chance of mold.
I know this. That's a major reason I leave mine running...
The air conditioner will draw much more current once the house heats up in the afternoon. But then again, the power factor will be better too, so who knows.
this joke isn't funny for hose of us suffering without any
oh well at least I have a pool
maybe not the best idea. I think I must have lost 5 pounds. Still feel warm 4 hours later.
At least we're not shoveling snow.
but check the 10-day forecast...
I prefer shoveling snow to living on Venus.
It's a crisp 92 in South Bend. I tried to take the dogs for a walk... they got as far as the sidewalk before they looked at me as if to say, "yeah, fuck that, buddy," and turned around toward the door.
My malamutes both want the prime spot under the main AC vent. However it is hot and they're way to hot to fight for it. So they just lie there on the floor and kind of half heartedly growl at each other. It is kind of sad. I guess I'll have to take them down the river and let them scare the kayakers a little.
People often forget that most of SE Michigan was once a swamp. Honestly, I look forward to this time of year, you don't have to shovel sunshine off your car.
Yeah, but you can put on more clothes when it's cold. You can't take your skin off when it's 100 degrees out (I guess you wouldn't really want to, but you get the point). Some people can't sit in the a/c all day, or so I hear.
I am suddenly no longer upset about having to stay inside and do homework all day.
Feel your pain bud. I am a contractor and have the privelege of laying tile on an outdoor patio. Shirt was soaked by 9 this morning.
This is why I think that the upper MIdwest has probably the worst weather in the country. You've got nigh unbearable extremes in the winter and summer, and then a short transition period in between them that is also sometimes beset with those extremes. I feel like the summer should be a bigger reward than it is for enduring each miserable winter.
Eh, this summer has been amazing so far aside from this heat wave. And we haven't had a heat wave like this since 2005.
June was wonderful, but July has been pretty bad. When it's in the upper '80s, it's still pretty unpleasant to be outside and do yardwork or go for a walk in the park. At least for me it is. i like to jog outside and I have to get up at 6 in the morning in July to do it.
God don't remind me of 2005. That summer was awful and it lasted until the end of September.
But it's a dry heat for TomVH
I used to laugh at people who would talk about it being a dry heat, but then I moved to Boise. There really is a difference. Today it was in the high 90's here and I was pretty comfortable for the most part outside. When weather.com said that the temp was 95 here, it also said it feels like 93 (compared to Minneapolis which was 97 and it said felt like 113). The difference in humidity shaves at least 10 degrees from the feel of the weather, and even more in the shade. I don't miss the humidity, but I do miss Michigan football and hockey.
I do try to get to as many games as I can. The stadium atmosphere is nothing like Michigan, but they are still fun games to watch. BSU's success also makes people think about Idaho for something other than potatoes. There is a lot more here than people think, especially if you like the outdoors.
I don't know.. if I were a lakefront homeowner, I would love this weather.
(said he, who knoweth not about air conditioning).