Petals

Deciduous trees not too close to the house to be a nuisance but close enough to give shade in summer and sun in winter.

Verandas on houses make a huge difference, all around the house is preferred.

Steel roofs cool down far quicker than tile roofs.

Window furnishing should be block out blinds and curtains, if its going to be particularly hot, shut them early in the day and then the air con is not required until later in the day.

If own your own get solar panels and they offset the most expensive power times when aircon is on.

Instead of nets have reflective insulation put on the windows keeps heat in in winter and heat out in summer.

Live on a slab keeps warm in winter and cool in summer.

Sliding windows so when a cool change comes the windows can be opened wide to let in the breeze.

DrWho

That bill is peanuts... lots of good advice from others... can be better to cool the house before the heat hits during the day and keep it there rather than turn it on at night and let it run flat out for hours...

macy

Agreed, that bill sounds fantastic. Our bill is huge considering we are out all day hardly use the air con. We started putting our dishwasher on delay so it comes on in the middle of the night and also the same with the washing machine, the savings if you do it consistently certainly make up for the organisational part of the day when you have to remember to set it all and stack it all to come on. Looking at our electricity bill off peak is 8.44 and peak is 20.69 per k/watt. A considerable saving if you use the off peak.

We are also about to phone Origin and threaten to leave them for somebody cheaper if they don't do something about our charges, there seems to be lots of choice out there.

TheEmperorIsNaked

My twopenny worth.
That bill IS expensive for me, and my house faces East/West so takes the brunt. However, when I first came here there were no blinds/carpet was to be fitted/AC's had yet to be installed-it was summer. The temperature was showing at 45 degrees inside, and on one awful day it was 46.3!

I have two wall installed RC air conditioners/ the house is compact/it's well insulated.
Here's what I did: I have grown a deciduous vine at the front, and let it grow down like a curtain, with just a gap access the door!
I have put a shade cloth running off the verandah at the back,-that has a creeper on it.
I have planted the garden so that it is largely a shade garden-and put up arches-covering them with creepers.
BUT: that takes time.

Sorry,-but on a hot day you have to live in a bunker! Use outdoor blinds-matchstick blinds will do if money is tight.
Close all windows/drop internal blinds/close curtains. Doing this means that my AC doesn't need switching on until late afternoon-or earlier if we're in a heat wave and the heat has got into the brick-you then awake to a warm house!

When it gets hottish inside I turn the AC on (in the living area only)-and run the ceiling fan that I have in the kitchen-and the expel air in the bathroom.

But my best tip is for a little titan: the desk fan! An oscillating fan does nothing. A fan cannot cool air as such, it is only effective when it is blowing directly on you.
Use a small desk fan and train it on you. In the lounge-in the kitchen (learn to cook early in the morning/use a slow cooker/or a microwave)/have a desk fan on the bedhead and train it on you. In extreme heat have one trained on you from the side as well.
Those little fans cost a pittance to run and they are a godsend! We're on 39 degrees today (Adelaide). The AC went on mid afternoon-and I have a fan on me as I type this!

I only run the bedroom AC to cool the room;-put the desktop fan/s on-and run them all night.

For all these tips, my best one is to 'wear' a desk fan like a second skin!

Good luck!

Penny45

That sounds fantastic to me!! We have 3 different charges/24hours. Off peak 10c, shoulder 20c and peak 40c all plus VAT (might be 9.9 and 19.4 but something like that).

When we had NOTHING in the house though, best tip for a cool night was to shower before sleeping. Amazing how much it helps to cleanse the skin and how few people know this

andrew63

Maybe I am wrong but I thought that to tap into the lower tariffs (33 and 31 as opposed to 11) it's not a simple case of timing but having the appropriate circuitry in the house.

Seabird

Alot depends on where you live in Australia. You need advice from those living in dry hot locations! I lived in Adelaide for 5 years where we had the very high temperatures you talk about and the whole house heats up. A fan is inadequate on its own as all it does is circulate hot air, and the temperature is already above body temperature. As your sweat it evaporates more quickly in low humidity so a fan does not speed up that process and cool you down as well. We now live in Brisbane where you feel warmer at lower temps because of humidity, but fans work a treat, especially on the ceiling, and I have hardly used aircon for the entire summer. It doesn't go above body temperature.

In Adelaide I would have it charging away and get $700 bills. I must admit to my quarterly bill now being a steady $360 for two of us in a four bedroom house. It was twice that in Adelaide in the summer and also in the winter, because you will pay stacks more to HEAT your house in winter than the cool it in summer. Winter is a bigger bind in my opinion as you need heating everynight in Adelaide and probably Perth for around 4 months a year....

To get back to some tips:

Set the air con to a slightly higher temperature and use fans. Once you get temperature down to around 30C you can use fans to boost its effects.

Close your windows and blinds during the day - roller blinds look awful but are excellent for this. Once the temperature outside is lower then inside, open the house up for a few hours.

Brick houses act as radiators - close the area off where you have the aircon system, and live and even all sleep in there for the few days when it gets above 40C if you are unable to sleep elsewhere in the house.

Put on an old teeshirt and shorts, stand in the shower and then drip dry - you act as your own convective cooler! This brings instant relief and means you don't need the air con, but be careful of your water bill.

At night, put a wet towel over yourself or the kids. If you then turn on a fan you will be chilled as!! this is a great use of a fan even in very high temperatures, and costs very little.

Part of being in Australia is that it is unsurprisingly hot... It is the winter that surprised me far more, as houses are not geared up for it. Really miss central heating in winter even in Brisbane - daughter had really bad chilblains on her hands and feet last year in Brisbane!

Hope this helps..

TheEmperorIsNaked

Yes! The wet towel trick works a treat. If I overheat I use a spray bottle of water and stand/lie in front of the fan;-it's the same thing, it cools instantly.

(I also keep a bowl of water in the living/sleeping area/s both summer and winter. The air gets so hot and dry. A small bowl of water does not cause humidity, it simply helps against the dry air).

Loch Lomond

I'd rather suffer a British Winter than an Australian Summer

mulben

Usage wise that is only 28kW a day ( av. is 20kW over 12 months )
If you open the house up at night and create breezeways it will stay cooler during the day.
If your west of Settlers Hill or of the ridge you wont get much benefit from the Dr during the day unfortunately.
Shade works best if its outside the window , so if your allowed to add outside blinds ( Masters or Bunnings ) check it out.
We have only run our RC twice this summer and not at all last week.
(disclaimer : we are right on the coast )

TheEmperorIsNaked

A dirty great DITTO!!

Wed ongoing:30/35/39/....currently (1pm) hitting 39.5-it'll go to 40/39/36......29 !!
The heat is now in the brick of the house. Cool the house with all the tips provided. But when it gets to this stage the trick is to cool yourself.

Edited to add-this is SA.

commonwealth

Depends on where in Australia you spend summer. Cos where I am currently it gets very hot only a few times during summer. I also enjoy the saltwater and the sea breeze.

derab

can I just suggest that, even though your water is metered, it pays to walk around the place with a hose just at sunset. those bricks and tiles are very thirsty, I Bet......

eddie007

Thats a great idea.... Get yerself a massive fine for using yer hosepipe and you wont worry about a little bit of electricity.....lol

TheEmperorIsNaked

Interestingly, for other reasons this suggestion might be valid. There is growing evidence that the complete dryness is causing some structural damage to houses. It had been suggested that damping around the bottom bricks around your house might be a good idea...