BadgeIsBack

You can get portable ac which comsists of something as simple as a water filled box through which air is blown which does not have any additional power cost associated with cooling.

Might be noisier.

Noocat

Actually, the most popular form of cooling in Melbourne is ducted evaporative cooling, which is now everywhere here. It works VERY well in our climate and only costs around 3-4 cents per hour to cool an entire house. Plus, without the use of refrigerants, there's no harm to the environment.

We use our's all the time - we are on Green Power - and it's great, no sleepless nights!

Anyway, if you are renting, the only options are either a portable evaporative cooler (but these don't work as effectively as the fully installed, ducted type) or a portable air conditioner.

bridie

we've got one of those but it's not all that good..

Noocat

That sounds like portable evaporative cooling. It makes some difference but it's not great. A proper portable aircon unit is better, but it also costs more and not so great for the environment...

bridie

we are going to invest in a proper one, mainly for DD's room as it's always 30 degrees at night, be nice to cool it for a bit before she goes to bed. 'fraid my family's comfort comes before the environment.

sunbather

Except for the 60 litres of water per hour that it uses. Perhaps that's why Victoria has such a terrible drought situation.

ps. This is not having a personal dig at you

Petals

Planet is already on the way out and that is why we need aircon. Fortunately due to our lovely climate in Melbourne we do not have to use aircon very much at all but its there for those unbearable days or nights.

robtkd1

Just so you know, i'm in the uk (coming to Perth in 3weeks!) and i woke up this morning to snow. It's so cold this winter that even with the heating on full blast it's still cold.

Grayling

I dream about snow.....make the most of it....you may be wishing for some more soon

G

Noocat

That's not true. Our system draws up 12 litres of water and hangs onto it for several days. It only dumps that water when the system hasn't been used for 3 days.

I don't even notice it in our water bills. In fact, our overall water usage went down over the past 3 months according to our last bill despite running our cooling system.

The_Wookie

Aaaahhhhh snow......oh the days of when you could wrap up and snuggle under a duvet or two, watching TV and drinking a nice hot cup of soup.

I was sprawled on the sofa at 3am last night with cold, wet flannels on my head - a spray bottle with iced water in my left hand - and a total inability to sleep...

I know which of the two above scenarios I'd prefer.

billymacker

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Quote:
Originally Posted by BadgeIsBack
You can get portable ac which comsists of something as simple as a water filled box through which air is blown which does not have any additional power cost associated with cooling.


we've got one of those but it's not all that good..

put ice cold water in from the fridge with ice in you will see it works better.

Cheetah7

I had this problem in Thailand, could not sleep for love nor money.

Some old lady of about 3 million years old, suggested rubbing Tiger Balm on my wrist, behind the back of my neck, behind my ears, behind my knees and on my ankles before going to bed.

I laughed at what she said but tried it anyway, I had a cold shower immediately before going to bed, drank a cold glass of water, then did the Tiger Balm thing.

You instantly feel cooler with this stuff on, yes it smells like Vics nasal rub but it does cool you down enough to get some sleep.

Kalenge

Nowhere near anything like 60 litres of water an hour. Evaporative air-conditioning reuses the water unless you selectively dump it. It is extremely cheap both in electricity and water consumption.

Having moved from a house which had reverse cycle we're extremely glad to have evaporative now. It's much, much cheaper, and cools the house down far quicker than the reverse cycle ever did. The only downside is that it doesn't have zones so all of the house is always cooled, but I'd still pick evaporative over reverse cycle any day.

And reverse cycle's trump card of providing heat in the winter never seemed to be effective enough - trying to direct hot air downwards is attempting to defy the laws of science. And again it's massively more expensive to run than other options.

Exile

We had evaporative at one place in Perth and it worked really well apart from when it was really hot and humid. So about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

It was a brand new system, but was simply overpowered on those hot, humid days (over 37 or 38 or so, if I remember correctly). When temperatures were lower than that, we didn't need it anyway.