Central air
 

Some daft questions about central air con :-

1) Can you cool just certain rooms or is it all or nothing? I understand the air goes down ducts, but didn't know whether you could seal some off/shut the vent? I.e. what I'm thinking is, if I'm working in a room as a home office, could I cool just that room and not the rest of the house unnecessarily?

2) How much does it cost per day to run if you had it on for 24hrs? Guess this depends on the above...

Thanks.

Re: Central air
 

1) With enough money, anything is possible. The office could be configured as a separate zone, with its own supply, return, and thermostat. Whether it's worth doing this is another question. With a typical installation, however, single rooms can't be controlled. You would have a single thermostat in a central location, and the system would cycle based on the temperature there. An alternative to think about would be a window unit in the office.

2) Impossible to say, without knowing the size of the structure, temperature differential, amount of insulation, and a number of other factors.

Re: Central air
 

I thought that might be the case, but thought I'd ask. Would be rather wasteful to cool a whole house just for the sake of a room, so may have to look at an individual unit....

Re: Central air
 

Like your heating, it runs off the central thermostat, so while shutting all the registers save the one in the room you are cooling would cool that room faster, until where ever the thermostat is gets to the set point, it will continue to cool long after its "comfortable".

With our new 14.5 SEER high(er) efficiency central unit, it probable cost us about $50 a month for the two or three months it was on last cooling season, compared to maybe 80 or 90 in previous years with the old unit. YMMV of course. Worth every penny in the Ontario summer.

Not sure what it would cost you to cool one room with a (relatively inneficient) window unit, but it would certainly cost you less to buy in the first place!.

Re: Central air
 

Is that with it on pretty much all day, night too?

Re: Central air
 

Yes, but we cool to a conservative 23 ish in the summer...21 seems over kill, this way the humidity is much reduced, but the AC isnt cycling all the time.

Dont really want it coming in all the time overnight anyway as although the new units are much much quieter than the old ones, you still dont need it humming outside your window if you can avoid it.

And of course its cheaper that way too...

Re: Central air
 

It's the humidity that's the killer rather than the raw heat anyway, 23 degrees sounds sensible. $50 a month I could easily live with for not being sticky all day whilst working!

Re: Central air
 

Depends on your tollerence level...my wife doenst like to have it on all the time (she local, and also was used to japanese killer humidity levels), so maybe thats why we are averaging less that $50 during the summer?

I wonder what other people pay. I often find other people houses over cooled though. I dot mind a bit of heat, especially after a winter like this one.

Re: Central air
 

Apart from when my Dad visited, we only had the air on maybe 4 or 5 times during the whole summer. I found keeping blinds and shutters closed all day kept it bearable. At night we did run the ceiling fan in the bedroom though.

I've also visited ice box houses and wonder what on earth it costs them :unsure:

Re: Central air
 

I've a low tolerance to humidity.... heat I'm not too bad with, but humidity I don't like.... I've even air con here in the UK :eek:

Re: Central air
 

We have those rattan/ babboo blinds hanging on the outside of the large south facing windows for most of the summer to prevent the greenhouse effect. Even this weekend the outside thermometer was reading 30+C on our south facing deck!

Re: Central air
 

:ohmy: What does it read in the summer?

Re: Central air
 

Around the same, as we have the sense to put up those canopy things to keep it in the shade;)

Its in direct sunlight and the spring get heated up as a result...

Re: Central air
 

We have central air but this will be our first summer in the house. We will be suing electric fans generally and only use the central air when we HAVE to. Both cheaper and more environmentally friendly.

Re: Central air
 

For not working properly? ;)

Re: Central air
 

Good point...typo using.

Re: Central air
 

We hardly ever have high humidity here, but last summer it was terrible. If you are going to live any place that has high humidity I would recommend central air. I had three fans going in the bedroom, including the ceiling fan and it was still unbearable. You could try sleeping in the basement if you have one.

Re: Central air
 

Our bathroom isnt even big enough for one fan!! I am jealous

We have a window aircon unit, but its through a hole in the wall so doesnt block the light. it works fine, maybe 4 nights last year we had to sleep in that room but otherwise we were ok. Cost, it cost the same to cool and dehumidifythe house in August as it did to heat and humidfy in January.

This year we have bought a screen house for the yard and plan on speding the evenings out there.

Re: Central air
 

We've found it just as simple to maintain a constant temperature, summer and winter.

If its -30c or plus 30c we try to keep the house at comfortable level, and have found it really does not make a difference to maintain the house that way 24/7. Its always at a comfortable level rather than be heating it up or cooling it down twice a day.

Our house is well insulated though, and we don't work regular hours, so we are in & out of the house at all hours.