uh oh, what was that sound
Which is more expensive, your A/C running 24/7 or it suddenly stopping?
this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2025
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Well it's free after it suddenly stops it only costs you money to get it going again.
An example: old AC running 24/7 keeping the house around 80 degrees. Electricity bills between $250-300 per month.
System replacement was ~$15k. System runs regularly now and monthly electricity bill is about $150-200 and keeps the house at 75.
So it'd take 25 years to have enough savings on the power bill (saving $100 a month for 6 months of summer)
Assuming the power company never raised rates in the coming years.
Consider that the other option is having no AC in Texas though.
Oh, Agreed 100% when it's broken beyond repair. But replacement of a working (yet now inefficient old) AC doesn't save money necessarily. Not when new units are so expensive.
We are in the south, not Texas, and really need to replace our almost 25 yr old AC. We've been repairing and trying to get another season out of it for the last 3 years.
That's not quite the right comparison. You can't expect the old AC to keep working for 25 years. For stuff like that, it's really a question between replacing now versus replacing later, and the net present value of the combined cash flows when you compare replacement timelines.
“You can’t expect the old AC to keep working for 25 years”
Bullshit. A properly installed system will outlive the person that installed, easily. Even 25 years ago, the compressors were made so well that most of them are still electrically and mechanically sound.
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That'll pay for itself in 10 years give or take
But that's assuming your bill is that high every month when really in winter it's probably much less of a difference. But I don't know where you live to be fair.
Also depends on what type of heat you use
I have a heat pump, so my air conditioner is my heater, heat pumps are basically just an AC running in reverse.
In general, my wife and I don't mind it being cold, we're willing to let the temperature in our house get down to about the mid-low 50s (F, obviously) in the winter, so we do end up using a lot less electricity in the winter. But if we tried to keep our house at a warmer temperature that most people would find comfortable, it would probably be about the same.
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And Jesus said: "Don't share thy bread nor thy fish, for it is socialism, and it is wrong."
I used to live in a small apartment building without individual mailboxes so we could just see each other's power bills. The first time they arrived, I was dumbfounded by how much everyone else paid. I'm not gonna give exact numbers because it means nothing unless you live in the same country and state but it's enough to say their bills was literally 10 to 15 times what mine was. It was a very warm place so I just assumed they ran the AC all the time until we went through a particularly hot summer and I decided to just eat the bill and ran it 24/7 as well. My bill was a little over 3 times the usual amount. WHAT THE HELL WAS EVERYONE ELSE IN THE BUILDING DOING?!
Growing weed.
without individual mailboxes so we could just see each other’s power bills.
Really? Them bills didn't come in named envelopes?
Nope. Mexico doesn't do that. They don't even come folded. They now offer an option to get them through email, though.
If they were doing what my relative was doing - running the AC in one area yet leaving the windows open in another. Complained to me about the huge electric bill…I didn’t see the point in trying to explain why their behavior was driving that bill.
My experience is slightly different:
me listening to my air conditioner run non-stop
Goddamn fucking condensation shorted the fan controller, again. Hijo de PUTA
Florida here. My AC only runs non-stop if all of this hits at once: I let it get hot inside, it's 95F outside, and it's late afternoon where I catch zero shade.
The spray foam attic insulation under the roof is the bomb. If I had my druthers I'd force that in all new construction. Insane that we still use fiberglass and other crap.
I heard spray insulation voids your homeowners insurance. Is that still true?
My understanding is that it's not bad when done correctly, but if they screw up the install it can be a nightmare and a huge safety issue. They screw up the mixture and now you've got extremely hard to remove foam stuck to everything that's going to off gas dangerous chemicals for 20 years. It can go bad enough to completely condemn the home.
IIRC it can also cause the structure to rot if they get the vapor barrier details wrong.
My understanding is that's true of basically all insulation. Old structures were built with the assumption that they'd breath, and insulation wasn't as important since they'd be heated by fireplace in the winter (either directly or using the fire to heat water for radiators) and air conditioning wasn't a thing yet.
Who can afford insurance in FL? 😏
Haven't heard that. I can say this, we have a Habitat for Humanity home and the insulation, structure, windows, etc. are well above code. They don't play. The mission is to put people in homes they can afford, from the day you sign the mortgage, into the future.
Yeah, the faucets, doorknobs, lighting, carpet, linoleum, all that is shit. But again, they don't fuck around with structure (hurricane zone here) or insulation. Most energy efficient place I've ever lived.
How you qualify for one of those homes?
that was me until i realized my roommate set the fan to on instead of auto
I'm using a swamp cooler. Not ideal, but my power bill stays lower.
Must be nice living in a climate dry enough for those to work.
Normally it's dry here but the humidity has been 60-80%, which doesn't do much for swamp cooling at the moment. I'm hoping things dry out.
They have a limit. So like it's 110° outside, the best my swamp cooler can do is 90° inside.
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Central Europe here. We had like two weeks of scorching hell and then it has been raining ever since.
So jealous. We get torrential downpour or so hot and humid it is dangerous to be outside during daylight hours.
[laughs in cheap municipal hydroelectric power]
This is why you get a whole house fan… if you are able to have one installed.
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During the day go out
During night use an air conditioned sleep pod (cheaper than cooling the whole home)
Air conditioned sleep pod
You mean those eggy things, one uses to go to sleep forever and an alien plant clone of you takes over your life?
I would love to make the switch
Is this the plot of the sims
Imagining the body snatcher coming back to the eggy pod and waking us up... "screeeech this sucks, take your life back, too much stresssssss" as they shove us out and climb into the eggy pod.
Personally, I can't do this, have pets.
Also, my heat advisories are so bad during the summer, they tell us to NOT go outside unless we have to.
During the day go out
You mean work?
Bay Area checking in. We have had a mild summer somehow. I feel bad for the rest of you tho.
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