Air-conditioning (because I'm a sissy)

[The Atomic Ass]

Originally Posted by jonathan150cc

Have you tried the poor college student A/C? All you need is some copper tubing, clear tubing, a fish pump, cooler, ice water and a box fan or standing oscillating fan.


Wrap the copper tubing on the fan, circling in towards the center. Use zip ties to connect it to the face of the fan. Connect the tubes via the clear tubing, into the fish tank pump and put it in the ice water. You can either recycle the water back into the cooler or use it to water some plants or something.

The only electricity you'll be using will be to power the fish pump and fan. That's not going to be much juice.

They can keep a small/medium sized room cool for a couple of hours before you need to add more ice to the cooler. If you recycle the water and add a little salt, it will work even better.

There are a bunch of videos on youtube if you just search for "DIY air conditioner"

Nifty.

[roflwaffle]

In that case I guess the humidity is already too high for it to cool effectively.

[The Atomic Ass]

Originally Posted by DonR

The increase in power consumption may be the a/c unit finally reaching steady state operation.

I'm not sure exactly what constitutes steady-state operation.

It doesn't have anything to do with the pressure differential in the cooling system, I assume?

[DonR]

Originally Posted by The Atomic Ass

I'm not sure exactly what constitutes steady-state operation.

It doesn't have anything to do with the pressure differential in the cooling system, I assume?

It was the only thing I could think of. Since you have parts that are heating up & others cooling down, fluids possibly changing viscosity it sounded like a good bet.

Don

[dremd]

I know it's very uncreative; but go buy a cheap window unit at lowes/ home depot/ walmart. should be able to get something with a decent EER for $100-$130 this time of year.
I put mine on a timer; just run them when I'm around' and about 1 hour/ day when i'm not (to keep the humidity down)

[Jethro]

I got a window mount unit that was designed for about 2x the size of room I have.
It very rarely has to kick on. Course, it helps that I am at work during the hottest parts of the day. It's got a T-stat on it, I like to set it at ~74 when I leave so it doesn't get TOO warm in the house, then when I get home lower it to ~70. Then I crank it down to like 66 when I go to sleep. And cover up with blankets. Ha! Yes, it's wasteful, but I have a damned hard time sleeping unless I am like that. Just the way it is! (Mind you, I live at 7800 ft, it rarely is above 85 here)

I think Air Conditioning is one of many great reasons to use electricity. Biggest + I found for keeping my College Apt cold was to BBQ everything I cooked. I would also cook a whole buncha chicken and burgers all at once. Then just store em for the week.

And as much as it troubled me, I avoided Mac n Cheese and Pasta as much as possible (Boiling water = Heat + Humidity). In the winter months... it's ON!