I never considered it wasn't cooling because it was comfortable until the sun went down, but then it got stuffy, so we opened up the doors.
Mom kept harassing me about it and again, it was comfortable during the day, so I tried to focus on the whole staying in grad school thing, but I replaced the filter immediately.
It didn't fit right and someone told me to find a half-size.
I didn't find half sizes, but it is one of those things where the actual size is a bit smaller.
The replacements were 19.81x29.81, so I ordered some that were actually 19.5x19.5, but both came in two packs.
I finally asked the landlady to send someone to ensure it would work when we needed it.
Two weeks later, I started trying to troubleshoot it, and didn't seem to figure out anything, but people recommend dehumidifiers, so I ordered this, and resumed trying to stay in grad school:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Midea-Cube-50-Pint-Smart-Wifi-Dehumidifier-with-Pump-4-500-sq-ft-Coverage-Area-New-MAD50PS1QWT/298676710
However, I felt concerns after encountering something like this
Quote:
|
A dehumidifier is essentially an air conditioner that dumps heat back into your living space.
|
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32095747
I thought it was something like this:
However, I didn't realize that not only did one-hose units exist, but Alec said they are vastly more popular, despite pulling hot air into the home. Two-hose units would also pull hot air into the house, but at least condition it first, but how far apart would the intake and exhaust be with a two-hose setup?
Regardless, I thought the dehumidifier would send cool and dry air into the room out one side, and hot dry air out the other.
I didn't have any idea that they blow the cool and dry air over the condenser coil, making it warmer than ever, as Alec kindly explained one week after my dehumidifier arrived!
So, if you prioritize water over electricity, you could pull water out of thin air, you would just create a great deal of heat in the process.
Of course, I am sure that desalination plants produce heat as well, as well as dangerously-salty water.
I had just visualized mountains of salt, but apparently it costs too much to remove all of the water.
I have heard of places that allow salty water to evaporate, but apparently not desalination plants.
I had been thinking about the moisture farmers in Dune and thinking there must be a way of gathering dew, although it wouldn't seem efficient.
Living in a desert far from the coast, I had not thought of morning fog, which wouldn't have existed on Arrakis, either.
This guy caused fog to condense so he could collect it and said it was 9x as effective as a dehumidifier he bought off Amazon with the same power usage:
Alec said those aren't effective, but I don't know they condense less water per watt-hour, they are probably just too small to work.
In the comments, people compared the power efficiency favorably and unfavorably with desalination plants, with one person pointing out the damage that all of the super-salty water creates.
There was also a discussion with people who live in and travel to the desert in Africa, plus the creator said he would try it in the Atacama desert, so hopefully we see some real-world testing.
A second AC repairman is supposed to arrive today.
I am sure he charges significantly less than the first one, who admitted his company charges more than most.
When I looked up the 20 closest places, they had fewer combined reviews than his company.
He said "You have lots of problems."
He referred to the AC system, right?
Right?!
He said the thermostat is bad, which the landlady says she changed just before we moved in.
Apparently, there is often a date on the back, but not ours, although we realized that it was set up for a heat pump, not a conventional unit. If it is bad, a replacement would be super easy and around $40, although it should be under warranty.
What killed it, though, freebeard in his Beetle, with his fingers on his temples?
However, switching thermostat back to conventional didn't mystically magically make it turn on.
He said the wiring is bad. There are three places he could jump the connection to turn on the AC, but two of them popped the breaker.
I forget if he said anything else, although he replaced the 3-week-old filter, but undoubtedly, there is vastly more dust in the house with the doors open.
I think they also said they need to replace the condenser, which is a vastly more expensive, but a quick search shows way more than $700, so maybe I heard wrong, I wasn't sure either time.
Unfortunately, the unit is almost 15 years old, so if they get it working this week, it may not last the summer.
Curiously, Home Depot shows a 28,000-BTU unit in-stock for $881.49, and that would allegedly be adequate for our entire house, which sounds like one room would be freezing, and the far rooms would be hot, although they have two smaller units for $550.
I would think you would want each room to have its own unit, but if the AC does go out, Arizona law requires our landlady to pay for us to stay somewhere while she repairs our HVAC, up to 125% of our rent.
Today
Other popular topics in this forum...
