Saving on Airconditioning Energy Costs this Summer

According to PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration), "Temperature in Metro Manila hit 37.5 degrees Celsius yesterday, the warmest day recorded in the metropolis since January. The sizzling temperature was recorded at 4 p.m. yesterday at the agency’s facility in Quezon City."

No wonder even my bed on the second floor of our house felt warm to the touch as I laid on it. The afternoon strong breeze that has kept our house cool has been noticeably absent for a week.

The past few nights have also been quite warm. The mosquito net solution to ward off the pesky mosquito somehow dissipates the breeze coming from the wall mounted electric fan.

I had a hunch that yesterday's temperature was a record and so I proposed we run on the window airconditioner for the night.


Sleep Together in a Smaller Room

We have a window-type 1/2 horsepower air conditioner in our own bedroom. It's a Condura compact unit, but it's enough to cool the room. I've never set the thermostat beyond the halfway mark.

The kids have a 1.5 horsepower window air conditioing unit in their own room. But their bedroom is almost twice the size of our own bedroom. The wall mounted air conditioner needs a bit more power to cool their bigger bedroom.

Our own bedroom isn't big, but it's big enough to accommodate all of us. So I suggested that we all slept in our bedroom, rather than turn both air conditioning units.




The kids naturally were happy to enjoy air conditioning for the night and were delighted to sleepover in our bedroom. They simply brought over their mattresses to position on the floor.


The Energy Saving Power Plug

Even before our new house was constructed, I had been eyeing on the window air conditioner unit by Condura with the Energy Saving Plug. Condura is manufactured by the same company that carries the Carrier and Kelvinator brand of air conditioning units - Concepcion Industries.

According to its maker, Conception Industries, "Energy Saving Plug (timer & remote models) - the electric fan turns ON once air conditioner is turned OFF by the timer. Saves up to 40% in energy costs"

The application concept of the plug works like this. If you were sleeping with the airconditioning unit on, you'd normally turn it off upon waking up in the morning. Most would continue sleeping with the leftover cold air. Still, some others would also turn the fan on.

Well, the Energy Saving Plug does both. With the timer set, the air conditioning unit turns off at the set off time and then the air conditioner's plug turns on the electric fan.

Of course prior to sleeping, you need to plug in the electric fan's plug into the Energy Saving Plug AND turn it on.

Here's our 1/2 horsepower (hp) compact Condura window air conditioner (no remote) as it is set up with the wall mounted electric fan.




aircon-fan
The photo below shows a detailed view of the above photo - the Condura Energy Saving Plug with the wall mounted electric fan plugged into it.

aircon-fan-1
To shorten the actual time the airconditioner is running, I turn on the aircon at 11 pm and set the timer to turn it off at 6 am.

Here's another nifty advantage of the Energy Saving Plug. Since DH and I are early risers, we don't bother with the airconditioner upon leaving the bedroom.

The aircon will shut off automatically at 6 am and turn on the fan. The circulating (still) cold air allow the kids to continue sleeping in longer. It's summer vacation anyway.

We don't plan on having this every night. According to PAGASA, the temperature may cool down in the last week of May with the rains coming in the first few weeks of June.



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Sebastian said...

Yes I heard that news and really felt the warm though I worked in an a/c room. At home i always on my 2 air conditioning units just to comfort everyone. That's really bad, that heat can cause skin cancer and we should be aware from it.