Central air conditioning

[Hot_Flatus]

Maybe I'm an outlier, but I've never really felt the need to have A/C in this climate in Alberta. I guess this may stem from having lived abroad in much warmer countries where it is actually a necessity as the daytime highs and overnight lows would frequently hover near 35/25 for much of the year. Here it seems a bit much to invest a few thousand dollars plus the monthly opex to have your home 2-3 degrees cooler on the 5-6 days a year where we are at or around 30 degrees. The nights always seem to drop down to 10-12 degrees even on the hottest days, providing a nice natural cooling breeze.

What would someone expect the average monthly cost to run a CAC system in a typical Calgary house be from June-Sept?

[Red]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

Maybe I'm an outlier, but I've never really felt the need to have A/C in this climate in Alberta. I guess this may stem from having lived abroad in much warmer countries where it is actually a necessity as the daytime highs and overnight lows would frequently hover near 35/25 for much of the year. Here it seems a bit much to invest a few thousand dollars plus the monthly opex to have your home 2-3 degrees cooler on the 5-6 days a year where we are at or around 30 degrees. The nights always seem to drop down to 10-12 degrees even on the hottest days, providing a nice natural cooling breeze.

What would someone expect the average monthly cost to run a CAC system in a typical Calgary house be from June-Sept?

I don't know for sure because I don't pay attention to the bills, but my wife complained last year when our electrical was about 150-200 more a month. It was a very hot summer.

I have a central AC and run it a lot. My house has a lot of windows so it gets hot really fast and I don't enjoy living in the dark with all the blinds down so I am ok with the little added cost.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

Maybe I'm an outlier, but I've never really felt the need to have A/C in this climate in Alberta. I guess this may stem from having lived abroad in much warmer countries where it is actually a necessity as the daytime highs and overnight lows would frequently hover near 35/25 for much of the year. Here it seems a bit much to invest a few thousand dollars plus the monthly opex to have your home 2-3 degrees cooler on the 5-6 days a year where we are at or around 30 degrees. The nights always seem to drop down to 10-12 degrees even on the hottest days, providing a nice natural cooling breeze.

What would someone expect the average monthly cost to run a CAC system in a typical Calgary house be from June-Sept?

I always like a nice, cool evening breeze with the windows open but we live in a very dusty climate so having the windows open leads to a thick cover of dust on everything very quickly. Central AC really helps to keep the inside of the house cleaner. I don't find the opearing cost to be significant.

[TopChed]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

Maybe I'm an outlier, but I've never really felt the need to have A/C in this climate in Alberta. I guess this may stem from having lived abroad in much warmer countries where it is actually a necessity as the daytime highs and overnight lows would frequently hover near 35/25 for much of the year. Here it seems a bit much to invest a few thousand dollars plus the monthly opex to have your home 2-3 degrees cooler on the 5-6 days a year where we are at or around 30 degrees. The nights always seem to drop down to 10-12 degrees even on the hottest days, providing a nice natural cooling breeze.

What would someone expect the average monthly cost to run a CAC system in a typical Calgary house be from June-Sept?

I don't have AC and my house is relatively cool, but I find it almost impossible to go to bed as early as I would like when it's warmer out. It takes a lot longer to cool the house down in the summer to a temperature that I want to sleep at. That would be my motivation to install central AC.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

Maybe I'm an outlier, but I've never really felt the need to have A/C in this climate in Alberta. I guess this may stem from having lived abroad in much warmer countries where it is actually a necessity as the daytime highs and overnight lows would frequently hover near 35/25 for much of the year. Here it seems a bit much to invest a few thousand dollars plus the monthly opex to have your home 2-3 degrees cooler on the 5-6 days a year where we are at or around 30 degrees. The nights always seem to drop down to 10-12 degrees even on the hottest days, providing a nice natural cooling breeze.

What would someone expect the average monthly cost to run a CAC system in a typical Calgary house be from June-Sept?

Depends on the orientation of your house, how much shade it gets, and how sheltered it is from breezes. I've had houses where you absolutely didn't need AC, and houses where it was on almost daily April - September. I keep it at 22 degrees - without it my house could be 28+ through much of the summer. That's not a couple degrees five or six times a year.

Your house must just be fine. It's not because you've lived in warmer climates. You have acclimated back to Canada by now if you've been back for more than a few months.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Covers are so cheap and air conditioners are so expensive. I can't think of a single good reason not to protect it for the seven months a year it won't be used.

My installer told me not to cover it as the chances of it accidentally coming on at some point are higher than the chances of it being damaged by not being covered. For example, 20 degree day in March where the A/C ends up kicking on.

[fundmark19]

My AC unit died on me yesterday hopefully I can get it fixed up this weekend. 12 hours no AC the world is ending

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

Maybe I'm an outlier, but I've never really felt the need to have A/C in this climate in Alberta. I guess this may stem from having lived abroad in much warmer countries where it is actually a necessity as the daytime highs and overnight lows would frequently hover near 35/25 for much of the year. Here it seems a bit much to invest a few thousand dollars plus the monthly opex to have your home 2-3 degrees cooler on the 5-6 days a year where we are at or around 30 degrees. The nights always seem to drop down to 10-12 degrees even on the hottest days, providing a nice natural cooling breeze.

What would someone expect the average monthly cost to run a CAC system in a typical Calgary house be from June-Sept?

I had my AC on for a chunk of May, and I was wondering how the bill would look. It was significantly cheaper than the bill for April, which was cold and snowy for the whole time. I can't point to an exact price, and my electricity and gas is all together, but I don't think it's a huge difference.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

Maybe I'm an outlier, but I've never really felt the need to have A/C in this climate in Alberta. I guess this may stem from having lived abroad in much warmer countries where it is actually a necessity as the daytime highs and overnight lows would frequently hover near 35/25 for much of the year. Here it seems a bit much to invest a few thousand dollars plus the monthly opex to have your home 2-3 degrees cooler on the 5-6 days a year where we are at or around 30 degrees. The nights always seem to drop down to 10-12 degrees even on the hottest days, providing a nice natural cooling breeze.

What would someone expect the average monthly cost to run a CAC system in a typical Calgary house be from June-Sept?

My home is on the NE corner of a townhouse complex. It gets ridiculous hot as it cannot get airflow. I tried one summer to deal with the heat with fans, open windows, reflector window film, running the HVAC fan to try and circulate the heat... it didn't work very well. In fact, some nights, my bedroom was 26-27C with fans on and windows open until around 2 AM even if it was half that temperature outside. Somehow this unit was like a car with all the windows up. My unit is consistently hotter inside than the outside on many summer days.

Yet on the other hand, I used to own a NW facing unit downtown. I never once needed AC because somehow I got great breezes through my unit. It felt like I had AC with windows open even though I didn't have it.

I got AC in my current home as a future planning decision. I didn't want a potentially pregnant wife sweltering in a hot home, not did I want an infant to do so. When I move into a new home that doesn't have AC, I would evaluate if AC is necessary. If it can cool down by catching a good breeze, I'd save the cash. But if the home traps heat like my current one does, I'd get AC for sure.

Now I don't know if this is completely accurate, but for my home which has approximately 2000 sq ft of usable space (including basement), I think I see my overall utilities fluctuate approximately 30-50 bucks at most. But I think that is because my bill includes all my utilities. In the winter I use gas to heat the home, which is replaced by higher electricity usage when I use the AC and vice versa.

[Calgary14]

34 degrees and sunny here today, it's days like today that make central AC worth it

[ricosuave]

You can kinda calculate your electricity usage here:

Amp draw of unit (see specs or nameplate on motor) X 240V = ____ watts
____ watts divided by 1000 = ____ kW

Look on your electricity bill to see your kW/hr charge (My EasyMax rate from most recent Enmax bill has two, so I averaged it out to 0.052 per kW/hr)

kW charge X kW calculation from above = cost to run unit per hour if ran continuously.

Basically, my newly installed Trane XR13 A/C (13 seer = about 20 amps average) will cost me 0.27 cents an hour to run. On the day it was installed. it ran for 3 hours. I expect a hot day like today it will be more like 6-7 hours. And of course, the charge rate may change throughout the year, so be sure to check that every so often.

Also, for what it is worth, I paid $3500 with tax to have it installed in my 2000 sq/ft, 2 level infill, and while I don't recommend the company who did it (issues that they have to come back for... grr!), I feel that the Trane model and overall cost was worthwhile.

Currently have the house set to 21C and enjoying it!

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by ricosuave

You can kinda calculate your electricity usage here:

Amp draw of unit (see specs or nameplate on motor) X 240V = ____ watts
____ watts divided by 100 = ____ kW

Look on your electricity bill to see your kW/hr charge (My EasyMax rate from most recent Enmax bill has two, so I averaged it out to 0.052 per kW/hr)

kW charge X kW calculation from above = cost to run unit per hour if ran continuously.

Basically, my newly installed Trane XR13 A/C (13 seer = about 20 amps average) will cost me 0.27 cents an hour to run. On the day it was installed. it ran for 3 hours. I expect a hot day like today it will be more like 6-7 hours. And of course, the charge rate may change throughout the year, so be sure to check that every so often.

Also, for what it is worth, I paid $3500 with tax to have it installed in my 2000 sq/ft, 2 level infill, and while I don't recommend the company who did it (issues that they have to come back for... grr!), I feel that the Trane model and overall cost was worthwhile.

I was also told years ago by an HVAC company to block off the upstairs air return vents in the summer, and the basement ones in the winter, so that hot air isnt drawn back (in the summer) and cold air (in the winter) to the rest of the house.

Currently have the house set to 21C and enjoying it!

There are 1000 W in a kW. Also, I don't have a bill with me but I think some of the other charges on it are affected by how much energy you use.

[ricosuave]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

There are 1000 W in a kW. Also, I don't have a bill with me but I think some of the other charges on it are affected by how much energy you use.

that was a typo.

and of course other charges will change in relation to your use.

its a basic way of figuring it out though

[Diemenz]

I had a 3 ton napoleon 16 seer installed in April and after some minor hiccups on a valve that had failed from the factory it has been great. We leave it set at 22 however I have the nest set to precool and do cool to air which has it running about 2 hours extra a day to pull out the humidity. I went with Napoleon for this one as in reality the majority of AC units use the same compressors now days and I wanted one that was designed for Canadian winters and was a Canadian company. My last house has a trane unit and I had zero complaints.

After the last two months it looks like my 16 seer unit is around 15 cents to run an hour (using the math above) which in my opinion is well worth it as the house was actually cold yesterday when it was so stupid hot.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by Diemenz

I had a 3 ton napoleon 16 seer installed in April and after some minor hiccups on a valve that had failed from the factory it has been great. We leave it set at 22 however I have the nest set to precool and do cool to air which has it running about 2 hours extra a day to pull out the humidity. I went with Napoleon for this one as in reality the majority of AC units use the same compressors now days and I wanted one that was designed for Canadian winters and was a Canadian company. My last house has a trane unit and I had zero complaints.

After the last two months it looks like my 16 seer unit is around 15 cents to run an hour (using the math above) which in my opinion is well worth it as the house was actually cold yesterday when it was so stupid hot.

Excellent recommendation, I too would enjoy buying something designed for our winters. Is that the only manufacturer that does this? Who did you have install it?

I have a dual furnace set up and I was wondering if it would be worth it to have 2 x 1.5t units or one 3t unit, or if that would even be practical. Would be interesting to speak with someone who does that for an opinion.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

I have a dual furnace set up and I was wondering if it would be worth it to have 2 x 1.5t units or one 3t unit, or if that would even be practical. Would be interesting to speak with someone who does that for an opinion.

Believe you don't have a choice (well beyond going with one 1.5t on only one furnace). Each compressor can only drive one set of coils. You'd run into big issues if you had a compressor running but not the furnace fan. You'll need two compressors.

[Dentoman]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Excellent recommendation, I too would enjoy buying something designed for our winters. Is that the only manufacturer that does this? Who did you have install it?

I have a dual furnace set up and I was wondering if it would be worth it to have 2 x 1.5t units or one 3t unit, or if that would even be practical. Would be interesting to speak with someone who does that for an opinion.

I have 2 furnaces as well, each with an AC unit. I rarely use the one for my main floor and basement. Just running the one for the upper level cools off the main floor. Granted I have an open concept great room which likely makes a difference but I do face directly south with some big windows letting my in a lot of sun. If I was to do it again, i would just get one unit.
I have no idea the size of the units .... too long ago now for me to remember. They are Heil high efficiency units, extremely quiet. You could have a normal conversation standing right next to them.

[MoneyGuy]

How often should one get a furnace and central air conditioner serviced? My installer says annually for both but I’m not buying it.

[lazypucker]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

How often should one get a furnace and central air conditioner serviced? My installer says annually for both but I’m not buying it.

Related question - how often should I get the furnace ducts cleaned?

[Stealth22]

Not sure about service, but ducts can be every 2 years, according to my friends and my A/C installer