Subject: Re: short cycling on air conditioning

From: [email-masked] (Robert Eden)
Date: 1 Aug 95 10:23:38 CST

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Jerry M. Dresner) writes:
> I live in an apartment of 1500 sq ft under air conditiong, in Florida, 
> with a volume ceiling.  The apartment is 5 years old.  The last week I 
> have noticed the unusually frequent cycling of the ac.  It is on between 
> 3 and 5 minutes and off for 10 minutes.

Others know more, but I learn so much from this forum I might as well
answer one ( I think ) can.

Have the maintenance people come in and measure the AC pressures. 

Measure the temperature at the intake and the output vent closest to the
unit.  If the difference is 15-20 degrees, it's probably doing the best
it can.  (If it fails this test, hassle the office to fix the A/C)

Clean the coils behind (or under) your fridge.  Feel them when the Fridge
is running... are they warm?  If not, call the office.

Do you have windows on the west side?  I bet your neighbors don't.
Are you on the top floor, are your neighbors?

BTW... buy a blanket for your hot water heater.  It helped me.

General Comment:
Apartments built after the late 70's have been designed for individual 
electric meters.  There is no benefit and a financial dis-incentive to 
the apartment complex to put in efficient appliances or adequately insulate
the walls or ceiling.  My experiences here in TX show that the younger the
complex, the worse the efficiency.

I'm in the process of moving from a 800 sq ft apartment to a 2500 sq ft
home.  Wanna guess which one has the cheapest electric bill? (My apartment
can't get below 80-85 during the summer day, so it's not even a fair test.)

The only way this could change is to make it beneficial for the builders
of apartments to care about the utility costs.  This can be done with
regulations and codes (yuck) or through marketing.  One area I used to 
live in offered efficiency ratings of apartment complexes that they could
use in advertising.  Unfortunately, my own company doesn't do this.

One thing that is available at least in Texas is the utility may give out
the high,low, and average electric bill for the past year.  This is not
common knowledge, but it is available (I tried it before I signed 
on the house!)

Whew... Now I need to cool down.. (lucky I'm not home!)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Eden    817-897-0491                                 Glen Rose, TX
Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station            [email-masked]
               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ politicese for a nuke plant
-------------------------------------------------------------------------