Keeping Cool This Summer? Portable AC or Window Fan?

[KatWrangler]

We are renting a two story townhouse with no ceiling fans. No ceiling lights so we couldn't install a ceiling fan either. I am always hot. I like the bedroom like an icebox at night in the summer. But last summer it seemed like our eletric bill was always high.

Anyway I was wondering if a portable AC either window or those on a stand OR a Window fan would be a more economical way to go. Rather than having to turn the AC down so low at night. The kids room is cold and we do close their vent.

Suggestions?

[Pumpkin_Pie]

I put the a/c in my window last summer, but usually just used the fan setting rather than actually running the cooling setting. That way I could turn the a/c on at night when I went to bed, but when it cools down, I can just flip it over to the fan setting. You could also set up the a/c and have the stand fan there at the same time to blow the cool air around to make it feel even cooler when you are using the a/c.

[FloridaBorn]

Native Floridian here... I grew up in a house built in the 50s with no central heat or air conditioning. When I was little, my mom and I had the windows open and ceiling fans going in every room in the Summer.

When I was a teenager, we finally could afford to have central air installed. My mother anticipated a HUGE electric bill once it was running all the time. Well, the bill went up about $10. Apparently all those ceiling fans used about the same amount of juice as central air.

I always tell this story to people who think they are saving a ton of money running fans on HI in every room.

[Eman'smom]

We have few window units (our ac is terrible), our bill it's crazy. I don't know what it would be without them, but I don't want to find out either.

Do you have a unit you could try out? I've never had much luck with window fans other than moving air.

[Poddi]

What's the summer weather in your place like? How hot does it get? I think window fans only work if it's cool outside. Your room will never get any cooler than the outside temperature, possibly a couple degrees warmer. Will that be cool enough for you?

I have a two way window fan and it worked pretty well. Our nights here are pretty cool in summer. (usually in the 60s)

[KatWrangler]

Originally Posted by Poddi

What's the summer weather in your place like? How hot does it get? I think window fans only work if it's cool outside. Your room will never get any cooler than the outside temperature, possibly a couple degrees warmer. Will that be cool enough for you?

I have a two way window fan and it worked pretty well. Our nights here are pretty cool in summer.

I am in St. Louis. Upper 90's and very humid.

Oh how I can't wait to move back to Colorado...

[Sharlla]

We have central air but we are too cheap to use it. we just use window fans and ceiling fans. My electric bill in the summer typically runs around $15 a month. We are lucky to live in a well insulated stone house. It stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer. My living room doesn't even have a window that opens LOL

[Purple*Lotus]

I live with my parents in the finished attic, so even though they have central air, it does not come up to my room. It is sweltering up here. I have a window unit in my window- put it in today, actually. I only turn it on when I need it, usually just at night because I work all day. Sometimes my Mom will come upstairs and turn it on before I get home from work, so that it is cooler when I am here. But mainly I try to stay downstairs as much as I can.

I think having a window unit that you can turn on to cool it down, then switch over to the fan option would be a good bet. Especially if the kid's room is already on the cool side.

[mum4boys]

just an fyi if you go with the fan. A fan does not actually cool the room. It just feels like it does so turn the fan off when you are not in the room.

[KatWrangler]

Originally Posted by mum4boys

just an fyi if you go with the fan. A fan does not actually cool the room. It just feels like it does so turn the fan off when you are not in the room.

It would also circulate the AC air that is in the room.

[mum4boys]

Originally Posted by KatWrangler

It would also circulate the AC air that is in the room.

But it does not lower the temperature what it does cools by creating a wind chill effect; which does not lower the room temperature. Wind chill effect makes you feel cooler by accelerating the evaporation of perspiration on your skin. It is the feeling you get when you open the window in a moving car. If you have a ceiling fan in a room whose temperature is 80 degrees, running the fan can create a wind chill effect that makes you feel as if the temperature is 72 degrees.

When you get into higher digits of heat....it is going to have little effect. If it is 100 degrees it is not going to feel much difference if it is 93 degrees.

[KellyAnnW]

Maybe I'm the odd one but when we used fans all over our house it was more expensive then our ac units. We one run in the bedroom, one in the living room and one upstairs. All as needed, no one in the room? No ac.

[enkmom]

Like Bunnyflakes, we sleep in a finished attic with no central A/C and a window unit. We turn it on just before we go to bed, but that thing EATS power! I think it would be cheaper to use the central air. When it is really sweltering, which it usually is in the Illinois summer, we sleep on an air mattress downstairs in the central air.

[KatWrangler]

The other problem I have is, my husband hates the fan on. He hates the noise. Sigh....

[Sharlla]

Originally Posted by KellyAnnW

Maybe I'm the odd one but when we used fans all over our house it was more expensive then our ac units.

My inlaws use AC, they have $200 + electric bills in the summer.

[KellyAnnW]

Eek! Mine is $60-$80 with one ac unit on almost all the time.

[happyhats]

Hmmm. I live in Mo too, and I don't know what to do. I used the a/c most of last summer, but the electric bills just keep climbing. We run a fan in our room when we sleep anyway since the hubby likes the feel of it. When I lived in CA we would put a fan in the window to suck out all the hot air. But I wonder how well that would really work with the humidity? It's already getting warm too!