So it's been approximately 1 month since our new high efficiency (18.5 SEER) Central Air was installed, (it was put into operation at 12 noon, July 23rd, 2008) I'm still sold on the 10 year warranty, and lifetime warranty on the compressor (with a lift and replace if the compressor goes out--meaning you get a whole new exterior unit). Anyway, the results are in, Last month the average cost, per day, for our house, for electricity was $2.21/day, this month the average cost, per day, for our house, for electricity is $3.31/day, or an increase of $1.10 per day, which isn't too bad for being in the most complete comfort I've ever been in. Now, I've never entirely cared about my comfort, because being somewhat of a hobby environmentalist (meaning I just don't have the money to go completely green--but I can do it as a hobby), I've always been content enough with the swamp cooler, but our new baby KyeLin just wasn't happy at night, when she was trying to sleep, and it was 80 degrees in the house (I heard somewhere that to prevent SIDS your baby should sleep at 65-68 degrees--that's pretty cold, in my opinion, but I'm not a doctor, so whatever). Anyway, KyeLin was extremely fussy every night, but after the central air was put into operation, she has been extremely pleasant, I'm not sure that I can 100% attribute it to the AC, but the two seemed to coorelate together on the exact same day (every night she was fussy, we had swamp cooling... Every night since AC she has been extremely content, draw your own conclusion. Anyway, back to the price of Tea in China, wait, I mean Electricity. So even though the power company puts the estimate of cost per day, AFTER they add their taxex and so forth, according to MY calculations, it is actual cost $1.24 per day to run the AC, last billing was for 32 days, $39.64 was actual billing difference ($39.68 is calculated difference, 32 times $1.24), Oh, oh, oh... And one thing I just found out!! Who knew (I didn't, but probably many of you did, I knew about the "Blocks" of electricy on the bill for summer, but I didn't know that it went something like this: for the first 400 KWH you use, the price is: $0.0753890, which calculates to $30.16, then for the next 600 KWH (I never knew it capped at 600, because the most we had ever used up to this point was at about 300 KWH on the 2nd block), anyway, the 2nd block of 600 KWH is charged at $0.0855620 which calculates to $51.34 (or a $6.17 premium over the first block), now, here's where it gets fun! Because I never knew that there was a THIRD block of electricity once you went over the 1,000 KWH in a billing cycle, but there IS, and it's $0.1007790 per KWH, and we had 100 KWH in this bill at that price, which is: 10.08 which is a $2.54 premium over the first block price. Who knows what price it is or how many KWH it is until you pay the next block of electricity, but I'm going to find out if they still have the deal where they will come install a temporary power shutoff device on your AC and give you some sort of monthly credit (I read about it 2 years ago or so, but didn't pay much attention, thinking that I'd NEVER have AC--Because the swamp was so inexpensive!) LOL.... Anyway, from the efficiency perspective, I'm just going to come out and say it, $1.24/day is VERY little to pay for the comfort that our Amana 2-stage, 3 ton, 18.5 SEER AC provices us. If you live in Salt Lake, and you are considering AC, let me recommend (sorry, shameless plug here), Tropical Heating and Cooling 566-2888 if you talk to Danna (rhymes with Hanna), she will make sure that you get the most efficient AC that you are looking for (she did all the research on the 23 SEER AC to see if they could get it, how much it would cost, what sort of equipment I'd have to pair it with, and presented me the options). Tropical was a GREAT company to work with, their installers were very professional, and since I'm the curious sort, they even spent extra time showing me the components of the AC, how they operate, and things to watch out for, so that I make sure that I perform the maintenance required to keep the equipment in top operating efficiency, and what problems to look out for to give them a call if anything needs to be fixed. I'm sure that there are a lot of companies that are great to work with, but Tropical went above and beyond the call of duty (co-incidently, I've gone through Tropical for my Heater which is a 95.5% efficient model, and they researched that to find me nearly THE MOST efficient model on the market, and I subcontracted through them the installation of my whole house Natural Gas Electricity Generator--which I have been EXTREMELY pleased with, the power was out July 28th for 2 hours and 24 minutes, and the whole time I was happily working along on my computer without any loss of internet, telephone, computer, or television for the kids---will it ever pay for itself, probably not, but is it worth having when the power goes out ABSOLUTELY!!)
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