Man and beast languish in the heat...

Heat pumps don't work well in the desert. People have them, but at peak...

...outdoor temperatures, they struggle to maintain comfortable indoor temps.

Cincy might be better suited for a heat pump. Again, I would recommend getting more than one opinion.

Michael

 
Do you mean conventional heat pumps? What about geothermal? But my geothermal uses water, and is

this a problem in the desert? My system, in South Alabama, is very satisfactory, summer and winter. It must be designed properly, for peak loads.

You are right, Richard needs to research this carefully, but he probably wants to just get it fixed, fast!

 
My wife, the architect, tells me they don't like to call out heat pumps for large homes...

...here in the low desert.

When the temps get much over 103 to 105, heat pumps struggle to maintain comfortable temps indoors.

Your experience may be different.

Michael

 
I remember it well--sleeping in front of the box fan in the hallway, cool basement, or in the camper

riding our bikes up to the small library, one of the few A/C refuges we had. and then a trip to the Dairy Queen. this was NW Indiana. near Zippy land.

 
Thank you one and all...

I have found some good news in this, but bad as well. The good news is there are a lot of rebates and discounts available that is going to knock off the cost by several thousand dollars. The bad is I have to undergo an energy audit for my entire home (scheduled tomorrow at 8 am), then correct any inefficiencies (like inadequate attic insulation) to qualify for the rebates. Bad news, because the contract cannot be written up and installation scheduled until after this is accomplished, this is not only pushing the installation date out a lot further, it's going to add additional cost. Oy.

But ultimately we're talking $2500 rebate for the AC/Heat system, $500 rebate from the power company, found a $1500 coupon from the vendor that they will accept on top of the 10% customer discount they already offered. I know my attic insulation is inadequate, but the vendor offers 1000sq ft free with purchase of whole system, and the federal program also has money for the corrections they require to make. So in the end, the house will be sealed tight and operating at 95% efficiency which is probably going to lower my energy bills by about half.

So several thousand is coming off that estimate, its just going to take a lot longer to get it installed to jump through all the hoops.

I will study all of your suggestions again so I can ask about alternatives before the contract is drawn up.

Thanks again!

It was actually 80F this morning when I got up and the forecast is only for the mid-90s during the day this week!

Woo hoo! Christmas in July!!!

 
I would take a comforter and go out and lay in this depression in the yard...

and look at the stars until I fell asleep, guardian German Shepherds standing watch. It didn't matter how hot it got during the day, out in the country with all the trees, it cooled off outside enough to sleep.

 
My suggestion is to come back for a visit to NJ/NYC; let the temp and prices decrease

"We are pet friendly : )

Oh, and we are on the train line to NYC......!! : )

You are more than welcome.... seriously...

 
I didn't know that your wife is an architect. You certainly have the very best advice for your area!

 
That is so sweet...

and what fun it would be! Unfortunately, gotta be here for work and the appointments for the inspections and installations. Ugh. Thank god for window a/c.

And then there's that teensy thing about having enough vacation days.

We're going to a nephew's wedding in Costa Rica in September and planning to make a little mini-vacation out of it in the rain forests and beaches of Costa Rica.

But never fear, we will be back in NYC much sooner than the 3.5 years between the last two visits. Life is just too short to deprive myself for more than a year of a NYC fix. smileys/smile.gif

 
The amazing part to me is that you had unit that ran for 36 years! We lived in our Sarasota house

15 years and during that time replaced each a/c unit twice.

 
NFRC Our place is sealed shut b/c the mosquito problem is so bad.

I tried opening the windows yesterday for 30 minutes, and wound up with four mosquito bites. Worse, no matter how many times we ask the landlord to please consider supplying screens that fit the obscure-measurement co-op windows, he won't do it, and simply tells us to go to "one of the Home Depots on Long Island" (seriously) and buy 45 x 55 inch screens. (And then what? Take them back on the LIRR? Strap them to our arms and try to fly back to Manhattan? Jerk.)

Our next place better have a lot of fresh air. I'm not really sure how much longer I can last in the city.

 
Believe it or not, we didn't have mosquitos. I never saw one

until I spent a summer in the pine forests of northern michigan when huge swarms of them would fly up if one dared enter the forrest.

 
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