TL:DR: I live in an apartment in Florida, HVAC never stops running even though it works properly, what do?
Howdy everyone, as the title says, my electric bill is 300 dollars and 250 of it is cooling costs. I live in central Florida on a first floor apartment and have confirmed my self that the hvac is blowing air at the proper temps but my HVAC system keeps running all night long and tries and get down to 74. We have blackout curtains in every room to keep the sunlight from heating the place during the day and just recently installed a Nest thermostat to try and better schedule times for cooling. During work hours its set for 78 and even then right about 11am it kicks back on to try and keep temp. Even at night we both wake up to a soaked bed from us sweating all night. Any ideas or advice is greatly appreciated. A $300 electric bill is insane.
Electric bill is $300 and its mostly cooling costs.
byu/1badashe inFrugal
Posted by 1badashe
15 Comments
Insulation problem. Not much you can do as a renter.
Highly recommend the BedJet.
My gas heating bill in the winter in the midatlantic is more than $300. And I keep it chilly in my house.
You live in FL. Your electric AC bill is just going to be high.
Budget for it during the winter.
Make sure it’s serviced and not clogged or anything. There are ways to plug it into a smart plug to run only the hours you need, and at the maximum temperature you can bear.
I hate to break it to you, but $300 electric bill is not insane. It’s painfully common. I’m wayyyy farther north and $300ish is what we run budgeted through the year for evenish bills, we would probably run $400+ monthly if we weren’t purposely paying more during months where HVAC didn’t have to work as hard.
You live in Florida in an apartment. You are getting heat from your neighbors and your building is just what it is. How much hotter and more humid is the outside than the inside? The more degrees it has to fight the more expensive it gets.
Try running a dehumidifier. It will make the apartment feel better.
It’s no different than the NE during the winter.
We live in a 1,500 sq. ft. house in North Texas and it is much hotter here than Florida during the summer. We set our thermostat on 78 degrees and our highest electric bill was $180. We have ceiling fans in every room so we are comfortable. I know people who have $400, $600, and $800 electric bills and they are hot.
Energy prices are going up everywhere unfortunately and it won’t get better. My bill was not as bad as I feared but I really cut back on things…my home is at 77 through the day, 76 in the evenings (sundown until before bed), 75 overnight. I’ve gotten used to the daytime temps TBH, but use a fan at night if I’m hot when sleeping (a fan will use less energy than your AC). I invested in a window fan in my room and use it when the temps are cooler at night. Even on humid nights it keeps things cool enough to sleep. I also planned no cook meals when it’s been hot (or quick meals) so as not to heat up the house, amongst other small things.
FYI, I don’t know how hot Florida is, but my HVAC person once told me an AC should only expect it to cool the temp 20 degrees from the outside temp, so if it’s 95 outside, your AC will struggle to get to 74 not taking account anything that could be warming up the interior temp You are better off aiming higher and then cooling at night when the temp is lower.
I’m in the humid Midwest. A turbo fan aimed right at me while I’m in bed makes all the difference. I like the Vornado one.
I live in houston. I do 77/78 during day and 76 at night. Yeah it kicks on but not as much as at 74.
Make sure your filter is clean too
Ask your landlord if you can install exterior tinted film on your windows. Look up BDF EXS35 on Amazon. For just an apartment you won’t need much. The exterior stuff is efficient because it blocks the sun’s rays before they enter the window or living space. My husband and I installed it on our south & west facing windows years ago and noticed an immediate difference.
Sounds normal to me for gulf coast in late summer when dew point and humidity is high. We just got our bill which was the same. We run it at 77 during the day, have a small window unit a/c in our bedroom, that we run when a/c struggles. Window unit cools so we can sleep and is near enough to thermostat sensor so that it keeps central unit from running much. Window unit is also back up if we lose power or oyr aging central unit needs a repair; can run it and frig w generator after hurricanes. We have ceiling fans in all bedrooms and living areas, plus a vornado floor fan and a few box fans. We keep the air moving.
Looking forward to October-April when our bill will be below $80.
Have you changed the filter? I just had to have my 28 year old HVAC replaced and learned how important air flow is! They told me to change my one inch filter monthly, even though they say 90 days on them. He said each inch of filter is equal to one month of use and to get the cheapest ones because they give your HVAC the most air. It might be worth having someone come out and look at your system though if it can’t get down to temp.
I’m in North Florida at the Ga line…1300 sq dt and I wish my bill was only $300….mine averages $500. Welcome to Hell….er….Florida.
74? You can always expect a high bill. You probably need to move north.
You can clean your ac compressor coils. And it helps to get them wet- like spray them with the hose. Or you can use less ac.- set the temperature higher. Also cold shower and floor fan help. But the floor fan only helps if it’s close and blowing directly on your skin. But it’s August in Florida. It’s Gona be hot.