Texas Heat!

[Kyle_in_Tex]

It's hotta than
Sophia Vergara!

If you say it with a spanish accent, it rhymes.


Sofia Vergara Official Website

 

[chad22]

Here in Kansas were finally getting some much needed rain. Someone recently set the grass on fire trying to steal an old car out in my dads salvage yard.

They were apparently trying to start it and something ignited the grass underneath it. It spread to the sides and back of the car. I got it put out with the garden hose. Though it was getting so bad that I thought I was gonna need to call the fire department.

Luckily it didn't get to that point. The grass is so dry it would of took the whole yard, the wood fence and about 20 other vehicles in there.

After that, I've stretched a hose over the fence and have been running the sprinkler in the yard to help keep it moist.

I figured my water bill was gonna shoot up to at least $100.00 from the normal $50.00 it has been. But it only went up $7.00 And I've had the sprinklers going constantly.

I dunno what the rates are here for water but they must be really cheap. And I pay a flat rate for sewage which is $7.00 no matter how much water I use.

Hope everyone that needs rain gets it soon. And I sure hope these heat waves goes away. It's been miserable.

Chad

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Bird, I just can't imagine what people's electric and water bills are going to be for the next month.:shocked: My daughter has a 2400 sq ft 2-story house in Hurst with a pool. Her electric bill last month was $695 and the water/sewer/garbage bill was $200. No telling what it will be for Jul-Aug when she gets her bill. She only has a postage stamp yard in front and a tiny yard around the pool in back, so watering the grass should not be that much.

With an electric bill like that, I'd be investing heavily in insulation, and looking for a leak in a hot water line. I upgraded all my windows to U.36 low-e, and installed closed cell honeycomb blinds

3/8" Double Cell Light Filtering

that really help insulate the windows, which are the second worst energy hogs in any house. The worst energy hogs are patio doors, so I replaced the south facing slider with insulated French doors with mini-blinds between the panes, which blocks sun in the summer and gives me the equivalent of triple glazing in the winter. My wife thought I was nuts spending all that money on energy efficiency, but after living in an energy efficient house she is a convert. Bare feet on the floor all winter, no cold spots, and the AC doesn't come on until late afternoon, even when it is over 100 outside.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Well hitting 106 today was no fun followed buy a MAJOR lighting storm with four drops of rain then GONE.

 

[Alan L.]

I have foam insulation mostly and an upstairs and downstairs separate units. I'm happy with the configuration. We usually set upstairs at 76 when nobody is visiting and downstairs stays on 70 24 hours a day. We have a minisplit in the bedroom and we set that on 64 at night only (off during the day), the lowest it will go. It cycles all night, mostly off. We have about 1800 square feet downstairs and 450 upstairs. I find that the upstairs unit almost never runs with it set on 76, one of the return air ducts for downstairs is on a high ceiling of the loft which is upstairs, so the downstairs unit cools the upstairs some, I think. We have return air ducts in every room.

With the foam and energy efficient Marvin windows (which we leave uncovered so we can see out) our house will hold at 70 in the excessive heat and just hit $300 this past bill. I expect it has to be higher next time with this severe heat wave we are experiencing. The electric does not include hot water which is a propane tankless unit. Nor does it include the well pump which is on a separate meter for the metal shop building / living quarters. That bill usually runs $60 a month or so with nobody staying there.

Our units are Trane 16 SEER, two stage units.

 

[NativeSon]

Well it was 111* yesterday and 80* in the house, but not too bad with the ceiling fans going and all the blinds closed. I don't think I've ever remember seeing 111* out here in East Texas. Kept the dogs in the house most of the day and hosed down the horses a little after noon. It's 88* at 4am and I don't think we'll get below 80* for the low this morning.

Praying for rain,

Charlie

 

[Western]

Well, we broke a record yesterday and they say we should break them again today and tomorrow. The electricity draw is so huge combined with the heat, the power company's in North Dallas are over heating. Like 7,000 homes lost power, but only for a while.

 

[Bird]

The newspapers this morning have stories asking people to conserve electricity, especially between the hours of 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Wonder how many wives will be happy to hear they shouldn't cook supper on the electric range?:laughing:

 

[pacerron]

The newspapers this morning have stories asking people to conserve electricity, especially between the hours of 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Wonder how many wives will be happy to hear they shouldn't cook supper on the electric range?:laughing:

Bird,
Conservation might be better than a brownout that doesn't do any of your
electrical devices any good. Might be an excuse to invite the wife out to dinner. The resturants and other commercial establishments will use about the same amount of power whether they have any business or not.
We have the high bills you guys are having in the winter time up here. The power companies have radio controls on the water heaters so they can turn them off if the grid gets low on power.
Where is that perfect climate year around?
Ron

 

[Bird]

Ron, it's too hot for me to want to get out around supper time.:laughing: However, we have plenty of brats and other fully cooked sausages on hand that can be heated one minute in the microwave, and we have plenty of makings for tuna sandwiches, and other such stuff. So, yep, won't be much cookin' done around here today.

And I just finished roling up the garden hoses; think I'll just let the grass go, as many of my neighbors have already done. When the October rains come (at least we hope they will), I'll fertilize and hope the grass comes back.