On Thu 23 Jul 2009 03:44:28a, hank told us...

Wayne Boatwright wrote:
windows open. We also have 5 indoor cats and several aquariums which
would not likely survive temperatures above 90 degrees. Case in point,
two years ago our compressor went out and it was two days before we
could get it replaced. We moved ourselves and our cats to a motel, but
the aquariums were cooked, both fish and plants. That, plus our cats
were obviously suffering in the high indoor heat.

similar to having a generator for backup in blackout or storm
conditions, why do you not have a backup window unit which would take
just a few minutes to hookup and spare yourself this kind of situation?
they are cheap too.

Funny you should mention that, Hank. I think we had a knee jerk reaction
when our compressor blew out and we bolted for the motel. Since then we
have installed two window units, one in our master bedroom and one in the
room where we keep our aquariums. The bedroom is larg enough to corral
ourselves and our cats during an AC outage.

most people where I live have couple spare portable a/c units, small
enough that they can be run via a generator and while they may not keep
whole house in the 70's, they certainly will keep sections of house
close to 80 F

Luckily, we live in an area where very infrequent power outages never last
more than 15-30 minutes, so I doubt we really need a generator. We haven't
even had a short outage in the past 3-4 years. Certainly a good idea where
power outages are more prevalent.

several of my neighbors have now installed permanent backup A/C systems
in the form of ductless heatpumps. these inverter models draw just
300-650w of power and provide a nice and efficient backup system and
even in normal operation reduce the load on the main system. as you
know, a heatpump is simply an A/C with a reversing valve to produce both
cool and heat from same coil, no separate electric strips required.

Our main forced air system is a heatpump. However, in our climate, we
really don't need to consider emergency heating. During the winter I doubt
our heat goes on more than a few times, and then only briefly. Funny you
should mention auxillary heatpump units. Back in the 1950s, York made
sizeable window units that had reversing valves. We had three such units
in our house which cooled/heated the entire house effectively. They hadn't
yet started calling them heatpumps, thoughl.

--
Wayne Boatwright
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At the end of every diet, the path curves back toward the trough.
Mason Cooley