warren49 wrote:I am a little late getting into this discussion, but I wanted to chime in anyway.
Better late than never, I always say.
warren49 wrote:Our home has 6 floor to ceiling windows in the front, opening to our living room that has a cathedral ceiling (1982 Madison).
Floor-to-ceiling windows? Where do you put your furniture? We're having a hard enough time arranging furniture in the room that we have....
warren49 wrote:On top of that, the windows face south and we live in central California where summer temps are normally around 100 every day during the summer months. It was 112 just week or two back.
We recently moved from Arizona, so I know where you're coming from. Temps over 110 are pretty common in the summer...one of the reasons that we moved.
warren49 wrote:We purchased it with the original dual pane windows with metal frames. Two summers ago (our first summer here), we had 5 straight days of 110 or greater and it was impossible to keep the room temp below the mid 80s. Our air conditioning did not shut off for 8+ hours straight every one of those hot days (you can imagine the bill!!!).
Being from Arizona, it wasn't unusual for our A/C to run for 10-12 hours straight, when temps were 115-120. We never turned our thermostat down lower than 82 all summer long--partly to save energy, and partly because there was just no way to cool the house down any further on the really hot days. So I can totally relate to what you're talking about, unfortunately.
warren49 wrote:We bit the bullet and ordered vinyl framed, dual pane windows with argon gas in the airtight space between the windows. As a backup, we knew we still had the sun blocking screens if necessary.
Wow, you mean business, don't you?
I wish we could do that...I'm thinking that winter is going to be pretty bad with heat loss (we live in the Great Plains now), if we're having this kind of trouble in the summer, you know?
warren49 wrote:Short of window replacement, it is important that you block the sun, preferrably from the outside. Then block it from the inside.
The previous owners left some outdoor shades, but it took us a while to find them, as they'd been stored in the crawl space. Instead of the garage.
I've added to that, on the inside, the following:
* Reflective emergency blankets (cheaper and far larger than solar curtains), which cut down on both the heat and the light
* Closing the venetian blinds on the west side of the house, until the sun's angle is lower than the roof of our detached garage (ahh, blessed shade!)
* On REALLY hot days, we do as we did in Arizona--place a large piece of cardboard in the window for shade, then close the curtains so it's not visible from the inside
warren49 wrote:I would also suggest a small fan next to the windows, on one end, so the air flow is across the windows. This mixes the hotter air with the cooler air (if it also aimed up to some degree, the air at the top of the room with get mixed too.
Hmm...we do have an air circulating fan, so I could give that a try. The ceiling fan in our MH is so squeaky and noisy, you can't even hear the television over the racket it makes.
warren49 wrote:My theory is that you must prevent the room from heating in the first place (by blocking as much daylight as possible, starting from the outside), then keep the air moving on the inside (eliminating dead spots like corners or the peak of your ceiling).
We do have a fan, but I don't think it's enough...I think the air circulator would be a better way to do what you're suggesting. It can REALLY move a lot of air in a short period of time, which might well eliminate the dead spots.
warren49 wrote:On the inside, good quality window coverings would be a good idea too (we installed dark, wood venetian blinds). Once the air is too hot, it is almost impossible to catch up.
That reminds me...one home we had in AZ had plantation shutters, which were GREAT for keeping out the heat and the cold. I really miss those, and I'd love to get them here, but the expense would be unreal, for all the windows we have in the living room, alone.
And yes, as you say, it's hard to cool the place down once it heats up. I had the clever idea of setting the digital thermostat to 84 while we were out of town for the day, then programming it to turn down to 82 before we got home. Never did get the air cooler than 84 that afternoon, despite the fact that our windows were shaded inside and out, that whole day.
I will say, one GREAT thing about living in the Midwest is that at least the nights cool off. No more running the air conditioner all night long. Now, if we could just get those heating bills under control, but that's a question for the Coleman forum....
warren49 wrote:I know this is a long response, but I wanted to let you know that my experience is similar.
Thanks for your input. I'm going to give the air circulator a try, to
see if that will help with what we've done thus far.