Trying to cut down electricity use and save money

One more thing, if you get a window A/C unit for use in a bedroom, get one with a remote. Mine doesn't have that and I wish it did.

Thanks for all the inputs/advices.

If you can, start planting tree and bushes around your house to block the sunlight.

Quote from calnbs : Thank you everyone for all your great input. After reading up one the window a/c vs portable a/c, looks like the window a/c have the edge unfortunately, I have a horizontal sliding window which only leaves me with the portable a/c as a choice. I figure, it's better than nothing. Now, just gotta find one that is good and reliable. I'm go forward with the window tint. Definately, going to be a pain with all the windows I got but looks like it might be worth it. I will look at the other options suggested as well. Also, thanks for the links. Thanks again.

If you have a really big house or a really outdated hvac then running one portible unit at night will save you money. In my case my portible if ran just at night would cost me $40 more a month. Reason is my portible is 12k btu and seer is 9.8 my hvac is a two stage compressor 3 ton 18 seer unit.

On the windows that face south or all windows film will help but solar screen are a much better bang for you buck. Someone also mentioned solar curtains those work great too and keep alot of noise outside of the home from comming in. If you also in the market 2 or 3 inch wooden blinds would help a ton too compared to mini blinds that only last a few years at the most.

If your in the market for a new water heater and its electric then look to a heat pump water heater model. Recently had one installed and its saving me $40 a month. Not to mention it also acts like an ac unit and cools my home. GE heat pump water heater has good reviews. I seen AO Smith models they seem to have better reviews compared to GE but up front cost is alot more.

Quote from larrymoencurly : If you have an audit done by a pro, be sure you get actual energy savings numbers for each improvement (insulation, caulking, better windows, A/C or heater upgrade, solar or heatpump water heater, etc.), expressed not just in dollars but also in BTUs because prices vary greatly. Also get separate numbers for summer and winter. Your utility company may have fairly decent free information about energy costs and savings. Generally, shading windows on the west or east side can help a lot without costing much, and if you have very little insulation in the attic, adding more is usually worthwhile. But be skeptical of anybody whose first recommendations include getting the walls insulated or putting in new windows (it may be a lot cheaper to just add storm windows) because they tend to cost a lot for the amount of energy saved. And if somebody recommends expensive high-efficiency equipment, like an A/C with a variable speed compressor or a heatpump water heater, figure in the cost of replacement in 10 years. Evaporative coolers, great when the humidity is under 10-20%, lousy if it's higher: Here's a table of the lowest temperature they can achieve for any combination of outdoor temperature and relative humidity. These used to be very popular in Arizona and worked fine until the start of the monsoon season in July, but they don't cost less to run than modern A/C with effiency ratings of SEER 10+.

I wouldn't tape up the vents inside your house. It puts alot of strees on you duck works and hvac. When you tape up the vent you tend to have more leaks because of the pressure in them. You also prematurely wear out your compressor, because when you plug up the vents less air flow going acrossed the evaporator coil causing the high side pressure to rise and put more wear and tear on the hvac.
if your trying to cool a room quicker than the reast of your house add a return to that room. Just make sure is far enough away from you supply vent or vents. You can also add another supply or increase the size of the duck work supply going to the room.

Portible ac units aren't that efficient because most have only one house and to cool the condenser part of the unit. They suck cool air from the home and blow it out causing a negtive air pressure in you home allowing hot un air condition air back into your home. A small window unit acting as a boster to help the main hvac sometimes is better than just turning off the main hvac unit.
But mearly adding a return to the room in question and checking for problems with your hvac and adding insulation to the attic will reep much better results.

Quote from kd5bwp : I wouldn't tape up the vents inside your house. It puts alot of strees on you duck works and hvac. When you tape up the vent you tend to have more leaks because of the pressure in them. You also prematurely wear out your compressor, because when you plug up the vents less air flow going acrossed the evaporator coil causing the high side pressure to rise and put more wear and tear on the hvac. if your trying to cool a room quicker than the reast of your house add a return to that room. Just make sure is far enough away from you supply vent or vents. You can also add another supply or increase the size of the duck work supply going to the room. Portible ac units aren't that efficient because most have only one house and to cool the condenser part of the unit. They suck cool air from the home and blow it out causing a negtive air pressure in you home allowing hot un air condition air back into your home. A small window unit acting as a boster to help the main hvac sometimes is better than just turning off the main hvac unit. But mearly adding a return to the room in question and checking for problems with your hvac and adding insulation to the attic will reep much better results.

+1 to the return vent. My first house was built in 1970 and every single room in the house had a return vent. It was the most even cooled house that I have ever lived in. I could kick the A/C from 75 to 70 and in under an hour it would be down to 70. The house I have now doesn't have this and it is very uneven cooling and hard to get cold. It is physically impossible to get the temp in my current house under 75. I tried once and the A/C ran for 8 hours and the temp didn't reduce a single degree.

Quote from dealgate : +1 to the return vent. My first house was built in 1970 and every single room in the house had a return vent. It was the most even cooled house that I have ever lived in. I could kick the A/C from 75 to 70 and in under an hour it would be down to 70. The house I have now doesn't have this and it is very uneven cooling and hard to get cold. It is physically impossible to get the temp in my current house under 75. I tried once and the A/C ran for 8 hours and the temp didn't reduce a single degree.

Dam eight hours shit I bet you humidity level was super low after that nascar run for you hvac. Mine is just the opposite unfortunately. When I replaced my ac in my home the old unit was a bit undersized for the home. It was a 2.5 ton unit for 1300 sqf. In the summer heat you could do the same as you set it for 75 and if was 100 outside the lowest it would go would be 80 until the sun went down.
So with that food for thought when the ac compressor took to the crapper I had jcalc done and measured my supplie vent and return and it came up with a 3 ton. Well I opted to add another return because one 16 inch wouldn't supply enough air for the unit. I added a 14 inch return which made a hudge difference for the new unit.
To get to the point after I added the new unit I put in more soffets vents put in gable vent with power fans, put in ridge vents and a few other passive vent, along with upgrading from R19 Insulation to R50. When I did all that my house no. Longer needed a 3 ton hell a 2.5 ton would have been over sized. I could have gotten away with a 1 ton. Only saving grace is that when I bought the new unit I went with a two stage compressor. So now it stays in 1.5 even on the hottest days. Only time is jumps into second stage is if some touches the thermostat and moves it more than 3 degrees or during sechdule to cool the house when the ac was off during the day. But even then I have high humidity because it cools the home way too fast and short cycles (accroding to Trane my unit runs the absolute minimum amount of time in the specs and isn't short cycling).
cool thing tho is I know now since my brother one time wanted the ac to be on for a while and set it for 50 it actually got to 50 when it was 105 outside didn't freeze up and only took 4 hours from 80. (he thought if its set to the lowest that it would cool faster lol he just misunderstood all it had to be was 3 degrees lower than the current reading.)
So basically I have a very efficent house with an oversize hvac unit because of the energy efficiency improvements

Quote from dealgate : +1 to the return vent. My first house was built in 1970 and every single room in the house had a return vent. It was the most even cooled house that I have ever lived in. I could kick the A/C from 75 to 70 and in under an hour it would be down to 70. The house I have now doesn't have this and it is very uneven cooling and hard to get cold. It is physically impossible to get the temp in my current house under 75. I tried once and the A/C ran for 8 hours and the temp didn't reduce a single degree.

Dam eight hours shit I bet you humidity level was super low after that nascar run for you hvac. Mine is just the opposite unfortunately. When I replaced my ac in my home the old unit was a bit undersized for the home. It was a 2.5 ton unit for 1300 sqf. In the summer heat you could do the same as you set it for 75 and if was 100 outside the lowest it would go would be 80 until the sun went down.
So with that food for thought when the ac compressor took to the crapper I had jcalc done and measured my supplie vent and return and it came up with a 3 ton. Well I opted to add another return because one 16 inch wouldn't supply enough air for the unit. I added a 14 inch return which made a hudge difference for the new unit.
To get to the point after I added the new unit I put in more soffets vents put in gable vent with power fans, put in ridge vents and a few other passive vent, along with upgrading from R19 Insulation to R50. When I did all that my house no. Longer needed a 3 ton hell a 2.5 ton would have been over sized. I could have gotten away with a 1 ton. Only saving grace is that when I bought the new unit I went with a two stage compressor. So now it stays in 1.5 even on the hottest days. Only time is jumps into second stage is if some touches the thermostat and moves it more than 3 degrees or during sechdule to cool the house when the ac was off during the day. But even then I have high humidity because it cools the home way too fast and short cycles (accroding to Trane my unit runs the absolute minimum amount of time in the specs and isn't short cycling).
cool thing tho is I know now since my brother one time wanted the ac to be on for a while and set it for 50 it actually got to 50 when it was 105 outside didn't freeze up and only took 4 hours from 80. (he thought if its set to the lowest that it would cool faster lol he just misunderstood all it had to be was 3 degrees lower than the current reading.)
So basically I have a very efficent house with an oversize hvac unit because of the energy efficiency improvements I've done.

Only food I have for thought is do all the energy efficiency improvements before you consider or have a jcalc heat load done on your home.

My update:

Since my original post. I've installed the window tint through out my house. Bought the reflective one at Home Depot. Easy to install but never had much luck putting it on perfectly. Good enough for me though. Easiest to do with two people. I can definately feel the difference with these window films. So it does works.

I decided not to get a window/portable air condition. I notice that in my area, once the sun is down, the air is for the most part, cool. I went and bought a few 20" Box Fans. Once the sun sets, I would open windows around the house and place the box fans next to the open windows, sucking in all the cool air from outside.
When the sun is still up, I use the Box Fans to suck out the hot air and turn on my ceiling fan to cool the room that I am in. By the time I am ready to go to sleep, my bedroom usually is below 80 degrees just using box fan and ceiling fan.

Having window films, box fans, and ceiling fans I have completely eliminated the use of my Central Air Conditioner. Having trees around one's house helps a lot too (unfortunately for me, I chopped all mine down). I remember using my A/C a lot in previous years, so completely eliminating it was a huge win for me. Since the installments, I've been averaging about $100-110 a month on electricity bill during the hot season. Previous hot seasons, my electricity would be around $150-200/month for a 1800 sq ft two story house.

Thanks again for all those who contributed in this thread to help me save money.