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Post by pim on Jan 4, 2013 9:13:55 GMT 10
The forecast is a top of 44° in Adelaide today. That's 111° F for the benefit of any north american who happens to be reading this - <sigh> when are you guys going to join the rest of the planet and go metric?? If you venture out into the heat - and why would you unless you're a mad dog or an Englishman? - you'll hear a humming noise that seems to be everywhere. It isn't the humming of bees. Much more mechanical than that. It's the hum of air conditioners going full blast as the temperature climbs and climbs ... These are the sorts of days when the engineers and other techno boffins who operate the power stations that generate the power that keeps the aircon units going in our houses have their fingers crossed and hope for the best. These are the days, so I'm informed by an old mate of mine who's spent his working life in NSW power stations, when you hope to God things don't go wrong and there isn't a power outage or brown-out, but when the chances are excellent that there will be one ...  |
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Post by jody on Jan 4, 2013 9:16:23 GMT 10
I don't really venture out in anything over 35 and for the over 40 days....I close all curtains and hide inside for the whole day.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2013 9:28:03 GMT 10
Another lovely summery day here in Manly with an expected top temp of 26C. It's always cool here in summer because of the sea breezes. Yesterday and the day before those breezes were quite cool, chilly even, if you were out of the sun.
I've never needed to have airconditioning here. My townhouse was designed to be eco-friendly. It's cool in summer and warm in winter. My last electricity bill was a mere $116.
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Post by jody on Jan 4, 2013 9:38:26 GMT 10
My summer bill often reaches over $1000 :/
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2013 9:43:48 GMT 10
For three months??
I expect my yearly bill for electricity and gas to be around $960. That's with the extra carbon tax included!
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Post by jody on Jan 4, 2013 9:50:11 GMT 10
I would if the government was still offering to pay for some if it....can't afford to put it on myself as it is around $8000.
Plus do solar panels run 3 Phase?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2013 9:50:34 GMT 10
The obvious solution!!
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Post by caskur on Jan 4, 2013 10:24:04 GMT 10
The forecast is a top of 44° in Adelaide today. That's 111° F for the benefit of any north american who happens to be reading this - <sigh> when are you guys going to join the rest of the planet and go metric?? If you venture out into the heat - and why would you unless you're a mad dog or an Englishman? - you'll hear a humming noise that seems to be everywhere. It isn't the humming of bees. Much more mechanical than that. It's the hum of air conditioners going full blast as the temperature climbs and climbs ... These are the sorts of days when the engineers and other techno boffins who operate the power stations that generate the power that keeps the aircon units going in our houses have their fingers crossed and hope for the best. These are the days, so I'm informed by an old mate of mine who's spent his working life in NSW power stations, when you hope to God things don't go wrong and there isn't a power outage or brown-out, but when the chances are excellent that there will be one ... Is a brown out like a black out? We had one for 45 minutes to an hour in our heat wave but it was at dinner time... the air con had been running night and day so the house was cool... we had over 7 days of 40 C and a record breaker for Perth. |
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Post by caskur on Jan 4, 2013 10:31:21 GMT 10
we had a brown out then... from my veranda, I could see the suburbs across from me had power on.
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Post by pim on Jan 4, 2013 10:41:24 GMT 10
I'll try to answer your question, Caskur. Dunno if I'm going to get it 100% right but here goes ...
On days like today when everyone has their aircon going, on top of their other appliances - especially refrigerators - the pressure on baseload capacity is at its greatest. My NSW buddy tells me that these are the most nail-biting times for people who work in power stations charged with the task of keeping up the supply of power to meet this peak demand. If ever the power companies sail close to the wind, it's on days like today. It's worse than in winter because people use all sorts of heaters in winter, but all aircon units run on electricity.
What happens is that whenever demand exceeds capacity, as often happens on days like today, the power companies have to set up a triage and prioritise. Top of the priority list are places like hospitals. Trust me, a patient on the operating table under a total anaesthetic and on life support doesn't need a power failure at that point. You get my point. If during a heat wave the pressure on the grid is so great that in order to keep up the power to the hospitals they have to reduce the power elsewhere in the grid then they do so. I think - and I'm not sure of this - that they call it "load shedding". So if your power goes down for an hour during a heat wave and then comes back on again, you've probably been in a brown out. The food in your fridge won't have gone off and the house won't get too hot. It's a reasonable thing for them to do.
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Post by garfield on Jan 4, 2013 11:26:27 GMT 10
This heat is good for me as I am going to hell apparently so it makes sense to acclimatize first.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2013 12:09:58 GMT 10
Ha ha, good one!! Back to your best. ;D
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Post by jody on Jan 4, 2013 12:20:27 GMT 10
For three months?? I expect my yearly bill for electricity and gas to be around $960. That's with the extra carbon tax included! Stellar yes this is for the summer 1/4. The rest of them are usually anywhere from $550 to $750. In winter I use my combustion fire so it is actually my cheapest bill of the year. Phil, I will look into and see what can be done....thanks for the info. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2013 12:36:00 GMT 10
Jody, those bills are horrifying. Are you all electric? Both my electricity and gas bills are roughly around the same amount. Used to be around $100 each per quarter but now with the added carbon tax and both around $115 to $125 each quarter.
Fortunately we don't have extremes of heat and cold here so there'd only be a few occasions when I need the heater on in winter. And I don't have aircon installed and don't need it either except in the top bedroom if it's particularly hot. I have a portable one up there but it's rarely used.
Northern beaches predicted to escape weather heatwave
Manly Daily Local News
4 Jan 13 @ 11:04am by Boel Eriksson
WHILE parts of the country are set to sizzle for the next few days due to a heatwave, the peninsula weekend forecast is for a sunny, and bearable, 25C.
The heatwave has already reached the northern parts of South Australia, and hot conditions will also spread to northwest Victoria, western NSW and the southern NT, according to the Weather Channel.
But on the northern beaches, predictions are for 24C today, 25C tomorrow, and 24C on Sunday.
Every day is forecasted as sunny.
On Monday, it looks set to change to rain and 23C.
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Post by jody on Jan 4, 2013 12:44:47 GMT 10
Yes I am all electric. I also run a pool with solar heating.....they cost a fortune. My son has a bed light through the night, though of course it is an energy saving globe which I have in all light fixtures. Being semi rural and on water tanks my water is pushed into the house and other buildings on the property via pumps. My air con is the big one though....fully ducted but I only run 2 of the 3 sections.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2013 13:04:31 GMT 10
I guess that's the price you have to pay for that sort of lifestyle. Take out the summer and winter and it's probably pretty good.  |
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Post by matt on Jan 4, 2013 16:13:50 GMT 10
So glad I live in the inner-west of Sydney!
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Post by jody on Jan 4, 2013 16:15:35 GMT 10
it is a wonderful lifestyle Stellar....wouldn't trade it for anything.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2013 16:16:24 GMT 10
So glad I live in the inner-west of Sydney! I'm so glad I don't. |
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Post by jody on Jan 4, 2013 16:26:26 GMT 10
me too....I couldn't think if anything worse.
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Post by slartibartfast on Jan 4, 2013 18:20:01 GMT 10
I'm glad I'm in Melbourne, just a cool 41.
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Post by jody on Jan 4, 2013 18:31:50 GMT 10
we will be getting more of that next week Slarti......the only thing I hate about living in The Hunter....the vile hot summers.
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Post by slartibartfast on Jan 4, 2013 19:01:26 GMT 10
That's why we love our pool.
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Post by jody on Jan 4, 2013 19:04:03 GMT 10
I love mine too but I if it's too hot to go outside, I won't even go out there to swim.
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Post by fat on Jan 4, 2013 23:46:29 GMT 10
Take out "The Hunter" and insert "Australia" - it is where we are. |
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