PsychicGoldfish Telepathic Transmissions

Tuesday, July 02, 2002

Advice for Apartment Dwellers: Programmable Thermostats

Well, it's time for anotheer installment of Advice. This time, we're going to talk about your thermostat. In particular, if your apartment is empty for part of the day (that is, all dwellers go to work or school during the day), you really should consider getting a programmable thermostat. They’re not all that expensive (they start at around forty dollars at your local hardware store or X-Mart), and the savings on your electrical bill will pay for it in a matter of months. And, if you're like me, having another set of blinking LEDs and digital readouts in the house is an end in itself.

If your daily schedule is typical, you’ll probably want a thermostat with controls for weekday and weekend operation. That is the most common configuration, anyway. Be sure the device is designed for both heating and cooling operation. (There are few heating-only thermostats on the market, but they do exist.) Typically, weekdays will have four time periods (sleep, wake, leave, return), with adjustable start times for each. Weekends often only have two time slots (wake and sleep). Higher-end models have different settings for each day, allowing you to individually adjust days for unusual schedules. Whichever you choose, the same general idea applies. Just set the thermostat to allow warmer temperatures while you’re away from home, and have it cool the space back down before you typically return. Setting the “return” cycle to start about an hour before the apartment will again be occupied is usually sufficient to make the space comfortable in time for your return.

Use common sense when setting your “leave” temperatures. If you allow the apartment to become too warm (or too cold in winter), you will consume all of the saved power in trying to bring the space back to a reasonable temperature before you return. A heating set point of around 60 degrees and a cooling set point of no more than 85 degrees should work fine. You might consider lowering the cooling set point during unoccupied periods if you find your air conditioner can’t cool down the space again in a reasonable time period. And if you have pets, or if you leave computers or stereo equipment on while you are away, you should consider a lower set point. Some instruction manuals will provide you with advice, and many power company webpages have good advice for all sorts of energy saving procedures.

As for installation, your best bet is to check with your apartment management, and see if they will install it for you. Some will be happy to do so, provided you purchase the thermostat and are willing to leave it behind. Failing that, installing it yourself is relatively easy. Follow the instructions included with your thermostat. However, there are a few things to remember.

First, and most important, turn off your evaporator (the fan unit inside) and condensing unit (outside) at the breaker box. Don’t just turn it off at the thermostat. You can cause yourself serious injury, and damage your air conditioning system, if you leave it powered while changing out the controls.

Second, be careful removing the old thermostat. Some cheap electro-mechanical devices are remarkably hard to remove. You will need to remove the front face (usually there is a plastic catch or two that will need to be carefully pried open) to get to the screws holding it to the wall. Check the instructions for your new thermostat to see how much of the old device should remain. Be very careful not to break the plastic casing of the thermostat, especially in older apartments. The plastic can become brittle with age. You will want to put the thermostat in a safe place so it can be replaced when you leave. Some complexes will actually count an upgrade like this as damage, and try to charge it against your damage deposit if you leave it behind. If you do decide to leave it behind (check with management), be sure and save the instruction manual for the next renter.

Third, keep up with the control wiring. Before you disconnect the old thermostat, label all of the control wires. Let me say that again. Before you disconnect the old thermostat, label all of the control wires! Miswiring the new thermostat can cause considerable damage to your air conditioning system- damage you will likely have to pay for out of your own pocket. Many new thermostats come with little adhesive backed flags for labeling purposes. Failing that, a bit of masking tape wrapped around each wire will do. Check the back of the old thermostat. Each of the wire connections will be labeled. Label each of the wires with the accordingly before disconnecting them. Check these abbreviations against the new thermostat and the instructions. Sometimes, the abbreviations won’t match exactly. The instructions should provide directions for dealing with different configurations.

Fourth, while removing the wires, make certain that they don’t end up falling back into the wall cavity. Sometimes, there is very little slack in the wires. And if you lose them, they are sometimes exceedingly difficult to retrieve without opening up the wall. A binder clip is handy for keeping the wiring from pulling back into it’s hole. Wrapping it around a pencil and taping it in place also works. But, please, do something to anchor the control wiring. Sometimes these wires twist funny as you work, and unexpectedly fall back into the wall. And that can turn a 30 minute job into an hours long nightmare.

Well, that’s about it. Even in a leased apartment, it’s worthwhile to do some small upgrades and modifications like this. (Standard disclaimers apply. If you die, don’t come complaining to me about it.) Used properly, a programmable thermostat is an easy way to put a significant part of your electrical bill back in your pocket. Just use some common sense, and go slow.

Posted at 9:37 AM

Monday, July 01, 2002

Tales of Dubious Irony #1: the Nature of Reality

During my early years at Rice University, I took an introductory course in philosophy. It was a small class, with maybe eight students in addition to myself. Most of the class was spent in loose discussion of the various philosophical tenets proposed in the readings. There was a lot of Kant. You can’t have philosophy without Kant. (Ha! I slay me!) The Categorical Imperative was the big thing. (I’m not going to get into that one. Go do a web search on it if you’re curious. Basically, the Golden Rule serves as an acceptable substitute for most people, unless they’re inclined to split hairs.) And there were many discussions about the “brain in the jar,” or how we can know if something truly exists if we cannot trust our own sensory information. “Suppose you are actually just a disembodied brain in a jar,” the argument goes. “And some insidious outside force is feeding you sensory information via some undefined mechanism. How, then, would you know if anything else exists?” Or something like that. It was a long time ago, and I’m an engineer, not an epistemologist.

During these discussions, the instructor would pick up the course text, wave it about, thump it, and so on as an example of concrete reality. “How do we know anything exists, then? How do we know this black textbook actually exists, and isn’t just a vague bundle of sensory impressions?” (Of course, he stated it much more concisely. He was a trained philosopher, and a fairly sharp one, far as I could tell.) He repeated variations on this throughout the year. The “big black textbook” was a regular subject of philosophical discourse. Oh, and sometimes we read things in it, too.

Well, eventually, the semester ended. My mind was expanded by a couple CCs, and I was about as enlightened as I was likely to get. On the last day of class, I stayed after to talk to the professor, because there was something that bugged me. It was that black text book. I walked up to him, and thanked him for an interesting and thoroughly enjoyable class. Then, I finally asked him about the book. In particular, I asked him if, by any chance, he was colorblind. He looked a bit surprised, and maybe a little suspicious (perhaps he thought I was going to make a snide comment about his tie or something), and said he was. I remember feeling a little let down at that point, for that was the one point in the class that had always been tantalizingly out of my intellectual grasp. Well, not his color blindness, per se, but it’s effect on his lectures on the nature of reality.

See, the black textbook, which served as the stock example of tangible reality verses the vagaries of sensory information, was in fact green.

That’s, well, mildly ironic, anyway.

Posted at 12:59 PM

Well, I think that's irony, anyway. I always have trouble with that. It's more ironic than a black fly in your Chardonnay, anyway.

Posted at 1:04 PM

Advice for Apartment Dwellers: Have you checked your air filter lately?

Time for another installment of the Advice for Apartment Dwellers series. In this episode, we’ll take a look at the exciting world of air conditioning return air filtration!

In order to assure that your air conditioner is at it’s best when you need it, make sure that your return air filter is changed regularly. A clogged air filter will lead to reduced airflow and cooling capacity. Further, a dirty filter will allow dust to be drawn into the evaporator unit. Excessive dust pulled into the evaporator coil and fan can cause further drops in cooling capacity and efficiency. Replacing your filter every two or three months is usually sufficient, unless you live in a dusty environment or have a particular sensitivity to dust or pollen. If, like me, you haven’t vacuumed or dusted since the Clinton administration, you might want to replace them every month.

Most of the time, the filters you’ll see will be the disposable type. Most reputable apartment managers will replace these on request, or will supply you with replacement filters. It’s generally to their advantage to do so, as dirty filters can lead to dust-clogged evaporator coils, and more serious complaints in the future. Depending on your apartment management and your own handiness, it might be easier to just buy the filters yourself, though. There’s something to be said for minimizing service requests. It’s sometimes better to pick your battles, and save service requests for serious or complex matters.

Generally, air filters are located behind easily accessible ceiling or wall return grilles near the center of your apartment. They’re hard to miss, as they’ll be considerably larger than the supply registers. There is usually some form of catch or lever to release the metal grille from its frame. Failing that, the grille will be held in place by screws. (If the screws are large, flat-head type, sometimes they are actually half-turn latches. If so, they can be easily turned with a coin if a screwdriver isn’t handy.) Be sure to hold the grille in place with your other hand as you release the catches. Often the grilles are not hinged or held to the wall frame in any way, and will fall on one or more of your favorite body parts if you’re not careful. You might want to wipe down the grille with a wet paper towel first, if it’s been a while since your last filter change. It’ll save you some clean-up time, as well as a face full of dirt.

Once the grille is out of the way, check to see if the filter needs changing. It should be readily apparent. If dust is caked on the near side of the filter, it should have been changed a while ago. The weave of the filter cloth should be open, and not clogged with dust. Most filters are white, so you can easily spot dirt buildup. No need to be too picky about this, though. A filter will never pass a white glove test, nor is it supposed to do so. You can also stretch a filter a bit, in a pinch, by taking it outside and shaking it gently or brushing it off. Be careful not to tear the (somewhat fragile) cardboard frame in the process.

While you have your return grille and filter removed, you’ll want to check the return air plenum behind them. If the space is full of dust, you might want to take a moment to sweep or vacuum it out. If your return grille opens directly under the fan unit/evaporator, be extremely careful with cleaning. Typically, there will be loose wires all over, and sometimes surprisingly fragile refrigerant piping. And, for Heaven’s sake, don’t try to open your evaporator/fan unit! No user serviceable parts inside and all that. And depending on the manufacturer, you can easily do damage or trip safety switches even by opening access panels.

Should you decide to purchase your own filters, they’re easy to find. Nearly all grocery stores carry them in the hardware department. Your local X–Mart (where X equals Wal, K, Save, Cost, S, Mega-Lo, or similar, as you prefer) also carries them, as does your local hardware store. It’s worth the time to go ahead and measure your old filter, if it is not already labeled on the cardboard frame. It’s very frustrating to get home and find out that your guesstimate was wrong by six inches. (If you do get the size wrong, curb your handyman instincts and just get a new one. Trimming them to fit is not a good idea, as leakage around the perimeter defeats the purpose.) A disposable filter should only cost you a few dollars. I usually try to keep a couple on hand, so I can swap them out when I think about it.

There are a couple of other filter types you might consider. If you have allergies to dust or pollen, you might consider a HEPA (High Efficiency Particle Arrestor) filter. These are more effective at straining out small pollen and dust particles than an ordinary filter. They are available as disposable filters as well, for a couple dollars more. Note that these filters will create more air resistance, and will thus reduce the total airflow (and usually the cooling capacity) of the air conditioning system. Since most apartment air conditioning systems are already undersized (a common cost-cutting measure during construction, compounded by continuing ignorance during subsequent repairs), this could drive temperatures up and/or increase runtimes during the summer. Regularly vacuuming, dusting, and sweeping will do more to control allergens than any HEPA filter.

You might also consider permanent washable filters. These are sometimes sold as electrostatic filters, and claim to be considerably more efficient than disposable filters. I cannot speak to this, as I stick to the cheap kinds, but some people swear by them. These are typically framed with metal, and have plastic media (usually black). When they get dirty, they can just be brushed off (preferably outside, with a dust mop or soft brush) and washed with a shower nozzle or water hose. (Follow the instructions on the package, as some have special cleaning requirements.) Be sure to shake off excess water and let them air dry for a few hours before replacing. Note that these cost considerably more than disposable filers. This may be a paying proposition if you are going to be in the same apartment for several years, but return air grille sizes vary from apartment to apartment. You might not be able to reuse that washable filter in your next apartment.

Once you have your filter, one way or another, simply place it back in the filter frame and close the grille. Make sure that the frame is latched on all four corners, as leakage will allow air to bypass the filter altogether.

In general, replacing your air filter will be the easiest, and most useful, thing you can do to increase air conditioning efficiency in your apartment. And it will make sure your air conditioner is putting out as much cold air as possible on hot summer days.

Posted at 3:00 PM

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