It's a stinker, mercury heads for the high thirties

Yeah I hear you guys – and that’s why I’m here from Qld. No way I could have worked outside the last two days in those temps in Qld. Would have had a coronary.

On Jonathon’s comments re: evap coolers, would it be correct to assume that they would use even more water here because there is less humidity, and therefore far more potential to evaporate more?

Overheard – it’s a good drop and is good that we can get it here now. Wish we could get XXX Sovereign though – that’s a great drop. But very hard to find even in Brisbane.

mutley said :

I think that’s because of the XXXX

God strike me down or save me for saying so, but I’ve developed a taste for the stuff. Drank XXXX Bitter when I could and XXXX Gold when I had to keep a clear-ish head.

I think that’s because of the XXXX

Overheard said :

aronde said :

Having moved from Qld where you cannot grab the mail from your letter box without returning dripping in sweat from the humidity I would have to say yesterday was quite pleasant!

It’s amazing that 100% humidity, isn’t it? I spent Christmas to just after New Year in SE Qld and just accepted that I’d be drenched in sweat for most of the day. Luckily I spent a lot of time backstage where they had big industrial fans.

That’s one of the reasons I love living in Canberra; low humidity (and the weather here generally). A Canberra dry 36 doesn’t feel too bad as compared to a sweltering, greasy Brisbane 30 degrees. I sure don’t miss having clothes sticking to my body, frizzy hair, and a perpetually shiny face.

aronde said :

Having moved from Qld where you cannot grab the mail from your letter box without returning dripping in sweat from the humidity I would have to say yesterday was quite pleasant!

It’s amazing that 100% humidity, isn’t it? I spent Christmas to just after New Year in SE Qld and just accepted that I’d be drenched in sweat for most of the day. Luckily I spent a lot of time backstage where they had big industrial fans.

chrispy said :

36 isn’t sweltering, unless you have to wear a suit.

breathe thru your nose. even in a suit with tie and long sleeve heavy shirt, I manage to regulate my temperature very well. the hot air you take in through your nose is reduced quickly, don’t know why, but it works.

Granny said :

Excellent, Fabforty, as I completely suck and we always lose!

You can find details here, but any more questions please ask …. I think Overheard is going to start a special thread for it?

Not doing a separate thread, Granny; but I’ll keep including details in the Wotz On Guides.

bubzie said :

Our work hasnt had airconditioning for …at least a year now.

I sweltered in 40 degree plus heat. 🙁

bubzie, you mentioned you are in retail, did the managers do anything for the temp issue? I would have thought that they would at least sort out a stop gap solution.

Overheard,

How far do you guys run?

Varies depending on the group and the ‘hare’ (run-setter), usually between about 4-8km, though it’s never a full-on start to finish run — you’re periodically stopping to find where the trail goes. Yesterday’s in Aranda was a long one, so there was a lot of walking, especially on the upper trails around Black Mountain.

I’ve posted some stuff elsewhere: http://the-riotact.com/?p=8673 and http://the-riotact.com/?p=9390

By curious coincidence there are two runs next week from Zierholz brewery. I’ll post some details in Wotz on Guide.

Having moved from Qld where you cannot grab the mail from your letter box without returning dripping in sweat from the humidity I would have to say yesterday was quite pleasant!

36 isn’t sweltering, unless you have to wear a suit.

I’d rather spend my summer in front of an air conditioner than spend my winter sitting in front of a heater.

I was wondering what impact that evaporative cooling systems were having on water consumption.
Surprisingly Australian information (from the manufacturers especially) on the actual water usage of these units appears to be quite scant, perhaps non existent (or I’m not Googling it right).

I did find the following paper from a joint project by Yarra Valley Water and the Water Services Association of Australia that describes a study into Evaporative Water Cooling systems (December 2005). In this report they found that the average daily usage of water per domestic unit was 216L/day, or 18.8KL/annum (for Melbourne on their test sample)
http://www.yvw.com.au/NR/rdonlyres/823F5570-98A1-442E-BB67-63781C813576/0/EACReport.pdf

According to figures from the ABS (March 2008), there are 25,900 evaporative coolers in the ACT
4602.0.55.001 Environmental Issues: Energy Use and Conservation, Mar 2008
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4602.0.55.001Mar%202008?OpenDocument

On this basis alone (assuming that the figures for Melbourne could actually be directly applied to the ACT, which is doubtful given that we have different climatic conditions)

By Extrapolation Evaporative Cooling Water usage for the ACT would be:
25,900units x 216L (Melbourne Avg) = 5,594,400L/Day (Approx 5.6ML)

This of course doesn’t take into consideration Evaporative Water Cooling units that sit on virtually every large office block and most commercial buildings. Whether that accounts for the other additional 26.4ML of usage I have no idea.

Excellent, Fabforty, as I completely suck and we always lose!

You can find details here, but any more questions please ask …. I think Overheard is going to start a special thread for it?

I worked on a different floor today and it was like a fridge ! I think the idea is if they keep all us old chooks on ice, we will stay fresher for longer.

When I got home though, it was straight into the tequila with lots of ice, lime and lemonade. Ahhhh. Makes up for the bus ride home and the fact the gusts of wind broke my ancient market umbrella.

And Granny, if you read this, I am after details of Monday night trivia.

I love people who go on about how much they love summer and the heat, and then reveal that they spend it in an air conditioned house. Ye gods.

My weather station recorded some insane gusts up here today, and I’m a bit puzzled. I know some big winds hit when the storm arrived, and the tall weeds are flattened, and the storm east of canberra evidently went right over my place (everthing was wet), but I’m still puzzled. 194 km/hr gust? jeepers.

My south facing house is quite good in summer – 24 today also.

Blo*dy unbearable in Winter tho……

Yeah I was being stalked on Gunghalin drive by 2 300+ft willy willy’s.

Couldn’t believe it when my wife told me it was 6pm when I got home, I usually arrive around 5:20

No need to pity me though- no one ever lost weight on easy street – I dispatched 1110kCal on my ride home, and a total for the day around 1900kCal..or say almost 4 big macs.

You are going to have to do a lot better than 2 degrees difference to sell the world on the benefits of your solar passive design.

A gauntlet it seems…

Was just 22 inside until about 12pm Jonathon, when the kids had a lot of in and out going on (with the airlock open), with the hot winds blasting. 25 was only the peak later on about 3ish. That was the reason it got up to 25 yesterday too – plus they left some blinds and windows open while I was outside working. Otherwise I doubt it would have got over 24 both days.

Upstairs was zoned off all day so was only about the temp of your place, but not in my opinion comfortable.

And there’s the difference design can make. Only one upstairs room a bit ordinary, but everything else just loverly. Noise from a/c or evap? Nope – zero noise. Summer operating cost? Not ‘next to nothing’ – nothing. Coupled with 2 fifths of stuff all winter operating cost. And when we have gardens surrounding instead of dirt wasteland, including trees to totally block the arvo south-west sun off the western walls, it will be that much better again.

And with the dust storms now over, everything is open and the gauge is on the way down.
And that I guess is another key part of the design – unlike all the poor buggers in their brick veneereals, this place will shed it’s heat quickly to take advantage of the cool inland nights. Probably even have the doona on tonight…

Pity you your ride Dan – saw a guy riding up Flemington at about 5pm through the dust clouds – must have been the best reason to jump on a bus with a bike rack if I ever saw one.

Thumper, I think the runs are something like 5k? They take about an hour at any rate. You can stay for a meal and more beer after the circle and beer.

I haven’t been for a while and would have especially loved to make it tonight, ’cause they have a swimming pool!

*sigh*

I am dying in this house ….

Hey I used to be a chef – no use complaining to me, I didn’t like the heat or work conditions, so I made a career change.

Now 30 degrees at your desk is much better than the 50 or 60 degrees standing over a chargrill in jacket and pants in summer.

Our work hasnt had airconditioning for …at least a year now.

I sweltered in 40 degree plus heat. 🙁

A/C borked at work ALL day…So a balmy indoor temp of around 30 degrees.

Same here el, must have been the overloaded central canberra grid – no air circulation in my office space either – so I actually was cooler riding home in 33 degrees than sitting at my desk in 27/28.

That was a pr1ck of a ride home by the way riding head on into 54km winds for 16km is not much fun, it in fact took me 30 minutes longer to get home…At least I forgot it was between 34 and 29 the whole way home 😛

How’s your power bill looking? Smirk smirk.

Fine, because ducted evaporative air conditioning uses next to no power while making my house feel like a fridge. Thanks for asking, though.

Damn you Brivis and your exploding evaporative cooler recall.

meant to say, repeat when dry (in fact, for both paragraphs!)

put t-shirt in bathroom sink. turn on cold tap. turn off cold tap. wring out t-shirt (slightly). put t-shirt on. go ‘aaaah’.

(would second the gin and tonic [specifically, gi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ii-i-i-i-ii-i-i-n and ton’c] with ice and lime, but have been a li’l nauseous today and will stick to water, dammit)

Gungahlin Al said :

But inside the sustainable Chateau Gungahlin, we have a peachy air-con-free 25 degrees.

My Ngunnawal townhouse is westerly facing (main living areas), nothing too special with the insulation and the inside temp only peaked at 27 degrees today (have not turned the A/C on). You are going to have to do a lot better than 2 degrees difference to sell the world on the benefits of your solar passive design.

Just out of curiosity … what is the temperature in your upstairs room where the computer is?

Peachy it might be here too, but it was balmy at 25. Therefore on came the A/C

Well it was a lovely 10 degrees when I got up this morning to start digging and mulching to turn our dirt plot into a garden from 7am to 3pm.

The conditions from about 9am on were nothing short of horrible, and I think half of Franklin blew past me. The temp hit 37 in the shade.

But inside the sustainable Chateau Gungahlin, we have a peachy air-con-free 25 degrees.

How’s your power bill looking? Smirk smirk.

A/C borked at work ALL day…So a balmy indoor temp of around 30 degrees.

I did five loads of washing and continued in my quest to unpack all of these bloody moving boxes before I go back to work.

Going for a run around the streets of Aranda and surrounding suburbs and bushland with a mob of similarly arranged individuals at 6.10pm. There will be frosty beers and a pool afterwards. Granny, are you joining us again tonight?

Laying on my green grass with the sprinklers on.

tylersmayhem said :

I sprayed some water (tank) on my japanese maples hoping to stop their delicate leaves from being turned prematurely brown by this hot wind.

I thought doing that would end up burning the leaves – but hey…if it works!

mine is going red, already. stupid tree. must think its autumn.

The water droplets on my succulents nearly burned holes through the leaves yesterday.

I sprayed some water (tank) on my japanese maples hoping to stop their delicate leaves from being turned prematurely brown by this hot wind.

I thought doing that would end up burning the leaves – but hey…if it works!

Sit with an icy gin and tonic…

Really, there is no better way! 🙂

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic

grundy said :

peterh said :

poptop said :

The Bureau has issued a Small Boat Alert – “A tough [sic] is crossing the region and is bringing stong gusty northwest winds.”

don’t you mean trough?

Don’t you see the [sic]?

Need another one at ‘stong’.

😉

people edumacated at bogan high schools like me don’t have a clue what the [sic] is.

poptop said :

I was so disappointed they didn’t try for “gutsy northwest winds” I stopped reading.

Fosts and frogs?

Yesterday I got home with the wife and kid at about 6pm, and it was very hot and dry, so I fired up the barbeque and sat outside with an icy cold beer, while the wife whipped up a salad. We then sat outside in the shade and ate a lazy dinner while Young Master Berlina played.

I too love summer.

I have the air con at work…

Sitting in front of the carbon polluting A/C thinking how the other half cope.

I was so disappointed they didn’t try for “gutsy northwest winds” I stopped reading.

peterh said :

poptop said :

The Bureau has issued a Small Boat Alert – “A tough [sic] is crossing the region and is bringing stong gusty northwest winds.”

don’t you mean trough?

Don’t you see the [sic]?

Need another one at ‘stong’.

😉

poptop said :

The Bureau has issued a Small Boat Alert – “A tough [sic] is crossing the region and is bringing stong gusty northwest winds.”

don’t you mean trough?

Pot Belly, 4pm.

The Bureau has issued a Small Boat Alert – “A tough [sic] is crossing the region and is bringing stong gusty northwest winds.”

H1NG0 said :

Thats when I crack open a beer, turn on the air-con and watch the end of the cricket. I love Summer.

You better get home early today.. Can’t see the cricket lasting much longer 🙂

I’m at work where it is quite cool indoors so I haven’t noticed it. I notice it when I get home and the place is like an oven. If you leave food out to defrost, it is half-cooked by the time you get home. Thats when I crack open a beer, turn on the air-con and watch the end of the cricket. I love Summer.

I’m at home watching the cricket with the ducted evap *cranked*!

I’ve just given the chooks some watermelon to help them cope and in desperation I sprayed some water (tank) on my japanese maples hoping to stop their delicate leaves from being turned prematurely brown by this hot wind.

We just got 10 drops of rain (but really big ones) in Kambah! I hope it means the change is coming early!

temp is 24 in the office. running low on coke – may be forced to go to water instead…

there is a bit of storm activity near hillston, NSW, hopefully it drives the temps back down…

Sit with an icy gin and tonic in front of noisy air conditoner. Complain alot. Shower. Start over.

Enjoying the use of my workplace’s air conditioning 🙂