Have you checked your water bill?? They use huge amounts of water! Once that didn't much matter, but in 2014 Melbourne (and I guess Adelaide) it can be very expensive (unless it's your own water...)
(Edit: They can use >100 litres/hour. So the water supply and disposal costs for that have to be factored in. In MEL that can cost between $4 and $5.80/1000 litres (so > $0.40 to $0.58/hour). Still probably cheaper than electricity ...)
Hence why I run my A/C overflow into the garden. Great knowing that the plants are getting relief from the heat as well.
Our local council laws mean that you can only have cooling on till 11pm.
Surely you jest
No I don't think so. We have particularly officious greeny neighbours (one is stone deaf) who put letters in our mailbox quoting Council Regulations if on the odd 30 plus night we forget to turn off our ducted AC which is positioned at the side of our house adjacent to their boundary fence/property![]()
Charming :-| If such people just focused on improving their own lives, they wouldn't be such unhappy people feeling the need to make everyone as bitter and miserable as they are.
Charming :-| If such people just focused on improving their own lives, they wouldn't be such unhappy people feeling the need to make everyone as bitter and miserable as they are.
We lived right next door to a new development of housing that was built in such a way that the heat inside was immense as soon as even winter Sun was shining. Our bedroom wasn't airconditioned as we planted trees and foliage and we would water them on hot nights and leave our sliding doors open. We happily did that for 20 years until the house next door was knocked down and the new development built. The airconditioner plant was massive for a two storey house and was placed on the other side of our fence just next to our bedroom door. No council regulations meant it stayed on 24/7. There was nothing we could do to stop the constant turning on and turning off. You'd get to sleep and then clunk, it would turn on. Get used to that noise somewhat then clunk, it would turn off again. All night long. They couldn't hear the noise - their bedroom was on the other side of the house upstairs. We had a one storey house and the motor unit was with a few feet of us.
In the end we moved after the first summer. We could not sleep. So I am most certainly not a greenie but please think about what living next door to some of the motors might just be like. Your motor is no doubt strategically placed so you don't hear it but maybe this completely wrecks someone else's sleep. It's not a matter of minding your own business. Our ability to sleep in summer disappeared.
but cannot understand why a little tolerance cannot be applied both ways in extreme weather.
Well, there are no regulations in SA so they just kept it running even after we explained what was happening.I completely understand the noise issue. The irony in this case is that our neighbours have an ancient AC wall unit situated opposite which would wake the dead. Our eldest daughter's bedroom overlooks the boundary fence.
We do understand and comply with the council noise regulations but cannot understand why a little tolerance cannot be applied both ways in extreme weather.
Fortunately for us we are far away just now in Whistler, so nothing for them to complain about![]()
Well, there are no regulations in SA so they just kept it running even after we explained what was happening.
If air conditioner noise is over 45 dB it can only be operated between 7 am and 10 pm. The sound made by someone speaking is the same as 45 dB.
Except all of these ones: EPA South Australia :: Information for Households: Frequently asked questions
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I suggest that such people might see those using their A/C after hours as improving their lives at the expense of others. It's really a very tricky area. But there are laws and regulations.
Why not stick to the laws and regulations or campaign to have them changed?
Sure, councils can make by-laws (which aren't the same as regulations or legislation - Regs are disallowable instruments of a parliamentary body, tabled in a chamber for a set period to allow formal inspection and objection; legislation is passed through the scrutiny of at least one chamber of Parliament - both are therefore treated with a higher degree of recognition and scrutiny than by-laws which may or may not have been tabled in State/Territory Parliament depending on state and usually offer only minimum scrutiny before taking force) but by-laws are better though of as a set of published rules issued by a recognised body beneath the scrutiny routinely offered by parliamentary bodies (this is not to undermine by-laws for what they are, just explanation how sometime wordings that would never escape the Parliamentary Drafting Office can be found in council by-laws). And even then, it is the job of the authorised officers of that body to carry out enforcement - not for members of the public to self-appoint themselves for roles they have neither the the proper understanding nor authority to conduct.
In Victoria the EPA Environment Protection Authority | EPA Victoria is the authority. They make the rules on A/C noise. Are you saying a state government has no authority?