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Thread: Foreigners living in the Philippines

  1. #31
    Respected Member keithAngel's Avatar
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    You would need the entire roof filled with solar and corner the market in 120 amphere batteries to get that kind of power

    The trick is in the insulation factor ans if you are thinking of a new build massive earth banks and roof could get you to a comfortable tempreture without the need to spend much on aircon if your by a large water source you can also "air con by heatpump taking the coolness of the water and concentrating it you can gain a 1-4 oir five advantage that way
    Absit invidia

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  2. #32
    Respected Member Pete/London's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RickyR View Post
    Generally most of the outgoings aren't excessive, but the electricity bill is the killer with the air con. There are options such as solar panels, ceiling fans etc.
    We built an annex at the back of my in laws place and kitted it out with aircon, water cooler, fridge etc and for just a couple or rooms we can expect the bill to be approx £100 for the month. when we leave they turn it all off and they dont use their own fridge to cut the costs.
    Just before the millenium I tried to start a business of importing air con and solar panels from Japan and Australia but never got off the ground. It was so difficult to get any knowledge of importation costs, taxes etc that I now understand why the PI doesn`t progress like its neighbours, and why big companies from the above countries have not made much headway. Solar panels could make such a difference there but it would be opposed by vested interests, plus the fact that although screwed down they would probably vanish within a week.


  3. #33
    Respected Member malditako's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RickyR View Post
    Yes, unfortunately. We have a 5 bedroom house, and because of the children we have 3 air con units running thorughout the night, and normally 1 or 2 running all day. The jacuzzi pumps are run every few days, the water cooler, reefer and computers are running pretty much continuously. Water heaters running quite a lot of the time.

    VECO Bill 15,323 PHP

    Usage this month 1810 kWh
    Avg kWh/day 58.39

    To be honest, if your retired and have no family with you, you can probably live for a lot less. I'm here with my family, we need to live within a reasonable distance of an Accredited International School and I expect a certain standard of living wherever I live, and thus we live very comfortably. Generally most of the outgoings aren't excessive, but the electricity bill is the killer with the air con. There are options such as solar panels, ceiling fans etc.
    the way u described ur consumptions tells me ur electric bill is fair enough to pay in phils...compare to mine when i was in phils...just one aircondition running and am paying 100 to 140 a month...


  4. #34
    Respected Member jimeve's Avatar
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    Best thing to do is buy a beach lot and build a nipper hut on it, it will be that cool you'll need hot water bottles at night.


  5. #35
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    Most Philippine houses have metal roofs with, at the most, a thin foil backed foam layer beneath it.
    This allows the attic to get unnecessarily hot; the heat then passes through the thin plywood ceilings to the rooms below.
    If you question this, you get told to have the ceilings high so the heat stays above head height.
    But I think it is better to prevent the heat from entering the room in the first place and have a lower ceiling to give less air for the aircon to cool.
    I think it is necessary for a layer of insulation to be placed on top of the ceiling.
    Also a light coloured roof is better for reflecting heat. Rather than the reds and blues
    (I do understand about 'fitting-in' with the rest of the neighbourhood though)
    A thick woven glass insulation (something like 'Pink Batts' ) comes in a variety of R factors the higher the number the better the insulation.
    Anyway worth a thought?
    I don't know how useful this is to anyone, but just my pesoworth.


  6. #36
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    RickyR,

    I know the cost of electricity in the Phils is very high.
    Also the price can vary quite a bit depending upon where you live.

    Please don't take this as negative comment, but seems to be quite a lot of energy
    you are using. Did you take some time to think about ways to reduce the energy consumption?

    I would like to make some suggestions even you seem OK about your lifestyle energy use. (maybe it would help others)

    Did you turn off the main supply breaker and see if the horizontal disc in the meter is moving.
    If it is, maybe someone is tapping off. (not an uncommon thing to happen)
    Get an electrician to look for and remove taps.

    If the disc is not moving try checking the appliances.

    Think about the air-con units I understand your reasons for running them but try to minimise the stop-startload.
    I always believe that when the air-con runs quite a lot it makes sense to have them regularly serviced. You could clean the filters yourself.
    What type of air-con units do you have?

    A friend of mine is in the air-con business and he advised me to invest in the newer inverter types.
    Inverter air con units are less prone to breakdowns, cheaper to run and generally quieter.
    Minimising stop-start cycles not only increases efficiency but also extends the life of components and helps eliminate those sharp fluctuations in the load the air conditioner places on the power supply.
    Only downside being the initial cost, which is higher.

    Aside from that had you considered if investment in some solar panels might help (well during daytime anyway). I understand these are more readily available now in Phils, but I have no idea on cost and payback time.


  7. #37
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    Forgot to mention that since switching to split type inverter air-con in our Manila house
    I believe our our monthly electricty bill has seen about 25%-30% reduction.
    We changed 4 units all at the same time


  8. #38
    Trusted Member stevewool's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jimeve View Post
    Best thing to do is buy a beach lot and build a nipper hut on it, it will be that cool you'll need hot water bottles at night.
    thats my thought too just have to find the right place


  9. #39
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    Hi Terpe, thats for your advice. The first thing I thought was that we were having out electicity tapped, and had the same thought as you, flicked the breakers and checked the meter. Unfortunately it stopped. I then went through all the equipment in the house one by one, I found that one of the air con units is consuming a lot more then the others, and thats the big one in the lounge. So we're going to be a bit more conservative with that one. We also need to do what you mentioned and get all the units cleaned and serviced, because I hope that will help.
    Thanks again.


  10. #40
    Respected Member keithAngel's Avatar
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    praps simpler .......terp is right "keep the heat out" single block walls is the equivalent of heating your house in the uk with the windows open
    Absit invidia

    DISCLAIMER: The information hereinabove may or may not be entirely accurate, relevant, forthright, verifiable, or coherent. KeithAngel, who shall herein be refered to as the 'Shining Beacon of Light', reserves the right to neither confirm, deny, justify, explain, or otherwise acknowledge any inquiry in regards to the validity, genuinity, construction, intent, and/or motive of any statements, gestures, and/or actions whether real, imagined, or transdimensional in origin. Further, the 'Shining Beacon of Light' shall be absolved of any and all legal, moral, and financial responsibilities for damages to life, limb, character, reputation, property, and/or business resulting from the usage, assimilation, incorporation, replication, and/or distribution of said statements whether partial, complete, misquoted, or imagined. This disclaimer remains in effect despite any discrepancies or claims as to its legibility, comprehension, interpretation, subliminal suggestiveness, political affiliation, legality, visibility, and/or physical presence


  11. #41
    Member Languish's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve.r View Post
    You are right, i just had a call from my mahal, she tells me the police are at her house right now as her mother disturbed a thief who has stolen her sari sari store money 10000 piso and all her jewelery. I think an inside job as the dogs apparently never barked and the thief knew exactly where to look. He never took the laptop or video camera though or hurt her mum thank god!!
    Sorry to hear the news - could have been a lot worse though admittedly :(


  12. #42
    Member katerry's Avatar
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    ur coming from what place in southwest england?


  13. #43
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    Think about the air-con units I understand your reasons for running them but try to minimise the stop-startload.

    I think that is maybe a myth. I saw a program on TV about switching light bulbs on and off, and the power used switching on and off was considerable less than the cost of leaving the light on, even for a few minutes.

    Turning off the A/C when you go out is much cheaper than the cost of re-cooling when you return. SO if you are gong out for an hour or tow turn off the A/C. If you have a timer set it to restart 30 minutes before you get back

    I live on Costa del Sol. In the summer it gets fairly hot, but ceiling fans are just about all we use rather than the A/C. A ceiling fan runs for about 10 hours for I unit of electricity., but don't leave in on when you go out as a fan does not cool the air. It cools you by evaporating the perspiration on you skin, the room temperature stays the same (or even gets a fraction hotter from the heat of the fan motor, but its minimal).


  14. #44
    Moderator fred's Avatar
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    I designed my place to keep the heat out.. 2 things to consider.. 1. large double leaf nipa roof with large overhang to stop sunlight and heat touching walls.
    2.
    Thai style roof with large vents at top at both ends for constant heat release.
    We do have A/C in all rooms but rarely need them.. Our largest bill in 3 years was 2,500 in one month. Normally its around the 2k mark...Must be because of the fridge!!
    We have loads of large fans BTW..
    One of our tenants in Manila spends 8K per month running a 1 HP A/C non stop for a 40 sqr mtr unit..
    The guy has icicles hanging off his eye brows...

    Be cool..
    Fred.


  15. #45
    Respected Member somebody's Avatar
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    Very true about the insulation and design of the house otherwise like someone mentioned its like heating a house in the UK with the windows open. The wife found a good company to install the units in the various family homes and most of the labour was ensuring the rooms were sealed rather than installation and wiring of the AC unit.

    One thing we found useful was a dehumidfier or two still uses quite a bit of power but amazing when its not so humid how the body deals with the heat a little bit better. Of course trh eroom has to be fairly well swealed but then it does for air con to work.

    A few years back we got the Aunts house started on Solar power small things mainly. We recently re bulit one of the Maids hut out they now have solarpowered fan which helps them a great deal during the day.

    Do we make a return on the Solar power probably not but means that those in phill have no weekly expenditure or at least its reduced. It is also vital during brown/black outs.

    A simple solar power/wind up radio and a mobile charging device plus hand powered charged torch is ideal back ups in Phil for little outlay.

    With much of Phill being much darker than the UK in general walk out of many houses in bulit up areas at night and street lighting and neighbours houses, workplaces advertising hoardings etc light up the place even by a fraction.
    We find the mini lights with solar panels which charge during the day and light up at night or have a pir bulit in work far more effectively both due to the sunshine and the fact that there is so little light in some areas.

    Worth taking over one of those plug in meters to see how much each device is consuming in power. If you got a smart youngster they can create a small pocket money business from using one of those devices going round there neighbour hood advising people on what things really use

    One major saving which most phills still need is lcd monitors and TV many still use CRT TVs and monitors these will often use far more power. Also bear in mind when buying a PC how much power it consumes many families will leave on almost 24/7 it seems so the savings can be tremendous. Your super duper mega fast huge desktop may have seen its day with you but still have life init for phill but it maybe cheaper to rade in for a more energy efficient option if all its gonna do is skype, yn and facebook

    That or sending the family money for a pc at one of the 2nd hand shops see how much the lcd option is spread over a few years the saving may be worth it again some CRt monitors are more efficient than some LCDs so worth checking the actual units before buying.
    Oh lord why did you make so many clothes and shoe shops


  16. #46
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    Quote Originally Posted by johncar54 View Post
    Think about the air-con units I understand your reasons for running them but try to minimise the stop-startload.

    I think that is maybe a myth. I saw a program on TV about switching light bulbs on and off, and the power used switching on and off was considerable less than the cost of leaving the light on, even for a few minutes.

    Turning off the A/C when you go out is much cheaper than the cost of re-cooling when you return. SO if you are gong out for an hour or tow turn off the A/C. If you have a timer set it to restart 30 minutes before you get back

    I live on Costa del Sol. In the summer it gets fairly hot, but ceiling fans are just about all we use rather than the A/C. A ceiling fan runs for about 10 hours for I unit of electricity., but don't leave in on when you go out as a fan does not cool the air. It cools you by evaporating the perspiration on you skin, the room temperature stays the same (or even gets a fraction hotter from the heat of the fan motor, but its minimal).
    Yes I think so too, Inverter style aircon units have a variable speed compressor, ordinary aircon units run the compressor at full power or off with nothing in between, it's the on off, on off, full power drain of these units that is the problem.

    People often run this style of aircon unit at way to high a setting so it hardly ever switches off and therefore consumes a horrific amount of power, you can usually get a room cooled reasonably with a very low setting and a slow fan setting on the old fashioned units.


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