Hot Pigs - Air Conditioning Options

Poor Baby Cuzko
My piggy made me give!

Post   » Thu May 18, 2006 6:37 pm


I found out that I have to use bottles that have no labels on them. Cuzko sits and eats the labels off the bottle. At first I just put in the bottle, but the condensation made the bedding wet. So I sent the bottle on a hand towel. The bedding still gets slightly wet, but not as bad. Of course, make sure you use a towel you don't mind getting chewed. Cuzko likes to pull the strings of the towels.

Tammy

Post   » Thu May 18, 2006 6:38 pm


You can also use a brick or just ceramic tiles. Cools down pigs but I always used the frozen water bottle too. Just make sure the cap is on tight!

No worries about the condensation because the piggies lick it off.

Tammy

Post   » Thu May 18, 2006 6:40 pm


Frozen watermellon peels are a hit with mine. They love it on a hot day.

tripecac

Post   » Thu May 18, 2006 6:51 pm


How cute!

How do you handle trips in the summer? Frozen stuff won't stay frozen long, so is that where you absolutely need A/C?

Tammy

Post   » Thu May 18, 2006 7:19 pm


Ice pack wrapped in a towel works just fine during those road trips for the pigs. And plenty of wet veggies.

I turn the A/C on for my own sake! The pigs are in a carrier so they're protected from the A/C.

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SusieQ
Scrapbook Addict

Post   » Thu May 18, 2006 7:30 pm


I have to say that I totally agree that the bolds and constant listing in posts really is annoying.

We don't have A/C, we give the pigs ceramic tiles, frozen watermelon rinds, and cool fresh water. They also like frozen water bottles to lie against.

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lisam

Post   » Thu May 18, 2006 9:28 pm


The rescue rabbit I had, Frodo, used to hump his frozen water bottle, That was before he was neutered.

Just a little fun information for you all.

rpaws

Post   » Fri May 19, 2006 8:25 am


Even with window units, unless you want to leave them in the window all winter and pay for/deal with the heat loss, they have to be removed and stored somewhere. They also have to be cleaned of dirt and bugs before storage. If I had to do it again, I would buy a portable air conditioner so it could just be rolled into the closet. I think for difficult windows, there are conversion kits that can be purchased.

A good place for reviews on products is Consumer Search (http://www.consumersearch.com/www/house ... index.html).

Once you find one you like, do a little search around the website to see the different shipping rates. That’s what I did went I bought my portable Austin Air Filter. It’s pretty heavy (30 lbs.) but I was able to find a website that offered free shipping. They had it drop shipped direct from the factory and I saved on sales tax. You might even be able to find it locally at a good price. When my dad was looking for a new dehumidifier, I did some searching around the internet to find one he liked. He then went and purchased it direct from Ace Hardware for the best price.

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jaydee6561
Not a Fighter

Post   » Fri May 19, 2006 8:53 am


I have a 4 room apartment - kitchen, living room, bedroom and pig room.

All have window units, I couldn't live without air. Years ago when the Northeast had the power outage, that was the hardest thing to deal with. Me and daughter slept in the car with the a/c on. We didn't have pets at the time.

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Fri May 19, 2006 9:59 am


If it never gets any hotter than 80 degrees, I don't think it's a big deal at all. Just put a fan in the room and aim it over the cage (not in the cage).

Be sure to close curtains/blinds so it doesn't get hotter than 80 degrees inside.

tripecac

Post   » Fri May 19, 2006 10:10 am


rpaws, thanks for the link to that A/C article!

I notice that even the most powerful A/C listed (12,000 btu for $440) is only designed to cool 350 sq ft. Our ground floor (with the pigs) is completely open (no walls) and connected to the upstairs via a hallway. So I think we have about 1000 sq ft of connected space; this is where the pigs are.

This suggests that to effectively cool just that area, we'll need 3 of the 12,000 btu portables. That's 3 * $440 = $1320 for that one area. If we want A/C in my office, that's another $440 = $1760. If I want to keep my bedroom music studio cool, that's another $440 = $2200...

So for our house, with its left/right windows and narrow windows, we would need to use portable A/C units. The interior layout requires us to buy at least 3 to cool the pigs, 5 to cool the upstairs too. To fully cool the house with portables, we would need to spend $2200 vs the $3000 for central air. Central air is "resellable" in that it helps boost the price of the house should we sell. Portables are not really resellable. Central air is also (supposedly) more efficient, which I guess translates into lower power bills.

So for us (and other people with an open layout and A/C-unfriendly windows), it seems like central air is the best investment.

Of course, if we had a separate pig-room, a portable A/C would be perfectly fine. Those of you who have that setup are lucky!!!

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Fri May 19, 2006 10:35 am


If it's 80 outside (which is as hot as it gets here)
It seems like total overkill to me to put in central a/c under these conditions!

It's frequently 80 degrees in my house in the summer. I don't turn on the a/c until it gets to 85, and that's only because I know that it's going to get up to 110 degrees a little later on.

As I mentioned earlier, you can easily just aim a fan to blow over the top of the cage.

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