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According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Heat Wave Results in Highest U.S. Electricity Demand Since 2017:
From July 15 through July 22, 2019, a heat wave extending from the Midwest to the Atlantic coast brought extremely high temperatures and humidity to those regions. The high temperatures resulted in elevated demand for electricity to power air conditioners, dehumidifiers, fans, and other cooling equipment. In the hour ending at 6:00 p.m. ET on Friday, July 19, hourly electricity demand in the Lower 48 states peaked at 704 gigawatts (GW), according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) U.S. Electric System Operating Data. Electricity demand has not been this high since July 20, 2017, nearly two years ago, when electricity demand in the Lower 48 states hit 718 GW.
NB: The EIA site was giving errors when trying to access the details page for this story. The summary provided here is available on the EIA's main page which is linked to at the top of the story.
[ed: works for me]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @06:44AM (1 child)
That is way too short. I literally just talked to our AC guy (which is how I found out about the program in the first place), who suggested that we should have no more than 3 cycles per hour and no less than 2 on a hot day. Any more or less is a bad sign. In addition, compressor pumps suffer the most problems on the start and stop, not running. They are a lot like lightbulbs, where the sudden surge of energy off the starting capacitor can cause all sorts of problems.
You are also assuming that the cycle of your AC matches with theirs. What if their "off" cycle starts at the same time as my "on", and now the AC is off for an additional 15 additional minutes? Or the AC comes on for two minutes and then it hits? All that just increases the number of "ons" it suffers without decreasing demand. And on top of that, it is only $30 to handicap my AC for the additional headache, potential voiding of my warranty, and wear from the "ons."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 06 2019, @11:22PM
Yes, the standard duty cycle is for comfort, not system longevity. People like to raise the thermostat setting if they experience wide temperature swings, which is also not efficient (higher thermostat settings). If the building's heat gain is low, then you can get away with fewer cycles and not experience a wide temperature swing. Old homes might need the 4 cycles per hour.
The compressor does not have enough durability to pressurize an already pressurized system. The compressor depends on its momentum when the system is pressurized. The compressor lockout timer assumes that the low and high pressure sides have had enough time to drain into an almost even pressure before starting again. If you lose power before the lockout timer detects that it needs to lock out the compressor, but the compressor has lost momentum or the AC cycle is not timed correctly for where the piston is at (rotation position wise), then damage might occur. It will draw more current in this scenario, so if you are lucky, the circuit breaker will trip. Ideally, the compressor will have its own breaker, because the circuit breaker is meant to protect the insulation of the wires in the wall, not the appliance. So it also helps to ensure that the compressor lockout functions correctly in a brownout, or very short power outage, scenario.