Could You Do Without A/C?

[DetroitDad]

Could you do without air conditioning in the Summer? This was a recent USA Today poll, and I was curious how those here would vote.

I could and have both in my apartment and car, until I met DetroitMom. A/C was not even a question for DetroitMom.

[Meddle]

If you lived before about 1980 or so, you did. It's a convenience, not a necessity.

[reddog289]

Until I was 16, We only had A/C in the kitchen and only used it on them superhot days.Then the folks moved.Got the house where my folks still live today. My mother still hates A/C for the most part. As in my home now. I have no central A/C. I will turn on the window units when the humidity gets too bad. Otherwise it's fans and windows.
On the flipside. My furnace is almost 50yrs old. I have seen the commercials for the "free" A/C with purchace of a new furnace. When my furnace goes, I will get a new one and central air too boot. Why? mainly resell issues even in this bad housing market.
I know some of my relatives need to have A/C due to health issues. And as for myself I get questioned on why I don't have air.As Meddle stated if you lived before 1980 it was a "luxury". I also have never had good luck with the A/C units in any of the vehicles I have owned with air minus one.Sorry to be so long winded on this.So I could answer yes on this question.

[Meddle]

On the flipside. My furnace is almost 50yrs old. I have seen the commercials for the "free" A/C with purchace of a new furnace. When my furnace goes, I will get a new one and central air too boot.

Careful with offers like that. Read the fine print. They may only include the basics, but not reworking the ducts. If they're not lined or wrapped, you may have a condensation problem.

[Maof]

no way. i grew up with no air conditioning. when the o.j. simpson trial was going on and i had an infant was the last time i suffered with the heat [[it was very hot that summer). it also helps with our allergies around here.

[Corn.Bot]

I live in a 159-yr-old house that was built for ventilation. Even when it's 90 degrees with 95% humidity, as long as we keep the windows on the sunny side of the house closed and covered, the interior stays in the low 80s. All we have to do is follow the sun around the house during the day, opening all the windows after dark for the night breezes, and doing it all again the next day. This is not difficult, and certainly less expensive.

[elganned]

My first house in Michigan was built on a slab with hot water heat, so A/C would have been both expensive and time-consuming--running ducts, etc. So I bought a ceiling fan for every room in the house. Worked wonders.

The house I moved from in Indiana was a two-story, and I had a whole-house fan put it that vented into the attic. Again, it worked pretty well.

We have A/C now, but I find I can do with just a de-humidifier during the worst days. The wife...well, the A/C is a necessity as far as she's concerned.

[gazhekwe]

Raised in the UP where summer heat of 80 was about unheard of. AC was not an option anyway. Here in the metro D area, the humidity is worse than anything. I will turn on the AC when the temp in here gets up to muggy 80 or so for a couple of days. Otherwise, I love the open windows and the fans at night. A whole house fan that blows the hot air out the attic vents is the best thing. You can cool down the house at night. My dad, on the other hand, raised on the Res with no running water or central heat, has a window AC in his kitchen that he turns on June 15 and turns off in September some time, no matter what it is doing outside. He still lives on the Res. A couple months ago, I think it was in the 50s outside and he had the AC on. I was chiding him that it was cooler outside than in and he said something like, It isn't September yet. I think he sneaked over and turned it off after I went to bed.

[Lorax]

In Grosse Pointe, we were raised with one of those giant attic fans that had louvers on the second floor ceiling that sucked the air up and out through the attic vents. It was like a wind tunnel in that house when it was on. It was also surprisingly quiet, with three speeds. No need for AC on even the hottest days.

[Maof]

.. The wife...well, the A/C is a necessity as far as she's concerned.

the wife is right elganned...has to do with our hair and hormones

[oladub]

I now have window units that cost $99 at Walmart. I don't think I turned on the bedroom unit on more than four times this last summer. The downstairs unit was used more. By leaving most windows open at night until the outside temperature is as warm as inside and lowering the shades on the sunny side, the downstairs a/c is seldom used until late afternoon.

I do have a life regret that I didn't purchase at least one window unit while my kids were growing up. I was being cheap. In retrospect, it would have been nice to have one room where everyone could have chilled out after a long hot day.

[alsodave]

Our [[outside) AC unit blew out three summers ago, and we haven't replaced it yet. With three indoor fans and a window fan, our utilities bill is lower than when we ran central air.

Gotta have car AC, though.

[Diehard]

Probably 95% of the time. During the big blackout of '03, we slept in the basement where it was 20 degrees cooler. If we weren't worried about curious knuckleheads roaming around, we'd leave the windows open all night.

[jiminnm]

No a/c here in the high desert, we use evaporative cooling [[swamp coolers). They require start ups in the spring and shut downs in the fall. There have been a couple of years we simply didn't start them up. It does get above 95 occasionally, which is about when they're needed.

[ccbatson]

Doable if you have, and can live in a basement.

[Ray1936]

Can't live without a/c here in the low desert. 100+ is normal every day in June, July, August, and September. 110+ is not uncommon. And the record high for Nevada was just 50 miles from town in Laughlin: 127. That was about ten years back, as I recall. And, of course, the record high for North America was 134 point something in Death Valley, just 90 miles from my house.

Before a/c was common, I'm told that people here slept in summer on canvas cots, wrapped in wet sheets. The evaporative process kept them cool. Would seem uncomfortable, though.

In my Detroit days? Yeah, had a window unit in the bedroom, but that was it. I do remember escaping to the basement "den" on a hot summer day to cool off. Was always pleasant down there. I'd do that here, but homes here have no basements. All built on slabs.

[Meddle]

If we weren't worried about curious knuckleheads roaming around, we'd leave the windows open all night.

Well, of course that's a different issue that we didn't have to deal with back then. We had steel casement windows that we kept about 1/3 to 1/2 open so no one could have gotten in anyways, but it was enough to provide air flow for the whole house fan in the attic.

[ccbatson]

My basement is a cozy 70 degrees or lower at night when the outside temperature is in the upper 90s. Of course, since this global warming thing unsurprisingly doesn't seem to be panning out lately, there isn't much opportunity to test the theory.

[jjw]

Concerns about crime/break-ins at night raise the need for a/c. Many use it for that reason-a bit nervous to leave windows/door walls open at night. As a kid, I used to love hot summer nights. We were allowed to get the sleeping bags and sleep out on the screened-in porch in the back: kind of like camping out but in the city.

[reddog289]

Thanks for the insight Meddle. After hearing the furnace kick on I can't belive I am writing about A/C. I think I will add a few more vents in my roof next year. On the house and on the garage.As for one other thing. Would two box type fans use more energy then a small widow unit? . Sorry to threadjack a poll. Guess I should read the amps on the motor.

[Lorax]

My basement is a cozy 70 degrees or lower at night when the outside temperature is in the upper 90s. Of course, since this global warming thing unsurprisingly doesn't seem to be panning out lately, there isn't much opportunity to test the theory.

Sorry, but the rest of us aren't fortunate enough to have a Batcave.

[ccbatson]

Only I have a basement? I seriously doubt it.

[gazhekwe]

We used two box fans in our previous house, one in the attic window blowing out and one in our bedroom, blowing in. We didn't have AC and were comfortable most nights. We kept the house closed up during the day. Have to ask the attic denizen if he was comfortable up there. They might use more energy than a smaller window unit, but they blow a lot more air, and they cost a heck of a lot less than AC.

When it's hot now, we leave our windows open at night [[Yes in Southfield) with the whole house fan on. We rely on our mobile alarm unit, Ginger, to let us know if someone is askulking where they shouldn't. I turn on the air if the heat builds up, it's super muggy inside, or I have to bake something.

[ccbatson]

Hey..Lorax, maybe you could crash in one of Al Gore's many basements.