AC/no AC

[kryptonite]

So I found out at the beginning of this heat wave that my central AC unit died apparently recently. So I have weathered the current heat/humidity without any air conditioning whatsoever. I have a number or two to call for a new unit but I actually like opened windows and fans.

Since the heat and humidity don't bother me much - I don't know that I will even replace the unit. Except a few friends do visit or stay over at times and would definitely be more comfortable with AC.

How many of you are living successfully without air conditioning? I never lived anywhere with AC until I was about 32 years old when I had it installed at my house in Detroit.

[oladub]

So I found out at the beginning of this heat wave that my central AC unit died apparently recently. So I have weathered the current heat/humidity without any air conditioning whatsoever. I have a number or two to call for a new unit but I actually like opened windows and fans.

Since the heat and humidity don't bother me much - I don't know that I will even replace the unit. Except a few friends do visit or stay over at times and would definitely be more comfortable with AC.

How many of you are living successfully without air conditioning? I never lived anywhere with AC until I was about 32 years old when I had it installed at my house in Detroit.

If I had it to do over again, one of the few changes I would have made is to have had an air conditioner in at least one room when the kids were around. There were those summer spells when it didn't get down below 90 degrees for four or five days. I would get home from work hot and tired. Everyone else would be crabby from the heat by the time I got home. It would have been wonderful to have had a room size air conditioner in the dining room for everyone to chill out as needed. It seemed extravagant at the time.

It still seems like a waste, to me, to air condition an entire house when its occupants are not in the bedrooms all day and in the living area all night so I still have window units but generally have no reason to have more than one on at a time.

[Jimaz]

Having lived in Arizona, I've come to take air conditioning for granted so I kind of ignored this thread.

Then I remembered a recent story of a homeless woman living in her car who died from the heat.

So in case it helps anyone, I'll repeat a simple do-it-yourself emergency air conditioner: Keep some isopropyl alcohol handy in a spray bottle and spray your exposed skin occasionally. It cools you off very quickly. Do not drink it. It's poisonous to ingest. Keep away from heat and open flames.

[Maof]

i lived 35 years without it and that was long enough for me.

[maxx]

My house does not have central air. It does have passive solar features like a roof pitched to keep out the summer rays. And my basement is always around 60. I've retreated to there at nights in the past until my daughter developed sensitivity to heat. So I bought two movable air conditioners for our bedrooms.

[Ray1936]

It's 113 today. It's 78 in my house.

In the pioneer days here in Nevada, according to articles I've read, folks used to wrap themselves in wet sheets at night to sleep. The evaporation process kept them bearably cool. Sounds awfully uncomfortable, though.

[Gistok]

Although I do have central air, I also have large tree in the front and in the back of the house to help shade the house, and help keep the electric costs down. Also, living in a ranch house is helpful.... since with 2 story houses all the hot air rises to the upper [[bedrooms) parts of the house.

My sister and niece both keep their thermostats at 72F so that their upstairs get cool as well. But I find that keeping my thermostat at 78F works just fine, especially when I close the pocket door to the basement.

[Bearinabox]

I don't have it currently, and haven't for most of my life. When I did briefly live in a place that had it, I was so used to not having it that I found it uncomfortable and mostly left it off. It just feels weird to me to close all the windows in the middle of summer and breathe air out of a machine.

[Gistok]

Until air conditioning started becoming common in the 50s and 60s, lots of Detroiters spent sweltering summer nights camped out on Belle Isle.

But the favorite place for many to get away from the heat was by going to your downtown movie palaces. They were among the first buildings that were air conditioned. Prior to 1927 most movie palaces closed for the summer due the heat. Some theatres survived during the summer by having rooftop theatres, where better air circulation helped keep patrons cool.

1927 was the year that air conditioning started to become more common, and it became a useful marketing tool for selling theatre tickets. Many of the theatre advertisments mentioned "Air Conditioning" with icicle artwork around the words.

But because many of the downtown theatres had shows running nearly around the clock, some patrons camped out there for many hours to escape the summer heat.

By the 1930s neighborhood theatres also had air conditioning... although their theatre hours often weren't as extensive as the downtown theatres.

[Meddle]

50s and 60s? A/C didn't become common in homes until the late 70s or so. And that was only new construction. Older homes were rarely retrofitted. Even now, most older homes don't have central A/C. Window or portable units, yes, but not central.

I went through some wicked summers in town with no A/C. Steel casement windows and a whole house attic fan was all we had. But then again, we only had short periods from late June into late August that were really uncomfortable. Where I am now, we have heat from late May into late September, so there's a bigger need for most.

I have a single window unit in one room now in an old farmhouse. I could have put Central A/C in when I did the new furnace and ductwork, but I thought the same thing, why cool the whole house and pay a huge electric bill?

[Pam]

It just feels weird to me to close all the windows in the middle of summer and breathe air out of a machine

.

Yeah, I get this feeling sometimes. I have A/C but only use it on the very hot, muggy days. Otherwise fans are fine.

[CountrySquire]

I cannot live without the AC. Without the AC running I noticed my house will stay a balmy 92 degrees even three hours after the sun has set. I suspect hot air trapped in the attic crawl space takes a long time to dissipate. This same issue is a blessing in the winter time where my heating bills are almost half what my friend pays with a similar sized house. I do not run the AC until I get home from work though, and only if it's unbearable inside.

[Downriviera]

I'm grudgingly running the central ac, can't wait till this hot weather breaks and I can open the windows. I keep it at 78 - 80, just enough to get the humidity out. I keep ceiling fans and a floor fan going which helps. For additional cooling, bourbon on the rocks.

[Gistok]

50s and 60s? A/C didn't become common in homes until the late 70s or so. And that was only new construction. Older homes were rarely retrofitted. Even now, most older homes don't have central A/C. Window or portable units, yes, but not central.

I went through some wicked summers in town with no A/C. Steel casement windows and a whole house attic fan was all we had. But then again, we only had short periods from late June into late August that were really uncomfortable. Where I am now, we have heat from late May into late September, so there's a bigger need for most.

I have a single window unit in one room now in an old farmhouse. I could have put Central A/C in when I did the new furnace and ductwork, but I thought the same thing, why cool the whole house and pay a huge electric bill?

Ummmm.... air conditioning versus centrul air conditioning... apples and oranges...

1948: 74,000 units sold in the USA.
1953: 1,045,000 units sold in the USA.

That would NOT be central air conditioning...

[jiminnm]

Here in the high desert we cool with evaporative coolers, affectionately known as swamp coolers. They're effective at keeping the inside up to 20-22 degrees cooler than the outside. But if the humidity gets above 40-50%, they become much less effective. They are substantially cheaper to operate than a/c [[or what is called refrigerated air here). Today, it is 7-8 degrees warmer than normal at 99 and humidity at about 20%. Inside it's 78.

[jiminnm]

Then I remembered a recent story of a homeless woman living in her car who died from the heat.

We get a handful of cases every summer where someone leaves a child in their car, in the sun, and the child dies. It just happened a couple of days ago, when a mother took one child into a care facility and left her other child in the van for 2-3 hours. She said she forgot she had the baby with her.

[Corn.Bot]

My house is old [[160 years), 1 1/2 stories, and wide-open due to walls being moved and gone, so air can move freely. We don't have a/c, but if we pay attention, we manage to keep the indoors 10-20 degrees cooler than outside temps by closing windows and blinds as the sun moves over and around, along with running ceiling fans to prevent it from getting overly stuffy. Our windows are only about 15 yrs old, low-e, triple-paned & argon-filled, so they are reasonably effective at cutting the heat. Usually open them after supper and let the evening breezes blow through, leave them open all night, closing down again shortly after dawn.

Interesting note, we very recently invested in a stand-alone dehumidifier that we set up in the basement. It pulled over 5 gallons of humidity from the air during its first 12 hours running, which has helped to keep the stickiness factor down, as well. So, so far, we are not suffering too badly in this ongoing opppressive heat.

[Jimaz]

We get a handful of cases every summer where someone leaves a child in their car, in the sun, and the child dies. It just happened a couple of days ago, when a mother took one child into a care facility and left her other child in the van for 2-3 hours. She said she forgot she had the baby with her.

Yeah. That was a big problem in Phoenix too. As I recall the law really cracked down on the problem.

There was another recent case where a child allegedly entered the car himself without his mother's knowledge and died. This is a good reason to always lock your car around kids!

[kryptonite]

So far I am still doing reasonably well without the AC. I close up the house and darken the south windows during the day and run the dehumidifier. Often I am able to sleep at night with the windows open and a fan. Last night was wonderful. I love the summer night air personally. I'm probably going to have a new central AC unit installed but I never used the old one often, only during the worst humid days.

I enjoy reading everyone's replies to this though. Some of the posts remind me of when I was young and only businesses and luxury cars had AC.