Got AC?

[oldtimer]

So, have all of you folks gone soft and have air conditioning or a heat pump or do some of you still stick it out and live without it?

This morning in church you could sure tell those who've been pampered by air conditioning from those of us who don't have it. We thought it was nice and cool in the church house (which isn't air conditioned) the rest of them were sweating bullets and could hardly let for church to let out, so the entire congregation moved to the basement once Sunday School was over and we had services down there as it was about ten degrees cooler in the basement.

I remember when the cafes in town would put a sign above the door that said "air conditioned". It was a selling point and a treat to go in a cool building like that. Now you wouldn't survive in the restaurant business or probably any other if you didn't have AC.

Boy we're a soft generation. We've never had it so don't miss what we've never had. Right now I'm setting out on the porch and enjoying the breeze and watching the kids ride their bikes and shoot rabbits.

I always tell folks our AC works great in the winter and our central heating works super well in the summer.
Now the dog wants me to go play fetch, so guess I'll go humor her.;)

[Blacksmith]

So, have all of you folks gone soft and have air conditioning or a heat pump or do some of you still stick it out and live without it?

I have not had A/C or Heat Pump since 1997. Wouldn't change a thing.

[MollyPitcher]

I have air conditioning, and am unrepenant about it. Lived without it much of my early life, and a good portion of my adult life. I wish I lived in the mountains, or the pacific northwest, or some area that wasn't as hot as the floor of hell every summer for months on end. But I live where I do, and decided that I enjoy a little a.c. during the hottest parts of the day. Generally I'm outdoors most of the time, but when I need to be inside (doing billing/invoices or other business related things) I put the air on. I have two 110v. window units; one in the front room and one in the bedroom. I close off the hallway so I am only cooling one part of the house at a time, front of the house during the day when I'm inside, and the bedroom at night when I'm sleeping. I usually turn it off during the night sometime, when the outside temp cools down to a certain point. Most days the a.c. doesn't cool the house down to the point of being cold. 110v. window units are only good for about 20 degrees cooler than outside temp, so if it's 102 degrees outside as it's been the past few days, it's generally about 82 to 84 inside, and that's pretty comfortable to me. I can still go out and work in the heat, so I guess I'm not too 'soft'. Don't need to put on a hair shirt, either.

I've lived without a.c, and I've lived with it, and I like it just fine.

[AlchemyAcres]

What's AC? :o



~Martin :D

[Blacksmith]

Don't need to put on a hair shirt, either.


What's a hair shirt? :confused:

[12vman]

Ain't never had it here.. My A.C. is "Nekid"..

I work in A.C. all day and come home to my easy bake oven..

[kfander]

I lived in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas for twenty years without air conditioning. It's a matter of personal conditioning, in that you get used to it after awhile.

[MissouriFree]

I also grew up without it , went to country church that only had the hand fans with Jesus on one side and the local funeral home that donated them on the other side. Then thru a war in A real hot place with no air. So I am very happy to gave it at this stage of life.

So having or not having air is reflective of nothin' imho.

[grumble]

"So having or not having air is reflective of nothin' imho. "

I couldn't agree more. Where I live now, I don't need AC. But if temps and humidity were like they were in my previous life (90*, 90%), no way I'd do without it voluntarily. Being able to get along without it isn't the same thing as not enjoying it if you can. I can also do without heat in the house when it's 25* outside, but all things considered, I'll still choose to fire up the woodstove.

[Mrs. Owens]

While living in NC Mountains, I bought a singlewide trailer and was so proud to have bought my first "house". I had overhead fans (3), but no ac. When I bought it I had no idea what I was doing, much less that I should request ac with it. When I met and married my husband about 2 years later in the spring of 1993, it was several months before he came quickly walking down the hallway asking, "Does this place not have ac?".
I laughed so loud my neighbors could hear me. The windows stayed open above my bed at night and that time of year it was around 55 degrees. I was gone to work during the day so it never occured to me that I even needed it until then. I now have to have it because of the medicine I take. If anyone knows how I can live without it and be totally free from it again, please let me know. It would save me large bucks every month. Can't afford solar even though I would love to be off grid.

[MollyPitcher]

Mrs. Owens, about the only way I can think of to not need it for health reasons would be to move somewhere that the temps don't get hot. Heard it was in the 70's in Iceland this morning, which is about 15 or 20 degrees "hotter" than what they are accustomed to. Apparetly there, their summer temps are in the 50's. At least that's what the reporter said. Having never lived there I could not say. At 70 degrees here where I live, I'd likely have to put on a light sweater.

A 'hair shirt' was something worn by monks or priests as a form of self punishment. Not sure what kind of hair it was, I am assuming horse hair. It was a way to make themselves extremely uncomforable in order to prove the strength of their convictions to themselves and to others. So when I say I don't feel the need to put on a hair shirt, I mean that I don't feel the need to make myself miserable.

[StatHaldol]

I grew up in the south (Alabama) without AC. I'm in Louisiana now. The heat index was 110 here yesterday with 95% humidity. I'm glad to have AC. I've spent summers in places that had mild weather; it sure is nice.

[sunflower]

A.C. is a very nice convenience when you live in an area that doesn't get below 100 degrees for months on end and the heat index is 105 to 110. Welcome to Texas!:)

Read somewhere that the population of places such as Dallas, Phoenix, New Orleans, etc. exploded when the A.C. was invented. Before then much of your major cities was concentrated in the north. That makes sense.

[Catalpa]

Got it and it's on right now. (Nice window unit my brother gave me.) Grew up without it and can remember being awful miserable and camping out in the basement with the spiders just to try and get some sleep. They say it's what you're used to but I've never been able to deal with high temps...and in winter I don't even wear a jacket til it's 32 or less. Guess I'm just one hot momma. :quotes:

I'd rather be thought a wimp than deal with heatsickness.

At least here in Michigan we don't need it all summer, just for those times it's 90/90, like today. Last year we never even turned it on until August.

Someday I hope to build a small, super efficient little house that doesn't take so much energy input to make it comfortable in our temperature extremes.

[StatHaldol]

Got it and it's on right now. (Nice window unit my brother gave me.) Grew up without it and can remember being awful miserable and camping out in the basement with the spiders just to try and get some sleep. They say it's what you're used to but I've never been able to deal with high temps...and in winter I don't even wear a jacket til it's 32 or less. Guess I'm just one hot momma. :quotes:

I'd rather be thought a wimp than deal with heatsickness.

At least here in Michigan we don't need it all summer, just for those times it's 90/90, like today. Last year we never even turned it on until August.

Someday I hope to build a small, super efficient little house that doesn't take so much energy input to make it comfortable in our temperature extremes.

I'm hot-natured too. Last summer I spent a couple of weeks in Cheticamp, Nova Scotia. I'm not sure I could handle their winters but in August it got in the 70's during the day. When the sun went down you had to find a light jacket or sweater.

I loved it; however, my cold-natured wife hated it!

[Quietgentleman]

I have AC but only run it when it gets extremely hot out. Like what we are having now. It's 97 degrees out and the dew point is at 78 degrees.

But the best thing I ever did for limiting my use of the AC was 2 yrs ago I installed a whole house fan.
On the nights it cools down I run the fan most of the night with all the windows open. I also have it on a timers so it shuts off around 4:30 in the morning. Then when I get up in the morning I shut all the windows draw the drapes and the house says cool through out the day. I can usually last a couple of day in a hot streak when it doesn't cool off at nights before I fire up the AC.

QGM

[kevin_hilderbran]

We have a window A/c in our bedroom and living room. The entire center section(logs) is unconditioned. It works for us. Same in winter A propane wall heater in each room, center has nothing

Kevin

[oldtimer]

I have AC but only run it when it gets extremely hot out. Like what we are having now. It's 97 degrees out and the dew point is at 78 degrees.

But the best thing I ever did for limiting my use of the AC was 2 yrs ago I installed a whole house fan.
On the nights it cools down I run the fan most of the night with all the windows open. I also have it on a timers so it shuts off around 4:30 in the morning. Then when I get up in the morning I shut all the windows draw the drapes and the house says cool through out the day. I can usually last a couple of day in a hot streak when it doesn't cool off at nights before I fire up the AC.

QGM


How expensive are these whole house fans and how much does it raise the light bill?

Two reasons we never had AC, don't know as we could afford it, and I wanted the kids to go outside and work. Usually it's cooler outside than it is in the house. Right now with temps around 100 and the dewpoint at 82 degrees, the nights are plenty miserable but we always remind ourselves that this weather usually doesn't last too long and generally in this country our heat is a dryer heat than what we've had this year. Right now I have several fans running in the house and they eat electricity too.

My grandparents never owned a fan but we had one at home. Finally when they were in their 80's they got a fan but Grandpa complained it made him cold and gave him a sinus headache but my grandmother loved it as she had never been able to sweat. I can't imagine how miserable she must have been in the summer as we're all sweating gallons this year. Reckon she's enjoying the AC in heaven. :D

[leera]

We have central air here,and I wouldn't know what to do without it.I fully admit that I'm a wimp.

I have no tolerance for the heat at all.....have been miserable for the last several days,and it's only Monday,not supposed to cool down at all until the weekend....ugh.....

[MollyPitcher]

Even healthy, active people can fall victim to heat exhaustion, prostration, or heat stroke. Even those accustomed to working out in the heat. I had a heat stroke when I was 12, and heat exhaustion about four years ago. The heat stroke when I was 12 required hospitalization, and the heat exhaustion required a trip to my doctor's office where I got 2 liters of iv fluid. I've always been out in the heat, and I work out in it every day. I am very careful about getting overheated now. It's not just a problem for soft people who live in the a.c. all the time. It can be a problem for people accustomed to the heat as well.

[AlchemyAcres]

I've always been extremely heat tolerant....I wear long sleeved flannel shirts year round...but i must admit...I've become a bit more sensitive than I used to be....but I still do wear my flannel shirts!!! :D


~Martin

[MooseToo]

I think we should all pitch in and buy martin another shirt. It's the least we could do.

[Gregger]

...buildings designed in the last 50 years--homes, businesses, churches, etc. have all been designed to rely on HVAC. Older buildings, for all of their lack of insulation and air leaks, were actually designed to stay relatively cool in the summer. Large porches, windows that opened everywhere, transom windows on interior and exterior doors and strategically placed shade trees kept things bearable in the summer. Heat was relatively inexpensive, so insulation wasn't a big deal as long as you had wood or coal.

Modern buildings, for all their superior features, are often not habitable if the AC goes out.

A new building can get much warmer than ambient and be pretty miserable if the AC is out.

[AlchemyAcres]

I think we should all pitch in and buy martin another shirt. It's the least we could do.

:D


~Martin

[Quietgentleman]

How expensive are these whole house fans and how much does it raise the light bill?

Two reasons we never had AC, don't know as we could afford it, and I wanted the kids to go outside and work. Usually it's cooler outside than it is in the house. Right now with temps around 100 and the dewpoint at 82 degrees, the nights are plenty miserable but we always remind ourselves that this weather usually doesn't last too long and generally in this country our heat is a dryer heat than what we've had this year. Right now I have several fans running in the house and they eat electricity too.

My grandparents never owned a fan but we had one at home. Finally when they were in their 80's they got a fan but Grandpa complained it made him cold and gave him a sinus headache but my grandmother loved it as she had never been able to sweat. I can't imagine how miserable she must have been in the summer as we're all sweating gallons this year. Reckon she's enjoying the AC in heaven. :D

I installed a 30 inch belt driven Ventamatic CX30BD2SPD. When I bought mine it was around 200 bucks. I see they have gone up quite a bit. I installed mine in the center of my hallway and was able to remove part of a ceiling joist to have a complete boxed in installation. As far as my electric bill if I compare it to winter electric bill for the months I usually just use the house fan which is spring and fall. The end of June and most of August can be a bear here in Iowa. My electric bill is a little higher but nothing like it is when I run the AC. It ranges from 2 to 5 buck a month extra. I usually start running mine around 10 or 11 at night and like I stated earlier its on a timer and is shut off at 4:30 in the morning. The only advice I would give is to be sure you get one that is belt driven my sister went with a direct drive and it seems to be noisier. Oh and I also installed a couple of gable vents not the automatic ones in the link just some that open by the pressure in the attic. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of ventilation. On hind sight I know I wouldn't of needed them as you can just barely see that they are open when the fan is running.


http://www.doitbest.com/Attic+ventilators-Ventamatic+Ltd-model-CX30BD2SPD-doitbest-sku-106178.dib

QGM

[oldtimer]

Thanks, QGM.

One more question, so do you have vents then in the ceilings of each room so this heat can get to the attic or just leave an attic door open or what?

We have a 24 by 60 foot ranchstyle home. We were a lot cooler when we had a two story house as the heat went upstairs and kept the downstairs cooler.

We do have ten foot ceilings in our house, however, as I wanted to make sure the heat had some place to go. I'd hate to think how hot it would get if we had seven or eight foot ceilings like a lot of these houses have.

We use the same principle of trying to open up at night and close up in the daytime, putting foil over the south and west windows to reflect sun and keep the house dark. Works fairly well if it will cool down in the evenings but I'd like to be able to eliminate several box fans running in the windows at night and replace them with one big fan that could cool the whole house.

[Teg]

So, have all of you folks gone soft and have air conditioning or a heat pump or do some of you still stick it out and live without it?

This morning in church you could sure tell those who've been pampered by air conditioning from those of us who don't have it. We thought it was nice and cool in the church house (which isn't air conditioned) the rest of them were sweating bullets and could hardly let for church to let out, so the entire congregation moved to the basement once Sunday School was over and we had services down there as it was about ten degrees cooler in the basement.

I remember when the cafes in town would put a sign above the door that said "air conditioned". It was a selling point and a treat to go in a cool building like that. Now you wouldn't survive in the restaurant business or probably any other if you didn't have AC.

Boy we're a soft generation. We've never had it so don't miss what we've never had. Right now I'm setting out on the porch and enjoying the breeze and watching the kids ride their bikes and shoot rabbits.

I always tell folks our AC works great in the winter and our central heating works super well in the summer.
Now the dog wants me to go play fetch, so guess I'll go humor her.;)

Grew up without one, when I move I am not planning to have AC at my new place, of course our current plan is to live at 9000ft altitude so we shouldn't need it. :)

[oldtimer]

of course our current plan is to live at 9000ft altitude so we shouldn't need it. :)

No, but you might need to invest in an oxygen tent. :D

[Quietgentleman]

The fan is installed in my hallway ceiling. When its turned on the vent opens and air is sucked out of the hallway up into the attic. Which then pulls air from rest of the house up into the attic and outside air is sucked into the house through all the open windows. A person can put a ducted unit in and have vents in ever room. I chose not to go to that much work or expense. I was able to get mine installed almost exactly in the center of my house so it works really well. My installation requires that I have all my interior doors open to get maximum air movement through out the house. It is amazing how fast it will cool off the house when running. It moves a lot of air. If you're close to a window you can feel a breeze. My house is a lot smaller than yours so a ducted unit might be the way to go if you aren't able to get the unit centrally located and would like to keep bedroom doors closed at night. I live alone so it's no big deal for me to have all the doors open.

QGM

[Teg]

No, but you might need to invest in an oxygen tent. :D

Hehe, possibly. :)

[cinok]

On more thing to keep in mind is the mass that hold heat (buildings parking lots roads etc) that are built hold heat. Never mind the green lawns that hold humidity do not help cooling off at night. Years ago in the south west states swamp coolers worked grear but as of recent all the development in those areas made them ineffeceint leading to more AC units

[sally]

I found that after going on an anti-inflammation diet, I am able to withstand heat much, much better. I used suffer from the heat more than others around me. I would get quite agitated and irritable. Now, however, I'm more heat tolerant than others. Such a relief!

[qwerty]

We have central air and heat, its a Trane. Don't know what I would do without it.

[JohnNH]

No ac here at out home in northern NH, as we don't feel much need for it. We get the fans out to circulate the air around and sometimes sleep outdoors on the deck. My vehicle has a dual 2/45 & 4/65 cooling unit. . .2 windows open @ 45mph or 4 open @ 65mph :)

[warriorwolf47]

No ac here , our house has blown-in insulation and when we had it sided last year we had them add insulation under it .

It stays much cooler inside if I can keep the missus from opening the windows during the day ! :D

[Ironclad]

I have AC but only run it when it gets extremely hot out. Like what we are having now. It's 97 degrees out and the dew point is at 78 degrees.

But the best thing I ever did for limiting my use of the AC was 2 yrs ago I installed a whole house fan.
On the nights it cools down I run the fan most of the night with all the windows open. I also have it on a timers so it shuts off around 4:30 in the morning. Then when I get up in the morning I shut all the windows draw the drapes and the house says cool through out the day. I can usually last a couple of day in a hot streak when it doesn't cool off at nights before I fire up the AC.

QGM

Mr QuietGentleman,
Sounds like real good thinking, on your part!! Ive done more than my share of research on those "Whole House Fans". I know they are somewhat expensive to get installed, but it does my heart good to hear from you, that people are making them work. Whole House Fans are a real good compromise; between total AC, and nothing at all. Your words are making me re-think them.
--Ironclad

[Quietgentleman]

Before I installed the fan I would fire up the AC when we would get our first real hot spell. Which around here can be late May early June and wouldn't shut if off until September. This year I made it to the last week of June before I turned the AC on. Its been on all this time cause we haven't had a break from heat and humidity in over a month. But tonight I might be going to the house fan the humidity has finally dropped and the weatherman says we are suppose to dip down into the low 70's upper 60's at night. I'm going cat fishing tonight and if it cools off like they say. I'm going to shut the AC off and open the house up and run the fan.

QGM

[Aamylf]

If TSHTF and I can't have AC, I'll adjust. But for me that's akin to saying, "If I cut off my finger...I'll adjust." I am not against modern conveniences just for the sake of being against them. I like indoor toilets, too. In SWFL, if you don't have ac, basically you have mold and mildew. We keep it at 76 and have ceiling fans. It is a big expense and worth every penny at the moment. Also not sure how you keep computers running when it's 99 degrees?

[Ky.guy]

I'm lucky to have a basement in the Kentucky humidity for shtf or when the power goes off but i did go 1 summer without turning on the air and used a fan at night and didn't use the basement

[MollyPitcher]

108 here today, under this ridge of oppressive high pressure that will not budge. Damn glad I have a.c. Forecast for several more days of 100+ temps, most of them above 103. The single room I air condition (front room during the day, bedroom at night) does not fall below about 84 degrees, though, so fans are still used. I've always heard that air conditioners won't reduce inside temp any more than about 20 to 25 degrees. Seems to be the case. Right now 84 or 85 feels pretty good.

Was running errands earlier today. Came home and parked the truck under the car port, beside my little car. Looked over and the car's back window glass was shattered. No doubt from the heat, as there was nothing around it that could have shattered it. The sun hits the back of vehicles parked under the car port until about 10 a.m. Now I have to find a replacement back glass.

[randallhilton]

We had central AC for a couple of decades. When it was time to replace it, I did the math and decided to try window units instead. Then, I downsized the window unit in our main living area. I'd like it cooler during this triple digit heat but it's still tolerable and our electric bill stays well below $100 so I'm happy.

We have a house fan too. It's good in spring time but when it's 90 degrees at 4 am it's not so good. :fie:

This is for another thread but I'm convinced that grid power will become leverage for the rulers to use over us so we're prepared to do without if we must.

[Quietgentleman]

Well I been running the house fan all this week. Last night we dropped down into the low 50's which caused me to go looking for a little warmer blanket. The temp in my house is in the mid 60's right now. I don't believe I will run the fan tonight I don't want to wake to the shivers again tonight. There is also one other plus when it comes to running the fan and that is the house get completely aired out. The freshness of it all is nice compared to when it all shut up and running on AC.

QGM

[Clair_Schwan]

In the dry climate of Wyoming, we don't use AC. We vent at night to cool down the house and then keep it closed up during the day. We insulate well in the attic and that keeps the house cool during the day as well. Warmer weather can be accommodated, but it's difficult when you're used to AC all the time.

I prefer to use other means like ground source cooling (like a naturally cooler basement) and evaporative cooling (including fans). We're creating a civilized world that can't get along without air conditioning, and it's just another weak link.

[opsrto]

I am running radiant floor heating in the basement and the first floor. So in the sumer time, that same system will aid in cooling the place with the assistance of the attic fan and basement door. I dont plan to install AC. Since the exterior walls and roof will be so well insulated, I dont see the need.

[MYellowRose]

I need A/C for health concerns though this next summer will be my first since 2000 with central air. This summer I used a window unit with an oscillating fan to circulate the air and spent the majority of my time in the bedroom on the north of the trailer, I survived. When I told my Rheumatologist I was moving to somewhere that had central A/C he told me he was glad & had been surprised that I did so well without it. I keep it set on 76o in agreement with the landlord and if necessary can use my stand fan to circulate the air better next summer. I don't like being extremely cold anyway & I had to use a blanket at night in September because it was almost too cold for me to sleep good. If my daughter & her family move out before this coming summer I may crank the A/C up to 80o, at least at night. One reason I moved is I have house cats and there were times when they were panting, something a cat only does when it's overheated, I don't want to lose one to heat stroke.

[HuntingHawk]

I've had heat stroke twice. Because of that the heat affects me more then most. And like those in Tx, here in Fl we go months of over 90. So to have AC isn't an option. But I do use & prefer window units.

HuntingHawk

[Teg]

Those ductless AC systems are pretty nice as well, a little more work than a window unit to install, but you get more bang for your buck.

http://www.ductlessdepot.net/