A Summer without AC?

[propita]

We're not as bad as the Midwest and East, but summer is definitely here. Over 90 F for the past week, going to 100 F. Likely to stay that way for the next couple of months.

We've been without AC for a few days in the past, it broke in the middle of a week around 104 F. Sucked, big time.



"And on the seventh day, God rested and realized, 'Damn! It's hot!' And on the eighth day, God created air-conditioning."

 

[Sheep]

Last year, I turned on my AC a total of MAYBE four days. I hit that this WEEK alone, and this is after seeing a June electric bill that was 1.5x normal due to AC use. It's been completely disgusting outside here in Chicago...45% humidity my ass.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

It's been over 100 for the last couple days, and there is no relief in sight. All I want is some frickin rain!

We had rain. It led to power outages, but the temperature stayed above 95 (all it meant was people without electricity were without AC).

I've had times with poor or no AC before, but this heat wave is oppressive. I'm not sure I could do it anymore. If I did, I would have to soak in cold water all the time (which helps because my hot water heater doesn't work right now).

 

[bbailey861]

Never having A/C as a kid, the first time I had it was when the wife and I bought our first house. I would never be without it now. Being able to get a decent night's sleep is well, well, well worth the electricity cost. Ours crapped out 4 years back and we ended up getting a newer higher seer unit. It is a bigger unit that be had outside before, but the power savings were noticeable - worth the extra unit cost.
My parents finally did get A/C, years after I had left the house, and one one the first words out of both their mouth's was "Why didn't we get this before?" Amen to that.

 

[horatio83]

Isn't it ironic that we burn fossil fuels to cool down the very heat which the burning of these fuels causes to increase in the long run?
Sometimes we are a pretty fucked up species.

 

[Harvey]

No AC here in my apartment in Los Angeles, but it's not bad. We get almost no direct sunlight and are on the ground floor.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Isn't it ironic that we burn fossil fuels to cool down the very heat which the burning of these fuels causes to increase in the long run?
Sometimes we are a pretty fucked up species.

Yeah, but to be fair, it's pretty fucking hot outside

 

[horatio83]

Canada is cool, fairly uninhabited and yours for the taking.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I don't have AC. I have a ceiling fan in every room, and I keep the blinds closed when it's sunny. Worked very well when I was at work most days anyway. This is the first summer that I'm home all the time, and I'm kind of miserable. Drinking lots of cold water and going to the mall more often than I normally would. Nice, cool place to get some walking in.

 

[Lumi]

When my Great Aunt died, she left me a little bit of money. That money bought me central air.

Money well-spent, as when I walked outside today I could hardly breathe with this humidity. I don't do well in the heat at all. ._.

(Thank you, Aunt Dorothy.<3)

 

[Holdfast]

This was today.

BRING ON THE OLYMPICS

Looks like a typical British Summers Day.

I'm impressed by the irony of the Olympic slogan on the bus: "Moment to Shine"...

(I hope we get some sunshine by the time of the Olympics roll around though; maybe we're just getting all the rain out of the way first. )

 

[JarodRussell]

But there's still AC2, AC: Brotherhood, AC: Revelations and, in October, AC3.

 

[propita]

Our AC was set for 79 F last night. It went down to 78 before turning off. I woke up because I was cold. You know it’s hot when 78 F feels cold.





Just looked at today’s paper, the weather report. The next 7 days should be a minimum of 101 F.

That’s normal here for summer.

What was not normal was a couple of years ago, with 21 straight days over 110 F.

 

[SmoothieX]

mine is on non stop between 65 and 68 all summer.

 

[FPAlpha]

Do what people have been doing for millennia.. suffer miserably and look for every way to cool down (keep in the shade, look for a lake to swim in or drink cold stuff).

It's not the end of the world.

 

[Aragorn]

I read someone's opinion somewhere that air conditioning killed the neighborhood, that once upon a time when it was hot people would go outside and play or sit out on the porch with their cold beverages and refreshing fruits (like watermelon) and socialize with one another. Now days people don't even know who lives next door to them.

 

[Warp Coil]

Because I live in a ground floor condo that gets very little direct sunlight, my place stays cool. This is great in the summer because I don't have my air conditioning running nearly as hard as others. The downside, of course, is that my place is cold in the winter. My electric bill in the summer is quite low, but is easily three times as much in January-February.

I lost power when that big storm tore through the DC area last weekend. No A/C. My place didn't get unbearably hot. In fact, I was quite surprised at how comfortable it was. I was more irritated with the fact that I had no electricity to run my fridge or internet than anything else.

So to answer the OP, yeah, I could probably survive without A/C in the summer where I live. Like I said, it doesn't run a whole lot as it is.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Do what people have been doing for millennia.. suffer miserably and look for every way to cool down (keep in the shade, look for a lake to swim in or drink cold stuff).

It's not the end of the world.

Yeah, I don't get the obsession with AC. I don't have it at home, and we routinely get temperature around 38°C (100°F). Even in the night the temperature rarely drops under 30°F (85°F). With the high humidity (40% during the day, up to 70% during the night), it means we feel like about 110°F during the day, 90°F at night. And yet, most people seems to survive without or very little AC. The wonders of the human body, I guess.

 

[MANT!]

depending on where I'm living AC has either been mandatory or not available..
California foothills, mandatory
Texas, mandatory
UK optional
Arkansas, mandatory
Bay Area of California optional (in fact, my current home has no AC)

 

[Mary Ann]

Yeah, I don't get the obsession with AC. I don't have it at home, and we routinely get temperature around 38°C (100°F). Even in the night the temperature rarely drops under 30°F (85°F). With the high humidity (40% during the day, up to 70% during the night), it means we feel like about 110°F during the day, 90°F at night. And yet, most people seems to survive without or very little AC. The wonders of the human body, I guess.

This may have to do with the better built homes in Europe. I live in a 1930s semi-detached, and while my house can be cold in winter even with central heating it was lovely and cool during the occasional heat waves we've had over the past years. Having all the windows open and the doors propped open so the breeze travels right through the house helps a lot.

I do remember hot, humid summers in Montreal when I was young, though, and living without AC could be miserable. I still cringe when I hear the buzzing of telephone wires in the heat, as it reminds me of not being able to sleep due to the heat and humidity. That house was old and had small windows, so there was never much of a cross-breeze in the house. When we moved to Toronto we had AC, which didn't work well enough on the top floor, was just right on the ground floor, and left my basement bedroom so cold I could pack meat in it.

When I last lived in Canada I had AC but couldn't afford to run it, so I did the open windows thing and also shut the blinds and curtains on the side of the house where the sun was shining. It usually did the trick and the inside temperature was bearable, if not always comfortable.