I worship the A.C. god..............

[CathyA]

I know it probably isn't living simply......but I would just die if I didn't have A.C. Well, I probably wouldn't die, but life would be miserable.
I've been an overly-hot person my whole life. I sweat more than anyone else I know. This morning I planted something out in the woods, then weeded the garden a little.
My clothes were saturated and I was dripping wet, along with tons of mosquitoes on me. I loved coming in the house, washing up, changing clothes and being cool.
I suppose this should go in the grateful thread. ...or maybe the religion and spirituality forum? ;) Life is so much better with A.C. (I guess I should be ashamed??).

[SteveinMN]

I know it probably isn't living simply......but I would just die if I didn't have A.C. Well, I probably wouldn't die, but life would be miserable.
I've been an overly-hot person my whole life. I sweat more than anyone else I know.
CathyA, nice to meet you! I've often thought that, if I were ever reincarnated, I'd like to come back as someone who does not sweat. I realize that's a psysiological impossibility. But it sure would be nice not to be one's own personal rainforest....

[CathyA]

LOL Steve.........."one's own personal rainforest". Yep......that's what its like!

[Lainey]

Life *is* better with Air Conditioning, CathyA - no shame about it.

119 degrees expected here today -

[treehugger]

I agree there's no shame in it. I used to dread and hate summer, I mean it would really get depressed, because the heat affects me so adversely. But ever since we put A/C in a few years ago, I can enjoy summer again. Before we had it, the house would get over 100 degrees, inside, during heat waves. And it would never cool off sufficiently at night either. Whew!

It's 100 degrees now, at just after noon. It will continue to climb steadily till at least 4:00. I have to be inside all weekend anyway, doing schoolwork, so I might as well be comfortable and use the A/C.

Kara

[pinkytoe]

Supposed to be 108 today here. We have all the blinds closed and the AC is humming. Our cats are draped over the arm chairs like wet noodles. I always wonder what people will do if the power goes out in these temps.

[treehugger]

I always wonder what people will do if the power goes out in these temps.

That's definitely a concern here, as our neighborhood gets frequent outages, especially during high-use times like heat waves. I am just hoping for the best.

Kara

[CathyA]

I can relate to being hot from inadequate a.c. When we first move out here (32 years ago), there were heat cables in the ceilings, which meant no duct work. So for several years, we lived without a.c. and no shade around the house. Our first big step was getting a whole house fan that was installed in our hallway. We would turn it on at night and it would draw cooler air in (along with hundreds of little bugs that would be sucked in through the window screens!) But we were grateful for that.
We finally got a one room air conditioner in the open living room/dining room. It was pretty adequate if you didn't cook or move around much.

Then in l996 we got a geothermal heating/cooling system, and we felt like the richest people on earth! It cools the entire house almost immediately, and you can't hear it at all. (and the a.c. hardly costs anything at all, since its drawing the cool air from under ground).
I'm am grateful for it every single hot day, and tell it so! :)

[larknm]

CathyA, what's a geothermal heating/cooling system? DH needs SOMETHING cooling.

[CathyA]

Well, its not cheap. You have to have ductwork. Its a certain kind of furnace/AC system that requires some underground tubing, through which a special liquid flows. In summer, it is cooled by the coolness in the ground, and in winter, it only needs to heat the air above ground temp, not outside temp.
There's alot of info on it online. But if you decide to have it installed, you really need a company that knows what its doing.

[RosieTR]

You're using geothermal a/c? Then what are you ashamed of? :)

[ApatheticNoMore]

You're using geothermal a/c? Then what are you ashamed of? :)

+1 yea really, it's not even burning any carbon fuels? Then nothing to be ashamed of.

(my green power purchases from the power company are not an ideal solution just the best I personally can do. Geothermal sounds like it may be an ideal solution. I do endure some of the heat).

[CathyA]

Okay then.........I'll quit feeling ashamed and enjoy the cool even more! :)
ApatheticNoMore...good for you and using the green power!

[Gregg]

Geo-thermal is fantastic! We don't have it, but there are a ton of things you can do to minimize the need for AC. We just did a major renovation so have the advantage of being able to add all these things. We super insulated (R-32 walls, R-60 ceiling), put in low-e, triple pane windows, provided adequate shading on the hot sides of the house, etc. It gets shut up tight once the sun is up. Insulated blinds get lowered and heavy curtains shut. Frankly its a little depressing so I leave a few windows unshuttered if I'm home. If our normal overnight low is 65* and everything is open the house will be about 67* in the morning. If I button it up tight and it gets to 100* outside it will be in the upper 70s by late afternoon inside. I also put a bathroom vent fan in the ceiling of a store room in the basement and vented it to our living room. That is our geothermal unit because the underground storage stays about 60* so has wonderful cool air to give the living room. We also put in a 1800 cfm fan (made for attics, but looks just like a bath fan). Its in a closet on the southwest corner of the house. Our stairs to the basement are on the northeast corner. Its a perfect set up because, if I open all the doors and turn on the fan it pulls cool air from the basement all the way through the house. In humid weather we just turn on a dehumidifier in the basement and then have cool, dry air available.

All that said, if I forget to shut everything up or for whatever reason it gets too hot the AC gets cranked. I hate to be hot sitting inside my house.

[CathyA]

Sounds good Gregg.
One thing I do worry about is that we have such a tight house, and the geo doesn't bring in any fresh air. We had a problem with radon in the living area, so had a radon fan installed and the crawl space has a barrier (which the mice love to chew). I try to occasionally leave doors and windows open, just to get some fresh air.

Our attic gets to be so hot, it gets to the top of the thermometer I have up there. (140F) We really need to ventilate that better, which would help keep the rest of the house cooler too. I'm thinking about a solar vent for the roof, but haven't decided yet. I'm sort of slow to get things done. :(

[KayLR]

I have a love-hate relationship with AC. Most of the time, I hate it. Here I am, in my office, (it's only about 73 deg. outside today) and I am freezing. I have a small heater under my desk whirring away at my legs and feet nearly year round. I do not have control over the AC in my home because it's controlled by the landlady. So I am throwing covers off and back on all night long. Even when I lived in Florida, where AC is a must, I hated having it blowing all night long on me in bed. There are a few local restaurants I will never revisit because they have frozen me out on more than one occasion. In the car, the vents must be tilted up; I do not like it blowing on me unless I've been running, biking or whatever; then only until I've cooled off. I'd much rather just roll down the window.

However, when the temps rise above 85, it is nice to have.

[CathyA]

I can't imagine what it does to our primitive bodies.........going from 71 with low humidity indoors, out to 90F outside with 90% humidity. It must make our bodies very confused.
But......I still love it!!

[Rosemary]

I love A/C too, particularly at night and when it is humid. I do not like excessively cold A/C, however... I hate feeling chilled when it's hot outside.

[jennipurrr]

Living in the South I am definitely thankful for AC. I imagine it would be unpleasant to be stuck in a stuffy office without AC this time of the year. However I am much more of a summer person than a winter person...I get out an jog in 100 degree weather with the humidity we have here and people look at me funny...but any day w a temp below 50 degrees f just makes me say brrrr! My Mom grew up in FL before AC was common place and we think its in our genes or we've adapted. We'll be out at the park walking in the summer all by ourselves. I definitely think I have the idea of no AC romanticized though, a sleeping porch sounds great until you HAVE to do it every night.