options without AC

[SearChart]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

I don’t want to rub it in... OK, maybe I do. but my central air has been broken for years, keep saying I am going to get it fixed but living so close to the beach, with the nice breezes all summer long I don’t miss/need it.

Can we switch for a week?

[Jocke]

Move to Sweden, here we have free AC at least half the year.

[dmash]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

You ever been to the middle east?

I’ve been to India many times. It depends where you go, but my inlaws in south India, and all their friends, have ac. Everywhere I stayed in central America a while back had ac (not hotels).

It is ubiquitous in hot climates amongst economical classes that can afford to buy the equipment. I think it has much more to do with equipment than electrical costs.

My mistake Abdullah, I didn’t read your post as ‘most of the places I’ve been where’ as you actually wrote. I read it as ‘most of the places where’, thus thought you were insinuating everywhere with hot summers has AC. Completely my fault

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by dmash

My mistake Abdullah, I didn’t read your post as ‘most of the places I’ve been where’ as you actually wrote. I read it as ‘most of the places where’, thus thought you were insinuating everywhere with hot summers has AC. Completely my fault

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

You ever been to the middle east?

I’ve been to India many times. It depends where you go, but my inlaws in south India, and all their friends, have ac. Everywhere I stayed in central America a while back had ac (not hotels).

It is ubiquitous in hot climates amongst economical classes that can afford to buy the equipment. I think it has much more to do with equipment than electrical costs.

i agree. My wife just got back from india. AC was everywhere she was, but where she was is a tiny fraction of most peoples experience. AC is very much a status symbol in certain places and standard in others which is why usage is so skewed.

[Canforfair]

Move to England don’t have a heat problem here....


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[SearChart]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

summer in the UK is awful but thankfully short. My house is like 150 years old and obviously no central air. My bedroom gets close to 90 degrees F on occasion. And no AC in most places and you cant really cool down.

If i had a car (which i dont) i would probably turn the AC on and sleep in it

I broke down and got a room AC, but it doesnt really vent all that well out of the windows so hot air keeps coming back in.

Glad I'm not the only one with this problem

[bdex75]

We use a mister out on the deck when it is hot and it works wonderfully. Inside, not so sure it’s a great idea.

Fans work and yes the vornado fans do work very well. As do the standard old big boxes like this.



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[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by Canforfair

Move to England don’t have a heat problem here....


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the real question is how did some of these places get settled in the first place? Ancient people moving to England and Europe made sense as the climate was better than where they came from. It gets weird with the new world. The spanish sailed over and said lets settle in mexico and florida

[dmash]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

i agree. My wife just got back from india. AC was everywhere she was, but where she was is a tiny fraction of most peoples experience. AC is very much a status symbol in certain places and standard in others which is why usage is so skewed.

Like 5-10% of India’s entire population has AC last time I checked. It’s definitely the exception, not the norm.

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by dmash

Like 5-10% of India’s entire population has AC last time I checked. It’s definitely the exception, not the norm.

yeah, that sounds about right. I haven't been personally but my wife goes often and that seems like a ballpark. However its hard to judge as its not like she gets the full tour.

[daveathall]

Air Conditioning Off.






Air Conditioning On.

[Art 1]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

the real question is how did some of these places get settled in the first place? Ancient people moving to England and Europe made sense as the climate was better than where they came from. It gets weird with the new world. The spanish sailed over and said lets settle in mexico and florida

I couldn't imagine living with out AC in Fla. Today isn't that hot but the humidity is high and the air stale. Good for me though as I own an HVAC Co.

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by daveathall

Air Conditioning Off.






Air Conditioning On.

please explain this to me as an American living in the uk for 8 years now... no AC ok i can deal with that, but having your windows open all the time and no screens is just weird

I dont have any screens either and the bees just come in whenever they want.

[daveathall]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

please explain this to me as an American living in the uk for 8 years now... no AC ok i can deal with that, but having your windows open all the time and no screens is just weird

I dont have any screens either and the bees just come in whenever they want.

Not many bees come in to be honest, as you know, if it is hot outside, opening a door or window just lets the heat in. The photo's were a bit tongue in cheek. Having said that, I do sometimes open the back door and the living room window which does give a refreshing through draft.

London seems to trap the heat, it really does, I have been many times and find it quite uncomfortable, I live ooop north which has a nicer (cooler) climate in summer and the hotels we use in London must have AC.

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by daveathall

Not many bees come in to be honest, as you know, if it is hot outside, opening a door or window just lets the heat in. The photo's were a bit tongue in cheek. Having said that, I do sometimes open the back door and the living room window which does give a refreshing through draft.

London seems to trap the heat, it really does, I have been many times and find it quite uncomfortable, I live ooop north which has a nicer (cooler) climate in summer and the hotels we use in London must have AC.

yeah, i leave all the windows open to create a breeze through the house and i have all kinds of flying bugs sharing the house, and screens are definitely not the norm

[breitlings]

Window AC units are quite economical/efficient, but they are loud. A good unit can easily cool far more than it's rated for and they have nice thermostats now. You can get an 8k btu unit for 200 on sale which will cool a good amount of space. This is a 12000 btu unit for $249 at BJs https://slickdeals.net/f/11565183-fr...archBarV2Algo1 they say it will cool 550 square feet but I'd imagine you could cool 1500 square feet fairly easily with 12000btu of window AC.

The USA is quite a bit lower in latitude than Europe, Most of California is I believe in-line with North Africa, e.g. LA is at 34 degrees as is Fez Morocco. Miami and and Dubai line up as well. Anyone who thinks AC is optional has not been to New Orleans.

Worth a look:

https://www.priceoftravel.com/1063/1...rprising-ways/

[daveathall]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

yeah, i leave all the windows open to create a breeze through the house and i have all kinds of flying bugs sharing the house, and screens are definitely not the norm

The last time I was down (June last year) there we stayed at Hazlitts in Soho, it was boiling hot then, the A/C there was perfect.

[pallindrome]

@all - I didn't expect this level of response, especially @Abdullah71601 & @tyler1980!

Right now, I am uncomfortably swamped up to my neck with backlog of work in the comfort of my airconditioned office and will reply l8r this evening when (& if) I do make it out in the evening. :P

Thanks for all the suggestions & comments!

[SDRider]

Originally Posted by daveathall

Air Conditioning Off.






Air Conditioning On.

Where I live we get a strong coastal breeze in the afternoon so we open the back door (it has a full length sliding screen door), open the door to the garage (between the garage and the house-I put a screen door there years ago so the kitties can't escape), lift the garage door up about 10-12 inches and let the breeze blow right through the house. Our back yard faces west and our house is at the highest point geographically facing toward the ocean so this is a really great way to cool off the back of the house on a warm day (although we do not have an ocean view). If it is hot we shut everything and turn on the AC, which we really only use for 4-6 weeks during the summer and a few days here and there when the Santa Ana winds are blowing.

[austinp]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

what? Americans constitute 5% of the world's population but consume 24% of the world's energy

Why do you think that is? Energy usage and cost are two different things. If cost were equal, more people in other parts of the world would have AC. Americans probably put more miles on their cars as well. Fuel is much less expensive in the US. Why put up with 90° inside temperatures when you dont have to.

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[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by austinp

Why do you think that is? Energy usage and cost are two different things. If cost were equal, more people in other parts of the world would have AC. Americans probably put more miles on their cars as well. Fuel is much less expensive in the US. Why put up with 90° inside temperatures when you dont have to.

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Energy usage is tied to the economy. Who has the largest economy in the world? Who uses the most energy?

[austinp]

I think we are saying similar things.

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

Energy usage is tied to the economy. Who has the largest economy in the world? Who uses the most energy?

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[Tools]

Originally Posted by pallindrome

. . . Does Vornado really work or what's the hype with it? Any better than a window fan? I'm a little skeptical about that vortex thing.

. . .

Fans, regardless of what fancy name you put on them, move air - period. They cannot change the temperature of the air they move without an external source of coolant.

If you sweat enough, you become your own evaporative cooling unit.

[Cru Jones]

Living in Paris, I miss AC, even if it's only a few weeks out of the year when you "need" it. "Luckily", my commute is about an hour each way, and a I drive, so I just crank the car's AC.

[breitlings]

Originally Posted by austinp

I think we are saying similar things.

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I think they diverge as I am not sure the US energy is necessarily the cheapest, as our environmental regs are stronger than in many places, and you can take your comment to be "make US energy more expensive and they will use less energy." Whereas the converse of A's statement is use less energy and get less out of the economy, which I think we have seen is true.

Personally I would like to see a moratorium on futures energy trading and reinstatement of the rule that US oil stays in the US. I think it low energy prices boost the economy.

[James K]

I use Vornado fans along with a central AC unit. We leave the fans on 24/7, they typically last about 4-5 years before the motors seize up. $60 gets us another 5 years out of another unit. As for your AC it's quite possible that there isn't enough insulation in your home and/or around the ducts, if that's the case no AC out there is going to be able to keep up with the constant heat soak.


EDIT: Forgot to add, the Vornados do pretty well compared to other fans. I suspect that it's the fact that they have strong motors to them plus they feel like they just push more air overall. Any other fan that we try to leave on 24/7 typically last 18-20 months.

[pallindrome]

Some background I want to add...Last night when I did the OP, the outside temperature (i.e. in the parking lot) was definitely below 70. But the house felt like high 70s. So I think the problem with my unit is
1) house has too much insulation
2) house has poor ventilation - there's no wind that blows cool air into the house. So I think a fan would be a much efficient solution than the AC to cool the house since I already have a source of cool air outside the house - mother nature's cool evening air.
AC on the other hand will use more electricity and be less green and I would want to use the AC only during the hot afternoons when there's no cool air outside.

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

Get your AC fixed, even if you have to pay for it yourself. If you're looking at buying stuff, look at HVAC guys to fix your system.

Tell your landlord in advance, preferably in writing. Notify whatever city agency regulates your landlord of his substandard maintenance. Then get it fixed. I don't know how your locale works, but in mine you can take that out of the rent.

We actually complained about it last summer, at least 3x. But since fall set in, we cooled down and did nothing about it since it wasnt an urgent fix. Now, we will write in. This landlord is pretty old school, no email...
I will try to google and find out how I can get the landlord to fix this or pay for it to be fixed by giving him the bill when I call for service from a 3rd party. I don't want to end up footing the bill for something which I should not. It doesn't make sense for me to pay for so much rent when a portion of that rent is actually for provision of such equipment such as AC.

Originally Posted by Pix

A 5 gallon bucket, a fan, and some ice...you're all set, Google Redneck AC

Good idea!

Originally Posted by austinp

The property owner should fix the AC.

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Agreed!

Originally Posted by teqp

What does this mean? Does it cool down the room/house? This might be the issue that the landlord and you may never agree upon as it is ambiguous. As stated above, check the lease and see what is covered by the landlord.


As some tenants were moving out, they asked if we wanted to buy their washer/dryer. I was about to do it, then searched online and found out all the potential headaches associated with them, that I declined the offer to buy. Glad I did. I know some landlords that would remove the dishwasher as well, but I decided to leave them in. So far, I had to replace 1 dishwasher and change the drain pump on another as a tenant had a piece of hard plastic in the DW that broke off the impeller blades not allowing the water to drain. At least I am handy and can fix some things.

The blower blows....just that the air that's coming out is not cool enough, even if i set the thermostat at 60F.

Originally Posted by daveathall

Air Conditioning Off.






Air Conditioning On.

Cool!

Originally Posted by James K

I use Vornado fans along with a central AC unit. We leave the fans on 24/7, they typically last about 4-5 years before the motors seize up. $60 gets us another 5 years out of another unit. As for your AC it's quite possible that there isn't enough insulation in your home and/or around the ducts, if that's the case no AC out there is going to be able to keep up with the constant heat soak.


EDIT: Forgot to add, the Vornados do pretty well compared to other fans. I suspect that it's the fact that they have strong motors to them plus they feel like they just push more air overall. Any other fan that we try to leave on 24/7 typically last 18-20 months.

I see, thanks for that input. Looks like vornados will be by short term solution.

[CRM114]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

Or that Europe is a lot cooler on average than the US. Most of the places I’ve been where there are insufferably hot summers have ac everywhere.

Same.

During August 2003 estimates range that between 35,000 and 70,000 non-air conditioned Europeans died in the heat wave that amounted to an average-hot summer month in many places. More than 14,000 in France alone, a large number of which were in non-air conditioned hospitals.

I remember that August sweltering day and night wherever inside (in restaurants, hotels, public transport, offices) in Geneva and Paris where i happened to be at the time and finding relief traveling back to the far-hotter Middle East where they at least knew what air conditioning is for.

There's an amusing myth out there that air conditioning is unhealthy. Heatstroke is unhealthy, no air conditioning where needed is just being too cheap to install or turn it on.

[CRM114]

Originally Posted by Tools

Fans, regardless of what fancy name you put on them, move air - period. They cannot change the temperature of the air they move without an external source of coolant.

If you sweat enough, you become your own evaporative cooling unit.

Which doesn't work if the air surrounding the body isn't conducive to evaporation. An important aspect of an air conditioner is that it also dries the air in super-humid environments where one can sweat all day but no evaporation off the skin takes place.