Heat wave. Do you have AC?

[Sooner or later]

In SW Okla? Yep

Cooling off to 99 today.

It can get rather toasty. In 2011 the avg June high was 102, July 106, and Aug 108.

[red-beard]

Just hit 101 F and there is more day to come. The dew-point is only 71F! "Feels Like" 110.

[Cajundaddy]

We are inland SoCal and need AC in July, Aug, and part of Sept most years. Any time the daily high goes above 95F we will usually run the AC a little to keep things comfortable. It was unusually cool last month and my SCE bill was only $112 with very little AC needed. Today it is 107 and expected to be 100+ for the next week. The August bill will be higher but not as much as renting a beach condo for the week.

[Tobra]

108* today, A/C can't keep up. Supposed to be warming up next few days

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Absolutley necessary 2 weeks per year. Desirable for about a month per year.

We were like that here in Los Alamos (7200', alpine, zone 6). Canyons and mesas ringed by forests of big ponderosa pines.

20 years ago we had a little forest fire (Cerro Grande, thanks USFS!) and it completely changed our microclimate. There's no more cool moist air coming down off of the mountain every day because there are no more trees on the mountain.

Our lows are probably 5F over what they were before the fire.

[ckissick]

No AC. Not necessary in Half Moon Bay. It was only 82 yesterday.

[billybek]

Even up here in the great white north a/c is nice but not really necessary for a single family bungalow. I did a clearcut in the back when I built the garage and never planted new trees. West back yard and the house does heat up late in the day.
I usually have the a/c off by 10 pm and the windows open for free cooling.

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by vash

Do you need AC where you live? Anymore areas that don’t?

Very few houses here have A/C. Usually not needed...average summer temps around the Monterey Bay rarely rise above the low 80s. But every once in a while we do get a spell of really hot dry weather. Thankfully, it doesn't last more than a few days...forecast is calling for gradual cooling back to the mid/high 70s by next weekend.

Whenever it gets too warm, I just hop on my bike and ride down to the beach about a mile & a half away. Always a nice cool breeze there...

Originally Posted by ckissick

Not necessary in Half Moon Bay. It was only 82 yesterday.

I'm always amazed at CA's micro-climates. I'm just under 50mi south of there and the temp here topped out at 106°F yesterday w/31% humidity. It's cooler today though...only 93°F outside right now.

But no matter how hot it gets during the day, it always cools way down in the evening. The outside temp dropped to 68°F by about 9pm yesterday.

[flatbutt]

When I first moved into the hills of NWNJ the afternoon breeze blowing thru the valley was good enough for the majority of days...but not anymore. Now I must have AC or I ...will...die.

[bob deluke]

Worked at Carrier for 15 years, always got a good deal on scratch and dent equipment as an employee. Never went without a/c. House has central air, bit I still have a Carrier window shaker that has copper coils! Made in Syracuse back in the 70’s. Works like a charm, heavy as hell. Use in my garage now.

[A930Rocket]

In the south, it’s a given, unless you’re a glutton for punishment. Plus, with my allergies, it helps.

[speeder]

I’ve been in northern Wisconsin all year and there was only a little hot weather this summer. I ran out to Walmart and bought the smallest window unit they had in July, (5k BTU, $150), only used it a few nights and had to turn it off after an hour because it made the sleeping room into an ice box.

A fan is all that is ever needed now, the daytime highs are around 80 w mild humidity. I’m in Minneapolis right now, was going to fly to Los Angeles today to handle some business but cancelled due to weather and fires. My respiratory issues would go nuts. Most of the time in Los Angeles, it’s warm but low humidity and good sleeping weather without A/C. For the hot spells, I use a unit like Seahawk’s but I need to buy a new one. If I go back in a week and it’s still hot, I’ll order one on Amazon and have it waiting for me there.

I could not bear to live in some of the ovens people on this thread occupy. Excessive heat is oppressive and awful. A little cold weather is nothing, you throw on a jacket and turn on the heat. Minnesota isn’t bad at all, except for the worst part of winter.

[JavaBrewer]

We live in South Escondido, which means it's hot here so we do have AC as a backup which we use about 4 weeks total a year. They are brutal weeks...not all in a row. Worst are the humid storms that move North from Baja carrying all that moisture. In the first year here I installed a whole house fan which is amazing, flip the switch at 7 pm and the house is instantly cooled by the outside air. I cannot sleep unless it's cold, so that means during the hot times, like right now, I pull the AC down to 72 and have a ceiling fan over the bed. In the morning it goes back to 76 and we keep the window shutters closed. The other 9 months are great though! We use our whole house fan for the days the AC is not needed for the months it's 80+F outside during the day.

[JackDidley]

South Indiana here. It can be 0* F in the winter and 100* in the summer. I need to be 75*ish so I have a heat pump and a gas furnace.

[Nostril Cheese]

105 in the PNW today.

I live underground and have good AC. 68 degrees is a beautiful thing.

[cantdrv55]

I don’t usually need the AC but I did have it installed a few years back just in case. Man am I glad I have it today because it was unusually hot at 98.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by red-beard

Just hit 101 F and there is more day to come. The dew-point is only 71F! "Feels Like" 110.

We picked a good day to have our ENTIRE system replaced! Took them 14 hours...the house got to 86 inside. Brutal.

I got suckered into buying the New Hotness variable speed scroll style yadda yadda has a hive brain talks to the interwebs whatever system, but we're expecting a dramatic drop in power each month like you saw, maybe more (hopefully more...).

The old system failed on Thursday, tech told me Friday that it's toast and will blow up at any time, so of course I jumpered it to on as soon as he left, the house went from 85 at 3pm to 72 at midnight...13 degree differential over 9 hours.

Tonight, we fired it up at 11pm, house was heat soaked at 86, 1.5 hours in it's 77...SUCH a difference.

[latunabernie]

We live in the Western Sierras elevation 3200'
We have the mini split system with 4 wall units.
We only use 1 of them and keep shutting it off because it get too cold.
We added solar 3.5 months ago.
We used the A/C a lot last month.
Just got our bill for July $9.18
June was $2,86
It really great to use the A/C and not worry about elec. bill.

Bernie

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

We picked a good day to have our ENTIRE system replaced! Took them 14 hours...the house got to 86 inside. Brutal.

I got suckered into buying the New Hotness variable speed scroll style yadda yadda has a hive brain talks to the interwebs whatever system, but we're expecting a dramatic drop in power each month like you saw, maybe more (hopefully more...).

The old system failed on Thursday, tech told me Friday that it's toast and will blow up at any time, so of course I jumpered it to on as soon as he left, the house went from 85 at 3pm to 72 at midnight...13 degree differential over 9 hours.

Tonight, we fired it up at 11pm, house was heat soaked at 86, 1.5 hours in it's 77...SUCH a difference.

I just replaced my units and could not stomach the more than $10K difference for variable speed versus 2 speed. Even with the two speed, it can control humidity. 72 and 48% RH. That is a dewpoint 25 degrees less than outside (51 vs. 76)

[juanbenae]

cooking up here to currently. i get morning and afternoon shade that helps when in the low 90's or so, but as hot as it is now it's too little too early and too late. bummer is it's not cooling down at night much either.

ive got a swamp cooler, but it only slows down the heating up of the house in these temps.