Air Conditioning in homes in COS (Denver, Colorado Springs: real estate, HOA, townhouse)

[Vision67]

Originally Posted by Trinity Florida

I found that alot of new home dont have A/C in them. Why is this? Does it not get hot here in the summer?

What is the avg summer temps?

What month does it start to get cool again?

I've lived in Colorado Springs for 31 years, and do not have or want central A/C. I do, however have a whole house fan at the stop of the stairwell. It is capable of moving 7900 cu ft/min. I also have one window A/C unit for the family room. These can be bought for less than $200 and do a good job of cooling one room when needed. I use it only on days when it gets above 90 degrees.

The fan is perfect for cooling the house in the evening because it draws in the cool air from the basement windows and expels it through the attic. That's much more energy efficient than central A/C.

However, I do prefer fresh air to a closed-up A/C house and the minor inconvenience of opening and closing windows is worth the cost savings to me. You may have a different opinion or comfort threshold. But with future energy costs sure to rise, I think I'll stay with my solution.

[Maynerd]

I bought my house over 12 years ago, with central air. Some years, it never gets turned on. When it does, it's for just a few days. Totally unnecessary. Ceiling fans and screen doors are all it takes to make your home comfortable on all but the hotetst days.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by tfox

As mentioned, if you own your own home, putting A/C in is a smart move for resale if for no other reason, unless your heating system doesn't easily allow for it. A good number of home buyers moving from other states won't even look at a house unless it has refrigerated A/C -- so it's really a no-brainer to remove that barrier when trying to sell your house. As a bonus, you will get to use the A/C on those days in July where it would be welcome.

Swamp coolers are really better for the environment and very effective in Colorado, but unfortunately not as good on the resale end, because most buyers from out of state don't know what they are. Refrigerated A/C and swamp coolers are not necessarily mutually exclusive, however -- you can have both, if you want, though clearly you can only run one at a time. If it were me, I'd add a small refrigerated unit for resale, but actually run a roof-mounted swamp cooler during the year.

I'm seeing just the opposite. People are figuring out that running mechanical A/C is an expensive proposition when an evaporative cooler is equally effective about 90% or more of the time in Colorado. When electricity rates go through the roof--coal and natural gas costs for the utilities are soaring, so that's coming to an electrical bill near you pretty soon--mechanical A/C will look even less attractive compared to evaporative cooling. A/C does no good if you can't afford to run it . . .

I guess if out-of-state buyers want to pay a premium for a house with a cooling system that they may not be able to afford to run, and no one else will want to buy down the line, that's their privilege.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Maynerd

I bought my house over 12 years ago, with central air. Some years, it never gets turned on. When it does, it's for just a few days. Totally unnecessary. Ceiling fans and screen doors are all it takes to make your home comfortable on all but the hotetst days.

Exactly. Also, look for a home that doesn't have too many windows on the east and west sides and also that has lots of shady trees on the east and west sides. Regardless of the cooling approach, there will be less radiant heat. If you can, get a house with lots of windows on the south side too, then in winter you get lots of free heating.

Another thing about central AC, you are supposed to keep all the vents open which means you have to cool the whole house. Closing too many vents can cause damage to the system. I'd hate to have to cool the entire house if there's only one or two people in the house.

Swamp coolers use probably 1/10 (something like that...) the electricity because it's just a small electric motor (1/2 to 1 hp?) and not a 3000-5000 watt air conditioning system.

Ceiling fans are pleasant, effective, and neat looking.

Whole house fans can be effective but they are sort of loud. A thermostatic attic fan can help out a lot too.

[SheridanL]

We have a roof top mounted swamp cooler ( as a matter of fact, we have workers up there right now tending to it!)....we love it!
One has to crack open windows for it run properly, but I feel that's a plus..fresh air and all!!
My stupid one year stint in Florida recently really made me sick about air conditioners! Not only are they expensive to run, you have to keep things closed up tight!! YUCK!!

I would get up on the roof and tend to my swamp cooler but, we have very high roofs and they are steep!! I'm afraid of heights so, no can do!!
My husbands arm is broken so......jfyi

[Amery523]

Some days I really want central air, but then I remember the electricity bills...

This being our 7th summer here in COS, we've not had it in any of the houses so far. Fans, opening windows, LOTS of fans....however, we did invest in a window-based A/C unit just for the master bedroom, because we like to retreat in there around 7pm and watch TV before bedtime. At 7pm it's still pretty warm, esp. upstairs, so that's where the window A/C unit went. You may want to look at one of those if you think you will spend a majority of your time in one room in the evening hours like we do. We take out the window unit around the beginning or middle of October, right before the first snowfall. We actually need to put the A/C in the window for the season now....thanks for the reminder!

[froggin4colorado]

It can get hot, but not uncomfortable hot except for a couple of days in the summer. Many neighborhoods don't allow you to have a swamp cooler, due to their codes. Some have AC and run it all summer, others simply use fans. I have a swamp cooler on the top of the house, it runs occasionally during the summer. We will occasionally hit the 90s, but then we have a thunderstorm in the afternoon which cools things down. Pueblo and the southern springs will reach higher temps whereas in the northern end, it is about 10 degrees cooler. Woodland Park is cooler yet. Our summers are pretty mild. In fact, a couple of summers my kids were pretty bummed because they rarely got to use their slip and slide because it wasn't hot enough (the breeze can cool you down quickly enough).

[sskkc]

We lived in Albuquerque with a swamp cooler. They are completely ineffective on humid days... which are the days you'll be wishing you had A/C. Last summer our rental house was miserably hot without A/C for about 6 weeks, beginning in mid July - especially in the upstairs bedrooms.

This year, we "invested" in window A/C units. 5200 BTUs for each bedroom, and 8100 for the main floor (basement's cool enough with fans). There are ceiling fans, we have oscillating fans, we don't need to keep the A/C on for more than a few hours during the day (at this point) and the bedroom units get turned on about a 1/2 hour before bed, then timers shut them off 3 hours later. But it's still just early July, so who knows? It's also been more humid here lately than usual too.

Our first summer out of Florida, in NM, the difference in humidity was so great that the heat didn't bother us. By July of the following year, we were wishing we had gotten A/C over those ineffective swamp coolers!

[JAF1976]

I bought my house in last spring, didn't even realise it didn't have A/c until summer came around, and was like WTF. I thought most new houses came with A/C but I was wrong. I added the A/c and Im glad I did. Don't use it much except for at night I can't sleep If Im hot. I have allergies, and have to sleep with the windows closed. If you don't have allergies, and can sleep with windows open I agree a evaporative cooler is all you need. You have to watch out though some associations like mine won't allow swamp coolers, or window units.

[ryanek9freak]

Yet another reason HOA's SUCK. Try telling me that I can't put in a window unit. See how far that gets you.