Air Conditioning in homes in COS (Denver, Colorado Springs: new house, buying, closing)

[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?

[ryanek9freak]

Nah, it gets hot, but so infrequently that people don't mind it much, and it's dry heat so it isnt' that bad.

That, and it cools quite nicely at night, so there's really no need for it.

[Trinity Florida]

I also noticed that I constantly feel DRY. like my eyes burn, chapped lips,skin is dry, and nose is very dry. My daughter keeps getting nose bleeds. Do these symptoms go away after awhile? I have been here about 6 months. The lack of humidity in the air makes the air feel sorta stale to me. The need for lotion, a bottle of water, and chapstick is a daily thing. I lived in Ohio for 30 years and Florida for 1 year so I have never lived anywhere this dry before.

[COflower]

Originally Posted by Trinity Florida

I also noticed that I constantly feel DRY. like my eyes burn, chapped lips,skin is dry, and nose is very dry. My daughter keeps getting nose bleeds. Do these symptoms go away after awhile? I have been here about 6 months. The lack of humidity in the air makes the air feel sorta stale to me. The need for lotion, a bottle of water, and chapstick is a daily thing. I lived in Ohio for 30 years and Florida for 1 year so I have never lived anywhere this dry before.

Buy a humidifier (not as affective in the summer though) lotion, lotion, lotion. I favor Curel Ultra Healing. Eucerin is better but more expensive.

As for the nose, when the humidifier is not applicable, saline nose spray. Between your allergies and lack of humidity, this is the best stuff out there. It's hard to get used to but you will thank yourself on both accounts. I was born and raised here but I do know the effects of living here.

You will acclimate but it may take a while. Oh and Blistex Lip Medex is the best lip balm I have ever tried. I don't do lipstick very often but as for lip balm, good stuff.

Don't worry, your body will regulate itself and if it doesn't, well, humidifiers, lotion and balm will work for you.

PS for the OP: If you are buying a new home, I would at least request a swamp cooler. They are cheap, okay on the environment and will cool the house to about 15° cooler. AC has never been a part of our life here but as more people move here, the more often it's requested in new homes. There are times I wish I had at least a swamp cooler (evaporative cooler for those in the know) but mostly, in your home, it isn't an appliance that most people have here.

[kristie73]

When we purchased our new home there was no AC installed but it was wired for one. We quickly invested in an AC and a whole house humidifier. It makes a difference. If anything it can quickly cool the house down instead of just relying on the breeze through the windows and a fans. Especially if you're having a party or just home all day. That way you aren't waiting in the stuffy house for nightfall to cool things down. As usual the basement is cooler than your upper floors.

I never saw the temps go to 100 degrees. The dry heat is a lot more tolerable in my opinion then a humid heat. It does get hot in the summer. Colorado Springs is ever changing with the temps so one day in Oct it could be 85 degrees and the next day it could be 30. It's crazy. I like it though.

The dryness is always there but in the warmer months I don't feel it as much as the winter with the heaters running. My son's nose bleeds too. We get used to the dryness. I would take the dryness over humidity anyday though.

[Trinity Florida]

yea we have always had central air. i cant imagine not having it.

[Trinity Florida]

so it does get hot here in the summer?

[Postal]

Originally Posted by Trinity Florida

yea we have always had central air. i cant imagine not having it.

I am somewhat of the same mindset. I had AC all my life (grew up and lived in the south). I moved to Germany and didn't have one. You really didn't need it except for a few days out of the year. Even in 2003 when all the old people were dying in France from 100+ degree heat, that didn't last too long. It was uncomfortable while it was happening, though.

Our new house doesn't have AC, but is "roughed-in" for it. We will probably wait out the summer and get an AC in the off-season for a lower price. It's more of a resale item than a need in our minds. We learned alot about natural cooling of a house while living in Germany. We've been opening the windows and circulating air so far, but it hasn't been that hot yet.

It's a little warmer this week, so I'll have to see how my wife feels about it. I really don't want to buy an AC in the middle of the summer, though.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by Trinity Florida

so it does get hot here in the summer?

Read the normals for yourself. Weatherbase: Historical Weather for Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States of America

Mechanical air conditioning for a home in Colorado is a waste of energy and money. A properly installed and used evaporative cooler is much more efficient, adds humidity to dry air, and costs much less to both install and run. About the only people who think they need mechanical A/C are people who don't know any better, or those knuckleheaded builders who don't know how to build without it.

[tfox]

I made it through the Summer of 2005 without A/C -- that was the one with the record breaking 105 degree temperature one day in Denver, and several more 100+ degeree days. Truth be told, even that summer there was probably only about 5-10 days, all in July, where having an A/C would have been REALLY nice, when the heat interfered with normal life. OTOH, the summer of 2004 was uncharacteristically cool, and A/C was probably not needed at all that year.

Opening windows at about 9:00pm at night and closing them again at about 9:00am can make a big difference; taking advantage of the always cool nights. Even those record breaking days still had nights in the 60s. One nice thing about Colorado summers.

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.