If working at MS, where to live? How bad, really, are clouds? (Redmond: condominiums, townhouses)

[silas777]

Originally Posted by Botev1912

September is very nice, May also. The last week of May we had high temperatures - 80-85 degrees. July 4th and 11th it was 90 and 98 degrees. I don't understand why people like to exaggerate so much?

you are correct in fact we celebrated the fact that this 4th of july it didnt rain!

[allforcats]

Lots of ductwork here, at least whatever ductwork heating systems need. The prevailing local philosophy about AC exists because people say it gets hot only for a few days (not weeks) here. That's true. A few days in June. A few days in July. A few days in August. My particular body which hates heat says that anything over 72 degrees is too hot, so to me it's more than "a few days", but that's just me. So the "few-days" cultural decision is what rules.

May I add my long-term feeling about the PNW, after living here for 22 adult years? Moving here was the best decision I've ever made in my life. I couldn't be happier. I count my lucky stars virtually every day. I've seen a fair bit of the world, of Canada, and of the U.S. and I've never seen such constant beauty or felt so physically (climate-ly) comfortable anywhere else. Riding my commuter bus ten times a week I get to watch the mountains, and the lake, and the trees, and the wildfowl, and the Eagles' nest, and is that Owl going to be sitting in that tree today, and are the Kestrels waiting for me to come home. Takes my breath away, it does.

Absolute contentment.

[allforcats]

Ductwork: I take back that blanket, uninformative statement. If a home is heated by oil, there's ductwork because there's a furnace. If a home is heated by electricity, there's no need for ductwork because there's no furnace originating the heat. Lots of homes here are heated by electricity since electric power is inexpensive here. Sorry 'bout that.

[scirocco22]

allforcats summed up the A/C question excellently, Jen. Temperatures in the high 90s is about as rare as the heavy snowfalls that stick around for over a week or days in the winter that don't get above freezing. Another thing we've discussed on this forum before that makes air conditioning really not as necessary as some other places in the country is that invariably, it cools down once the sun goes down. Even on those mid-90 days, the temperature at night will cool considerably so that opening windows and letting the outside air blow through the house is usually all that's needed. I used to just use a fan in my bedroom and I'd have to turn it off in the middle of the night because it actually got too cool. The marine influence will usually kick in even on the hottest of summer nights. It's not like where you are (or I am now) where it stays relatively warm all night. Here in the desert it sometimes will stay in the high 80 and low 90s all through the night. Not so in Seattle.

I moved to the desert southwest. I enjoy the brightness and the dryness. For me, it does wonders for my attitude and for my body phyically. I do suffer from S.A.D. and the Seattle winters just were difficult for me to handle. Where I am now is just the opposite of Seattle. Seattle will get some sun but we all know that overcast or rain are just a few days away. In the desert, we may get a day or two of rain but we know that the sun and clear skies will be back in abundance in a day or so. The other day, we had a day of rain where it felt just like Seattle ...a constant and steady rain for almost the whole day. The the next day was sunny and bright again. In Seattle you'll have a few days of sun and clear skies but the cloudy and rainy pattern will kick back in just a day or two; and sometimes quite suddenly. It's not uncommon to have a beautiful warm day in Seattle and then the next day will be cloudy and overcast just as if that nice sunny day never happened.

Again, some people don't mind Seattle's weather at all as witnessed on this forum. But for some of us, it just is difficult to take ...and I was born and raised in the Seattle area.

[scirocco22]

Originally Posted by allforcats

Ductwork: I take back that blanket, uninformative statement. If a home is heated by oil, there's ductwork because there's a furnace. If a home is heated by electricity, there's no need for ductwork because there's no furnace originating the heat. Lots of homes here are heated by electricity since electric power is inexpensive here. Sorry 'bout that.

Hmmm, I don't quite get all that, allforcats. I'm not an expert on heating and air conditioning so I'm sure I'll be corrected by those more in the know but most houses will have some sort of ductwork unless they have baseboard electric heat. An oil furnace will have ductwork. The house I grew up in had an oil furnace and it had ducts. Those houses that have electric furnaces will have ducts and those that have natural gas furnaces will have ducts.

It seems like most of the newer houses heat with natural gas because it is, I believe, considered more efficient. My neighbor converted to natural gas from an electric furnace because the cost to heat was getting so expensive. I also believe that a lot of houses that do have a/c use a heat pump system.

[LMB]

We have a 1950s house with hot water radiant baseboard heat with an oil boiler and NO ductwork. We love this set-up. IMO, it's not as drying or dusty as heated air being blown through ducts. We may switch our oil boiler to a more efficient natural gas boiler in the next few years, but at least we can use biodiesel oil for now which is supposedly more eco-friendly. No way would we would replace our water radiant heat though--it's very even and comfortable. For the summer, we have ceiling fans in most rooms and no need for AC. Being from FL, that's really hard to believe. We sure don't miss those $400 a month electric bills during the summer months! Not that heating oil is cheap, but so far it's a lot less than our AC bills in FL. On those TWO hot days here this past summer, we moved into our daylight basement guest apartment. It was at least 20 degrees cooler down there. We also have a year round spring-fed creek that meanders through our back yard, so if it gets too hot, a quick wade in the creek should take care of that.

Lynn

[allforcats]

Hahahahaha!!! LMB, you lost me at your first sentence! :-) That sounds so complicated I'd rather just wear lots of layers! Hahahahaha! Thank you for a great education in systems I've known nothing about. :-)

[allforcats]

FWIW, I've lived in 2 places in Seattle and 2 places in Bellevue, all with electric baseboard heating. In Montana I had electric forced air heating. I found the forced air to be noisy, but it WAS an older system. The EBB here I just love so much I could hug it! It's quiet and clean and warm and doesn't require monitoring or maintenance, other than vacuuming the gizmos - the heating elements against the wall.

[silas777]

Originally Posted by scirocco22

I moved to the desert southwest. I enjoy the brightness and the dryness. For me, it does wonders for my attitude and for my body phyically. I do suffer from S.A.D. and the Seattle winters just were difficult for me to handle. Where I am now is just the opposite of Seattle. Seattle will get some sun but we all know that overcast or rain are just a few days away. In the desert, we may get a day or two of rain but we know that the sun and clear skies will be back in abundance in a day or so. The other day, we had a day of rain where it felt just like Seattle ...a constant and steady rain for almost the whole day. The the next day was sunny and bright again. In Seattle you'll have a few days of sun and clear skies but the cloudy and rainy pattern will kick back in just a day or two; and sometimes quite suddenly. It's not uncommon to have a beautiful warm day in Seattle and then the next day will be cloudy and overcast just as if that nice sunny day never happened.

Again, some people don't mind Seattle's weather at all as witnessed on this forum. But for some of us, it just is difficult to take ...and I was born and raised in the Seattle area.

scirroco , your killing me here, right now we have about 1-2 inches of snow on the ground and it is pouring down raining about 38 degrees, remember that cold wet feeling? I always say I am ready to live somwhere where you look forward to rain!

[scirocco22]

Originally Posted by silas777

scirroco , your killing me here, right now we have about 1-2 inches of snow on the ground and it is pouring down raining about 38 degrees, remember that cold wet feeling? I always say I am ready to live somwhere where you look forward to rain!

Exactly, silas! The weather you're having right now is what I despised the most ...35-45 degrees and rain. It just goes right to your bones. I try to run daily and I just cringe at thinking about going out in the weather you guys are having right now and running for a few miles.

C'mon down to the desert.