C'mon, is the weather really that bad? (Seattle, Pacific: 2014, Home Depot)

[kfristoe]

Dancing girl-
Did you end up making the move? It's several years after your original post. I'm in southern califirnia and wanting to move near Seattle but have all the same questions as you. If so, how are you liking the weather?

[revelated]

Weather out here is dreary 1/5th of the year.

The rest of the year it's either too hot/sunny, breezy cool/sunny, or straight up cold/sunny.

In other words, there are temperature changes so you don't feel like you're living in a desert (Nevada, Arizona, California) or a icy tundra (Alaska, Wyoming) or a persistent muggy condition (Maine).

My only complaint, as a passive asthma sufferer, is the sudden shifts in temperature. It'll be 89 degrees one day and 59 degrees the next. Doesn't happen frequently, but it does, and my body can't stand it even after 2 years of living here.

The failure of builders to put heat pumps standard in homes is also a downer. Getting a furnace makes no sense in the world since it hardly gets so cold to justify the gas or electric expense, especially since you can just start a fire. Yet that's all people build out here, is heating. I can count 2 weeks where it got so cold as to need to turn on heat last year, yet I would say half the year was hot enough where air conditioning or heat pump cooling would have been preferred.

[NewbiePoster]

Originally Posted by revelated

Weather out here is dreary 1/5th of the year.

The rest of the year it's either too hot/sunny, breezy cool/sunny, or straight up cold/sunny.

In other words, there are temperature changes so you don't feel like you're living in a desert (Nevada, Arizona, California) or a icy tundra (Alaska, Wyoming) or a persistent muggy condition (Maine).

My only complaint, as a passive asthma sufferer, is the sudden shifts in temperature. It'll be 89 degrees one day and 59 degrees the next. Doesn't happen frequently, but it does, and my body can't stand it even after 2 years of living here.

The failure of builders to put heat pumps standard in homes is also a downer. Getting a furnace makes no sense in the world since it hardly gets so cold to justify the gas or electric expense, especially since you can just start a fire. Yet that's all people build out here, is heating. I can count 2 weeks where it got so cold as to need to turn on heat last year, yet I would say half the year was hot enough where air conditioning or heat pump cooling would have been preferred.

Dude, where do you live, LA? You don't need heat?? This thread is about Washington State. And it's 5 years old, too.

[xboxmas]

A lot of people that live here hate the heat and prefer the colder temperatures. You wouldn't believe how many people on my facebook feed were complaining about how "hot" its been and how they can't wait for the 50 degree temperatures and rain to come back.

[Botev1912]

in March, the same people will start complaining why it's raining and why it's not sunny. People just like to complain about the weather no matter where they live.

[revelated]

Originally Posted by NewbiePoster

Dude, where do you live, LA? You don't need heat?? This thread is about Washington State.

Let's be clear. Anything between 40-60 degrees does NOT need furnace heat. It needs proper insulation only.

Half the year the temperature fluctuates between 50 and 70 degrees. The inside of my house has not gone below 65 and that's attributed to its insulation. 65-70 degrees windy is the most comfortable.

During the half of the year where it goes up into the 70-90 range (or the few days it exceeds 90), a furnace is sitting useless. Too darn hot.

During the few days it goes below 50, you can start a fire and/or wrap a blanket and/or toss on a jacket and/or turn on a space heater and be just fine. Waste of gas to fire up a furnace over a few days of extreme cold.


On the other hand, a heat pump would provide ideal temperatures no matter what's going on outside. They should be standard, not furnaces. That way, whether you want it hot OR cold, you're covered. Not a situation where your unit sits idle 200 days out of the year.

Originally Posted by NewbiePoster

And it's 5 years old, too.

As I'm sure you've noticed the rather blurry banner at the bottom of threads informing you to still contribute to threads that would still be useful to newcomers, I'm going to pretend you're just being smarmy.

[jm31828]

Originally Posted by revelated

Let's be clear. Anything between 40-60 degrees does NOT need furnace heat. It needs proper insulation only.

Half the year the temperature fluctuates between 50 and 70 degrees. The inside of my house has not gone below 65 and that's attributed to its insulation. 65-70 degrees windy is the most comfortable.

During the half of the year where it goes up into the 70-90 range (or the few days it exceeds 90), a furnace is sitting useless. Too darn hot.

During the few days it goes below 50, you can start a fire and/or wrap a blanket and/or toss on a jacket and/or turn on a space heater and be just fine. Waste of gas to fire up a furnace over a few days of extreme cold.


On the other hand, a heat pump would provide ideal temperatures no matter what's going on outside. They should be standard, not furnaces. That way, whether you want it hot OR cold, you're covered. Not a situation where your unit sits idle 200 days out of the year.



As I'm sure you've noticed the rather blurry banner at the bottom of threads informing you to still contribute to threads that would still be useful to newcomers, I'm going to pretend you're just being smarmy.

That is absolutely untrue. Especially when temperatures are in the 40's or 50's- even a house with the best insulation will gradually cool down enough to need heat. After all, you need some kind of heat source to create continual heat for that insulation to keep inside the home! We like to keep our home cooler than most, keeping it about 63 degrees during the winter- and we have excellent insulation but our furnace still runs daily for the entire cool weather season- more than half of the year. I don't think anyone's furnace sits idle for 200 days out of the year!

[NewbiePoster]

Originally Posted by xboxmas

A lot of people that live here hate the heat and prefer the colder temperatures. You wouldn't believe how many people on my facebook feed were complaining about how "hot" its been and how they can't wait for the 50 degree temperatures and rain to come back.

I didn't enjoy the heat of Seattle summers. But I wouldn't pray for rain, or 50 degrees, either. There IS a happy medium, people! Spring was usually pretty nice, IME.

[PS90]

Originally Posted by revelated

Let's be clear. Anything between 40-60 degrees does NOT need furnace heat. It needs proper insulation only.

Half the year the temperature fluctuates between 50 and 70 degrees. The inside of my house has not gone below 65 and that's attributed to its insulation. 65-70 degrees windy is the most comfortable.

During the half of the year where it goes up into the 70-90 range (or the few days it exceeds 90), a furnace is sitting useless. Too darn hot.

During the few days it goes below 50, you can start a fire and/or wrap a blanket and/or toss on a jacket and/or turn on a space heater and be just fine. Waste of gas to fire up a furnace over a few days of extreme cold.


On the other hand, a heat pump would provide ideal temperatures no matter what's going on outside. They should be standard, not furnaces. That way, whether you want it hot OR cold, you're covered. Not a situation where your unit sits idle 200 days out of the year.



As I'm sure you've noticed the rather blurry banner at the bottom of threads informing you to still contribute to threads that would still be useful to newcomers, I'm going to pretend you're just being smarmy.

I agree with you to some extent.

I was just a little puzzled by the comment that heat pumps should be "standard". Who's standard? All building codes in this state allow for a choice of multiple different heating modalities. In general, furnaces have existed a lot longer than heat pumps have. So older homes aren't likely to be upgraded to a heat pump unless the homeowner is remodeling.

Just because your opinion is that heat pumps are the bee's knees, that doesn't mean everyone agrees. And that definitely doesn't mean that we need more bureaucracy dictating how we heat our homes.

[Haakon]

Originally Posted by revelated

As I'm sure you've noticed the rather blurry banner at the bottom of threads informing you to still contribute to threads that would still be useful to newcomers, I'm going to pretend you're just being smarmy.

Telling people Seattle is dreary 1/5th of the year is not useful, it's an outright lie or you don't know what dreary means.

How Many Sunny Days Do We Get Each Year? | News Archive | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

226 cloudy days
155 days of rain
58 sunny days A YEAR.

Most normal people consider no sun to be dreary.