Air conditioning in Seattle houses? How common? (new home, luxury)

[Garfunkle524]

Originally Posted by BellevueNative

It was 2009. My husband proposed to me on the hottest day on record, when I recall being a hot, sweaty mess. It was 110 degrees.

Haha what timing!

I moved here that summer and I remember everyone freaking out when the temperature was forecasted at 90. There were funny PSAs like "Don't let babies climb on open windows!!!" and the news was reporting how all the stores in Seattle sold out of box fans. It was as if Seattle had never been hot enough to force people to open their windows. I grew up in Colorado and summers can get miserably hot so I didn't mind too much, but I remember being bummed that Seattle was hotter than advertised.

Since then summers here have been pure heaven. We did have one summer where it rained pretty often but that year it was very nice well into October. No air conditioner needed since then. There are few homes here that have it.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by Garfunkle524

Haha what timing!

I moved here that summer and I remember everyone freaking out when the temperature was forecasted at 90. There were funny PSAs like "Don't let babies climb on open windows!!!" and the news was reporting how all the stores in Seattle sold out of box fans. It was as if Seattle had never been hot enough to force people to open their windows. I grew up in Colorado and summers can get miserably hot so I didn't mind too much, but I remember being bummed that Seattle was hotter than advertised.

Since then summers here have been pure heaven. We did have one summer where it rained pretty often but that year it was very nice well into October. No air conditioner needed since then. There are few homes here that have it.

That week was miserable. We have an elderly Cavalier King Charles and she could not take it, was panting constantly and couldn't drink enough water. We put one of the rolling air conditioners in a bedroom, closed the door so the cool was concentrated and she never moved from it but to go outside. It even melted the cover on the doorbell - that's just not right.

[i_love_autumn]

Originally Posted by Garfunkle524

Haha what timing!

I moved here that summer and I remember everyone freaking out when the temperature was forecasted at 90. There were funny PSAs like "Don't let babies climb on open windows!!!" and the news was reporting how all the stores in Seattle sold out of box fans. It was as if Seattle had never been hot enough to force people to open their windows. I grew up in Colorado and summers can get miserably hot so I didn't mind too much, but I remember being bummed that Seattle was hotter than advertised.

Since then summers here have been pure heaven. We did have one summer where it rained pretty often but that year it was very nice well into October. No air conditioner needed since then. There are few homes here that have it.

After living in Ohio since '68,with it's frigid winters and sweltering humid summers,a no AC needed climate sounds absolutely divine! With very few annual days of sun here,my only reservation is I am not sure I could take the overcast for 9 months.I think Seattle sounds like a really great city.Also considered Portland but will not compromise on avoiding ice storms which if posters are right are far rarer in Seattle.

So it's between Seattle and San Diego for my adult son and I.Think we may have to try renting a year in each place to really decide,LOL!

[shaylahc]

Originally Posted by angelenogirl

I don't understand how businesses don't even have A/C, or at least don't turn it on. We took the kids to an indoor arcade play place to escape the heat one day last summer and we almost died. I saw restaurants with their doors open yesterday...it was 91! The lack of air conditioning is just inhumane. If we buy the house we're in it's the first thing I'll do.

I agree! I moved here from NC in 2012, and the very first thing I noticed was no A/C anywhere. Everyone was like---YOU DON'T NEED A/C here. Um, I disagree. One of my very first purchases was a window A/C unit. WA has a double problem in that the windows in homes slide open side to side, not up and down, necessitating a portable indoor A/C, which are more expensive.

In NC it gets hot, but we have A/C. It's 74-76 degrees indoors, 24 hours a day. On Tuesday my son's room was 70 degrees in the morning, and 88 degrees at bedtime. I dislike the constant change inside. I am always either roasting or freezing.

If it gets over 75 indoors I kick on my A/C.

I also agree about businesses not having A/C. Even the movie theaters are hot.

[Jiff]

About the only people I know in W WA that looked for a home with AC or installed AC are people that had AC where they lived before. People from outside W WA. I'm a 60 yo native and have never considered getting AC, nor have almost all the other natives I know. I guess people from areas where AC is common aren't used to and don't like large temperature fluctuations in the warm zone inside their residences.

[CrockettandTubbs]

Air Conditioning in Seattle is about as common as Republicans in Seattle.

[jm31828]

As someone else mentioned, it does seem like more people who are getting AC (central AC, anyway) are transplants as opposed to locals. I think it's because many of us transplants are from places where it's a luxury that we considered to be standard or expected, to be able to set an indoor temp in the summer and never have the house get above that temp. As someone else mentioned, it was 70 in the morning and 88 in the afternoon in a bedroom- that is crazy, I would never want my house to be this way- 88 indoors, even if just for a portion of the day, is not livable.

We have used our central AC a LOT in the last couple of months, and almost every day for the last few weeks. We leave it set at 72 degrees, and sure for the first half of the day it doesn't come on- in fact we open windows in the morning to let as much cool air in as possible, but in the afternoon and early evening we have to shut the windows as it warms up too much and the AC has to run to keep the house at 72. After sunset we are finally able to open windows when the temperature is enough below our indoor temp to let a cool breeze in to cool off the house without the AC having to kick on.
So I would say this is the part of the country where AC would be used the least, it is still necessary.

[Gabbythecat]

We are natives, mid life. We had a heat pump installed when we built this house - provides inexpensive a/c. Most of the year we don't need cooling, but when we do need it, it's nice to have.

Last year we lived in an apartment - were there during the summer. It was *hot* in our upstairs bedrooms - over 100 in the evening. Yes, we covered the windows, etc., but it was still hot. So we got a window a/c unit. It was noisy and didn't provide a comfortable type of cooling, but it was better than trying to sleep in the heat.

I think many people are just fine without a/c, but it depends on what type of place you live in, and if it's an easy option.

[BATCAT]

Originally Posted by Jiff

About the only people I know in W WA that looked for a home with AC or installed AC are people that had AC where they lived before. People from outside W WA. I'm a 60 yo native and have never considered getting AC, nor have almost all the other natives I know. I guess people from areas where AC is common aren't used to and don't like large temperature fluctuations in the warm zone inside their residences.

I think your last sentence hits on something. Perhaps most natives are just used to the fluctuations. In places where AC is less of a luxury (like some places Texas or Florida) it's just so much more common, so I can see how an expectation of a more stable indoor temperature might exist.

I rather like the way that summer changes the lifestyle here- people whose homes get hot gather in the park or at the beach or go to movies, restaurants and bars expand their outdoor/deck seating and open the windows, and so on... there's just this lazy summer atmosphere in general. I'm not a "hot weather person" but I do like the change of pace, especially since the actual summer is so darn short here. When I go to places where AC is universal, there sometimes seems to be this kind of abandoned, barren quality to the spaces outside.

So I guess I enjoy opening up the windows and breaking the fans out, slowing down a bit. It feels perversely good to be sweaty and hot for a few weeks, because the rain and cold is never that far off.

[BATCAT]

I hope all of you are doing ok in this vicious summer heat. Remember to drink lots of fluids and stay in the shade.

Hang in there; we'll get through this.