Who grew up w/o A/C at home??? (Houston: house, wedding)

[hellpaso]

my parents got their first room air conditioner when my mama was expecting me. but we never had air conditioning at school. you'd walk by the teachers' lounge and maybe get hit with a burst of cold air and cigarette smoke if they opened the door. nothing but a big ol' fan in the classroom. (always aimed at the teacher).

[High_Plains_Retired]

I grew up on a farm in deep east Texas in the 1960s. Our A/C was an open window at the head of the bed and maybe an electric fan if you could wrestle it out of the hands of your brothers and sisters. Except for a period of time when I lived in eastern Maryland, I still have never used refrigerated air conditioning. My home in Albuquerque and in west Texas both have swamp cooling. Swamp cooling, in drier climates where its efficient, is far less expensive than refrigerated air.

The current administration in Albuquerque recommends that homeowners switch over to refrigerated air to save water but it it my belief that the huge power plant it would take to drive all those A/C compressors and fans would be far worse for the environment. For homeowners, the recommendation is an expensive one both in equipment and monthly operating costs.

[loves2read]

hellpaso--been there, done that 2--

HighPlains--had aunt/uncle who lived in El Paso with that system--think your city/area is caught in the crosshairs of problem that will be felt by more and more people in the southwest especially--the waining water supply...no easy way out for either choice

[I LOVE NORTH CAROLINA]

I grew up with AC, but we didn't have it in school. There isn't a month that I don't use my AC at least a few times, even in winter. If I could afford it I'd keep my AC on least 72 and the stores can never be too cold for me

[Marlow]

We had window unit AC's when I was a kid. I remember when we'd get a watermelon, we'd put it in front of the AC to cool it off. I guess it was too big for the refrigerator.

No AC in school til we got to high school. It was the greatest thing to sit out on the breezeway between classes--nothing felt better.

[Rose Red]

I grew up in MA. Summers were extremely humid and we didn't have A/C. We used to have the fan going on us and wet a towel to put under our necks. Fun times!

[JamesAbilene]

I grew up in the Panhandle. We had NO air conditioner or fans of any kind when I was a kid. Schools also had no air. Fortunately, nights cool off up there, and the days are dry. I don't care what anyone says, dry is better than humid at the same temperature.

When I was in the fifth grade we got a really small swamp cooler. It barely cooled one room. We all stripped off as much as we could and sat as close to it as we could.

We finally got a squirrel cage 5500 CFM swamp cooler when I was in high school. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

Today, everything is air conditioned, and I would not live without it. My wife and I moved to a very small condo so that, hopefully, we can continue running air in our retirement. If we can't, we will move as far north as possible.

[Rocket Power]

I've only been without air conditioning for 2 weeks (that and electricity). This was after Hurricane Rita. I took lots of cold showers during those two weeks.

[lilypad]

We grew up mostly in San Angelo/Abilene area and usually only had either a water cooler or A/C unit in the living room. And had a fan also to get the air to the back of the house. In summer we would all sleep in the living room. Lived a few years also in Phoenix and only had a water cooler in the window. We would sleep with wet towels on us! Also remember no A/C in the schools, the windows were wide open in hot weather. Back then we also had PE class and remember being very hot on the asphalt and playround.

[doejj]

I lived without A/C till age 25.

After we installed A/C in every bedroom & the LR,I could not live without it.

A/C is really one of the symbols of our civilisation...