The No A/C challenge! (moon, nights, places, world)

[LKJ1988]

My bedroom is 82f in the summer even with the main A/C on. I have to use a portable A/C to get it to 78f. Since i get very little rain and clouds thanks to a never ending west flow. With a west flow blowing off the nasty gulf water temps of 90+ it makes the dew points insane at 74 to 86f. My avg low in the summer is 77f to 84f since i am right on the gulf. None of you could live where i do without A/C. If the A/C goes out the house is 86f in a flash during the day. I have it worse than any of you living right on the nasty hot gulf. Only time the gulf cools me is in late winter thru march if the water temps are 55f to around 65f.

Once water temps warm past 82f it is over and 7 long months of pure hell is here to stay. And with a warming planet the gulf is warming up much faster than normal. Already 81f in the bay and near 80f in the gulf.

[jcp123]

In my house? Naw, thanks.

But, when I moved to Texas, I did quit using A/C in the car as a means to help acclimatize. Coming from the mild, dry Bay Area summers, we hadn’t had A/C in the house and the car I had during high school, etc. didn’t have A/C either, so I was already somewhat used to A/C-less living. That works pretty well. I do use it if I have to interview or something, or am carrying something a bit more temperature sensitive like a birthday cake...and found out my A/C is pretty weak, lol.

But my home is where I’d like to be comfortable. Although, we do set the home to 77-79 most of the summer.

[MrJester]

Originally Posted by jcp123

In my house? Naw, thanks.

But, when I moved to Texas, I did quit using A/C in the car as a means to help acclimatize. Coming from the mild, dry Bay Area summers, we hadn’t had A/C in the house and the car I had during high school, etc. didn’t have A/C either, so I was already somewhat used to A/C-less living. That works pretty well. I do use it if I have to interview or something, or am carrying something a bit more temperature sensitive like a birthday cake...and found out my A/C is pretty weak, lol.

But my home is where I’d like to be comfortable. Although, we do set the home to 77-79 most of the summer.

I fully acknowledge that most people would find an indoor temp of 82F indoors during the summer way too warm.

BUT what if? What if you were perfectly fine with 82F indoor temps during the summer? What if you set your thermostat to 82F all summer long in your house in East Texas? How often would your A/C turn on?

[Eman Resu VIII]

Challenge Accepted.

[sedimenjerry]

Our old house (built around 1990-91) had 2 A/C units. One for upstairs, one for downstairs. During the day, we'd leave the one upstairs on 84 or 85 and usually by noon it was 84 up there. Downstairs was kept at 78/79 with no one around and it would stay there.
Even on a normal night with a low around 70, the downstairs wouldn't cool off below what the thermostat was set at. We might have it at 76/77 in the evening, go to bed and set it a couple degrees higher and the ambient temp inside would increase. We could have opened the windows, but that would have let all the humidity in. A/C in the south is often just as much about decreasing the humidity inside as it is about decreasing the air temp.

So in short, even in Atlanta it would still kick on a lot at 82. During the day definitely. Southern homes traditionally (not the grand plantation homes) weren't built to be well insulated. Shotgun houses and dogtrot houses were designed specifically with summer heat in mind by making it as easy as possible to open up and get a draft. Many modern suburban houses weren't quite built with the same draftiness in mind, but they were built cheap and without great insulation.

FWIW, my mom grew up in Atlanta without A/C. She was "fine" without, but she says now she could never go back to having no A/C. Once you get used to it, why go without.

[Formerly Known As Twenty]

Originally Posted by MrJester

As summer comes up, I challenge everyone across this forum with a well-insulated, well-shaded home to go without A/C or swamp coolers the entire summer!

So:

1. Set your thermostats to 84 degrees. Remember that. 84 degrees. See if your house temp ever goes ABOVE 84 degrees. And how OFTEN.
2. Wear shorts and T-shirts inside your house and go barefoot. Don't walk around in a business suit and then complain that it's too hot!
3. Sleep WITHOUT a blanket and open the windows when the overnight temps will drop below 84 degrees. I just love it when people complain, "it's too hot tonight! I can't sleep!" and they're wearing sweatpants and getting a blanket. Come on, wear shorts and a t shirt and sleep without a blanket.

I am in Oklahoma City and this summer, I'll be setting my thermostat to 84 degrees. I'll see how often the A/C actually kicks on.

I suspect that across the vast majority of this country (well, probably not Phoenix), you CAN go through 90% or more summer days without A/C if you will set your thermostat at 84 degrees.

So has anyone out there set gone through the entire summer comfortably setting their thermostat at 82-84 degrees and seldom having to use the A/C? Where were you? I want to hear people maybe in Atlanta and Coastal Florida say that yes, they've done it!

I grew up without air conditioning in Ohio and spent my child summers on an island on the far reaches of the Outer Banks in a trailer without air conditioning and did quite nicely on all but the hottest days of summer. There were a lot of trees around both houses, so that helped.

That being said, there were times that even sleeping in the nude didn't take the edge off of all of that heat and humidity in both Ohio and in North Carolina. You'd step out of a cool shower only to immediately begin sweating once more. Back then, I wore a lot of loose sundresses in order to stay cool and comfortable. I still do this as it's the next best thing to running around the house and in public naked.

In my current home, I don't have central A.C. The house stays comfortable enough for me on most summer days as it's pretty well-insulated for an older house and gets a good cross breeze with the windows open, but the window units that I use as needed are usually set at 75-76 degrees. No way that I'm voluntarily committing to keeping my thermostats voluntarily set nearly ten degrees higher than that. As I keep them turned off when I'm not at home, when I turn them on in the evening at the end of an especially warm day, they turn on immediately, so the house must be hitting above my set temperature. Around here (western Pennsylvania), it really is the humidity more than the heat that "gets" you.

[user491]

This challenge sounds horrible. My upstairs A/C went out last summer, and we went about a month before getting it fixed. The worst part is that even if you open the windows, it gets really humid at night and my floors actually felt slightly wet from moisture when I would wake up.

My dog had to sleep downstairs in the A/C because he couldn’t take the heat. I think the hottest it got upstairs was about 84F.



EDIT: I keep my upstairs A/C on 75F during the day and 72F at night. My downstairs A/C stays on 73F or 74F all the time.

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by user491

This challenge sounds horrible. My upstairs A/C went out last summer, and we went about a month before getting it fixed. The worst part is that even if you open the windows, it gets really humid at night and my floors actually felt slightly wet from moisture when I would wake up.

My dog had to sleep downstairs in the A/C because he couldn’t take the heat. I think the hottest it got upstairs was about 84F.

This is another reason to have a portable A/C for my bedroom if the main A/C goes out i got a back up. No one could live where i do without A/C at nite.

[fluffydelusions]

I don't have an AC so sure why do I win?

[Dave_n_Tenn]

Originally Posted by MrJester

I fully acknowledge that most people would find an indoor temp of 82F far too warm in the summer.

BUT my question is, IF you are FINE with setting your thermostat to 82F in the summer in a well-insulated house in Florida, AND you use portable fans, AND you wear shorts and T-shirts inside, sleep without a blanket, etc, HOW often would your thermostat turn on?

It turns on often enough to keep the humidity around 50%, although I never timed the cycles. My night time temperature setting is 78*F and daytime is 80*F. The night time is set lower becasue there is no radiant heating from the sun and wouldn't tun much at 80*F.

My home is well shaded and surrounded by numerous trees. My home has a metal roof (galvalume, not painted) has R-38 in the ceiling and R-19 in the walls, dual pane windows so fairly well insulated. During mid day, in summer... you can cook eggs in the attic. 120*F+

I know the home well since I built it myself in the early 90's... took me 2 years.