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  #21  
Old 04/19/06, 02:38 AM
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We use the AC when sleeping becomes uncomfortable without it. It may cost a few bucks more, but central air is well worth it.

I've got a cardiac situation which makes it difficult to breath in the heat and humidity, so the AC helps tremendously.
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  #22  
Old 04/19/06, 05:28 AM
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Florida
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Quote:
Originally Posted by canfossi
Nope! Can't afford it and plus it hurts Mother Nature, so even if I could afford it I wouldn't use it for that reason alone. Chris
If I lived in Ontario, I probably wouldn't need one, either.
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  #23  
Old 04/19/06, 05:47 AM
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
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I can relate to the being extremely pregnant in Alabama in the summer. Alabama heat is different than Illinois heat though. My in-laws, when they lived in Alabama, lived in a mobile home-He is 75, she is 72-and they did not use air conditioning. We do and it about killed us, or so we thought, when they didn't when we were down there. I would like to get where we don't use it but the kids are so used to it and my husband works in a factory where it is about 110 during the summer and he likes to be cool at home. But I grew up with no a/c. We had a huge windown fan in our upstairs which pulled the air through the house and really cooled it off. We would also sit and eat ice chips.
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  #24  
Old 04/19/06, 06:17 AM
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
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It's the humidity I can't take. We lived without AC until about 5 years ago, but as I've gotten older, it's hard to bear.

We use window units (zone cooling), so we're not cooling rooms we don't use. Keep the thermostat set @ 80. I keep a close watch on the meter and stay within my budget.

There's just no way I'm going to cook in a 95 degree kitchen!
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  #25  
Old 04/19/06, 06:37 AM
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Ohio
Posts: 237
Ok, we're weird! :baby04:

Haven't used AC since moving from Calif. in '94.

When it's too hot or humid, we cook outside, go to the basement, if there is a breeze stay on the porch, put on a bathing suit and get out the hose! Most of all I don't do any physical stuff during the heat.

Sometimes we sleep in the family room instead of the upstairs bedroom, there seems to more breeze there.

It's all about what you're accustomed to, I suppose.
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  #26  
Old 04/19/06, 08:09 AM
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Gypsymama, you hit it right on with, "what you're accustomed to". AC was virtually unknown in homes until about fifty years ago. People prior to that time didn't realize they "couldn't survive" without AC (even in the humid southeast or in the desert southwest).

"What we are accustomed to" are the "necessities" that determine how we will spend our income and our time. The more "necessities", the less flexibility and adaptability we have in life (and thus the fewer choices). If we insist upon going from the air-conditioned house to the air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned store, we limit ourselves to those environments and forgo others.

Fortunately, my childhood was pre-air conditioning and pre-television -- so those are not "necessities" that shape or influence my life (do not and have not owned a TV set). If there are difficult times in our future, as seems altogether possible, no adjustment is required. It is no hardship to live without those things and many others that are usually deemed necessary.

Luxuries can become necessities in one generation. All it takes is for a person to be raised with them and to know nothing different.
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  #27  
Old 04/19/06, 08:18 AM
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: NW AR
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if i would of had an ac yesterday 95degrees outside 100+ inside i would have turned that baby on. But today i am content 53 outside absolutely wonderful.
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  #28  
Old 04/19/06, 08:35 AM
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Rannie, we're in the north end of Arkansas too. Wasn't the temperature drop NICE? It's a great day for building more fence.
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  #29  
Old 04/19/06, 08:41 AM
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Air conditioning

We have not had airconditioning for the past 20 years. Last fall we installled a small unit in the studio for guest and costomers. With the bad heart we will probably have to put one in the bedroom this summer. Alabama has 95 degrees and 100 percent humidity. But one thing if you don't have airconditioning the kids will get a job rather than move back in with you.
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  #30  
Old 04/19/06, 08:41 AM
A.T. Hagan
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Running water, flush toilets, and doctors became necessities too. It's a matter of how far back in technological advancement you want to go.
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  #31  
Old 04/19/06, 08:49 AM
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I use it in town, but never at my land in the mtns.
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  #32  
Old 04/19/06, 08:50 AM
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Louisiana
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We have never had AC. My husband works outside all day and I'm outside with the animals and in the garden. It just seems easier on us to go without. When I was working outside the home in AC it would feel twice as hot when I went out in the heat. We have been in the Kansas dry heat, and in the Louisiana humid heat both without AC. I'll take the humid heat myself, of course being from Louisiana I was born with gills anyway! LOL
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  #33  
Old 04/19/06, 08:55 AM
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
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Only if I have to.....
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  #34  
Old 04/19/06, 10:36 AM
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
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We live in the desert, and use a swamp cooler. Love it.
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  #35  
Old 04/19/06, 12:16 PM
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone 9b, Lake Harney, Central FL
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It triples our electric bill, so we don't use it unless we can't breathe. I'm gone all day anyway and live where there is a thunderstorm every afternoon in the summer, which cools things off for evening. We do have ceiling fans in every room and run those non-stop in warmer weather. What saves us is having covered porches along the east and west sides of the house. One is always shaded and we often get breezes from the east coast (about 18 miles away as the crow flies).

My kids whine a lot about me not running the A/C but when it is on, they tend not to go outside. If it isn't running, they drag out a kiddie pool and read a book while soaking or play on the Slip & Slide or in the sprinkler. Sometimes, they will even wash the car, just as an excuse to get wet.
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  #36  
Old 04/19/06, 12:34 PM
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
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Ac

I turn mine on only to take the hummidity out and then I shut it off.
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  #37  
Old 04/19/06, 01:13 PM
greenheart
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Ky
Posts: 1,668
our house gets a lot of shade, plus we made it of strawbales, unless we leave the doors open all day it stays a good 15° cooler all the time. We made a very simple summerkitchen under the big overhang on the northside so I am not heating up the house with cooking and canning. nevertheless we have a windowunit for the worst humidity. Our dehumidifier gives off extra heat so I do not like to use it. we do not need it during the day, but we turn it on for a short while late in the day to make sleeping easier, (since we are not spring chickens anymore).
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  #38  
Old 04/19/06, 01:50 PM
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Western WA
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Darn right I use air conditioning. Turn it on in the house to maintain a 70 degree inside temp, anything more is not acceptable. Turn it on in the car when outside temp shows 58 degrees. In fact we are burning up early this year. It's 64 degrees and it is only April!

I don't understand how people can live in the hot climates. I've spent my time in those states and am firmly convinced that the heat is a productivity killer. I'm an outside guy, and I like to be comfortable when I'm outside, not sweating up a storm pretending that I'm having a good time because the sun is shinning.
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  #39  
Old 04/19/06, 02:26 PM
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 5,240
We just got an air conditioner for our bedroom about 2 years ago. Before we did without, however, both my wife & I have inside jobs in air conditioned work places and you do get used to it. It makes it harder when you have to go outside to mow or whatever.

However, we run fans in the rest of the house, and if it's really hot, we retreat to the bedroom. I cannot stand a hot room when sleeping or trying to get to sleep so usually keep it set at about 68 - but it is only on when we are in the bedroom, or we turn it on shortly before going to bed. Air conditioning certainly makes "strenuous activities" in the bedroom alot more fun!
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  #40  
Old 04/19/06, 02:35 PM
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Norwood,Missouri
Posts: 647
we live 75 feet from the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks so we go from heater to a/c.. they honk their horns at our house to alert the crossing just up the street from us..

can stand the horn during the day but at night it is impossible with the windows open..

I have a hard time sleeping when hot..even cool for that matter but its better cool.


dale
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