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raccoon

(31,119 posts)
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 02:14 PM Jul 2019

My AC Died, and I spent about 20 hours without it.

This is in upstate South Carolina.

I’ve got it back now, thank goodness. And the temp is now cooled down inside to where it is livable.

I have decided that if for some reason I couldn’t have air-conditioning in the summer, due to carbon emissions or something, I will have to spend at least June, July, and August in Newfoundland.

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My AC Died, and I spent about 20 hours without it. (Original Post) raccoon Jul 2019 OP
I saw one of those shows about the 100 greatest inventions; AC/refrigeration was right at the top captain queeg Jul 2019 #1
AC allows human to live in the south Demovictory9 Jul 2019 #2
Amen! From someone who lived through the bad old days raccoon Jul 2019 #3
I still hear folks in the Deep South who lament AC misanthrope Jul 2019 #5
Well said. raccoon Jul 2019 #24
There was great art being made in the 1950s misanthrope Jul 2019 #31
+1 true but often overlooked in stereotypical views of 'the conformist 50s' appalachiablue Jul 2019 #39
I remember I was in the 4th grade before I rode in my first car that had an air conditioner. ooky Jul 2019 #35
My parents did the best they could by putting moonscape Jul 2019 #38
My maternal grandparents lived just outside of Phoenix in a MineralMan Jul 2019 #6
I've never heard of car swamp coolers for a car.... dixiegrrrrl Jul 2019 #12
In our car, it was always in the right rear window, which MineralMan Jul 2019 #13
We drove across the S. Utah desert in a 1959 Buick leftyladyfrommo Jul 2019 #29
It's been +/-50 years since I've seen one of those. yonder Jul 2019 #18
They still make them. MineralMan Jul 2019 #19
I wasn't clear. I meant the car coolers as shown in your photo. yonder Jul 2019 #20
Ah, no. I looked. MineralMan Jul 2019 #21
I often think of the women who settled our Southern area in early 1800's... dixiegrrrrl Jul 2019 #25
Our AC went out in April for 1 day here in Florida RockaFowler Jul 2019 #4
I am going to show my husband your post. Ohiogal Jul 2019 #7
I hear ya.. dixiegrrrrl Jul 2019 #14
Get a swamp cooler, portable, uses water and fan system. Low electricity draw. Will do a emmaverybo Jul 2019 #8
Yep, they're perfect. Also, just a fan blowing over ice can do the trick too! TheBlackAdder Jul 2019 #41
My gosh. Honestly did not know that. If it breaks down, I will replace with the fan and ice! NT emmaverybo Jul 2019 #43
Except they don't work well in high humidity climates JCMach1 Jul 2019 #44
My wife and I have survived hot humid weather with a small window air conditioner... hunter Jul 2019 #9
Had to make my own AC years ago. madamesilverspurs Jul 2019 #10
My new AC just arrived Marrah_Goodman Jul 2019 #11
A couple of weeks ago the a/c in our car went out. Grammy23 Jul 2019 #15
I feel your pain. SamKnause Jul 2019 #16
Hope your problem is taken care of tonight, Sam. nt raccoon Jul 2019 #22
Thanks raccoon. SamKnause Jul 2019 #23
I lived in Phoenix for awhile. A swamp cooler works great there. captain queeg Jul 2019 #17
I feel your pain, but please be grateful you aren't Ilsa Jul 2019 #26
Wonder how much widespread usage of AC has contributed to climate change? MichMan Jul 2019 #27
When you have emphysema, it makes a huge difference misanthrope Jul 2019 #32
I'm am at T+50 hours without my main AC - also upstate South Carolina DemoTex Jul 2019 #28
Worked outside, west Central Florida CDerekGo Jul 2019 #30
The Bay Area is cool that time of year. Blue_true Jul 2019 #33
The only time I ever got a cash advance on a credit card... BooScout Jul 2019 #34
We went 6 YEARS without AC in SoCal SoCalDem Jul 2019 #36
Same thing happened to us in July of 2015, but in Northern Virginia... LincolnRossiter Jul 2019 #37
Oh.. I do feel for ya! We had a wind sheer rip thru in early August 2014- went without power for Thekaspervote Jul 2019 #40
Here is a cooling NFLD video of Gros Morne National Park: applegrove Jul 2019 #42
Thanks. I'm sitting at my kitchen table, with the AC running and the fan blowing on me, raccoon Jul 2019 #45

captain queeg

(10,242 posts)
1. I saw one of those shows about the 100 greatest inventions; AC/refrigeration was right at the top
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 02:21 PM
Jul 2019

Much of the US would be considered barely habitable without it. We visited friends in Austin one summer and I asked what the earlier settlers did and how they tolerated it. She said that’s where the siesta came from, you couldn’t even really do work mid day. Of course all the AC takes a lot of electricity and helps fuel global warming.

raccoon

(31,119 posts)
3. Amen! From someone who lived through the bad old days
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 02:32 PM
Jul 2019

We had no AC in our homes. Or churches. Or schools.

When I was a kid, I remember only drugstores and movie theaters had it.

misanthrope

(7,428 posts)
5. I still hear folks in the Deep South who lament AC
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 02:40 PM
Jul 2019

"Things were so much better, communities stronger when everyone sat on the porch to cool down. Then the air conditioning pulled everyone inside and now we're all strangers."

Yep, strangers not exposed to mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and yellow fever. Strangers with other health conditions alleviated by climate control.

Nostalgia is so, so alluring because it tells such pretty lies.

raccoon

(31,119 posts)
24. Well said.
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 05:26 PM
Jul 2019
Nostalgia is so, so alluring because it tells such pretty lies.


I used to lament the demise of the fabulous 50's. Not any more. Now I think the music was the most fabulous thing about it.

misanthrope

(7,428 posts)
31. There was great art being made in the 1950s
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 07:05 PM
Jul 2019

Music: Pierre Boulez, Miles Davis, John Cage, Dave Brubeck, Olivier Messiaen, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, Clifford Brown

Painting: De Kooning, Kline, Pollock, Rothko, Calder, Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns

Literature: Goldman, Steinbeck, Salinger, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Bradbury, Ralph Ellison, Beckett, Camus, Asimov

Martha Graham was still doing work. So was Merce Cunningham.

The Mid Century Modern design that flowered in that period has proved far more timeless than its detractors ever hoped it would be.

ooky

(8,928 posts)
35. I remember I was in the 4th grade before I rode in my first car that had an air conditioner.
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 07:29 PM
Jul 2019

It belonged to a friend who's parents were much richer than mine, and I remember being very impressed. It was 1962, and around the same time we got our first window air conditioner for our house, which was not built with central air.

moonscape

(4,673 posts)
38. My parents did the best they could by putting
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 07:39 PM
Jul 2019

in an attic fan, though I'm not sure how much good it did.

Since I was a kid, I was either resilient or memories don't latch on to heat being as bad as I know it was.

One of the hottest I was though was on steaming day en route to college and Mom ran out of gas in the heart of SC. We sat on the side of the road for about an hour and I still remember that!

MineralMan

(146,329 posts)
6. My maternal grandparents lived just outside of Phoenix in a
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 02:42 PM
Jul 2019

small mining town. During the 50s, we used to visit them in the summer months. Back then, nobody had air conditioning. Cars didn't, either, so we used to drive there at night across the desert.

What my grandparents did have, though, was a swamp cooler in a window in the living room. It used the evaporation of water and a fan to provide cooler air indoors. A cloth loop was dipped into water at the bottom of the cooler, and then a pair of rollers operated by a hand crank let you move the wet cloth up in front of a fan.

In the low desert humidity, the swamp cooler would lower the temperature in the room from the 100+ degree temps outdoors to something in the 80s.

I remember sitting in a chair near the swamp cooler as a child of 8 or 9, rolling up the cloth every now and then to get the cooling started again. That was my job while we were there. At night, the temperature went down somewhat, so you could sleep, but it was still in the mid-80s.

And that's how I learned about the refrigeration cycle and evaporative cooling. We finally go a portable swamp cooler for our old 1952 Plymouth station wagon. It hung out of the rear side window. I got to operate that, too, when we traveled to the desert.



AC is wonderful!

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)
12. I've never heard of car swamp coolers for a car....
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 03:29 PM
Jul 2019

Spent a fair amount of my grade school life in E. Washington state desert temps,but as a kid you can shake that off pretty easily,esp. the dry heat.
What we appreciated were wing vents in the car windows.
Since us kids had to sit in back of early 1950's cars, driving in the summer desert heat was at least bearable when the wing windows focused cooler air into the car.

I miss those window options.

MineralMan

(146,329 posts)
13. In our car, it was always in the right rear window, which
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 03:35 PM
Jul 2019

was where I sad. It was my job to keep the cool air flowing. There was a string loop you pulled to pull the cloth through the water and then up so the air could flow through it. I guess I was the AC switch or something.

They were pretty common sights in desert areas in those days during the summer months. You had to refill the water reservoir, which we did each time we stopped for gas or something.

Where my grandparents lived, it often got up to 105-110 degrees.

leftyladyfrommo

(18,870 posts)
29. We drove across the S. Utah desert in a 1959 Buick
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 07:01 PM
Jul 2019

with big fins. It was 110. No AC. And the back window in those cars was big.

We fried.

Nights were nice.

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)
25. I often think of the women who settled our Southern area in early 1800's...
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 05:48 PM
Jul 2019

All those layers of clothing, made even worse by having to do cooking and kids and etc all day. And the summer air down here is heavy with humidity, physically weighing on one.

Even now I see a lot of pre-A/C style houses around town, where there is a separate small shed like house for the washer/dryer, in recognition of how the steamy laundry process could add to humidity and heat in the home.
In rural areas, it was common to have a separate kitchen area for hot months.

While one can wax nostalgic for shady front porches and lemonade, it really does not get cool at night until past midnight in the summer.
Early fall days are great for lower temps, little humidity and porch sitting, many houses now have a back deck as opposed to a wrap around front porch.

One surprise in the South is how green it is, because trees around houses are valuable, and very common in most towns.

RockaFowler

(7,429 posts)
4. Our AC went out in April for 1 day here in Florida
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 02:38 PM
Jul 2019

I haven't been that hot since the hurricanes of 2004

We had every fan on in the house and even brought extras in to help us sleep. I took a cold shower and still was hot.

Florida is no place to live without AC. All year round . . .

Ohiogal

(32,057 posts)
7. I am going to show my husband your post.
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 02:47 PM
Jul 2019

He claims you only need A/C in Florida for 3, maybe 4 months out of the year.

He went to college there for a year (Brevard Engineering School) back in the early 70s, so he is a self-proclaimed expert on how hot it gets in Florida year round.

I told him he and I could never live in Florida because I can barely stand summer in Ohio. I’ve been to Florida in July a number of times and thought it was brutal.

We fight over the air conditioning all summer long. It’s always too hot for me and too cold for him. I see no way the two of us could ever live in a southern state and not end up getting a divorce!

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)
14. I hear ya..
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 03:42 PM
Jul 2019


Mr.Dixie spends afternoons in his man cave/tool-shed outside,no a/c. It is tucked into a line of trees,
but still, gets hot. He manages to keep cool with fans, ice cooler of water,etc. as he putters around.
Then comes in at dinner time and complains the house is too cold, at 76 degrees, after all day in a heat index of 105.

Luckily, we have separate wings of the house, so I can crank up the window A/C in my bedroom at night,
and/or retreat to my den off that bedroom and stay cool with fans.

I think that is the secret to 20 some years of happy marriage down here in the South.

emmaverybo

(8,144 posts)
8. Get a swamp cooler, portable, uses water and fan system. Low electricity draw. Will do a
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 03:17 PM
Jul 2019

fair sized room. Yeah, not the whole house, but you could keep a couple on on different rooms.

hunter

(38,326 posts)
9. My wife and I have survived hot humid weather with a small window air conditioner...
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 03:18 PM
Jul 2019

... that was acting more as a dehumidifier than a cooler. Inside temps were only a few degrees reduced from outside, but the humidity was much lower.

At the time that was all the electricity we could afford.

It may not have been comfortable inside our small house shaded by trees but it wasn't sweat drenched misery.

I think if we ever again live in a place where air conditioning is a near-necessity I'd keep a small window air conditioner as a spare, even if we had central air conditioning. I might even buy a small generator powerful enough to run it.

We currently live in a place where nobody has air conditioners.



madamesilverspurs

(15,806 posts)
10. Had to make my own AC years ago.
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 03:19 PM
Jul 2019

There was just no money for the real thing. I was already in the habit of freezing water in 2 liter bottles, easy to toss into the cooler for car trips or fishing. Anyway, one hot summer day I put one of those frozen bottles into a dishpan and set it in front of my fan. It worked to cool the room I was in. (Also discovered, rather quickly, that a second dishpan had to be placed to catch the condensation drips.)

My current place comes with AC, but I don't use it. I generally have a fan going, the air movement is recommended for my COPD. So putting a chunk of ice in front of the fan doesn't add anything to my utility costs.

Anyway, just thought I'd share the idea for others whose budgets can't handle the cost of running AC.


.

Grammy23

(5,813 posts)
15. A couple of weeks ago the a/c in our car went out.
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 03:54 PM
Jul 2019

Temps in the summer daytime where we live easily get to 95 + with high humidity. Parts for the repair had to be ordered which took a few days to arrive so if we had errands, we had to get into a super heated car, even though we had a shiny window deflector in the front windshield. Even with the windows down to let some of the hot air out, the inside temp was 110. Brutal. The blower moved the air around but it was very hot air, so not much better.

One day we drove up to buy groceries, a trip that is maybe 5 minutes away. When we returned to our driveway, our clothes were soaked with sweat and we staggered into the cool, dark house. The a/c in the house was working just fine. I think I collapsed into my recliner after I fixed a giant size mug of ice water. I’m pretty sure a nap ensued and we just soaked up the cool air.

The a/c is fixed now, repaired by Cinderfella who is a retired vehicle mechanic and fleet manager. Air conditioning is one of those things we take for granted....in the south everywhere is air conditioned. Only when we have to spend time in an unair conditioned space do we get flashbacks to the “good old days”—which come to think of it might not have been so good after all.

If you are fortunate enough to have air conditioning, please remember how good it is not to have to suffer from extreme heat. And if there is a drive in your community to get a/c and fans for the elderly, give what you can to help out! Heat can kill and if it doesn’t kill you can make life mighty hard.

SamKnause

(13,110 posts)
16. I feel your pain.
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 03:55 PM
Jul 2019

I have 2 window air conditioners.

Both used.

My mother paid $60.00 for one, and a friend gave me the other one.

Last week the compressor stopped on the one my mother bought.

Today the one my friend gave me stopped working.

It is 83 degrees in the house and climbing.

It is 87 degrees outside with a heat index of 95 degrees.

Hopefully the situation will be remedied tonight.

A friend is going to pick up two new AC's for me tonight.

It will be money well spent.





SamKnause

(13,110 posts)
23. Thanks raccoon.
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 05:25 PM
Jul 2019

86 and climbing.

The humidity makes it so much worse.

I feel like getting in the refrigerator.

captain queeg

(10,242 posts)
17. I lived in Phoenix for awhile. A swamp cooler works great there.
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 04:12 PM
Jul 2019

With such low humidity I could keep my place pretty tolerable and they are so cheap to run I left it in all the time. Lived in Oklahoma for a little while and got one there. It didn’t work very well because as much as it looks like desert there are humid winds coming up from the gulf. So we had the worst of both, high temps and high humidity. Not to mention the scariest storms I’ve ever been thru.

We never had AC growing up. No one did. With the exception of my grandma down in Florida. All her kids chipped in and bought her a window unit. Back then it was huge but kept her tiny house cool enough. Even as kids we’d only go outside and play in the mornings and evenings. Otherwise we’d hide out inside unless we went to the beach. I guess if you’ve never had it you don’t think about it much but once I was older and got my first AC car I was sold.

Ilsa

(61,698 posts)
26. I feel your pain, but please be grateful you aren't
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 05:55 PM
Jul 2019

anywhere in south Texas, around San Antonio in central Texas, etc. Those high temps are in the high 90s or higher with heat indices over 100. I guess there are worse places than there, too.

I'm glad you have your AC back! I know I'd be miserable without it.

MichMan

(11,971 posts)
27. Wonder how much widespread usage of AC has contributed to climate change?
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 06:02 PM
Jul 2019

It isn't necessary to live in 68 degree sterile environments 24/7.

misanthrope

(7,428 posts)
32. When you have emphysema, it makes a huge difference
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 07:13 PM
Jul 2019

I can barely walk around inside without air conditioning during the summer.

DemoTex

(25,403 posts)
28. I'm am at T+50 hours without my main AC - also upstate South Carolina
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 06:17 PM
Jul 2019

They had to order a blower motor, so I won't get cold air until later in the week. My upstairs is unusable.

But the good news: the master bedroom and den are on a separate AC system. So at least I can sleep at night.

CDerekGo

(507 posts)
30. Worked outside, west Central Florida
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 07:01 PM
Jul 2019

Delivering mail door to door until last year. I don't care what dump says, yes, there is global warming. I had the Heat Stroke to prove it. No idea about use of A/C contributing to increase of Climate Change. I'd say all those years of use of coal for heat, for power generation, as well as use of fossil fuels for practically everything has done damage across the spectrum. Remember in the 70's when CFC's were used for Hairspray, but then found out to do damage to the Ozone? Nothing mentioned any longer about whether Ozone fully depleted or not.

Anyhow, reading article about if we as inhabitants of this planet, planted 1 billion trees, we could almost reverse the damage we've done to our Planet.

I'm not somewhere where I can plant a tree, but I do have over 20 different live plants growing for the Summer. When I return to my Florida home, I will be planting as many trees as I possibly can. Then when I sell and move to my next home, do the same.

Can all DU'rs with homes, make a promise to try and plant one tree this Summer?

Blue_true

(31,261 posts)
33. The Bay Area is cool that time of year.
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 07:14 PM
Jul 2019

As a matter of fact, if you plan to go out after 6pm, you would be well advised to take a sweater.

BooScout

(10,406 posts)
34. The only time I ever got a cash advance on a credit card...
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 07:22 PM
Jul 2019

...was when my AC died in Atlanta in the middle of mid 90s temps. I had to replace the central air unit and the company that installed the unit I wanted wouldn't take credit cards. After a couple of days without AC, I would have sold my soul for a new unit. It was hell on earth.

I honest to god don't remember being that miserable growing up in Atlanta with no air. I guess that must be why we kids liked to sleep on the screened porch so much though.


SoCalDem

(103,856 posts)
36. We went 6 YEARS without AC in SoCal
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 07:37 PM
Jul 2019

Our AC went out and we had no money to fix it, so we sweated We finally had to bite the bullet when the furnace motor quit. We had to use the fan only feature to circulate air..

And even though we lived in a desert area, it does get pretty cool at night, so it was a relief to finally put some blankets away..

Our boys were happy to have temperature control after so long without it..me too !

LincolnRossiter

(560 posts)
37. Same thing happened to us in July of 2015, but in Northern Virginia...
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 07:38 PM
Jul 2019

Well it didn't die, but the condenser was clogged and overflowing onto the basement floor whenever we ran it. Since the basement's finished, obviously this couldn't work. Home Warranty crooks couldn't get an HVAC servicer out for almost 24 hours.

My wife almost left me when I refused to relocate to a hotel. She's from Washington (State), I'm from South Louisiana and had spent the last couple years in the Middle East, so one of us was obviously better tooled to handle that particular ordeal.

Thekaspervote

(32,793 posts)
40. Oh.. I do feel for ya! We had a wind sheer rip thru in early August 2014- went without power for
Tue Jul 9, 2019, 07:48 PM
Jul 2019

Almost 3 days...ughh! Living alone at the time, I first thought I would go to my office and sleep, but police warned not to leave your property at night for fear of break ins. Temps were in the high 90s humidity 70% +

raccoon

(31,119 posts)
45. Thanks. I'm sitting at my kitchen table, with the AC running and the fan blowing on me,
Wed Jul 10, 2019, 06:58 AM
Jul 2019

I could imagine myself there.

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