Running central a/c is costing about $30-$40 a month

[Kaleva]

It's worth every penny.

I installed the 2 ton unit early last summer myself. Total cost for the a/c package, electrical and zone damper was about $1800.

[snowybirdie]

1. It's especially useful

if anyone in the house had breathing problems. It's mandatory!

[MontanaMama]

2. I put AC in my house a few years ago.

Don’t have to use it often but it’s so nice to have especially during wildfire season when the air is full of smoke.

[Cracklin Charlie]

3. My air conditioner went out Friday.

It is unpleasant.

[LisaL]

9. Depending on where you live, it could be deadly.

[Cracklin Charlie]

10. We got lucky.

Only about 90 degrees, but breezy, with low humidity and fairly cool nights.

Not ideal, but tolerable. Call has been placed for service tomorrow.

[hlthe2b]

4. I thus far have made it through without turning it on. Even through the upper 90s and a few 100 days

I have central air, but it more than doubled my bill a few years ago, so I got a portable unit just for the bedroom. Then I found that since the majority of my windows face west, I could open windows overnight, let the house cool off with overhead and lots of "spot" fans, then shut all the blinds/curtains during the day. The hottest days I slept downstairs.

I'm no foe of central AC and admittedly I could NEVER have done this in the humid South, but with a cooler than normal spring, the arrival of these heatwaves have made me want to see if I could make it without. Of course, I sleep with a mini cooler fool of cold gel packs for my pillow, which helps too and I have an interior windowless bathroom that I let my doggy girl go into if she gets hot during the day (it seems to stay at least 10 degrees cooler). or I put her in the partially finished basement, which is even cooler.

I hate intense heat. I'll take my occasional winter snow blasts any day over that.


Of course, if we get smoke from wildfires in the adjacent foothills/mountains again, my plans will have to change.

[femmocrat]

5. It's hard to remember life without AC.

We never had it (or needed it) until that dreadful summer of 1988 (?) when it was over 100 degrees for weeks at a time. Seems to be the new normal now.

[Codeine]

6. We had a very mild spring

which allowed me to skip using the AC for two full months longer than I normally would have, but then the triple digits came down like a hammer and it’s back to nonstop AC probably through October.

[MichMan]

7. If you think combating climate change is someone else's concern...

Unless you only use solar power

[Kaleva]

11. You have my permission to combat climate change.

Go get 'em!

[Dr Hobbitstein]

8. I live in FL. Pretty much run our A/C year round.

No way around it unless we want to sweat all day.