View Full Version : It's so hot today!
I live in the Mid-Atlantic. I've been looking @ weather.com and it looks like we got up to 104 today. I looked later and it was down to 101 and I'm thinking "yea! It's cooling down" only to just look now and it's back up to 103. I've lived here nearly all my life and I can't ever remember a day in June when it was this hot and we're looking at 2 more coming before it cools down at all.
My central AC died last year and I don't use AC that much so I thought I'd try and have 2 window units installed in my casement windows instead (save yourself the trouble, it doesn't work.) Yesterday, I got a portable AC to the tune of $400. thinking that would take the edge off my entire house and dry it off some. Think again. I've closed off all but 3 rooms and it's still 86 degrees in here (which I guess is a vast improvement over the 104 outside.)
Anyway, I didn't want to purchase a new central unit and I'm going to endure this heat THIS year with this crappy portable but not next year. I will get a new unit for next summer. The guys who came last year to try CPR on my old unit said all I needed was the outdoor unit. I have no idea how much this would cost but I think it will be considerably cheaper than the 30k total everything my neighbor just put into his house the year before last. I'm just going to have to save money this year from each paycheck to pay for this. Not fun.
Anyone go through this lately who can give me some ballpark ideas how much this would cost?
All this and I'm sure this is just coincidence, right? Eight of past 10 summers (or something like that) were hottest on record but that doesn't mean climate change is real, right? It's all cyclical and not human-influenced, right? Well that's what I heard!
ApatheticNoMore
6-29-12, 4:19pm
Limiting the area you inhabit to one or two rooms in the house is sensible anyway. Expecting to change the temperature in the whole house is probably not that realistic in terms of resources to begin with.
I can't even imagine those temperatures (well yes I can, it can get to those temps here and may well before summer is out - what I can't imagine is maybe that PLUS humidy as opposed to that and dry as a bone).
All this and I'm sure this is just coincidence, right? Eight of past 10 summers (or something like that) were hottest on record but that doesn't mean climate change is real, right? It's all cyclical and not human-influenced, right? Well that's what I heard!
Nah a lot of people will agree it's in overwhelming likelihood human induced climate change. But what happened to the submit in Rio? Went nowhere, couldn't even get rid of global fossil fuel subsidies (subsidies alone account for a significant amount of carbon use - really was one of the major issues). It's a presidential campaign, both sides will very carefully avoid all mention of climate change. Never mind the wildfire outside your door, the economy is the only thing that matters ... WAKE UP AND SMELL THE FORREST FIRE and stop falling for this people - any economy we get needs to try for sustainability!!! The Obama administration has just approved drilling in the arctic (wtf!!!). The gulf has NEVER recovered from the gulf oil spill, several generations of shrimp (short lifespans), and they are still coming out mutated. Entire species has disappeared. BP runs ads that everything is good again in the gulf (baldfaced lies of course) and soon after the spill they get approved for 3 more oil rigs. Disgust .... treason to the human race is what our so called leaders are (of course sometimes the followers are not much better :)).
We had our furnace and AC replaced several years ago since the air changer had a fatal flaw. We found out that for our area in the Midwest, late Feb and early March were the best times since the installers were least busy and we got a great deal. I think around $4000 for the whole thing and it works wonderfully. We got savings immediately.
We did not get the most efficient since the cost increase was so huge that there was little energy savings over our model a 95% efficient model and it vents with just a plastic pipe out the wall.
Our model is a Trane and the reviews were very good.
This is my first summer in Richmond, VA and so far I've experienced a tornado and 105 degree heat w/ 80%+ humidity. So far I'm not too impressed w/ the weather!!!
We are still waiting for summer in the Sierras. The highs have been in the 60s to low 70s. We have had to have a fire in our wood burning the last couple of nights.
ToomuchStuff
6-30-12, 1:34pm
There is a lot in the calculation of cooling a house from scratch. However what your trying to replace, if only the outside unit, is the condenser, the refrigerant (when disconnecting and reconnecting) and labor. You need to know what size is your house a/c. If you compare it to the size of your $400 room a/c, you will laugh at realizing why you thought a lawn mower engine, could drive your car just as well (to give a comparison).
There is a lot in the calculation of cooling a house from scratch. However what your trying to replace, if only the outside unit, is the condenser, the refrigerant (when disconnecting and reconnecting) and labor. You need to know what size is your house a/c. If you compare it to the size of your $400 room a/c, you will laugh at realizing why you thought a lawn mower engine, could drive your car just as well (to give a comparison).
Yeah, exactly. I figured out how utterly ineffective this portable thing is. It can do ONE room only (not 500 sq feet as advertised on the box) with the door closed.
Apatheticnomore--Yeah, limiting the room is an idea but it is very depressing to be stuck in 2 rooms all day long. (As a schoolteacher, I'm home during the summer much of the time.)
Nella: How'd you like those storms last night? I have NEVER seen anything like that in JUNE here. I thought for certain I was going to lose one of my oaks--and I did! One of them snapped off at the top. Then we lost the electricity. That was a frightening storm. I went to Lowe's this morning and bought a generator to the tune of 7 hundred bucks. There was no way I was sitting in 105 with no fans and no AC and a dog and cat (who has a history of overheating.) Yeah, I only ran the generator for about 5 hours but I am SO GLAD I PURCHASED IT! This crummy violent, extreme weather is only going to become more frequent and extreme, not less. I just want to be prepared. I was laying in bed last night thinking "what the hell am I going to do tomorrow when it gets hot?" Then I just decided to bite the bullet and get the generator.
This has been a VERY stressful 36 hours. I feel so sorry for so many millions who are still without power and stifling!
This crummy violent, extreme weather is only going to become more frequent and extreme
That is the scary part...
When our AC central heat/air unit went out last summer in the heat wave - it was a 6 week wait for a new one. Around $6,500.00 total.
Our upstairs is a finished attic and has it's own unit like in a hotel (heat/air) but in the hottest of weather it can't cool the whole 500 sq ft (2 rooms). We bought one of the $600 portable units last year (because of the 6 week wait) and it did a good job of keeping our downstairs cool in the living room, kitchen, hall. We'd keep the bedroom doors, laundry room, bathroom closed during the day.
Near the end of that units 90 day warrenty it started making a noise so we took it back to Home Depo expecting a swap but they just refunded my credit card since they didn't have any more units (it was September by then).
We got a $300 portable one the other day to put in my son's room and it's made an incredible difference. He keeps his door open to the bigger room where the heat/air hotel like unit is and with both things pushing air towards each other it is finally nice.
Nella: How'd you like those storms last night? I have NEVER seen anything like that in JUNE here. I think I may be the only person in Richmond who does have power! When I got out today I noticed that many blocks around where I live had no power. Yet the appartment I'm in hasn't lost power at all. Grateful, but I'm a bit perplexed. And, as of 9:30 p.m. Richmond time, here come the stores - again!!
Yeah, fun huh? At least tonight there wasn't much wind and only rain and thunder/lightening.
I was looking @ the channel 12's thing they were streaming about the storms tonight. They said it's going to be like this every night this week.
We have been going through this here in CO for a while - over a hundred for days in a row, wind, fire, lightning.... Insane. High 90's here all week again. We're wondering if this is going to be our regular summer weather from now on, or worse?
Of course we don't have central air at this elevation -- who's supposed to need it? pshaw --- but we have an attic fan, and that's been a godsend. Also, choosing a house that had a lower level partially below ground. But if I had to do central air I'm not sure where I'd start. Good advice here above me.
It's not so bad in Santa Fe -- it's been getting into the mid-nineties, but we've had no rain, so the house hasn't been cooling down. It's still in the low eighties inside our bedroom in the morning. I've been sleeping out on the back porch.
The newspaper said there's been a run on swamp coolers at the local hardware store. I'm too attached to $15 electrical bills in the summer to start down that rabbit hole. Plus, as a global warming believer, I find it ironic that the pollution from all that energy used to cool houses is one of the things driving global temperatures up.
I remember growing up in South Carolina without air conditioning. It would be so hot at night that I literally couldn't sleep. The central air came along when I was still young, and now, I'm not sure there are many places in the Southeast without it. It's now unimaginable. Any simple livers in a hot, humid area still relying on open windows and sleeping porches? We had been thinking about moving to Chapel Hill in North Carolina at one point, and we told the real estate agent that we wanted a house without air conditioning, and he acted like we were crazy. He literally said that there was no such thing. My family that is still back east, however, complains about electrical bills that run into the hundreds of dollars. That just doesn't seem sustainable. (And I think we're going to stick with New Mexico).
last Fall we had to replace our heat/ac unit. For this house 1300-1400 sq ft, around $3600 for the installer recommended system. Not a big name brand like Trane, but he said he had used the same for his own house a few months before. Doing fine so far and we have seen some savings.
we told the real estate agent that we wanted a house without air conditioning, and he acted like we were crazy. He literally said that there was no such thing.
Of course, just because the air conditioning is there doesn't mean you have to use it. However, its ubiquity has altered residential design -- most houses are no longer designed for cross-ventilation; most landscapes don't pay that much attention to house siting or shade. It's almost its own self-fulfilling cycle.
Pcooley: I don't know when you grew up in the South but I can tell you the weather is worse than it used to be. I am a child of the 70's and while it was hot, we did without air conditioning. We were in a brick house with window fans and lots of trees and lots of ventilation. But the weather I was describing in my OP is something we NEVER saw here. Friday was JUNE 29th and it was 104 and the dew point was in the 70's. Not to knock the 110 Death Valley inhabitants but you all have no clue (unless you've experienced it) what it's like to have heat and that kind of humidity. We can't get enough solar energy on the worst days to get that kind of high because there is so much water vapor in the air there aren't enough daylight hours to raise the temperature bc the water vapor slows it down so much. If you're in the Caribbean and get that kind of heat and humidity at least you have those cooling ocean breezes. But the hotter and more humid it gets here the less the wind blows. While I love the East Coast, if I were to choose to move here, I'd move to the mountains where there's an edge off the heat rather than the Piedmont.
Puglogic: I know that putting central air in a home that hasn't had it is VERY EXPENSIVE because you have to put in two units (one indoor and one outdoor) and all that ductwork. Replacing the just the cooling unit is a lot less expensive.
Steve: And of course when building, it's a whole lot cheaper to plow down every tree before putting the house up and then sticking the trees in after the fact.
In the desert SW, such as Phoenix and Tucson, central air is required. I have no idea how much it would cost for duct work and the like, since ALL houses are manufactured with it. However, a unit will cost $3000-10,000 depending on model, space that it will cool, etc. We just had to spend $1500 for our rental there b/c the condenser went out. The thing is <10 years old and we used it to the degree it was 85F during the day and 82F at night, which we empirically tested as the highest we could stand. Here in N CO, we have a swamp cooler that blows right into the master bedroom and so far has been all we need, even when the high is 105F. We also put extra insulation in, so that it stays a good 20F cooler in the house even w/o swamp cooling, if we vent the air during the night. The only problem we've had with this setup so far is being close enough to the fires (~20 mi) that it got too smoky to use the swamp cooler when the wind was unfavorable. That seems to be over, thankfully, and the cooling is fine.
As for options to help with heat besides A/C:
-ceiling fans
-wearing damp cotton
-sun shades on esp west facing windows
Without electricity it's really difficult the way homes are built nowadays. An older home in the deep south will have really high ceilings to let the hot air sit up there, and be designed so that heat from the kitchen doesn't flow into the rest of the house. Also, large old trees shade the whole place, esp in the summer. I think people used to acclimate as well: none of this A/C at the office then car, but not at home, which means you just got used to it and you dressed for it. Cotton is worn for a reason in many hot parts of the world!
In the desert SW, such as Phoenix and Tucson, central air is required.
Depends on your technology, I suppose.
I've had no trouble in the desert SW living in places like this:
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/photos-NM-Misc/AcomaPueblo.jpg
Ugh- it's going to hit 100 today (records will be broken again). I live in the northern US- it's not supposed to get this hot here. I've held off on turning on the AC (no central air- just window units), but I think I'm going to pretty soon. All the fans are now blowing hot air around the house.
Depends on your technology, I suppose.
I've had no trouble in the desert SW living in places like this:
Well, yeah. The Hohokams and such didn't even know what electricity was, much less A/C, and they were fine. But they also didn't cut down all their trees and pave over the whole area. They wore clothes appropriate to the area, built shelters designed to cool, moved to cooler areas in the heat of summer, etc. People in the Middle East have been dealing with heat for an even longer time, and somehow managed. But they paid attention to their surroundings and built shelters that worked with them, something the Western world has spectacularly failed to do. It's possible, and maybe even likely, that there will come a time when such stubbornness is made to give way to a more reasonable approach than having every house in every climate look the same.
Living on Canada's west coast in a rain forest, we are having one of the hottest summers this year in my experience.
I'm almost wishing for some rain to cool things down, but the forecast is for more hot weather for the next week or so.
Nobody living here has air conditioning, but I do have fans in each of my rooms to help me cool down. We are simply not acclimatized to hot weather, but here I am sitting in my den with a fan on to cool me down...it feels good too!
Simpler at Fifty
7-15-12, 12:37pm
We are having our hottest summer too. We do have air conditioning thank goodness. It would be unbearable. DH is happy he is not working in the mill where it would get 110-115. Our lawns look like a hay field. The garden is suffering. People are very cranky. I would not want to have an outside job right now. Bless the city workers, the concrete street layers, the mail carriers and the construction crews just to name a few.
Square Peg
7-15-12, 11:19pm
lizii, what a crazy weather pattern. We are slightly inland in the PNW of the US, just south of Spokane and it has been an incredibly cold summer. We had one week of hot and that is it. I think it has been the same in the Seattle area.
Living on Canada's west coast in a rain forest, we are having one of the hottest summers this year in my experience.
I'm almost wishing for some rain to cool things down, but the forecast is for more hot weather for the next week or so.
Nobody living here has air conditioning, but I do have fans in each of my rooms to help me cool down. We are simply not acclimatized to hot weather, but here I am sitting in my den with a fan on to cool me down...it feels good too!
Actually, the very evening I posted this, I woke up in the early morning today by a thunder and lightning storm! It was pouring rain, so I stayed in bed listening to the thunder which sounded like it was directly over my building. I love thunder storms, and especially this one. So today I've been cool again to my great relief!
No fans needed today!
It was 102* here yesterday, supposed to be 101* today. I looked at the 10 day forecast and the coolest day on the list says 96*. Brrrrrrr. More concerning is that the biggest chance of rain in the next 10 days is only 20%. No big systems coming in that will give us anything more than a shower. We need quite a bit more than that. Our Governor just shut down farmers who irrigate from surface sources (rivers and lakes). Here we go...
We have been relatively spared the worst of the heat and humidity up here in Mass. We have had numerous days over 90 since June. We came out of winter with no snow and mild temperatures. My lawn died in March. We got decent amount of rains and cool temps through May. However, we haven't had significant rain for weeks. The lawn has given up again. My rhododendrums are parched and shriveled. I have been conserving waste water and using that to water my veggies, flowers and berries. The blackberries only need one or two more weeks to be ready. It took three years to get to this stage, I am not losing them if I can help it.
My guess is lots of folks on wells are going dry.
My living room was 84 at around 9 pm last night. I have a decent ceiling fan and live out in the countryside enough that we have cooled off every night. I employ the windows open overnight, close during day and no oven cooking. A cool tub bath last thing before bed helps too. It's okay.
Bunnys, I feel your pain. I have compassion for all those folks, animals, birds, plants and more struggling through this wicked summer.
ApatheticNoMore
7-17-12, 1:55pm
It rained here in July, and might again, that's just insane :0!
It's 100 degrees here in Ann Arbor right now. It's so hot I actually feel kind of queasy...thank god I have to go to work in a little while. If I get overheated there, I can walk into the giant walk-in freezer.
I'm trying to choke down some barely steamed plain green and yellow beans for sustainance, and yes, I am TRYING to drink lots of water but it is making me feel kind of icky.
It's 100 degrees here in Ann Arbor right now. It's so hot I actually feel kind of queasy...thank god I have to go to work in a little while. If I get overheated there, I can walk into the giant walk-in freezer.
I'm trying to choke down some barely steamed plain green and yellow beans for sustainance, and yes, I am TRYING to drink lots of water but it is making me feel kind of icky.
We're not there this year, but I'm trying to think cooling thoughts for all my friends setting up for the Ann Arbor art shows this week.
I am a full-time university student in Toronto Ontario Canada and today is 36 degrees which is so hot the City of Toronto has a heat alert today. I don't have air condition in my one bedroom apartment and my two floor fans do not give any relief. Even the pool water is too hot to swim in. Hopefully the rest of the week will be cooler.
goldensmom
7-17-12, 3:55pm
It's 104 here and I'm in the air conditioned kitchen preparing dinner and watching the guys in the field baling straw. I will NEVER complain about being a girl. The dogs are in the house too, they're girl dogs.
One thing that might help for folks with no AC is a pan of cool/cold water with your feet in it. Also, I recommend drinking Gatorade to replace lost salts and electrolytes. Soaking pulse points with cold compresses might help (wrists, back of neck, behind knees). What do we do? It's not August yet?
I am afraid of thunderstorms now. If the heat is intense so will be the storms. I am afraid of another tornado coming through my area. Last fall, the five large maple trees that form the boundary line for my property gave out a larger than average amount of seeds. I take that to mean they thought they wouldn't make it through last winter. Many of the seedlings have sprung up. I think they understood the threats. I keep thinking they are going to get so dried out that a big rain and wind storm will take them over.
What's going on in Europe? Other places in the world? Is it just North America?
We have high upper 90s today and so I pulled out of going to my quilting group in a second floor room without AC. Told them to call me when the temps were less than 85 so the fan will work. We also told Mom that she should stay inside so we rescheduled visit and errands until at least Friday.
ApatheticNoMore
7-17-12, 4:46pm
What's going on in Europe? Other places in the world? Is it just North America?
No. I mean I don't follow the weather news of the whole world all the time but ... fires are burning out of control in Russia, there's also been fires in Canada. So it clearly indicates the weather over the year has been warmer and drier, though what the temperature is right now everywhere I don't know.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/siberian-fire-effects-10555308
(as for north america it's been warmer than usual but actually fairly pleasant in California this whole time, I haven't used the AC yet this summer. I dread August and September though .... those are the hot months)
Maxamillion
7-17-12, 4:51pm
It's hot and humid here but that's pretty normal for Mississippi in mid-July. We haven't had much rain this summer though. My lawn looks terrible, with patches of dead grass. We still have about 2 1/2 months more of temps like this, possibly a bit longer depending on how the weather is in October (last year I still had tomatoes at the end of November--we didn't have much of a winter last year). I'm so ready for fall.
What's going on in Europe? Other places in the world? Is it just North America?
I was reading that in England it has been historically cool, overcast and rainy. Not exactly a bread basket country, but it has been too overcast and wet for the crops. The article said that there was such little sunlight that even greenhouse crops were not getting enough light to do well.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/15/orchids-thrive-crops-fails-rain
They are saying that this is the worse drought since 1956 for the U.S. and that we will be seeing higher food prices.
We had maybe three days of rain here in Colorado a week or so ago, which put out the fires but is causing some minor flooding, mudslides and erosion in the burn areas. The mountains have been getting good monsoonal rains but it returned to hot and dry in the Denver area.
Float On, I was thinking about the Art Fair artists setting up today as I was driving to work...it was pretty miserable here today. I have tomorrow off and it's supposed to cool down to maybe 95 degrees, so I will be checking the art fair out for as long as I can stand being outside. I sure wish I had some disposable income to buy something from an artist, but I'll have to be content just to look. I hope the weather isn't too obnoxious, as it's either too hot or terrible storms blow through and flood the streets. I don't know how art fair artists do it, really. When I was a kid I dreamed of becoming a traveling art fair artist but have since realized that it is not for me. Too many uncontrollable variables.
What's going on in Europe? Other places in the world? Is it just North America?
Terrible floods in Japan as well: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18852163
I'm starting to wish it was fall. I always feel like I"m being assaulted or something when it gets hot and humid.
I have *always* disliked summer. I hate hot weather so much. This summer has been particularly awful and it makes me cranky. The spring was too warm too. Blech. I should be thankful, we actually haven't had it as bad as other parts of the country. No drought here either. In fact, we had a nice cooling rain today, but it's going to pop back up into the 90's again later this week. Yuck.
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