That's not exactly normal for early June in Minnesota. But, based on our weather patterns over the past couple years I'm not exactly sure "normal " exists around here. At any rate, this was apparently the warmest day in the Twin Cities in 23 years. Which is all to say - we needed to find a way to keep cool.
While I was working from home Monday the main level of our house was 83*, which to me, is incredibly comfortable. By the end of the day we crept up to 86*, which is where it was Tuesday morning when I left for the office. Upstairs (where the bedrooms are) was slightly warmer - about 88* during the day and over 90* when we went to bed. We had the fan on us all night and slept just fine. Blow drying my hair Tuesday morning? Yikes. Not quite so comfortable.
And it just kept getting warmer. Nick's first task when he came home yesterday was to get our window AC units installed. We have one on our main floor (in the living room) and one in our bedroom. We have another one for our guest room, but since the room is currently empty we haven't installed that unit yet.
As he was installing the units it was 89* downstairs and probably around 94* upstairs. That's rather, uh, roasty-toasty. We brought Snuffles down to the basement before work on Tuesday because I was worried about heat stroke if we left her upstairs. The dogs hung out in the kitchen, lounging on the cool tile with a fan blowing on them. They were warm but doing fine.
You guys, it's hot 'round here. (Until Thursday when the high is in the 60's. Say whaaa?)
Sorry, late-night-phone-shot. We're all about quality around here.
However. I refuse to complain about the heat because good grief I've been waiting 8 (9? 10?) months for this. We actually went on a walk last night and I was almost giddy because it was so beautiful.
Since we have radiant heat and a full 2 story house, central air is impractical for us. The window units work just fine (especially since we don't like AC all that much to begin with) and we actually use fans for more of the summer. But there are days, you guys, there are days when I start to wonder what life with central air would feel like.
So we want to know how you stay cool while the temps keep heating up. Central air? Window units? A fan? Something else?? And are there any other window-open lovers out there who only turn on the AC a few days a year?? Tell us how you keep your cool! And if you use window units, how the heck do you get a good seal around the machine to keep creepy crawlies out?
We have radiant heat too, and we certainly don't want to run ducts in order to get our tiny house A/Ced. We might break down this summer and get one window unit for the bedroom, but other than that, we'll just suck it up. I don't really like the look of window units and I know it's probably silly to sacrifice comfort for style, but I think I'm ok with that. I grew up without A/C anyway.
ReplyDeleteWe are considering a ductless heating system... They're kind of new-fangled and more expensive than window units, but we're going to see what our first summer in the house is like before we go crazy spending money to keep us cool.
I used to live without central air, but once you have children you have to keep them cool and comfortable, so the central air comes on. Mostly we use it to knock the humidity out of the air in the house, keeping the temp around 75.
ReplyDeleteWe have geothermal. When we cool our house, it heats our hot water so it really doesn't cost us much more each month for a cool house!
ReplyDeleteI hear it's supposed to be like 60's by Friday though so no worries. :P
My apartment has central air but it must be a really pathetic a/c unit. It's good for taking humidity out of the air but doesn't do great for cooling. I don't have ceiling fans and all my windows are on the sun-exposed side. The coolest I can get my apt in the midst of a hot, humid STL summer is about 81...and that actually feels fine. I've tried stand fans + box fans and no matter what I do, I cannot get them to provide cooling relief! All they do is blow around hot air and make my apartment hotter. I spend all summer fighting the fans...to no avail. haha
ReplyDeleteIf you have fan tips, do share! (I've tried blowing them out the window, into the apt, etc!) :)
My apartment has central air, which works great. The only down side to being on the third floor is that it takes a lot of AC to keep it cool in the summer, and very little heat in the winter. I suppose it all evens out over the course of the year!
ReplyDeleteWe have central air in our house, but it doesn't work extremely well upstairs (converted attic) so we also have one window unit upstairs, which we've been running through this heat.
ReplyDeleteOur new house has central air that was just installed. It'd better work well for what it cost. ;)
Nette - we ever-so-briefly considered the ductless system but figure it isn't worth the moolah since we're not planning on staying here forever. If I'm still here in 10 years I'll let you know whether or not that was a good decision. : )
ReplyDeleteCorey - I've wondered how the heck people manage window units with little munchkins! Central air would definitely be much easier with little ones.
Kayla - I think part of my success with the fans is that I'm always cold, so it doesn't take much cooling to make me happy. We've used a stand fan and a tower fan and been pretty happy with both of them. We don't try to do the whole in-the-window thing because it's never worked for me. I just get the fan pointed in my direction and camp out in front of it, and that's been good enough. If you haven't tried a tower I'd try one of those! They seem to be more successful with slightly cooler air than a normal fan. Anybody else had the same experience??
We just use window units as well, which is fine by me because I don't really like air conditioning. If it's really, REALLY hot, I appreciate a little cool-down, but generally I prefer not to have cold air blowing on me. Even when I lived in Texas, I would always get cold in air-conditioned buildings, no matter how hot it was outside.
ReplyDeleteI live in an apartment, and it has central air. I keep it at 68 degrees AND run fans. I like it cool and crisp.
ReplyDeleteLast summer, during our first streak of hot days, my AC was broken. I went and stayed in a hotel. I cannot stand to be hot!
We keep cool with 2 window units - one in the bedroom and one in the living room. But since our apartment is so long and has little 'inlet' rooms, like the kitchen and the bathroom, we definintely have several spots that stay warm.
ReplyDeleteWe need to bust out the units though - the puppy is getting too hot!
We have radiant heat too, but oddly enough we also have central air. I guess the previous owners got tired of the hot, humid Iowan summers! The problem is that our central air unit is OLD! It's not the most efficient thing on the block, so we use it sparingly. I will admit that we broke down on Monday and turned it on. it was just too warm! In general, we use fans to stay cool. It's a more economical option. Not to mention, I have a mortal fear that our AC is going to break. It's going to cost a small fortune to fix, so I try to avoid overworking it. A little sweat never hurt a person, anyway. :)
ReplyDeletewe don't have any A/C and don't use window units either. Because we live near the water, although it occasionally gets into the 80s during the day (like today, it is always chilly enough for a sweat shirt at night (already back down to the 50s!) so we use a standard box fan in the window of a bedroom that blows the air outside onto us :).
ReplyDeleteI kinda hate AC too! I just dislike the fact that after waiting so long for warm weather, people crank up the AC inside businesses and homes and they turn into iceboxes! However, we did turn on our AC (to 72) on Tuesday. I broke out in a sweat just sitting and watching TV, so it was time!
ReplyDeleteWe have central air in our little house. As soon as it hits 80 it goes on. I've got 3 kids and a girl (and her kids) have to sleep at night. Once I deem them old enough to suffer through it, we'll be toughing it out more. I love fresh air through a house.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI want to be able to follow your blog, but can't find a link to either email it to myself or link it to Google. Can you tell me where the link is?
Thanks,
Lisa
I grew up in Florida - aka, central air and ceiling fans were essential, lol. Heat... not so much. Luckily, here we've got central air (granted, our a/c unit is half the size it should be - you'd think the house inspector shoulda caught that one!) and some ceiling fans in a few rooms that get warm in the summer, and manage to stay pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea if this is practical or not (b/c I've never had to deal with window units), but could you use caulk around the edges to keep the bugs out? Just a thought!
~Chelsea
I've been following your blog for awhile now and just wanted to let you know you aren't alone! We are living in a duplex while we gut and add onto our house so we are working with one window air conditioner in a two story duplex. Temps have been pushing 90's here with high humidity. I totally hear you on the whole blow drying issue! :) Not fun! Love the blog!
ReplyDeleteHey Lisa - thanks for letting us know there's a problem! We have a follower widget on the right-hand side of the page (under the "Fence" button) but it's sometimes a little hit or miss on the functionality. I just added a Feed Burner button, so you can use that to keep track of what we're up to! Hope that helps but definitely let me know if you're still having trouble.
ReplyDelete