How do you survive where you live?

[Syphon the Sun]

I never dip the A/C below 80. I usually have it set to 85.

Of course, I never set the heat above 65, either, so maybe I'm weird.

[Gravity Defier]

maybe I'm weird.

There's no maybe about it but it has nothing to do with your AC settings.

And yeah, Nomi, my house is at 68, which is at least 10 degrees cooler than I want my indoor temps. (Yes, for some reason, indoor and outdoor temps feel different, even if the numbers read the same.)

[Luet]

I set the heat at 68, which yes is 10 degrees lower than the ac, but both numbers are to save energy and within the limits of my comfort zone while wearing the minimum and maximum amount of clothes.

[VelvetElvis]

What Nomi said.


We would be excellent roomates.

[Ela]

Ditto for me. We keep our AC set high. Though I do like it a bit cooler for sleeping than when I'm awake.

[Platypi007]

I actually like it cooler while I'm asleep, and will suffer a bit when I'm awake. I keep it at 74 at night and 76 in the day (in both cases I have fans on) for summer. For winter I keep the heat set to 70 or 72 in the day and 68 or even 66 at night.

My summer energy costs are pretty low, thanks to having a first floor apartment. Winter can get pretty dang high on "cold" winters like this past one, thanks to having a drafty-as-hell apartment.

[VelvetElvis]

We have the a/c off right now with just a window fan in the bedroom since it's upstairs.

[Luet]

Oh, I forgot to say that I do turn the AC down to 75 at night for sleeping. But in winter I leave it at 68 all the time.

[Wind Swept]

First, I spend ~October through ~February trying not to freeze to death. During the later half of that, I mostly avoid roads, as blizzards and ice storms make them incredibly dangerous. Before moving here, I thought whiteouts--the air being too thick with blowing snow to see anything but sheer white--were a myth. Wrong. They are very real.

From March onward I try not to drown. Through remarkable forethought on the part of mother nature, the major river here runs north. Thus, as the southern bits start to thaw, there's no where for the water to go, and it floods. This past year it started flooding in March and didn't drop below flood stage until June or July.

Then there's about a month of unbearable, muggy heat. I mostly stay inside with the air conditioner. The years I didn't have an air conditioner were completely awful. Fans are worthless.

Then it cools off and it's beautiful for about three weeks before the deep freeze sets back in.

[Jayelle]

I'm gonna go out on an insane limb here and say: I hate air conditioning.

The air feels fake and I hate it when it's turned down so low that it's cold in someone's house in the middle of summer. It's summer! I want to be hot! Not wear a sweater!

To be fair, in the climate I currently live in, there's no need for air conditioning (not that that stops people) - it never goes above 25C (77F) on the hottest day of the year.

However, Winnipeg had hot, dry summers (100+ degrees?) and I hated air conditioning there too. I like being hot.

[Luet]

Yup, that's insane but to each his own.

I'm still fairly warm in my house and I wear tank top and shorts to stay cool enough, even with the central air set at 78. The humidity is still around 60% inside most of the summer but it's better then the 80-90% outside.

[Jayelle]

Doesn't the air-conditioning being set at 78/80 mean that some point it ceases to be air-conditioning and becomes heat?

[Luet]

Uh, no. You set it at either heat/off/cool. Without the ac being on, the room would easily be 95-100 degrees (F). The ac cools it down to 78 and turns on and off to keep it within a degree both directions of that.

[GS]

I am going to go out on the opposite limb and say, I air conditioning.

I sweat all of the time. Typically, I like things to be like 10F degrees cooler than most people I meet. Using Jan's example, I think 77F is hot. I will be sweating. On the hottest days in Philadelphia, 100+ and humid, I am completely covered in sweat almost instantly when walking out the door. I like it in the low to mid 60s.

When I sleep, I like for it to be freezing. I also sweat when I sleep and waking up with a layer of sweat covering your body is the worst thing ever. I also don't like to drive with my windows down, so the a/c is on in the car from late spring until early fall.

[starlooker]

Jan, I knew a TON of people in ND with that attitude. Having grown up in West Texas, and then lived in Memphis for four years, it freaking blew my mind. I did not understand what those people had against climate control.

Truth? The entire five years of my adult life I lived up there, it was never hot enough to make AC a necessity of life. Convenient? Yes. Necessary for functioning? No. Chris, you're whining about the most ridiculously beautiful summers in the USA, calling them "hot and muggy." Pfft. Hush. And Jan? If you lived in the Southern US, you'd change your tune PDQ. Promise. Also, I flat-out am struggling to believe it was every 100+ degrees in Winnipeg, as it barely ever hit 90 in GF.

[LilBee91]

I also don't like air conditioning. It's a necessity in Utah summers, but I prefer it to be minimal. I can handle winter cold just fine, but air conditioning cold cuts me to the bone.

[Jayelle]

Jan, I knew a TON of people in ND with that attitude. Having grown up in West Texas, and then lived in Memphis for four years, it freaking blew my mind. I did not understand what those people had against climate control.

Truth? The entire five years of my adult life I lived up there, it was never hot enough to make AC a necessity of life. Convenient? Yes. Necessary for functioning? No. Chris, you're whining about the most ridiculously beautiful summers in the USA, calling them "hot and muggy." Pfft. Hush. And Jan? If you lived in the Southern US, you'd change your tune PDQ. Promise. Also, I flat-out am struggling to believe it was every 100+ degrees in Winnipeg, as it barely ever hit 90 in GF.

Oh, absolutely. I do not begrudge people who live where it's super hot all the time to have Air Conditioning! I did not mean to give that impression! I just hate feeling cold in the summer, mostly because it's finally hot outside and I want to enjoy it.

ETA: whoops, you're right about the 100. I was thinking that 35=100, but it's more like 35=90.

[Wind Swept]

Chris, you're whining about the most ridiculously beautiful summers in the USA, calling them "hot and muggy." Pfft. Hush.

I overheat very easily. I find it difficult to function during the summer. I never notice it happening as spring slowly warms into summer, but they way summer tends to abruptly turn to fall here, I must say I find it an incredible relief. I can finally think again.

[steph]

There are lots of homes that have no AC around here. Some have no climate control at all, some have swamp coolers, since we live in an environment where they actually work.

In the summer, I keep the AC set at 78 during the day and we open the windows and use a box fan to pull the cool night air in at night. In the winter, the heater is set at 68 during the day, 63 at night. We save a lot on energy using this method. I would prefer no hotter than 75 in the summer and no colder than 70 in the winter, but I sacrifice for our budget. Night is slightly different, though. It better be COLD or I won't sleep well. I have to be cuddled up under the weight of blankets to be able to sleep.

[GS]

It better be COLD or I won't sleep well. I have to be cuddled up under the weight of blankets to be able to sleep.

This completely.

[Luet]

See, I can't sleep if it is too cold and for me too cold is below 67 or so. I have really bad circulation and my nose gets ice cold really easily. I can't sleep if my nose is frozen but I also can't sleep with my nose tucked under the covers (too stuffy). Hence, I have to keep the temperature about the same at night as during the day in the winter.

[Platypi007]

We have the a/c off right now with just a window fan in the bedroom since it's upstairs.

I so wish I could open my windows when it is nice out, but the screens are ill-fitting and full of large holes that critters can get in, and the one in the back, which would create a nice draft, is right by the AC units for my apartment and the one upstairs--so if he has his on when I want my windows open it will be loud and there will be hot air blowing by my window. :(

[Platypi007]

When I sleep, I like for it to be freezing. I also sweat when I sleep and waking up with a layer of sweat covering your body is the worst thing ever.

THIS. So this. If i could afford it I'd keep my place 65 or lower in the summer at night. The weird thing about me is that in the winter I like to sleep under blankets and let the temperature drop down low. I sleep way better than in the summer when I can only keep it 74 or so (I could get it down lower, but it costs).

Also, another reason that AC is a must here is the humidity. If the humidity level in my house was always around 80-90 then I'd have mold problems for sure. The AC keeps it from being that way.

[neo-dragon]

The Greater Toronto Area can reach the high 90s with the humidex in the summer, but I've never had AC in my home. We get by with fans and open windows, which is what my parents are used to from Barbados. Of course, there you're never more than a few minutes away from a nice cool ocean to dip yourself in.

I get strange looks from people around here when I tell them this, but I don't think that it's that crazy when there's only a few weeks worth of (non consecutive) days all year that are that hot, if we're lucky. I just hate how people bitch about how cold our winters are and then complain about the heat in summer. I think I'm pretty lucky to live somewhere where we get a bit of everything.

ETA:

lol. I just looked on the first page of this thread and realized that I posted almost the same thing already back in 2009. I didn't even realize that this thread is so old, nor did I remember posting in it before!

[locke]

Southern California has the best weather there is. I grew up where it's 110 with 99% humidity in the summer and 10 with a -10 windchill in the winters. So this is a huge upgrade. Don't want to live anywhere else.