If you go without A/C, why do you?

[MotorVation]

Yeah, there's that Frigidaire that only pulls about 450 watts.(The JiminDenver unit)? That's the one I plan on getting. I haven't bought it because I don't want to haul it around. Kinda pointless. I'll let you know if I head back there. I'm located in St Pete but I also have a friend I visit in Fort Pierce on the east coast..
Thanks!
'

 

[nature lover]

AC is great for you "sub- tropical" folks but in the hardwood forests here in PA higher elevation is my AC and the canopy of leaves is my shade. I am moving my home base to East KY in a month and its the same there only; higher elevations available. I just can't take spending hours indoors (van or bricks); I got to find a climate where I can be out side. The older I get the better climate control (AC or heat) feels but my best side is outside. Many of my neighbors don't have AC as they are Amish and they claim that the more you use AC the more you need AC. They are right but it does feel good at times. On a very hot early September day I picked up a load of Amish neighbors for a shopping trip and as a tike of 5 or 6 got in the van he asked me to turn the "refrigerator" on.

 

[Wazowski]

Why do you swelter if you don't have to?

some people just like suffering, you know

 

[Tony's Dream]

My wife would go no where without AC, but I am not the same. Sure I enjoy a cooler place as apposed to a hotter place......but I find myself saying, why not stay home in the AC then travel out into nature? I leave my house, my AC, my TV so I can enjoy what nature has to offer. Sometimes that comes with heat. I would not go to AZ in July and August if it means I would always have to run the AC. So I would visit in January instead. But whatever the weather, you must learn to accept it as it is.

When I was stationed in Ft Irwin the ground temps would hit 120-130 degrees. If you tossed an egg against a hot rock it would cook it. If you stayed out in it, you didn't really notice it being that hot. You get acclimated to the temps if you avoid going from the outside to an room cooled by the AC.

 

[dixonge]

After living in Mexico for awhile, where almost *no-one* has either central heat or A/C or even window units, we returned to the States for a visit. The first day of driving around w/ A/C made me feel almost sick! I turned it off and rolled down the windows. Even in the heat of Texas it felt better, and I realized just how un-conditioned we all are in the U.S. At least in the South, everything is air-conditioned until you damn near freeze to death. Homes, vehicles, public transportation, work vehicles, offices. You rarely have a chance to acclimate. 

We're looking forward to following the 60-75 degree weather north and south when we return...

 

[nature lover]

dixonge - It is true what you say about "needing" AC. Lots of things are like that - they start out as a luxury and then become something we can't live without. AC is something that came about in my life time. Before that everyone lived without it. Still today the vast majority of the world live without it. If I had it in my camper coming in and out often would make me sick and I can't stand the noise. The older I get the more noise bothers me. Bob W has said it many times comfort or freedom you trade one for the other and find a balance you can live with.

 

[crofter]

....how un-conditioned we all are in the U.S. At least in the South, everything is air-conditioned until you damn near freeze to death. Homes, vehicles, public transportation, work vehicles, offices. You rarely have a chance to acclimate.....

I agree, responding to temperature changes is part of physical conditioning, one of my personal goals. Also, anti perspirants keep you from becoming conditioned to heat, blocking one of your cooling zones. So far I have conditioned up to 86 to 92 degrees is comfortable for me, but it's dry here.

So far this year daytime outside temps have been up to 108 degrees here, too hot for just a fan during the day. I like a swamp cooler better than AC, although the damp cool could help virus to spread more than the dry cool of AC. Swamp coolers move air thru wet pads that get quite dirty during the season.
-crofter

 

[Firebuild]

I'll bite.  People have lived for tens of thousands of years with out AC.  I stopped using it a few years ago and although i'm not in the hottest parts of the country, New England gets it's fair share of high humidity high temperature days and I'm never uncomfortable.  You can in fact acclimate to it and to me that's a lot easier than trying to make sure i'm never with out my precious AC

Hey! You're in New England?? I thought I was the only one!

 

[Firebuild]

My bus didn't come with AC, and I've never had it in any vehicle (other than a rental) or in any house, even when I lived in Shreveport, Louisiana. Spent the last 20 years in California without it. Now that I'm taking care of my mother, she has a small unit in her house (never did when I grew up here). I wake up freezing when I stay in the house instead of the bus. And lest people think it's cool in New England, summers can be pretty toasty.

 

[crofter]

No need for air conditioning in Bermuda, but it's a long drive to get there. Not sure if they have boondocking in Bermuda.
-crofter

Description: link to climate data for Bermuda.
https://weather.com/weather/monthly...1a6f33cdb540dce7478fe37272c623dd0adc2a9c7a142

 

[chris84]

I have an AC unit in my van. I hardly use it. The times I use it are not the times most people would expect.
I generally use it for a few hours right before bed when the temperatures are still in the mid to upper 80s. To me the thing that indicates whether I need the AC or not is the overnight low temperatures and not the high temperature.

I am comfortable at any temperature during the day if I can find shade, I drink some cool beverages, enjoy the shade, sweat a little, take a cool shower. The night is a different matter. Generally I like to be cool when I sleep. In most of the country most of the time, by 10pm it is cool enough to be in the van without AC with good ventilation. When it isn't I run the AC for a couple of hours. It takes about 30 amps out of my batteries so I don't usually run it long, but don't usually need to.

Still 90% of the time I never turn the AC on and rely on fans to be plenty comfortable.

 

[wayne49]

What gets me is laying down on a mattress that is retaining 85+ temp. 80 is okay. 85+ feels like laying on a stove top.
I look for locations that have less than 95 high temps and low enough lows to get a cool down in a few hours after sunset. Daily average temp is another number to look at.

I also don't mind the interior getting stuffy during the day, it forces me to get outside and move around.

 

[winterwanderer]

Personally, I can't stand air conditioning. The same stale air recirculated over and over again. Plus, it is like a harmful drug: a strongly habit-forming escape from reality. Expensive, wasteful, disruptive to natural patterns.

Many of us who are genetically adapted to the mild summers of northern Europe find summer in most of the US to be oppressive. The eastern and midwestern states experience high humidity, while the western states get hotter than hell under a relentless sun. Settled folks have no choice but to hide indoors or endure the heat. Whereas us nomads are fortunate, being able to migrate to regions with summer climates we enjoy. For example, Buena Vista (8000 ft above sea level in Colorado) has a summer climate similar to Berlin. Nobody has air conditioning here, and that's the way I like it.

 

[LERCA]

I lived in a house without air conditioning because it didn’t have it. I lived in apartments in 107F summers with AC that I didn’t use because I couldn’t afford it. Or rather I could but I had to choose between that and saving towards retirement.
I’m from a hot climate. We have these things called “fans” and other little tricks. I didn’t use air conditioning for the first time in my house until I was 48 years old. And that’s because it became humid and I suffer from autoimmune conditions.

I see your dreams of being a millionaire by 29. Spending several hundred dollars a month on AC will not help you towards that goal. ? Guess what? That several hundred and other little luxuries I forwent at your age and until now will assure me a quite comfortable retirement.

I weep for your generation.

 

[Random Painted Highway]

We prefer not to use it so don't, plus i'm pretty lazy and don't want to lug the two window units we have, then i have to plug it in too... Summers are hot, but short here where we are in Montana. We use fans and cross ventilation in the house...plus we get to listen to the birds and squirrels, and trains...love the sound of the train, not so the occasional gunshots, most likely crime related. I don't think I've pissed off my close neighbors.

 

[Sofisintown]

I haven't used air conditioner this far this year. There were 2-3 hot days, but the AC I have is portable and a pain in the patootie to put it up and set it to exhaust out.
Last year I did use it for 2 days or so.
My house doesn't get terribly hot, even on very hot days.