Airconditioning - a guilty pleasure or a necessity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Throwing your money away.

Maybe YOU'D be "throwing your money away" since you apparently don't care about the heat, but if I'm uncomfortable, it's worth it to me to pay to cool my house down. Is that really so difficult for you to understand?

[Anonymous]

Who the hell are all you people? It wasn't till post college and moved to a dc apt that I realized central air wasn't standard. None of my friends find it enjoyable to sit in the sweltering heat.

[Anonymous]

I'm not much of an A/C user. For those of you who keep the summer thermostat really low, like around 70, what temp do you keep it at in the winter? Way lower, to compensate for the much warmer clothes you're presumably wearing?

I feel like some places are like 72 in the winter and 68 in the summer. This makes me miserable!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted earlier that i keep mine at 78 when we are home. Yes I would like it cooler at times and could afford the cost, but my environmental concerns keep me at 78..not off..but at 78. So to you who like to be cold, no I don't want a medal, I just want a livable planet for our children.

Thank you. This is also why I keep my AC set higher than 70 (we keep it at 76 or 77 if it's on at all, most days we can get by with a little AC in the hottest part of the day and then just using ceiling fans).

For people setting the AC to 70 or below, what are you wearing at home? The only person I know who sets theirs that low is morbidly obese and wears long pants, an undershirt, and a button-down every day in the summer. Makes way more sense to dress for the heat and use fewer resources to me (and well, not to be morbidly obese).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted earlier that i keep mine at 78 when we are home. Yes I would like it cooler at times and could afford the cost, but my environmental concerns keep me at 78..not off..but at 78. So to you who like to be cold, no I don't want a medal, I just want a livable planet for our children.

Thank you. This is also why I keep my AC set higher than 70 (we keep it at 76 or 77 if it's on at all, most days we can get by with a little AC in the hottest part of the day and then just using ceiling fans).

For people setting the AC to 70 or below, what are you wearing at home? The only person I know who sets theirs that low is morbidly obese and wears long pants, an undershirt, and a button-down every day in the summer. Makes way more sense to dress for the heat and use fewer resources to me (and well, not to be morbidly obese).

It was just a matter of time before someone brought in fat people to the mix. Happens every time on DCUM, pretty much no matter what the topic... "oh, and while I'm at it, let me just throw in a dig about fat people"...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not much of an A/C user. For those of you who keep the summer thermostat really low, like around 70, what temp do you keep it at in the winter? Way lower, to compensate for the much warmer clothes you're presumably wearing?

I feel like some places are like 72 in the winter and 68 in the summer. This makes me miserable!

We keep ours at 73 in the summer and 68 (if I remember correctly!) in the winter. I get really warm when I sleep - I can basically wear a t-shirt and shorts to bed all year and still be comfortable. I keep the fan on "high" during the summer in our master bedroom, too.

[Anonymous]

Haven't turned it on yet. Pleasant with all our ceiling fans. Perfect sleeping weather.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not much of an A/C user. For those of you who keep the summer thermostat really low, like around 70, what temp do you keep it at in the winter? Way lower, to compensate for the much warmer clothes you're presumably wearing?

I feel like some places are like 72 in the winter and 68 in the summer. This makes me miserable!

I like it cool, especially at night (I have a terrible time sleeping if I'm hot and sweaty, despite growing up without AC. Even then I couldn't do it!). We don't have central air/heat, so its hard to say exactly what the temp is. Our window air conditioners are set fairly low (70 or so) unless we're not home or not in the room. During the day we set the bedrooms higher (and at night the living room area is higher), and when we leave we turn them up or off. We don't have ceiling fans, I'm sure those would help a lot.

However, we didn't start running the AC until yesterday afternoon. We didn't feel as though we needed it since overnight it has remained cool. Now that its so hot and humid, we have it running.

In the winter we have it set on 65 or so, lower when we're not home. Again, not central heat, we have baseboard heaters.

[Anonymous]

Ours is usually around 76 during the day, 73 at night. In part, we use it as a whole-house dehumidifier.

But as PP said, it's funny that I can hang around the house in shorts and tank top in the summer, with the thermostat at 76, and be tempted to bump it down to 75. And in the winter, I'm in sweats or wool sweaters, under a down throw blanket, with a hot cup of tea, and wanting to bump it UP to 75. (Winter thermostat is usually 70 during waking hours, colder at night.)

My dad tells me that it was common knowledge that violent crime surged on the hottest and muggiest nights of the summer. Tempers flared and people got stabbed. He is quite sure that murder rates have dropped due to the prevalence of AC. If he's right, that's a good argument for "necessity".

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I'm wondering where you all live where you feel safe sleeping with your windows open all night long. Especially in your children's rooms. We use AC more than I would need because we can't leave the windows open all the time - especially overnight. And on the weekends when we're in and out all day long, it's really inconvenient to shut up all the windows and turn off all the fans every time we leave. Not to mention that it gets really hot then while we're out and takes a long time to cool down again with the windows open. Maybe out in the burbs where you are at home all day this works, but not so much in the city (i live on Capitol Hill). Also, I find our house gets hot much faster than where I grew up in the suburbs, because we have almost no shade from trees on our house and get full sun instead.

Do you really all feel safe sleeping with windows open????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted earlier that i keep mine at 78 when we are home. Yes I would like it cooler at times and could afford the cost, but my environmental concerns keep me at 78..not off..but at 78. So to you who like to be cold, no I don't want a medal, I just want a livable planet for our children.

Thank you. This is also why I keep my AC set higher than 70 (we keep it at 76 or 77 if it's on at all, most days we can get by with a little AC in the hottest part of the day and then just using ceiling fans).

For people setting the AC to 70 or below, what are you wearing at home? The only person I know who sets theirs that low is morbidly obese and wears long pants, an undershirt, and a button-down every day in the summer. Makes way more sense to dress for the heat and use fewer resources to me (and well, not to be morbidly obese).

It was just a matter of time before someone brought in fat people to the mix. Happens every time on DCUM, pretty much no matter what the topic... "oh, and while I'm at it, let me just throw in a dig about fat people"...

Perhaps you misunderstand me -- I'm chunky myself, but my friend is morbidly obese (400+ lbs) and still dresses warmly in his home. I'm not making an issue of being overweight, it's an issue of not dressing warmly if you already have internal insulation (which, again, I myself have). Remember how hot you were when you were pregnant? You wouldn't have worn a sweater and cranked the thermostat to 55, but that's basically what my friend does.

Heck, even athletic, thin people would benefit from wearing lighter, breathable clothing instead of cranking the AC. Better than wasting non-renewable resources to stay cool.

[Anonymous]

I agree its not a necessity, but as long as I'm living in DC I will be using it. Otherwise I'm moving to San Fran to save $100 per month in extra energy costs and pay $2000 more per month for housing (hahaha).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I'm wondering where you all live where you feel safe sleeping with your windows open all night long. Especially in your children's rooms. We use AC more than I would need because we can't leave the windows open all the time - especially overnight. And on the weekends when we're in and out all day long, it's really inconvenient to shut up all the windows and turn off all the fans every time we leave. Not to mention that it gets really hot then while we're out and takes a long time to cool down again with the windows open. Maybe out in the burbs where you are at home all day this works, but not so much in the city (i live on Capitol Hill). Also, I find our house gets hot much faster than where I grew up in the suburbs, because we have almost no shade from trees on our house and get full sun instead.

Do you really all feel safe sleeping with windows open????

I live in Glover Park and try to keep the windows open at night. Granted, it's a third floor walk up. Big old apartment. You'd have to be a cat burglar to get up here. Feel completely safe. And it's dead quiet at night. People say GP is boring. Maybe it is, but that's why you don't see a multi-page thread on the Home/Real Estate forum regarding its safety. Not a dig on Cap Hill FWIW. I love that neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted earlier that i keep mine at 78 when we are home. Yes I would like it cooler at times and could afford the cost, but my environmental concerns keep me at 78..not off..but at 78. So to you who like to be cold, no I don't want a medal, I just want a livable planet for our children.

Thank you. This is also why I keep my AC set higher than 70 (we keep it at 76 or 77 if it's on at all, most days we can get by with a little AC in the hottest part of the day and then just using ceiling fans).

For people setting the AC to 70 or below, what are you wearing at home? The only person I know who sets theirs that low is morbidly obese and wears long pants, an undershirt, and a button-down every day in the summer. Makes way more sense to dress for the heat and use fewer resources to me (and well, not to be morbidly obese).

It was just a matter of time before someone brought in fat people to the mix. Happens every time on DCUM, pretty much no matter what the topic... "oh, and while I'm at it, let me just throw in a dig about fat people"...

Perhaps you misunderstand me -- I'm chunky myself, but my friend is morbidly obese (400+ lbs) and still dresses warmly in his home. I'm not making an issue of being overweight, it's an issue of not dressing warmly if you already have internal insulation (which, again, I myself have). Remember how hot you were when you were pregnant? You wouldn't have worn a sweater and cranked the thermostat to 55, but that's basically what my friend does.

Heck, even athletic, thin people would benefit from wearing lighter, breathable clothing instead of cranking the AC. Better than wasting non-renewable resources to stay cool.

Okay, I get it. But I'm sure you wouldn't want to see your friend in a tank top and shorts. I'm chubby myself and my thighs horrify me. I only wear shorts when others' eyes won't be gazing upon me. FWIW I'm alone right now in my abode, I'm in a bra and panties, and the windows are open (no AC).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted earlier that i keep mine at 78 when we are home. Yes I would like it cooler at times and could afford the cost, but my environmental concerns keep me at 78..not off..but at 78. So to you who like to be cold, no I don't want a medal, I just want a livable planet for our children.

Thank you. This is also why I keep my AC set higher than 70 (we keep it at 76 or 77 if it's on at all, most days we can get by with a little AC in the hottest part of the day and then just using ceiling fans).

For people setting the AC to 70 or below, what are you wearing at home? The only person I know who sets theirs that low is morbidly obese and wears long pants, an undershirt, and a button-down every day in the summer. Makes way more sense to dress for the heat and use fewer resources to me (and well, not to be morbidly obese).

AC at 71, I wear a hoodie around the house but I like to sleep under tons of covers.