I specifically left Bakersfield in 1981 to get away from this sort of weather.
My Father was a native of Marin County, California, absolutely the best climate on the planet to move the family to that ridiculous oven of a town.
Our typical lows in the mid 60s allow me to cool off the house in the morning so we can get through the afternoon. The occasional 75 is bad enough but 85 is ridiculous.?ÿ
Fortunately Fry's Electronics delivered a portable A/C yesterday, not ideal but it's keeping the living room in the low 80s. We were almost in the 90s before that. Everyone else is sold out. I set up the window exhaust in 109 heat yesterday, some plywood butchering on the table saw, drive some screws, voila cold air bowing in. Those units have an uninsulated exhaust hose so they are not as efficient as a window unit or mini split. Don't really have a good place to put a window unit. Old house, picky about where I plug in high draw electrical appliances.
The house is concrete block, does pretty good with no A/C, built in 1935. Ventilates well too but helps to have cold air outside.?ÿ
When we added onto our house in 2018 I was annoyed to learn that the building code required us to increase the HVAC capacity to accommodate the additional square footage of conditioned space.?ÿ I figured the existing central heat/air would have been enough, since we don't use the air much anyway.?ÿ But we had no choice, so we went with a minisplit, with a cassette in each of the 2 new rooms.?ÿ
Now I'm glad we did.?ÿ My wife, who has a harder time with high temps than I do, can sit in one of the new rooms and chill to her heart's content on hot days without having to cool the whole house.?ÿ I get lower energy bills and less grumbling at the same time.
I bought a portable air conditioner this spring also. Best purchase in a long time. Allowed me to work from home in our south-facing second-story bedroom for the last 5 months on some really hot days. The last week has been a real scorcher!
That is the ultimate plan.?ÿ Mini split in the living room and one in the bedroom, maybe more.?ÿ Could put an air handler in the attic and cool the entire upstairs.?ÿ Financial situation needs to improve first, though.
How much do they cost installed?
We were doing okay.?ÿ My upstairs office has a big south facing window (cooling breezes come from the south) with a lot of shade and that room was improved by the previous owner so it is insulated.?ÿ I could get it down in the 60s, close everything at 9 or 10 am and it would stay reasonably cool until 3pm, also it has a ceiling fan which stirs the air enough so even around 80 I can handle it.?ÿ But with lows in the 80s forget that.?ÿ It's already 95 up there.?ÿ So I brought my desk chair down and I have a mini folding drafting table I bought last year on impulse from a Facebook seller.?ÿ It's been in the back of a closet, coming in handy this week, glad I have it.?ÿ This week I just need my laptop computer, all the work is on-screen (finish processing point clouds then draft a topo).
It was 97f in Puyallup yesterday; brutal...
Should only be in the mid 80's today; still hot, but not as bad.
Looks like a big chunk of the west is going to resemble Needles, CA today.
How much do they cost installed?
Ours was $6375 with the 2 cassettes.?ÿ I didn't shop it, it was part of the GC's contract using the local HVAC firm (not cheap but excellent work) as the sub.
Don't you guy's use ceiling fans? I have a fan in the attic and ceiling fans throughout the house. Combined brought my electric bill down by an average of $65/mo. ?????ÿ
It was pleasantly hot (98?ø I think) at my house yesterday. I don't, and won't complain about the heat. My joints don't ache and I remember all too fondly working in 33 degree weather in a rubber suit hacking through some vine maple while being wetter on the inside than the outside.?ÿ Bring it on.?ÿ?ÿ
Don't you guy's use ceiling fans?
We have 6 ceiling fans, and they go 24/7 during the summer.
I can walk out my front or back door and find hellish temperatures.
In the sun the top of my truck is around 142?øF and the heat waves are around 117?øF and after 30mins my lungs feel on fire.
These are reading from my IR thermometer.
The weatherman says it is 90?øF, that is a lie
I left Hawaii Saturday morning and today at work it was 92, drove about 5 miles downhill to the nearest town, stepped out of the truck and bang, 104.?ÿ
it never got above 83 in Hawaii, it seems funny to search out the cool weather in the tropics.?ÿ
They don't even have AC, mine is running all the time.?ÿ
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@flga
No one has thought to ask. Do you think they're allowed to have blades on their ceiling fans in California ??ÿ ?????ÿ
It has an outdoor condenser unit like traditional central A/C but instead of the typical plenum and ducts there are individual evaporator units in each room. The only thing that needs to run from room to room are the small refrigerant tubes so they are ideal for retrofit into old houses that don't have spaces for ductwork. They can be as simple as one outdoor condenser and one indoor evaporator which is similar to the inside half of a window unit. They typically hang on the wall, the only thing that needs to penetrate the wall are the refrigerant tubes.
@flga
yes we have ceiling fans. The prior house had them in every room. The current house would need wiring added but there are a few.
It can get pretty hot just about anywhere.?ÿ Pops use to tell a story about moving from Alva, OK to OKC as a teenager in August of 1936.?ÿ It got over 120 and the 1929 Model A they were driving would only make it about 10 miles before boiling over.?ÿ He said they carried water in two 4 gallon milk cans for the trip.?ÿ They camped in a city park in Enid all the next day and finally drove in to OKC after dark.
