Growing up without AC

[Rye Miles #13621]

I was 18 and in my senior year when my parents got Central Air conditioning in our house . 
How old were you when you got AC??

[Bart Slade]

I was 50, but I live in Seattle - most folks around here don't have AC

[Cypress Sun]

Probably about 6 or 7, when we moved from Fort Myers to Clearwater to a house with AC.

 

The way I remember it is that it was rarely turned on, even in summer. They'd turn it on if we had company and it was hot out. Back in the mid 60's through the mid 70's, it didn't seem hot like now but back then Pinellas County was completely covered in concrete/asphalt/single roofs and tourists. The population was a 1/8 of what it is today...and I was young.

[Yul Lose]

About 30 living in Casa Grande, Az. Bought my first house with AC the previous ones I lived in down there had swamp coolers which didn’t do much once the humidity was up.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Dallas, 1966 (high school age) - Ma bought a window A/C when we were having days of 100° temps and 100% humidity.  I still consider that the most miserable weather I'd ever experienced.

 

Now I'm in california's Central Valley, where summertime temps are often over 110°; 115°+ days are not uncommon.  I have central air conditioning but seldom use it - my two-story house is quite efficient, and my Australian made "swamp cooler" works well.  At a fraction of the cost of running the A/C (we have the county's most expensive electricity).  

 

I know a bunch of people who pay over $500 (sometimes MUCH more) in monthly electricity charges while running their central air conditioning.

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

We've never had it. We have a big old house surrounded by big trees which keeps us cool in the mild Pacific NW.

[Eyesa Horg]

Around mid 30's. We got our first window unit. Never had central air.

[Dirty Dan Dawkins]

34 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

I was 18 and in my senior year when my parents got Central Air conditioning in our house . 
How old were you when you got AC??

Maybe 9 or 10, and that was a window unit in the living room only. To this day my folks only have 2 window units. We thought a cieling fan was something else. The back side of the trailer was metal sided, full afternoon sun and those 2” walls. Summer around here isn’t like South Ga, but it’s bad enough.

My room had no ac. I was lucky to get a fan around 11-12.

I also remember getting phone service. 1986. I was 12. I never considered myself poor in the least bit growing up. We weren’t, Just without compared to everyone else we knew, except the truly poor.
 

But far far better than my dad grew up. Even in the early to mid 60’s his granny cooked on a wood stove in an 8-900 sq ft house and they all took baths in wash tubs on the back porch.

[Pat Riot]

When I was 21 in the Navy, 1982.  We had AC in our new apartment for about 5 weeks and then we got the electric bill. 
Our rent was $230/mth. The electric bill was just shy of $500. 
 

The next time we had an AC was 2005 in our house in North Carolina. I have no idea how anyone could live there without it. Whoo-Weee does it get really really warm there. 

 

 

[Dirty Dan Dawkins]

2 minutes ago, Pat Riot said:

When I was 21 in the Navy, 1982.  We had AC in our new apartment for about 5 weeks and then we got the electric bill. 
Our rent was $230/mth. The electric bill was just shy of $500. 
 

The next time we had an AC was 2005 in our house in North Carolina. I have no idea how anyone could live there without it. Whoo-Weee does it get really really warm there. 

 

 

It does. Cheap hydro power helps.
But boy let me tell ya though, those south Ga towns like Baxley, Fitzgerald, Tifton, Ft Gaines, the air doesn’t move move in Summer- dead, hot, humid air. No relief til ya head south for a gulf breeze.
Mississippi ain’t no joke either.

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

Mom and dad built a new house in 1959 when I was 7 in southern Indiana (hot and humid summers). It had central air conditioning. It was the only house in town with central A/C and one of the few with A/C at all. Fast forward to 1963, stepmother hated A/C and would not use it! 

 

Next time I had a place with A/C was in 1981 when I was 29.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

Only time my residence has had AC was when I attended college in the '70s.  And 1 year of that just had a swamp cooler in a rental house.  Since then, houses have had swamp coolers in AZ and NM.  And windows only in CA.  If I "need" AC, I fire up my RV in the mountains or hills.     

 

'Course, my folks put in AC back at the Southern IL home place the year I left for college.  Hmmph.   Wusses.  

Monsoon rains finally started today.  That will both cool and humidify our high desert.

 

stay cool out there!  GJ

 

[Arkie Lee]

Only had a swamp cooler until I was 19 in my parent's house in the Central Valley of California.  We would sleep on army cots in the screened in patio during the hottest days.  My grandparents who lived in Fresno, would camp out near Edison Lake in the Sierras for a month during the peak of the season.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

Marine Corps Boot Camp. I turned 23 in Boot Camp. My parents never got A/C in the house I grew up in. MY first house with A/C was a rental when I was stationed at NAS Atlanta, and that was two window units we got. My first house with central air is the one I live in now, since 2002.

[Jabez Cowboy,SASS # 50129]

I'm mighty Close to 70 and I still don't have AC...

 

Guess that is why I never Grew-up...

Still a Cowboy ...

[Warden Callaway]

We built an earth contact house in 1983.  It stays naturally cool with other architectural details and big red oaks in yard.  What we didn't figure on was the humidity in the summer and lack of in winter (we heat with wood stove). After a couple of years of suffering the high humidity,  we broke down and bought a window air conditioner. 101 with 106 heat index and we're cool.

 

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I bought a window unit for a place we rented in Havre de Grace, MD when I was stationed at Aberdeen PG in 1965.  It was a converted attic making it a three floor walk up that my wife had to climb up to every day.  I was gone most of the time and my she was pregnant with our son and miserable in Maryland humidity and 98 degree days.  

 

We were there 12 weeks and got transferred to Fort Lee, VA just in time for "the harshest winter in 43 years", but we had moved from Utah three months before and were used to cold and snowy.

 

We never had another AC until we bought our house in Ontario, CA in 1977.  I now have one the a house that an old man built for himself and his wife, in 1991.  It has some problems but the old guy over insulated the place and I added 30 solar panels as soon as we got settled.  Only one uncomfortably hot day since and that when the power went out for 11 hours and I found out my system is tied into the power company.  

 

I working to find out what I can do about that.

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

We fired with coal, furnace in the basement and convection brought warmed air up through ducts and registers.

Dear old Dad got a 3 foot diameter drum fan, cut a rectangular hole in the furnace jacket, positioned the fan and the house was much warmer in winter.

In summer we'd run the fan and blow the cooler basement air up into the house.

Central air was installed years after I left to make my own way in the world.

My first A/C was a window unit in a house trailer, back in about ... oh, 19 and 80 or thereabouts.

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

window units , first one about 1986 or so 

 

  still run window units in the house 

 

  CB 

[Michigan Slim]

1977. I was nine years old when we moved off the lake in Michigan down to a humid, hot hellhole called Indiana. Central AC. In Michigan we had a nice cool basement, Spring Lake was our back yard, and Lake Michigan wasn't too far away. Big oaks shaded the house. 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

12 years old living in St. Louis. It’s the humidity I can’t tolerate. 

[MizPete]

Early 20's.  Sometime between 1969 and 1973.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

3 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

 Only one uncomfortably hot day since and that when the power went out for 11 hours and I found out my system is tied into the power company.  

 

I working to find out what I can do about that.

I think that you're going to find out that you can't, unless you put in a vastly more expensive system That would be to have a battery backup system with your existing system. I asked about that when we went solar, and was told basically that unless you live in the boonies somewhere, you cannot be "Off the Grid" completely. 

 

[watab kid]

i left home at 18 i never returned except for holiday visits after , my folks got AC sometime after - ist time i noticed was in 77 , id been gone for over 30 years , i bought my first house in 76 never had AC , when i bought my current home in 91 it didnt have it , we put it in about 95 , im glad we have it ....been near 100f all week , 

[Ozark Huckleberry]

First got a/c when I joined the Navy at 17.

 

First exposure to a/c I can remember was in town, a little café on the town square had it installed. Walked past as someone opened the door to come out and felt that cold blast -- it was nice.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I haven’t lived in a house or apartment since I was 18 WITHOUT AC! I’m in my parents house now, it’s mine. 3 years ago I replaced the original AC that was installed in 1965 by my uncle. That old Tappan lasted 50 + years!! 

[LawMan Mark, SASS #57095L]

We had A/C in our house in the early 60s, in West Palm Beach FL.  Then, in 1972, we moved to Tennessee.  Lived in two houses there, neither of which had A/C or any heat.  Window fans at night, and stayed outside during the days. Winter heat was a wood stove, and a space heater in the bathroom. The next time I had air conditioning was when I was an adult and bought a house.  

[Buckshot Bob]

When I was 28 and moved to Madison Wi . I and the girlfriend got an apartment with a window shaker in it . Haven’t had to live without AC since except for the occasional breakdown. It was 95 and humid yesterday and I am thankful for it . Last vehicle I had without it was a 76 Chevy truck. It sure makes traveling more enjoyable. Can you even buy a vehicle without AC , power windows and locks anymore? 

[Chantry]

Not sure when I first had AC, but I'm doing without right now.  After 50+ years the central AC unit that came with condo finally died.  Careful positioning of several fans makes things bearable while I decide whether to wait until fall or early spring to get a better price on a new unit.   Based on the three quotes I've gotten a new central AC unit is going to run between $13,500 to $17,000.   It doesn't help that the condenser is on the roof and requires either a lift or crane to put it there.  Odd shaped windows make a window mounted unit problematical even if the condo association will allow it.

[Rye Miles #13621]

14 minutes ago, Chantry said:

Not sure when I first had AC, but I'm doing without right now.  After 50+ years the central AC unit that came with condo finally died.  Careful positioning of several fans makes things bearable while I decide whether to wait until fall or early spring to get a better price on a new unit.   Based on the three quotes I've gotten a new central AC unit is going to run between $13,500 to $17,000.   It doesn't help that the condenser is on the roof and requires either a lift or crane to put it there.  Odd shaped windows make a window mounted unit problematical even if the condo association will allow it.

My new Central AC cost $4800 installed. 

[Smuteye John SASS#24774]

Daddy didn't put in central air until the spring after I moved out.

 

My 1st apartment had window units and electric baseboard heaters.  Like Pat, we ran the heat in the whole place once and then just heated the bathroom and bedrooms.   We knew better than running the window units all the time.

 

The apartment I got after getting rid of that roommate had central heat and air.

[LawMan Mark, SASS #57095L]

1 hour ago, Buckshot Bob said:

When I was 28 and moved to Madison Wi . I and the girlfriend got an apartment with a window shaker in it . Haven’t had to live without AC since except for the occasional breakdown. It was 95 and humid yesterday and I am thankful for it . Last vehicle I had without it was a 76 Chevy truck. It sure makes traveling more enjoyable. Can you even buy a vehicle without AC , power windows and locks anymore? 

As of 2010, Ford still sold several models of trucks without power windows or locks.  I know because that's what my bosses bought for us to drive.

[Buckshot Bob]

3 hours ago, LawMan Mark, SASS #57095L said:

As of 2010, Ford still sold several models of trucks without power windows or locks.  I know because that's what my bosses bought for us to drive.

I kinda miss the foot switch for the bright lights 

[bgavin]

DIY whole house fan in Boise, from 1950 until 1967 when I left.. dunno about after that.

No need for A/C living in Marin County, or Petaluma, or Colorado Springs.

1992, when we bought the house in Sacramento.
It came with a huge ol' swamp cooler, which was nasty.
This was our first installation of A/C
 

[Perro Del Diablo]

We had swamp cooler when I was real young. I still remember it. I think it broke down that's when we got a window unit to replace it. The attic fan was awesome open doors windows turn it on fresh air flowed throughout house.