8 ms·
It's 8pm here in the Bay Area and my home is reading 91.8 degrees with the sun down and all my windows open. I remember when I moved here in 2002 and my first l
by alsetmusic 9y ago
It's 8pm here in the Bay Area and my home is reading 91.8 degrees with the sun down and all my windows open. I remember when I moved here in 2002 and my first landlord told me, "You're in the Bay, you don't need an air conditioner."
That's still true, though. We only have heat like this around September with a little overlap before and after. It's pretty unpleasant for that six or so weeks, however. It's noticeably worse than 15 yrs ago, too.
- tehlike 9y agomountain view and surrounding area is pretty hot during the summer, and you need air conditioning. it cools down after 9pm or so, though.
- thevardanian 9y agoPalo Alto is never hot enough for an AC though. At least in my experience. It does get hot, but not totally unbearable.
- ridgeguy 9y agoToday at lunch with a friend in Palo Alto, we measured 106°F at our table in the shade. We ate outdoors because the cafe had no A/C and was intolerable.
- Stratoscope 9y agoEven on a normal warm day, so many Palo Alto restaurants are uncomfortably hot inside because of no A/C and poor ventilation. Especially the places that face south or west!
- trapperkeeper74 9y agoYup. Many restaurant owners: penny-wise, pound-foolish
- trapperkeeper74 9y agoIt was 106 ℉ today in Palo Alto. Maybe you wait until it's 121?
- nealabq 9y agoWhen I was a kid living in Palo Alto I remember a day when it was 107 degrees. I think it was 1971.
- Zarath 9y agoYou definitely don't need AC in Mountain View. Source: Haven't turned it on.
- trapperkeeper74 9y agoYou're making an invalid, hasty generalization from ancedotal evidence. A ground-floor apartment or shaded house is not the same thing as a flat-roofed, unshaded, uninsulated, top floor apartment.
- revelation 9y agoWell yes, if you build your house to need AC then you will need AC. Probably also lots of heat in the winter. So do the smart thing.
- tehlike 9y agoMajority of people here are renters :)
- quickthrower2 9y agoHa ha landlords are cheap bastards
- smsm42 9y ago> You're in the Bay, you don't need an air conditioner. Wow he must have been an iron man. Maybe in SF you don't, but you go a bit south and you so much do. I've spent lots of money setting up AC in my current house and now I am feeling it's worth it. I'm relatively ok with heat but 100+ is too much even for me.
- sillysaurus3 9y agoIt's like $40 per AC unit for second hand equipment. Not very expensive.
- spraak 9y agoWell, that sounds like a simple window mounted unit, when they probably meant a whole central air (ducts through the whole house) kind of system.
- sillysaurus3 9y agoYeah, but a window mounted unit is good enough. Keeps your whole place cool. It sounds like everybody has their windows open anyway, and this way you can store them or sell them when you don't need it anymore.
- bobbygoodlatte 9y agoA lot of landlords & HOAs disallow window units. They also can compromise your home security
- sillysaurus3 9y agoSo dystopian. "No you can't put a magic cooling box in your window even though it will solve all your problems, because I say so."
- smsm42 9y agoWell, it depends on how it's installed, the power, the model etc. Built-in central air models, especially combined with heating, can run pretty pricey. If it's a big house and it's a new model, with all regulation-required energy-saving features, it's a five-figure territory. Of course, if you need to cool only one room, you can get small second-hand one for much cheaper.
- Dylan16807 9y agoIf it's unpleasantly hot for longer than a month, every year, that sounds like an air conditioner is extremely appropriate. The cost is what, half a month's rent to have many year's worth of comfortable Septembers?
- adrianpike 9y ago> half a month's rent in SF, that's one hell of an air conditioner
- quickthrower2 9y agoWhat's a half month rent 2k? Seems reasonable for a split system. Inc installation.
- trapperkeeper74 9y ago2.5k or more
- bluejekyll 9y agoIt's generally only a few days where it's in the 80's or above at night, even the 70's is rare at night. If you open the windows at night, cool the place down, close the windows and shades in the morning, the house will stay pretty cool throughout the day. This is hot though :)
- ryguytilidie 9y ago>I remember when I moved here in 2002 and my first landlord told me, "You're in the Bay, you don't need an air conditioner." Hell, I bought a home in Richmond in 2013 and when we were getting the furnace replaced I asked about adding an AC as well and the guy laughed at me. At 11pm its 88 in my hallway. 74 in my bedroom where I bought a window AC unit. Really wish he would have just given me the price and let me decide...
- vl 9y agoYou still can add it, it's pretty much a separate add-on to the furnace.
- damnfine 9y agoAre you so nonconfrontational you were unable to ask for what you wanted? If a contractor wont do the work, find another. Don't just accept what some random guy tells you. Conversely, don't blame your contractor for your inability to decide for yourself.
- ryguytilidie 9y ago"I'm going to make a lot of weird assumptions about a stranger on the internet and snarkily give them advice in a super awkward way. This will be helpful somehow."
- hkmurakami 9y agoMmm idk I've been here for 30+ years and we always seem to have one or two weeks of intense heat and its not clear to me that its that much worse. I certainly remember the summer of 2002 when we had some 100+ days in August (I remember this because I was playing golf at Stanford and getting utterly toasted)
- trapperkeeper74 9y agoI've lived in California for almost 40 years. The house I grew up in south San Jose had a small, in-wall air conditioner because it was needed about 5 weeks out of the year. It's true most houses on the peninsula didn't have air conditioners originally, but many of them do now (probably more affordability than climate change).