This thought article is not about travel. Indeed, I wish it was. It is about living comfortably in the Florida summer. It’s about sleeping in low humidity in Florida summer. It’s about the wonderful barrier windows and doors provide between my skin and the biting no-see-ums at dawn and dusk. It’s about life with air conditioning.
I recognize that having air conditioning is a privilege some consider a necessity.
Others consider it optional, and some are decrying it because of the damage all of our heat pumps are causing to this earth of ours.
On Sunday, I started my day like usual, reading the New York Times on my phone. An article caught my eye in the Opinion section, Stan Cox writing on “I Swore Off Air-Conditioning, and You Can, Too.”1 Mr. Cox lives in Sedalia, MO. It’s cooling off now in Sedalia with high temperatures this week in the 70s and 80s and the lows in the 50s. The high temperatures where I am this week has been high 80s to low 90s, with the lows in the high 70s. The humidity is on par with and even a little higher than my Florida location.
This is the little analysis I did after reading his article about embracing life without AC (air-conditioning).
I then got on with my day. I worked for a good part of it, then in the late afternoon, I started making dinner for a friend who was under the weather, while washing loads of laundry and running the dishwasher.
I had both my ovens going, and between the ovens, cooking on the stove, running the dryer and the heat cycle in my dishwasher, I wasn’t alarmed when it started getting warm in the house. I usually keep my thermostat set around 77 degrees during the day, which is a great temp when I’m working at my computer. So I turned the thermostat down to 75 to encourage the house to cool off and didn’t think much more about it. Until the house didn’t cool off. In fact, it continued to warm up.
The system was running, but not cooling.
It actually was heating since the air in the ducts runs through the attic which is a very hot place indeed. So, I turned the system off, opened the windows, and turned on my ceiling fans.
I was pretty comfortable under my fan. 80 degrees with a strong breeze was not bad. I thought back to Mr. Cox’s article I had read that morning and figured if he can live without it in the hot Kansas summer weather, I can survive until I can get a repairman out to fix my unit.
And then it got hotter in the house.
That night I slept in 84 degree heat with a ceiling fan on. I slept 8 hours without waking up. I actually slept really well. Of course, I had taken all the covers off the bed. I didn’t even use a sheet. But I was comfortable.
On the second day, it got warmer.
The house temperatures rose to 87 degrees during the day. I was managing air flow by having the windows open when the temperatures outside were low, but once the sun rose and hit the front of my house, I closed the windows and the plantation shutters to provide a barrier to the heat through the windows. The afternoon sun, which is full on through my back picture windows was an issue. But even at 87, with a tower fan blowing air around my little office, I was comfortable enough. And I had enough food precooked from my adventures on Sunday to only have to use the microwave in short bursts. So, day 2 was tolerable, and we have had late afternoon/evening thunderstorms that rapidly cool temperatures down. I was able to cool the house off again to 84 once the sun set. Another good night.
Day three reached into the 90s inside.
It was hot. It was starting to not be so much fun. The air conditioner guy arrived, tested the system, and shared the bad news. It’s an older system, the repair would cost about 25% of a new system. Since I’m planning to be here for a while, it was an easy decision. Replace it. I want worry free cool. I might have been slower on that decision if it wasn’t 94 degrees in the house. So, now I wait while they source a unit and I get on their schedule.
There is relief in sight for me.
I have a planned trip for a few weeks starting tomorrow morning. While I’m gone, the unit will be installed, and I’ll be back to my polluting ways soon.
But I also have learned that I can cool my house down and it’s nice to sleep with a fan on at 84 degrees. That was a very surprising lesson to learn.
I signed on to open windows all night last night and didn’t have too much of a problem with the no-see-ums. A few found their way inside, but it isn’t like the chomping I get at dusk out in front of my house while chatting with a neighbor. The mangroves are close and that’s where the no-see-ums live and they really like to dine on me. It was a concern but at least I got through the night last night. My hope is that I’ll develop a tolerance to their bites, like I have to mosquito bites, and no longer notice them. I wonder if Mr. Cox has no-see-ums in Sedalia.
One more night and I’m not worried.
But the sun is starting to hit the front of my house so it’s time to close the windows and doors. Right now the thermostat is reading 81 degrees, and I’m looking forward to a productive day. In four days, I’ve been able to find the sweet spot for managing with no AC, meaning I avoid the sweat spot, which is anywhere at 94 degrees in the house!
Stay cool!1Opinion | I Swore Off Air-Conditioning, and You Can, Too – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
