bummer!

[mommax3]

We turned on our air conditioning for the first time yesterday, and.......nothing happened! We think it has frozen up......it happened last summer, too. Our house was built as a spec, and since it was nobody's baby, the air conditioning unit that was put in is really too small for the size of our house, and our upstairs never really gets cool under the best of circumstances. DH's cousin and her family were staying all night last night on their way through town, and we had big plans of cranking up the air so it would be nice and cool upstairs for them. HA! It wasn't nice and cool for anyone.

It is even hotter today (94 as I type this) and DH is convinced that if we get an evaporative cooler (swamp cooler?) we will keep the upstairs cooler and be able to avoid getting a second a/c unit, which is what we really need to do but don't have the $$$ for, of course. I think the kind of cooler he is talking about will make it humid in our house and warp all the woodwork......we are at an impasse to say the least. We will get our current unit fixed, but I am sure it won't happen until after the holiday tomorrow.

So, drink something cold for us today!

Sally

94!

Dumb question, I know....is it humid there? I don't think that swamp coolers work well in humid environments. We had one in Denver and it was great. On the few days it was hot and humid from a storm coming in, it didn't seem to work as well and just got muggy.

Attic fan?

[SueC]

That sucks Sally! My neighbor's AC crapped out on her last week and we are in the 90's here as well. Luckily, another neighbor has a bunch of contacts because he is restoring a bunch of downtown condos so he sent a guy over that is going to do it on the side for her for cheap. Ours is on its last legs (it's over 20 years old) so I'm just waiting for it to die. I'll bet it happens right after we have the baby when it gets really hot--it seems like that kind of stuff always happens during the most inopportune times.
I hope you guys can find a solution that won't set you back too much!

[mommax3]

Nellie,

Heck yeah it gets humid! Exactly what I am *trying* to tell DH. There is a portable air conditioner in the Target ad we got this morning and I think he should go get one, but he is stuck on this other idea.

Today our oldest went to the Indy 500 with our best friends and their oldest daughter (same age as Luke). The guy of this couple owns a True Value store, and when they come back over here (supposedly to cook out and eat with us) I am sure DH will run the "swamp cooler" idea by his friend and his friend will shoot it down a lot more tactfully than I have been. (My parting shot was asking DH if he was on crack......you can't get much less diplomatic than that! ) Amazingly, we are watching our friends' two other kids, and of course our other two, and the kids haven't complained about the heat at all! I don't know how the race-goers will feel about eating in our hot house after sitting out at the race this afternoon, though.....we may have a change in plans!

Okay, back to sweating. Our computer is upstairs, where it is the hottest, so when I go downstairs, I get a temporary feeling of refreshment, comparatively. Down I go.....

Thanks for the sympathy!

Sally

ack! what an awful feeling (both the sweating and the *no go* when you turned the a/c on). It's stinkin' hot here, and I am grateful for the air.

I love picturing you asking your dh if he's on crack! So not in the image of Sally I have in my head. Much more of a Kris, DC Jenn, Heidi or myself kind of vein.

Go stand in front of your fridge ....

[PrincessFiona]

:thud:

Sally....I think you're dead on about the swamp cooler!!! Some of the people here with woodwork even have special 'humidity' controllers. Actually, our new house has one, we just don't have a clue of how to set it.

Is there any way to have the old AC unit removed and...replaced with another one? I don't know...the advantage to a second unit would be that you could individually cool each floor....it might be cheaper to run?? At night you could cool the upstairs to sleep and not the downstairs etc.

You could come here and visit until your AC is fixed.

kris

[Phoebe]

OMG, Sally! I can't imagine being around here today without air conditioning. DH cranked ours up last night after it was 88 degrees in the house when he got home from work at 9pm. He was happy! We had been at a cook out all evening and hadn't thought about the hot house.

I can't even imagine going to the race today in this weather. If I would have known, I would have invited you over!

Jennifer

What a way to spend the holiday weekend! I hope there is a nice, cool breeze headed your way this evening. A second a/c may cut down on your bills saving you money in the long run, but I know it is a lot of money to have to fork over up front. I think you can get a nice rebate when you file your taxes if you buy an energy star a/c. That might take a little bit of the sting out of buying a new unit.

[mommax3]

Much more of a Kris, DC Jenn, Heidi or myself kind of vein.

I can comfortably say that I am confident I could hold my own in a sass contest with any of you wonderful ladies!

Still hot. Our friends made the evening go much faster, but now it is time for bed and I am miserable just thinking about it. DH just said he was going to take a cold shower, which cracks me up for some reason, but I think I may actually take one too.

Sally

DH just said he was going to take a cold shower, which cracks me up for some reason, but I think I may actually take one too.

Sally

uh oh ... be careful where that path leads you. during the big power outage in the northeast a few years ago, dh & I tried to cool off ... ended up "heating up", and I spent the rest of the night regretting it b/c I could not get "unsweaty".

TMI ... I know. Just trying to save you the same torment I experienced.

[Vanquisher]

Much more of a Kris, DC Jenn, Heidi or myself kind of vein.

Ahhh, good times, good times.

I am sorry that your A/C isn't working. Miserable! Good luck convinving your DH that the swamp cooler is a bad idea!

[SueC]

So did the other guy shoot down the swamp thing? I've never heard of one before, which make me think they aren't very condusive to midwest summers.
I hope you guys find some way to get cool, soon! I would be getting very grumpy by now if I was forced to be in a non-AC'd house in thise kind of weather.

[DCJenn]

My brother and SIL had a swamp cooler in Chico, CA where it gets to be 100+ for most of the summer. They hated it.

Jenn

[Meenah]

OK, what the hell is a swamp cooler??????

[Vanquisher]

Swamp coolers only work in VERY dry climates, and they still aren't the best option, IMO. Also, they are usually on the top floor of the house. One unit, and it does not go through your existing vents. THe further you are from the swap cooler, the hotter you will be.

Q: What is evaporative cooling?

A: Nature's most efficient means of cooling is through the evaporation of water. Evaporative cooling works on the principle of heat absorption by moisture evaporation. The evaporative cooler draws exterior air into special pads soaked with water, where the air is cooled by evaporation, then circulated.

Q: Are evaporative coolers more suitable for specific climates?

A: Evaporative cooling is especially well suited where the air is hot and humidity is low.