It's 89F out and I have no A/C, I'm ROASTING. Yuck!

[Odin2005]

My building has central air and they have to get the local furnace guys (Laney's) to switch the system from heat to A/C and they haven't yet. I'm fucking pissed. :grr:

[originalpckelly]

1. I have a portable air conditioner. One of the rolling units.

88* F out and I'm in the high 60s. It's a little chilly, so I might have to turn the thermostat up a little. :P

Who knew that someone so devilish as I, would be so cool?

[originalpckelly]

2. Actually make that 95 for the closest weather station near me.

I'm telling you, if you can do it, one of those portables is the way to go. If I didn't have the SOB, I'd be frying to.

Perhaps you can drink something cold?

Take care Odin, hopefully those folks will fix the central air.

[Odin2005]

3. Interesting, never heard of a portable AC before!

[originalpckelly]

4. Oh yeah, they're all over the place anymore...

Basically, it's like a fan that is kind of bulky, and you roll it around. All you have to do is hook this hose, it looks like a dryer vent hose, to the back of the unit. Most windows that don't crank open work automatically out of the box with the window insert. This way you don't have a bulky window unit.

Most of them automatically evaporate the water that the AC takes out of the air too, so you don't have to empty a bucket of water like the older models made you.

Mine was $300, which seems to be the lowest price they go. But you can get them a for at most $200 more to cool much larger areas than I am.

Even if you have crank open windows, there are ways you can make your own window inserts fairly easily to hook it up and blow the hot air out the window.

[MicaelS]

5. Big sellers these days

Newegg sells over 20 models. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100010949+600047763&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&IsNodeId=1&Subcategory=718&description=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&AdvancedSearch=1&srchInDesc=

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. I did not know about portable units either.

Might solve a problem we have with one of the back rooms being too hot at night, but we can't use a window unit there.

[freshwest]

7. Got a COSTCO nearby? They always have them. I turned mine on yesterday because of allergies.

They'll keep you cool as can be on those too humid and hot or too hot days. My place don't have good air movement (one window) and it faces the south. So the heat can really build up. This is the one that I bought several years ago and it's a real life saver:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11630283&whse=BC&topnav=&cat=30995&hierPath=103*30995*&lang=en-US

OTOH, since your building has A/C, maybe just a cold shower and a few fans will do the trick until the company comes on out. It was actually cool enough here last week I had to turn on my heat, which is something I hardly do all winter long. It's really not hot here most of the summer, so I don't use it much. I turned it off today again.

That information is just in case you ever need one of these.

[Odin2005]

11. No Costco in Fargo, Just Wall-Fart, K-Suck and Target.

[freshwest]

14. Yes, but COSTCO delivers! Anyway, what's the temp in the apartment now?

It's miserable when there is no way to get a breeze. In my place, with only the one window, even a box fan to exhaust the air wouldn't help. It would just bring in the hot air in the hallway. And there will never be any A/C here, even though it's newer building. They just don't plan for heat in this region of the country. But I know it gets hot over there, very hot. It's just beginning in most areas. Best wishes on getting those guys out to get things turned over!

[Odin2005]

16. 80F.

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. How does the portable unit work? Is there no heat build up?

[freshwest]

26. It has a vent pipe like a dryer with a faceplate attached. It sends all the heat outside.

Works great and some people roll them from room to room.

[dixiegrrrrl]

27. So you DO have to vent it outside somehow,

Thru a window, I would guess?

Not much difference from a window unit, then, except for the ability to use it in different rooms depending on needs, sounds like.

[freshwest]

28. Or just a hole the size of a vent, like a dryer. I've had no trouble with mine:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11630283&whse=BC&topnav=&cat=30995&hierPath=103*30995*&lang=en-US

I've owned many window units and this is much easier to deal with.
None of that drama about something hanging out the window or dripping, etc. At least it's been easy for me.

There are some units that are energy efficient and take up even less space, they have only a vent through the wall, usually high up. The compressor, etc. is placed outside. They cost much, much more.

[plcdude]

6. 97 here

but it's Oklahoma. You can come over and jump in my pool if you want.

[hobbit709]

8. 101° here

[oneshooter]

9. Thats not too bad............

100 deg Sunday
105 deg Monday
105 deg Today
100+ tomorrow

Average humidity 90%


Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas

[Lars39]

10. That's cruel.

What's the temp inside the building running?

[Odin2005]

13. It's only 80 in my apartment, fortunately.

[Lars39]

15. A family member lives in a condo who keeps the heat on well into May,

because if they switch it any sooner the thin-blood crowd complain about freezing. Hope they switch over to air soon for you.

[Luciferous]

12. 95 here today, but we have a pool and central air. I would be on the phone

telling those guys to get the hell over and switch the system!

[Curmudgeoness]

17. I have no a/c. Want a tip for cooling off?

Well, a few tips. Cool water in something you can put your feet in. Get old sheet material, wet it, put on your neck. When it warms up, just one flick and it cools off again. Reapply. If you have a window fan, when the sun goes down you can really cool a room off. I survive those really hot and humid days this way.

[Odin2005]

20. I'm doing the window fan thing already, and the wet rag.

I'm also trying to get some evaporative cooling by having a fan blow on a soaking wet rag. The feet in cold water would not be good for me because my feet get cold easily.

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. This may sound silly, but it works for me, down here in the hot South..

I have a tape ( well, now a disc) of the sound of rain and thunderstorms. I used to put on my headphones in my office at work and play it during the worst of the summer heat.
It actually makes me feel cooler.

[freshwest]

29. Stores also carry some box fan type evaporative coolers that will do the job. But by the time...

You did all of these things, the company will have your A/C working.

Just hang in there and think cool thoughts. I grew up where it was relentlessly warm and humid, nearly 100% humidity and near 100 degrees many days of the year. Yet I worked outside or inside buildings with no heat, and it was a matter of not getting upset about it as the sweat rolled down.

The last time I had to endure a lot of heat, I read Charles Dickens who has some good descriptions of cold winter days.

When my kid got very hot, since he was subject to seizures, if we couldn't get things cool enough we drank iced lemonade and took the time to watch 'Oh, Heavenly Dog!' Of course I did the ice packs for the back of the neck and forehead, too. Just watching the actors dressed up against the cool rainy weather put us in that mood.

In neither situation were we able to do anything about the ambient air temperature, but we made it through the days and evening until the heat died down a little bit. Try a lukewarm, not cold shower to help you cool off until you get some help there.

[RandomThoughts]

18. Song Prompt, Song Prompt

:D

Ashley Tisdale - Crank It Up (Video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnSbpPXlmvo


And I am due beer and travel money, and many experiences.

[grasswire]

19. wet a bath towel and put it under your feet -- and a fan nearby

Honestly, you will feel SOOOOOOOOOO much cooler. It's amazing.

[freshwest]

30. And maybe a little alcohol to remove the sweat to help cool off. Anything helps!

[ccharles000]

24. I'm not looking forward to the upcomig summer months.

:(

[Odin2005]

25. This has actually been a cool spring in Fargo.

We didn't hit the 80s this year until just before the Memorial Day Storm, that's later than usual. Usually the weather jumps back and forth from highs around 60F on one hand and around 80F on the other throughout May.

[TorchTheWitch]

31. this happened to me once

It was terrible and went on for a week. Since then I've always kept a small window unit available just in case. You can usually get a nice one for $100 or a little less. At least that way you could camp out in one room comfortably most of the time until the central air finally gets fixed.

Where I live now (and have for something like 6 or so years) I don't have central air, and I actually prefer it. The downstairs has a wall unit, but in all the years I've been here I've only used it a few times and mostly not for me but for the dog or guests and only for a short time. I don't know why but this house just doesn't get very warm on the first floor in the summer even when it's nearly 100 degrees outside. The upstairs does get really hot, so I have that cheap window unit in the bedroom and got another one for the other room I use where the computer is. Between the two of them it keeps the whole upstairs cool enough even by the hairy dog beastie's standards, and they work really well if I'm in either of the two rooms that have the a/c units. I've never once had to turn the temperature dial thingie up all the way and rarely half way. During the summer they run pretty much 24/7, and my electric bill is WAY cheaper than when I had central air.

The only thing that kind of stinks about the window units is that in this house each upstairs room only has one window... so once the unit goes in it has to run instead of being able to have another window that could be open at night on those cooler nights in the beginning and end of summer. But it still ends up being a hell of a lot cheaper than having the central air. I don't get nearly the allergy problems I had with the places I've lived that had central air either... I really don't know why that is.

[Odin2005]

32. The A/C is getting turned on Thursday. Sure, AFTER the heat-wave...

[freshwest]

33. Just in time for the next one! It'll be worth it.

[Odin2005]

34. Fortunately it's gonna be nice and cool for several days. High of 57F tomorrow.

[freshwest]

35. Same here. Went from hot and dry to cool and rainy weather in less than a day.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

36. Some people here think everyone can work in the heat.

In the thread in LBN about "Georgia governor suggests farm work"
WatsonT scoffed at me for saying the heat is dangerous for a lot of people, and even deadly.

According to WatsonT, nobody needs air conditioning.

Even after I posted data about heat wave deaths, he didn't believe me.

[Odin2005]

37. I am extremely intolerant to humid heat, but am calling everyone wimps when it's cold!

Everyone has a different temperature and humidity tolerances and I don't think it's all acclimatization, like some claim. Though I do think all people do not do will with humid heat. Humans evolved in hot, dry climates and high humidity impairs the functioning of cooling by sweating.

[freshwest]

40. You might want to rethink your policy on wimps. BTW, you are *not* a wimp.

I grew up in swampland, but heck, I didn't know any better. As I got older, it was a drag. When I got up here, I heard people complain about the cold and damp but I never have. I find it refreshing and a great luxury.

Now after living in a maritime climate for a while, everytime I fly down south I think I'm literally going to die from it, no matter what season it is. I just endure, it's torture. I have either acclimatized or changed in some way. So I don't adjust well to a change of 20 to 40 degrees. I think the problem is always how fast the temperature changes, that's what's hard.

Just my opinion, though, so I don't tease anyone about it. Hoping that you're going to get the right temperature to keep you from being miserable. I had a very miserable day here until I turned on the A/C because of the heat, then turned it off and feel fine now.

It was the change from 45-50 to 70-85 in one day that got to me.

[tammywammy]

41. I've lived in Texas my whole 31 years.

I hate the heat. HATE IT. There's no way I could work outside for long periods of time, it doesn't take much to overheat myself.

[femmocrat]

38. I have been teaching in this weather It is absolutely miserable.

Our schools are not air-conditioned, but we still have to teach till mid-June and start back mid-August. There is no way to cool off. I just sweat all day. It makes me physically ill.

[RosesAreRed]

39. 72 degrees here

I don't understand - the eastern 2/3rds of North America are roasting, while us on the left coast are setting record low temperatures day after day.

We don't generally have aircon in California - at least not in any of the houses built before the 1980s. It's a common retrofit for home owners, but I don't have it where I live - and have been used to super high temperatures and heat waves without any sort of cooling short of getting into my car and going for a drive, which is exactly what the environment needs on a hot "spare the air" type of day.

c'est la vie.

I sympathize for all you guys in the midwest with the smoke plume overhead - we've had that situation here a few times with local wildfires (coupled with heat waves), which is never fun... unfortunately sympathy is all I can offer. What we're seeing is a wider trend - global warming is definitely here, and havoc is ensuing. We're in for this sort of weather disaster for the foreseeable future - it will be warmer and warmer every year in the areas that are warm, the areas that are cool will be cooler and cooler, with faster swings in temperatures, record snowfalls (due to increased moisture in the atmosphere - caused by... ding ding ding, increased heat!). You guys on the east coast - your summer weather will be starting to resemble Manilla sooner rather than later...

The only way to break out of this is to cut carbon emissions - and the ONLY way that will happen in our current capitalist system is if burning fuels becomes too expensive - more expensive than alternatives. It's the almighty dollar at work...