Seattle and Air Conditioning
on 07.30.04, 04:32pm in life • digg this • comments (7)
[Dan Fernandez] I believe the majority of the residents in the Greater Seattle Metro area during the summer live a lie. The lie in question is that Seattle is temperate enough to not require air conditioning.
I bought into the lie the first few years living out here in Seattle. No more. Like Dan, in our new house the first upgrade we did was make sure that we had central air conditioning. The only problem? I find that I’m using it every day lately.
I just can’t wait to see the bill.
Update: Stephen Speicher posted a link to Puget Sound EnergyTracker - you can check your current usage and bill over the web. Too cool.
Stephen Speicher (July 30, 2004 @ 5:20 pm)
I agree 100%. Everyone parrots the same darn lie You’ll really only need air for about 7 days a year.
It’s a LIE!
So here’s today’s little fun fact: did you know that, in many locations, Puget Sound Energy let’s you check your energy usage on the web. They use a cell network to call in the meter usage (many times a day). The site is complete with graphs and your usage history. It’s kinda cool.
Cheers,
Steve
p.s. It’s about $1 - $1.50 to keep my sun-exposed 3k sf house nice and chilly. It’s really worth it.
Justin Rudd (July 30, 2004 @ 6:03 pm)
Come on down to Phoenix, AZ! It is currently a cool 97 degrees F.
My electricity bill in my house is routinely between $200 and $300 a month. And I keep my temp at 78 F.
The worst is right now in August because it is Monsoon season. So not only do we get AZ temp (100+) we also get humidity. Nothing worse than 108 temp with 70% humidity.
Tommy Williams (July 30, 2004 @ 7:37 pm)
I’m glad (well, sort of) to hear that it’s not just me. We moved up here at the end of the summer in 2001. It was brutally hot on the days when we were doing all our unpacking — I remember sitting in the kitchen, dripping sweat, and hoping the heat was an anomaly. The neighbors and the people I talked to at work all told me it was very rare to see that kind of heat.
Every summer since then we’ve had more than the normal two weeks of unpleasant heat. People have continued to try to assure me that it’s not normal, but this is the fourth time that we’ve gone through the heat and my wife and I are finally ready to put in the air conditioning.
I suspect that it will be cheaper to buy it in the winter, though, so I’m going to hold out one more summer.
Can anyone confirm or refute that we’ll save money by buying air conditioning in the winter?
David Brownell (July 30, 2004 @ 8:06 pm)
My wife and I live in Renton, WA, and we just purchased air conditioning last week. I can tell you that we definitely paid a premium for ordering during peak season, and that you will save money by buying in the winter. We had some unusual circumstances however, and didn’t feel that we had the luxury of waiting. It you can make it through the summer though, my guess is that you could save about 20%.
I wrote more about it here: http://www.davidbrownell.com/Entries/2004/07/20040730.html.
Astrila (May 15, 2006 @ 5:46 pm)
I totally agree - it is a LIE!
Does anyone know of any kind of AC systems that a person could get for a rental apartment?
Derek (July 17, 2006 @ 8:35 am)
Yes, I also agree, it is a lie. My wife and I moved to the puget sound area last year and don’t own our own home, so we have to rent, but we cannot find a single place with A/C. It gets pretty hot in the summer here in the Puget Sound area, no matter what anyone says. I presume the naysayers either leave for vacation in the summer, or are in a nice cushy office building most of the time so they don’t notice, but we have certainly noticed the heat. And it seems to get hotter every year, there must be some sort of global warming going on. Any idea how to get A/C around here for rentals or encourage more companies to install them?
Kay (May 31, 2007 @ 6:44 pm)
The people that built the housing in seattle were lazy. They didn’t want to share the portion of the contract jobs with electricians and the a/c man