For two semesters in college I shared an old house that didn't have air conditioning. It was raised and it had an enormous fan built into the ceiling that created a powerful flow of air. It looked like this:
You flipped the switch and a strong breeze flowed through the entire house. It wasn't great, but it made East Texas summer evenings tolerable.
4 comments:
I had a house like that. Except it was in Pasadena. Mind you, it wasn't until a year or two after college that I finally broke down and bought a car with a/c. I also had the a/c go out in the car for a couple years because it didn't bother me. Plus, I've driven a convertible or motorcycle for a good bit of that time as well.
I guess I'm just ok with the heat.
Yeah out here they are called "whole house fans" and they sure do work.
Huge attic box fan (4' diameter) at the old house when we moved in (no a/c)
It was like a wind tunnel if you stood at the foot of the staircase to the attic.
Problem was with multiple windows open you didn't get much air circulation in the bedroom.
After the first summer the parental units decided to install a/c in the bedrooms via the attic.
Even with foot-thick plaster walls (pre-WWII) it still would get to nearly 85 F in the rest of the house.
Recently the new owners spent about $50,000 to add a/c to the rest of the house.
I can sympathize with your plight. I've lived in various states of non-aircon during my life in hot, nasty climes, and I never got completely used to it.
But especially when you've been sleeping all summer in a/c, when it does go out, it's bad. Especially in a modern house without much ventilation. Last time that happened to our central air, I was at Home Depot within the hour and picked up a sub-$100 unit for the master bedroom, and we all slept in there for the next week or so.
From Bill:
Even with foot-thick plaster walls (pre-WWII) it still would get to nearly 85 F in the rest of the house.
The house I grew up in was like that. Thick walls but hot. Thick walls are great for "thermal inertia", but depending on their construction, they often are not very good for insulation value.
If you're in a climate where the day is hot but nights are cool, that thermal inertia works, and the house stays cool into the daytime. But if you're in a place where lowest temps at night are in the 80's, not so great; your house will equalize into the upper 80's or 90's. And without insulation but mud/brick/mortar instead, any air conditioner has to cool not just the air but a lot of that thick, massive wall.
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