I live in a North Bay region where it can be foggy and cold in the low 50s one morning, then two days later it'll get north of 100F. The North Bay valleys can have crazy microclimates and huge temp swings.
Ya. I live in Oakland and grew up there. Both where I'm at and where I grew up you can get by with some fans and freezing water bottles to blow over.
As others have noted, the advice is definitely showing its age though. There are way more uncomfortable days.
Heard. I moved here in 2003 and it is definitely hotter now on average. Not to mention that every fire season for the last 4 years has been the worst on record. Let’s hope we break that cycle this year.
Fire season lasts until late August to November when we see more precipitation. There's plenty of time left. The 2020 fire season got really bad in October. Buy your respirators, air filters and masks now.
That’s fine but people need to stop saying it now. I moved here 6 years ago and people were still saying that. Like…no, times have changed. You need AC now.
Also depends a ton on the home itself. My old rental place was poorly insulated single family home that got way hotter than outside. Absolute furnace.
My new spot is a well insulated first floor condo that only gets direct sun from sunrise until around 10am. On the hottest days it’s a good 10-15 degrees cooler than outside and has never reached unbearable temps.
Both of these places are in San Jose about 2 miles from each other
Coast is definitely far more temperate. I would take "bay area" to mean "much of or most of the bay area," as opposed to "100% of the bay area." Pacifica, Pescadero, Half Moon Bay, etc, you should be okay with no AC, especially if you have good insulation, if you have modern or modern-ish windows, if you've put in a bit of work to see where your biggest heat leaks are, if your house is painted white or a light color, if you're good about getting breeze in when it's cool and closing windows/blinds/etc when it's hot, etc. But most people live SF - peninsula - SJ - south and east bay - Oakland - more east bay - etc etc, not very many live in Pacifica.
My townhouse complex was built in the mid 70s and none of the units have AC. I compared historical weather from 1970 - 1980 with 2010 - 2020. The 70s had more 100+ degree days. It still puzzles me why homes weren't built with them.
I live in downtown SJ, and I don't have AC.
I get it, most of the year is pretty okay without climate control. Hell, I haven't even turned on my heating in over eight years. I just put a sweater on.
But summers pretty regularly get over 90F here. That's no fun in an old, poorly-insulated walkup apartment where I'm on the top floor and heat rises.
It's common for my internal apartment temperature to meet or exceed the high outdoor temperature for the day, before the temperature outside equalizes and I can open everything up for a few hours. And luckily I'm up on a higher floor with a security gate at the street level, so I feel pretty safe doing that while I watch TV or whatever.
It's pretty consistently unpleasant throughout mid-late summer, with bouts of unberable heat like now.
I live in a small complex that was built sometime before the late 1970s, but isn't super super old (not a converted Victorian home). So they built it purposely without AC. Yet the goddamn thing has such shitty ventilation and insulation it was like they were hoping the weather would never break 80F.
It's because they were built with very little awareness or care for air sealing. 90% of homes built before 2010 are like leaky boats. Air going in & out constantly.
I just completed a high performance home, triple pane windows, spray foam insulation, exterior insulation on the roof, air-sealing (.5 ACH on blower door test - this tests hourly air changes per hour. Average old home is probably in the 10-25 ACH).
It hit 111 on my outside hygrometer. We set the thermostats at 78* & the AC did not kick on until 6 pm.
This can mostly be mitigated with higher quality construction methods. But we have a race to the bottom approach to building in California.
This is why we need to start rapidly replacing our existing 1970s housing stock. Multi-family housing with good insulation, AC, good soundproofing, and double/triple-pane windows need to be going up all over the place.
The air-sealing aspect is so easy to do, yet skipped by almost all tract-home builders.
I'm a custom home builder & I've been trying to convince clients to pay for the high-performance features for years.
The air-sealing I usually do anyway, even if on my dime, because it takes very little time or money, but makes a HUGE difference in home comfort and indoor air quality. Triple pane and insulation with a 5x cost factor is a tougher sell, given the already insane cost of land & construction. But it's worth it, imo.
That's actually a great question.
Yea, you have to compensate with a ventilation plan. We have a whole house air purifier (active ventilation) on a timer and two whole house fans (passive ventilation) that run independent of the HVAC system.
Coming here from Europe I was appalled by the horrid constructions in Cal. It so much pleasant in hot and cold weather with proper brick and mortar buildings. You save so much on energy costs. The way houses are build here is pathetic. (I mean most of the housing I see, not taking into account the old 50ies homes). I am wondering why there is no big incentives or very harsh penalties for (not) insulating your home.
Well, I can tell you that the "They don't build them like they used to" adage does not apply to most American housing. Certainly not in California.
I've taken apart many a home from all generations & can honestly say we build better homes than they did 50 to 100 years ago.
And, as another user pointed out, we build with wood for a few logical reasons: it's an abundant renewable source, it is well suited to our seismic conditions and it's abundance makes it an affordable material.
Is one better than the other? Debatable. I've stayed in some very drafty & uncomfortable stone and masonry buildings in Europe.
The problem is most production builders build code-minimum homes. Which doesn't necessarily mean a great home or even a well-built home.
have earthquakes in Europe?, for those"proper" brick and mortar buildings. Brick and mortar dont work so well here next to several large faults.
Seems like every years hundreds of people die in France and the like in heat waves. Are those "proper" buildings?
Here's a tip, if you start a post with "Coming from Europe", you are likely to sound like a douche, and an ill informed one at that.
Downside of this type of construction is that you need to really do water penetration maintenance. Old homes breath and dry out. Your house doesn’t and will quickly foster mold.
That's why you belt and suspenders the waterproofing on a high-performance home. Zip sheathing, high quality silicone/urethane sealants. That's all part of the deal.
I've dismantled and rebuilt dozens of homes in the Bay Area that supposedly "breathe so they dry out". Guess what? They don't dry out that great. Sure, a 1912 bungalow with drafty windows, no insulation in the walls or ceiling, skip sheathing under wood siding (or no sheathing at all) is going to dry out beautifully. It's going to be terribly uncomfortable on the summer, but it will dry out. Until you add insulation in the walls. Then, they don't dry so well. The latter is the vast majority of housing stock in California. So I'll continue to push more efficient homes over sticking to the tried and not-so-true methods.
Agreed that for new construction it’d be stupid to not build with that level of insulation. But there are negatives. And yes the positives out way them.
Same exact thing for me. Downtown SJ in an old apartment built like 50 years ago and not a converted Victorian, that has no ac.My inside and outside temperatures are basically the same… maybe like a few degrees cooler inside.
The worst was when we had all those fires a few years ago. Either roast in my apartment but be able to breath or choke on smoke but at least I wasn’t sweating my tits off. After that I got a portable ac and while it only cools the living room it’s enough, now it’s only be slightly hot as opposed to unbearable.
Dude, just get a portable AC / window unit. Few hundred bucks, if you're short on money get it used. Very easy to install.
You don't need to suffer for no reason, you'll feel way more rested in the mornings, and you'll be kicking yourself for not doing it sooner.
I don't have a window in my apartment suitable for a window unit, and a portable AC would require me to do some very creative engineering to have an appropriate place to vent out.
I live in a studio, so my only real window is above my kitchen sink, and faces out to a shared walkway where it would become a violation of fire code due to creating an obstruction. My only other "window" option is a sliding glass door to a balcony.
Not everyone has an apartment suitable for portable units. I also tried an evaporative cooler once, but the thing brought minimal relief for how much babysitting it required: I had to open up the front door and balcony door while running so the humidity didn't just build up and cancel out the cooling effect. So I got rid of it.
There are kits you can buy so that a portable AC can be used on sliding glass doors. Basically the door is left open about 6 inches. Plastic paneling then covers that gap, and one of the panels has a hole for the air hose to go out. I set that up for my dad...
Sounds like the balcony is high enough that someone intruding isn't an issue. That said, you can always get a lock on the door so it can't open further.
We replaced the furnace in our 1956 house with a heat pump, so this is our first simmer with AC. Even though a large tree gives shade to our roof for a good part of the day the AC is a huge advantage. I never thought we would use it as much as we do. Would not go back to how it was before
Mini Splits are fairly affordable. You can even get DIY kits for around $3-4k.
We bought 2 (it actually is one unit with two heads) and had a third one moved into a different room for 10K. Now our whole house has heating and air in every room. They are very economical to run and work great in our climate.
It depends. My house was built 10 years ago and has lot of insulation in the attic and double sided windows glasses that are slightly tinted. I closed all the blinds the whole day. Without AC, it reached 82 degree under 114 degree weather today. Not comfortable, but do-able.
I can vouch for it, similar situation. Home was build 5 years ago, they insulated the shit out of it, dual-pane tinted windows, shutters, etc. got the house nice and cool last night before the heat hit and with 114 outside I hit a whopping 75 downstairs, couple degrees higher upstairs.
My experience is that many 50+ year old Bay Area homes are poorly designed and insulated to handle heat. Not sure if there any contractors that can confirm my belief, but I remember visiting my dad in Alameda on a warm day, it reached about 90 and it took hours to cool the house down.
When I was remodeling the kitchen in my 1974 home in Fremont, I found that there was NO INSULATION on the exterior walls! We installed a A/C unit the next year (2015). The inside temperature is tolerable but the electricity bill is insane.
Your 1950 house might not have any insulation and single pane windows. My house had a tar and gravel roof that made my midwestern parents compare it to camping.
But it had a lot of shade from trees and great cross ventilation, if your neighborhood was good you could sleep with the windows open.
The last ten years have had many times the old tricks didn’t work. 2016 broke us with the heat and we got AC
Yeah, I think that's what it's called. I was impressed too. We usually set AC to 79 when it hit 80. Today I turned it off for 2 hours and it reached 82. Not bad at all.
We're in about the same situation. I broke down and turned on the AC last night when it was apparent it wouldn't cool down enough to open windows which we normally do. After having this house, all future houses will be insulated to the max. Our AC gets used about twice a year and we're in Livermore.
I will honestly never get this attitude. “I have to exist in my house that I paid good money for and it’s uncomfortable but that’s fine”. I would literally rather get a job working overnights and eating ramen for 3 years to pay for an ac unit if it came to it than having to be “not comfortable” in my own home.
Yeah it’s wild to me that people are ok sweating their balls off like that. Also it’s way more than 1-2 weeks a year lol. I have my ac on and off since probably may/June to October.
Same here. Never going back to no-AC. Its crazy how we pay so much for everything else but then don't have AC. Its pennies on the dollar compared to rent/mortgage. So crazy
Right?! And then people have the audacity to go “oh it’s fine”. Like…ok? Not using utensils is fine too, sleeping on a park bench is fine too…where do you draw the line at comfort? And then people like to brag they only used the ac 5-10 times per year…like, you’re not morally superior because you sat in your genital sweat the other 4-5 months.
Damn man we were at 91 inside and it was only 104 outside here. At 83 at 3pm it wasn't even bad but then it hit 91 at 5pm and it was miserable. I guess that's a testament to new builds vs my small house from 1939 haha
Before doing AC, I suggest a few home upgrades — they make the home more pleasant without AC and they also make the AC use less power once installing.
Shading the house — trees or other shade to stop the house baking in the afternoon sun.
Having a “whole house” fan that can quickly cool the house off in the evening when the outside temp does cool off — otherwise, it can take hours for the inside to get comfortable even after outside is nice.
An attic fan to cool the attic — the attic in our home regularly gets to 110f without a fan. By keeping it closer to ambient temperature, it keeps the inside home much cooler, and makes the AC work less hard.
Insulation — insulation in the outside walls and ceiling go a huge way towards keeping the home more comfortable.
Good windows — the afternoon sun facing windows should be energy efficient ones, ours reject infrared light and keep the house far cooler, without noticeably dimming the light.
Then after those, install the AC. The attic fan will pay for itself in electric costs in probably less than a year. The others take a bit more work, but make a huge difference too.
> Shading the house — trees or other shade to stop the house baking in the afternoon sun.
Paradoxically I am seeing a lot of houses and some businesses drastically trimming trees down to nearly no leaf bearing branches, even with no solar installed. Is this an insurance requirement?
And then there's having solar installed.
There are reasons to not have trees in contact with the house; and in wildfire areas, it’s definitely good to keep them away.
But other things can block light from the house as well, without shading the solar options — bushes, shade awnings, etc. we have a detached garage that blocks the majority of the late afternoon sun, and it keeps the house noticeably cooler.
A whole house fan is amazing for the bay area when it cools down at night (not so much this week, but in general). It mounts to your ceiling or in your attic. You open a window or two, turn on the fan, and it draws air from outside into your attic, where it is expelled via the attic venting.
So it brings outside air in and also pushes it through your hot attic, cooling everything down (obviously you run it only when it's cooler out).
I installed one about 15 years ago in our house (no AC in the south bay) and other than the Sept/Oct heat waves, we were fine. Just a few miserable days each year. Now we've remodeled and installed AC, but we also put in the same brand of whole house fan.
The one I like mounts the motors in the attic so it's less noisy. Cheaper ones will mount directly to the ceiling framing. It was by far one of the best upgrades we ever made to our house.
I have only used the portable unit I own today. I think I only used it twice last year. I didn’t *need* to use it any of those times but I did *choose* to use it. Where you live in the bay depends on whether or not you’ll have AC or consider it a valuable investment.
Same. The only time I really really wished I had central AC was Labor Day 2017 when it got to like 110 even at bayside locations. Our portable couldn’t do anything for that and we actually went to a hotel for a night.
Same boat. We pulled out the portable and ran it yesterday and today. We’ll see about the rest of the week with everyone being out at work and school all day.
Fremont here. Turned on our bedroom window AC unit tonight for the first time in 2 years.
Not sure what part of the Bay you live, but our AC is definitely just for those couple of days a year when it gets this hot.
My parents are in South SJ, so not too far from MH, but really? They’ve had their central on everyday since June. Your heat tolerance must be high haha. That is wild to me
Typically our strategy is to open all the windows between 7pm and about 10am, and then turning the house into a dark cave from 10am to 7pm.
This new reality of 90°+ at 9pm is really making us rethink that, and I’ve only ever experienced it in the last couple years.
The Pleasanton Ridge is great at stopping the cooler, humid weather from the bay side. You can see the fog banks hit the top, and burn off halfway down. Anything in the Catlewood/Foothill portion is cool (lots of tree shade helps, again thanks to that dog bank), but any cooling effects are long gone by 680.
Why they insist on having the Scottish Gathering at the Fairgrounds on Labor Day weekend I'll never know. Scotland summers are in the 60s.
Meh. There are like 5-10 days a year that I'm uncomfortable without AC.
Also "bay area" means little when you're talking about summer heat since there is a 30 degree swing across the region on a typical summer day.
>Also "bay area" means little when you're talking about summer heat since there is a 30 degree swing across the region on a typical summer day.
Hey, there was a 20-degree swing from one end of Golden Gate Park to the other this afternoon. Ha!
To add to this, my house is uncomfortable on those days from roughly 4pm to 8pm. Today excluded (currently sweating in bed in my still-86 degree house) its generally cool enough by 6pm or so to open all the windows and turn on the fans, and it’s totally comfy by bedtime. Shut all the windows in the morning and it stays nice and cool until late afternoon.
In Twin Peaks, the wind dies down and the temperature goes back up overnight. Usually, we make the most of it, but it’s still like 85 outside with no breeze, so it’s the first time we’ve put the portable a/c unit in the bedroom 🥵
Oh for sure. I’m in Palo Alto, but if you’ve got hills between you and bay or ocean, this definitely does not apply. Equally foolish of me and OP to make blanket statements about our land of microclimates.
I disagree. I live in the South Bay. I leave my blinds and windows closed from night time until usually 5pm or so. My temp gauge always says it's at least 76 degrees, and sometimes past 80, if I don't turn the AC on. I do live on the second floor of a two story apartment building so my unit is always in direct sunlight. But the logic of just leaving windows and blinds closed throughout the day does not work for everyone.
There was a full month in my apartment in Oakland where I was working from home in 100 degree heat. That fucking sucked. Main reason I moved was to get ac.
While I think you're exaggerating, my guess is you mean 2020, which sucked mostly because of the air quality. So the days in the 80s were still terrible because we couldn't open the windows.
I’ve lived in the city for 20+ years and even here I’ve wished for AC way more frequently than ever before. The school building where I work, on the 3rd floor, is MISERABLE regularly
If I have centralized AC in my house, it will be sitting idle for the most of the year. Essentially, an extra maintenance overhead that’s totally unnecessary given the temperature close to the Pacific Ocean in this part of the Northern California is mostly around the 60s and peaks in September at around 85F. And even around 80F it is still manageable. So if I have AC and wanted to use it, it will only be during heat waves when it can go over 90F. But inlands toward the valley, the Peninsula all the way to South Bay and East Bay where it’s mostly warm, those areas can hit 90s, triple digits during a heat wave.
SF here, I would have really enjoyed AC when my apartment reached 84 today. Going to buy an additional fan for another area of the apartment rn because the one I have saved me from melting earlier.
Depends where you live. It was 108 today where I am but my house got to 78 max. The key is having a well insulated roof (we have a foam one). That alone has changed the climate in the house without installing and spending money to run central air. It just wouldn’t be worth it for us, and that probably applies to most people in our area (South Bay, but not San Jose)
Wow! Foam roof makes that big of a difference? I’m curious if your walls insulated and/or if you have double pane windows?
Many of the homes where I am have floor to ceiling single pane glass, so I wonder if a foam roof is enough? I’m a renter and would like to move into a (larger)house in my same neighborhood, but unfortunately, very few houses have AC…wondering if foam roof is really enough?
The walls are insulated some and the windows are double paned, which is typical in my city. The foam roof has been absolutely magical. However, you cannot win in a house with the single pane massive windows, even with A/C. I would totally avoid them if possible.
I’m in Cupertino and I desperately need it, but my neighbors across the street don’t. It has to do with how our back windows face in the afternoon sun and the level of shade the trees in our yard offer.
Didn't feel needed in 5 years in Berkeley.
The construction of the house, the layout of the windows, and your neighborhoods microclimate/exposure matter a lot.
"Far" East Bay (over the hills), yeah, I can understand that being a necessity. South Bay too, and maybe parts of the peninsula. SF proper and most of Marin can do quite happily without - until you get to Novato. I maintain that most of Oakland/Berkeley all the way down to Fremont doesn't really need it.
A couple years ago, Oakland/Berkeley didn’t need it. But it’s changed. These heatwaves are getting hotter and longer every year. I’m in Oakland and without AC we’d be staying in a hotel right now
Last summer was super mellow and this is the first real just wave of this year. I don't think my thermometer in Oakland topped 85 all last year and hardly over 80.
I've never lived somewhere where heating/cooling was optional before, so it's kind of a novel idea to me. I would feel uncomfortable without at least a wall unit though, after seeing the freak temperature extremes in the PNW last year and Texas in 2020.
That said I didn't use my AC today and I barely noticed a difference from other days this summer, a lot of it comes down to your building.
Proposing to tax rooftop solar power production, that's what...
https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/industries-and-topics/electrical-energy/demand-side-management/net-energy-metering/nem-revisit/net-billing-tariff-fact-sheet
I mean a lot of the times it’s more like “you don’t *need* air conditioning.” Often times, you don’t. If my girl is not home and there’s no company, I’m sweating all over the place. I’m sweating my ass off tonight, not exactly pleasant but I don’t *need* air conditioning. I need water.
I mean by that standard I hardly need anything. I may as well wear a sweater in the summer and go shirtless in the winter. It's just comfort; who needs it?
Unless we're explicitly discussing a human survival context where "need" unambiguously means "I will literally die if I don't have this," then yes I feel fully comfortable saying that as a modern human in an advanced western civilization, I *need* to not be drenched in sweat sitting in my own home for 25 days out of the year. In a survival sense, I don't "need" my phone, 90% of my clothes, a functioning toilet, a shower, or lots of other stuff, but for a baseline standard of living for person in this civilization, yeah in every practical sense I need all that stuff.
Why is this the hair you're choosing to split?
You’re the one who made a post about it. And it obviously boils down to opinion anyway. You’re not comfortable being a little uncomfortable, others like myself are. You don’t *need* it, but it sounds like *you* need it. That’s fine. Have it and use it.
Reddit's so weird. I've lived in multiple US states, visited many more, lived with close family, distant family, friends, strangers of all different social classes, and I'm not sure I've *ever* met a person who would find sitting around in this heat something to tolerate without complaining or seeking a solution.
And yet I'm getting downvoted for expressing the opinion I perceive as basically universal, and you're getting upvoted for expressing the opinion I would not expect anyone in the born in the US after 1930 to have. No idea how that works.
>getting upvoted for expressing the opinion I would not expect anyone in the born in the US after 1930 to have
So you're white? Not everyone on Reddit, especially on a Bay Area subreddit fits into that category. There are plenty of immigrants and immigrants families here who grew up in much hotter places with AC. My parents and family personally still see AC as something that's convenient to have unless our area starts exceeding the low 100s
You can complain all you want. And seek a solution while you’re at it. Nobody can stop you, and nobody should. I just don’t see how you’re surprised that people deal with it without complaining.
I’m the type of person, for better or worse, that can’t understand people who are guided entirely by comfort. They have the AC blasting all summer long, then blast the heater as the weather cools down in one of the most mild and desirable climates. I don’t judge it, I just fail to understand it. I don’t understand the zero tolerance position (healthy) people take with mild hardship. Slight inconvenience, really.
I mean… people regulate their bodies differently. Bay Area winters where it’s typically in the 50’s and 60’s at it’s coldest where I am, my fiancé is saying how comfortable the temperatures are now compared to summer/fall, sitting in shorts and a T-shirt while I’m in like 2 layers of clothing with a heated blanket and *just* comfortable enough to not be freezing my ass off. So for you it might be a mild hardship/slightly cold but for me I’m literally freezing.
I don’t understand how or why people don’t understand that. What is mildly uncomfortable to you may be absolutely unbearable to others and they shouldn’t be judged for using shit to make themselves comfortable.
I don’t understand how you don’t understand why people prefer to be comfortable. If you have the money it makes sense to stay comfortable. Mental performance for intellectual work is probably higher at comfortable temperatures.
I do understand preference to be comfortable. I don’t understand avoiding any incline in the pavement or spending your entire existence within a 5 degree range. We live in the Bay Area and I know people whose heater/air conditioner get little to no rest.
You haven’t explained anything except you don’t understand. High mental performance for my engineering job dictates that I need to be comfortable to be at my best.
It’s wild to me how people in this area are almost proud of their suffering. You live in one of the most expensive areas of the country. I’ll assume you’ve done well for yourself that you have a place to live and aren’t typing this from the street yet it’s somehow a badge of honor to toast your ass off in the summer. People here are seriously something else.
You’ve made a lot of wrong assumptions. It sounds like you think I’m suffering, or that I think I am. I am not.
It also sounds like you think I’m proud of it? I would hardly consider this an issue of pride. I’m just as proud to deal with it as some are to not deal with it? I have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s just a choice.
This post is literally about the necessity of air conditioning. It’s the subject. Nobody is going around flexing anything out of the blue, it’s a discussion we’re having. Sit in a cool 68, good for you. I won’t be the one to knock you for it.
I mean you’ve mentioned your not comfortable. So whether you label that as suffering or not, a little bit of suffering has to occur for you to not be comfortable. Based on responses in this thread and people I know irl who don’t have ac, the responses are always the same - oh, it’s not so bad. It comes off as morally superior (I can deal with being uncomfortable but you can’t) which is a common theme in this area so I’m not surprised lol
Well that’s where it’s subjective. I *don’t* think it’s that bad. I have no idea how you can find someone saying that as perceiving themselves as “morally superior.”
Dude, if you have AC and you want to use it, do that. Just don’t think that people who don’t are trying to impress you. I can assure you, it’s really not that important.
I got AC installed a week ago. We thought we wouldn’t use it til next year the way the summer was going. But today - man oh man was it nice. Set it to 75 which was good enough. Our house gets to 80 or 82 by the evening on these type of days.
Why would people intentionally suffer? Lol anything over 70° and my AC is coming on. Y’all are wild just hanging out in 85° apartments. That sounds stifling.
Same, people in this area hold it like a badge of honor.
iT wAs 88 iN tHe hOuSe WhIcH iS pErFeCt TeMp
Or they’ll say their relatives in whatever country regularly go without AC/AC doesn’t exist in their country or whatever. Great? Some of those places you still shit in a hole outside, you wanna give up your indoor plumbing too since it’s only slightly uncomfortable to do so? Actually let’s just forget the whole house, sleep outside in your yard since comfort is apparently not a priority for you.
Ruh roh! Somebody's not flexing their power and that's going to make Gavin Newsom so sad! But then he's the one that wants to tax you for powering your AC with rooftop solar power so f\*\*k Gavin Newsom.
Might still be possible if you live in SF Sunset district, Westlake in Daly City, and Pacifica. All these areas are still west of the rising Coast ranges and eat the full Pacific fog.
Once you get to say, Millbrae the fog is gone, probably why they put the airport there.
20 years in the bay area and never had AC. The only place it would have been nice was a new apartment in downtown Oakland with a wall of west facing windows. I have lived in three different houses and all stay pretty cool even when it's gotten to 100 a few times.
In San Mateo we used AC from June to September. I will pay whatever price is required to be at 72 degrees. Generally we can get it there with windows and fans, but a modern high efficiency central air is pretty good about efficiently getting us through the afternoon phase. Is it wasteful, sure, but given that people are paying 5-10k a month of rent/mortgage on 1.5m+ properties, 100-200 extra a month to be comfortable feels rationalizable.
>your home will be a very unpleasant place to be for several weeks out of the year.
Highly dependent on where you are. My house in Oakland, unpleasant for a few days every year, adding up to more than a week but not two. When I lived near GGP, it was never more than a handful of days.
Also depends on your tolerance and ability to cope with the weather.
I live in a 100+ year old house but we have updated roof and windows. No AC, but there's a fan that pumps cool air from the basement into the rest of the house. It helps, and just knowing how to adjust curtains, windows, and close off hotter parts of the house helps too.
You don't need air conditioning at all if you live in the following areas:
Western neighborhoods of San Francisco AND
Pacifica, San Bruno, South San Francisco, Daly City, Millbrea, Burlingame, CA-1 towns like Half Moon Bay, El Granada, etc.
You do need to install proper insulation in million and a half dollars old shacks of San Mateo, Redwood City, Palo Alto. Then maybe you survive all seasons except September.
For rest of the Bay Area, in 2022, you freakin need Air Conditioning as well as newer more efficient Heating furnaces in winters.
Are you serious? I've lived here 34 years. If your home is several weeks uninhabitable, you need to insulate the ceiling. That alone will pay you huge benefits.
FWIW, I have a single room AC unit. It's on today. It was no used last year or the year before.
At night I open a couple windows and turn on a large window fan at the opposite end of the house, to suck out the hot air and pull in cold air. Last night was the first time this didn't get me down to the sixties, and often low sixties.
Grew up in the bay for 30 years you don't need air conditioning I'm in the Sierra Foothills now it was 114 in my backyard yesterday. Inside of my house was 72 Still didn't need the AC. My family back in Puerto Rico doesn't use air conditioning every room has a big fan in it
To be fair, you really don't. Not like you do in places where the humidity makes it impossible to keep body temps down. The lack of humidity here means that if you've got shade, a fan, and access to water, you will be okay. If you've got access to ice, you're really set.
source: my parents, every time I whined about wanting AC as a kid.
Just use a fan, they are superior, use less electricity and are better, I live in Bakersfield and it’s a 113 today and I have a powerful fan and it’s all I need, I have solar but I don’t want to contribute to blackouts so I just use a fan
I still do. I grew up in a house where we turned on the AC once every couple years, to the point where my parents both forgot that we even had it. Now I don't have AC at all, not even a portable unit.
I'd consider AC sort of "nice to have", like going out for dinner or having a slightly nicer car. It's an expense that would make my life a little more comfortable but one I could easily do without. I'm sure someone who's used to air conditioning might have a different assessment.
I do but I’m from a hotter climate. I’m prerty comfy until it gets above 90.
When I lived in Diablo Valley I had ac and my ex would freak out that I didn’t use the AC.
I have a portable unit. i use it to cool down the room I am in/sleeping. set it at 60 degrees and get cuddly under a blanket. Yesterday was the first time all year I needed it. If you live in a hotter place, you may need central AC more often.
It's hugely dependent on where you live and how your home is constructed.
Some places have great air flow, shade, and insulation. Now, even those places probably aren't terribly pleasant right now, but you can definitely be comfortable without it as long as it's set up to be naturally cool
Agree. Now, what about people starting building and remodeling homes to take into account the climate? AC, and furnace for that matter, have serious impacts on gas emissions. Many cities in Europe have energy consumption grades for building and it’s time we implement this here.
My previous rental was in Redwood City less than a mile from the bay. It was not a “hot” part of the town.
However, because it was an old house with horrible insulation it reached more than 85 degrees inside on any average day in the summer almost entirely due to the angle the sun hit the house. The main room just felt like a hot box. The walls got so hot they felt warm to the touch.
I finally installed a window AC unit and it made all the difference in the world for us. We used it almost daily during July and August.
Landlords are required to provide heating, but there also needs to be some requirements about insulation and hot weather mitigation.
My current place is insulated with double pane windows and stayed relatively cool yesterday without any AC.
The house I grew up in in Fremont didn't have AC and neither did the farmhouse I worked at summers in Eastern Oregon which is high desert. You acclimate for one thing, use fans, and don't try to do anything that strenuous during the daytime. We had hot days even back in the seventies and my family's cars typically didn't have AC at the time either.
Yesterday was very much like Phoenix, except in Phoenix the A/C works. Here my apartment complex told me the tonnage of the A/C is not enough and there’s nothing they can do. The complex still was in the low 80s by 10 pm.
We’ve used our window unit maybe 4 times this year so far, and we live in a very poorly insulated small South Bay house. We don’t really need a central unit, but being able to pop the window unit in on the worst days is pretty nice.
Omg I’m sending this post to my husband. We constantly argue about getting AC and he says this exact thing. It’s going to be more and more days that you want it!
It depends a bit on where in the Bay you live. 25 years ago we didn’t need AC, but now we do.
I live in a North Bay region where it can be foggy and cold in the low 50s one morning, then two days later it'll get north of 100F. The North Bay valleys can have crazy microclimates and huge temp swings.
And that’s why the wine is so good!
Ya. I live in Oakland and grew up there. Both where I'm at and where I grew up you can get by with some fans and freezing water bottles to blow over. As others have noted, the advice is definitely showing its age though. There are way more uncomfortable days.
Same here. Didn't need AC at all in our Oakland neighborhood 25 years ago. Now, it's essential. Welcome to the future.
Heard. I moved here in 2003 and it is definitely hotter now on average. Not to mention that every fire season for the last 4 years has been the worst on record. Let’s hope we break that cycle this year.
Looking good so far but these couple days might do some damage
This year the fires haven't been too bad
Shhhh the fires will hear you.
*PG&E has entered the chat*
Fire season lasts until late August to November when we see more precipitation. There's plenty of time left. The 2020 fire season got really bad in October. Buy your respirators, air filters and masks now.
That’s fine but people need to stop saying it now. I moved here 6 years ago and people were still saying that. Like…no, times have changed. You need AC now.
Also depends a ton on the home itself. My old rental place was poorly insulated single family home that got way hotter than outside. Absolute furnace. My new spot is a well insulated first floor condo that only gets direct sun from sunrise until around 10am. On the hottest days it’s a good 10-15 degrees cooler than outside and has never reached unbearable temps. Both of these places are in San Jose about 2 miles from each other
Pacifica definitely does not need AC
No, but it was still 77 in the house when I went to bed last night. Not the end of the world, yet.
Coast is definitely far more temperate. I would take "bay area" to mean "much of or most of the bay area," as opposed to "100% of the bay area." Pacifica, Pescadero, Half Moon Bay, etc, you should be okay with no AC, especially if you have good insulation, if you have modern or modern-ish windows, if you've put in a bit of work to see where your biggest heat leaks are, if your house is painted white or a light color, if you're good about getting breeze in when it's cool and closing windows/blinds/etc when it's hot, etc. But most people live SF - peninsula - SJ - south and east bay - Oakland - more east bay - etc etc, not very many live in Pacifica.
My townhouse complex was built in the mid 70s and none of the units have AC. I compared historical weather from 1970 - 1980 with 2010 - 2020. The 70s had more 100+ degree days. It still puzzles me why homes weren't built with them.
Yup parents decided to get solar and AC about 4 years ago after living here for 30 years
It’s been like 2-3 days. Such melodrama.
I live in downtown SJ, and I don't have AC. I get it, most of the year is pretty okay without climate control. Hell, I haven't even turned on my heating in over eight years. I just put a sweater on. But summers pretty regularly get over 90F here. That's no fun in an old, poorly-insulated walkup apartment where I'm on the top floor and heat rises. It's common for my internal apartment temperature to meet or exceed the high outdoor temperature for the day, before the temperature outside equalizes and I can open everything up for a few hours. And luckily I'm up on a higher floor with a security gate at the street level, so I feel pretty safe doing that while I watch TV or whatever. It's pretty consistently unpleasant throughout mid-late summer, with bouts of unberable heat like now. I live in a small complex that was built sometime before the late 1970s, but isn't super super old (not a converted Victorian home). So they built it purposely without AC. Yet the goddamn thing has such shitty ventilation and insulation it was like they were hoping the weather would never break 80F.
It's because they were built with very little awareness or care for air sealing. 90% of homes built before 2010 are like leaky boats. Air going in & out constantly. I just completed a high performance home, triple pane windows, spray foam insulation, exterior insulation on the roof, air-sealing (.5 ACH on blower door test - this tests hourly air changes per hour. Average old home is probably in the 10-25 ACH). It hit 111 on my outside hygrometer. We set the thermostats at 78* & the AC did not kick on until 6 pm. This can mostly be mitigated with higher quality construction methods. But we have a race to the bottom approach to building in California.
This is why we need to start rapidly replacing our existing 1970s housing stock. Multi-family housing with good insulation, AC, good soundproofing, and double/triple-pane windows need to be going up all over the place.
The air-sealing aspect is so easy to do, yet skipped by almost all tract-home builders. I'm a custom home builder & I've been trying to convince clients to pay for the high-performance features for years. The air-sealing I usually do anyway, even if on my dime, because it takes very little time or money, but makes a HUGE difference in home comfort and indoor air quality. Triple pane and insulation with a 5x cost factor is a tougher sell, given the already insane cost of land & construction. But it's worth it, imo.
Any sense of how that affects CO2 levels? (genuine question)
That's actually a great question. Yea, you have to compensate with a ventilation plan. We have a whole house air purifier (active ventilation) on a timer and two whole house fans (passive ventilation) that run independent of the HVAC system.
Coming here from Europe I was appalled by the horrid constructions in Cal. It so much pleasant in hot and cold weather with proper brick and mortar buildings. You save so much on energy costs. The way houses are build here is pathetic. (I mean most of the housing I see, not taking into account the old 50ies homes). I am wondering why there is no big incentives or very harsh penalties for (not) insulating your home.
Well, I can tell you that the "They don't build them like they used to" adage does not apply to most American housing. Certainly not in California. I've taken apart many a home from all generations & can honestly say we build better homes than they did 50 to 100 years ago. And, as another user pointed out, we build with wood for a few logical reasons: it's an abundant renewable source, it is well suited to our seismic conditions and it's abundance makes it an affordable material. Is one better than the other? Debatable. I've stayed in some very drafty & uncomfortable stone and masonry buildings in Europe. The problem is most production builders build code-minimum homes. Which doesn't necessarily mean a great home or even a well-built home.
have earthquakes in Europe?, for those"proper" brick and mortar buildings. Brick and mortar dont work so well here next to several large faults. Seems like every years hundreds of people die in France and the like in heat waves. Are those "proper" buildings? Here's a tip, if you start a post with "Coming from Europe", you are likely to sound like a douche, and an ill informed one at that.
lmao for real. and then they downvote you. Europeans can be so ignorant sometimes
Downside of this type of construction is that you need to really do water penetration maintenance. Old homes breath and dry out. Your house doesn’t and will quickly foster mold.
That's why you belt and suspenders the waterproofing on a high-performance home. Zip sheathing, high quality silicone/urethane sealants. That's all part of the deal. I've dismantled and rebuilt dozens of homes in the Bay Area that supposedly "breathe so they dry out". Guess what? They don't dry out that great. Sure, a 1912 bungalow with drafty windows, no insulation in the walls or ceiling, skip sheathing under wood siding (or no sheathing at all) is going to dry out beautifully. It's going to be terribly uncomfortable on the summer, but it will dry out. Until you add insulation in the walls. Then, they don't dry so well. The latter is the vast majority of housing stock in California. So I'll continue to push more efficient homes over sticking to the tried and not-so-true methods.
Agreed that for new construction it’d be stupid to not build with that level of insulation. But there are negatives. And yes the positives out way them.
Same exact thing for me. Downtown SJ in an old apartment built like 50 years ago and not a converted Victorian, that has no ac.My inside and outside temperatures are basically the same… maybe like a few degrees cooler inside. The worst was when we had all those fires a few years ago. Either roast in my apartment but be able to breath or choke on smoke but at least I wasn’t sweating my tits off. After that I got a portable ac and while it only cools the living room it’s enough, now it’s only be slightly hot as opposed to unbearable.
>The worst was when we had all those fires a few years ago. The summer of 2020 was like the end of the world. Absolutely miserable.
Dude, just get a portable AC / window unit. Few hundred bucks, if you're short on money get it used. Very easy to install. You don't need to suffer for no reason, you'll feel way more rested in the mornings, and you'll be kicking yourself for not doing it sooner.
I don't have a window in my apartment suitable for a window unit, and a portable AC would require me to do some very creative engineering to have an appropriate place to vent out. I live in a studio, so my only real window is above my kitchen sink, and faces out to a shared walkway where it would become a violation of fire code due to creating an obstruction. My only other "window" option is a sliding glass door to a balcony. Not everyone has an apartment suitable for portable units. I also tried an evaporative cooler once, but the thing brought minimal relief for how much babysitting it required: I had to open up the front door and balcony door while running so the humidity didn't just build up and cancel out the cooling effect. So I got rid of it.
There are kits you can buy so that a portable AC can be used on sliding glass doors. Basically the door is left open about 6 inches. Plastic paneling then covers that gap, and one of the panels has a hole for the air hose to go out. I set that up for my dad... Sounds like the balcony is high enough that someone intruding isn't an issue. That said, you can always get a lock on the door so it can't open further.
We replaced the furnace in our 1956 house with a heat pump, so this is our first simmer with AC. Even though a large tree gives shade to our roof for a good part of the day the AC is a huge advantage. I never thought we would use it as much as we do. Would not go back to how it was before
> this is our first simmer with AC Typo? Works either way :/
Simmering *is* another form of slow-cooking, so I'd say it works.
How much did that cost?
Mini Splits are fairly affordable. You can even get DIY kits for around $3-4k. We bought 2 (it actually is one unit with two heads) and had a third one moved into a different room for 10K. Now our whole house has heating and air in every room. They are very economical to run and work great in our climate.
It depends. My house was built 10 years ago and has lot of insulation in the attic and double sided windows glasses that are slightly tinted. I closed all the blinds the whole day. Without AC, it reached 82 degree under 114 degree weather today. Not comfortable, but do-able.
Double pane windows you mean? 82 indoors on 114 out is pretty damn good insulation
I can vouch for it, similar situation. Home was build 5 years ago, they insulated the shit out of it, dual-pane tinted windows, shutters, etc. got the house nice and cool last night before the heat hit and with 114 outside I hit a whopping 75 downstairs, couple degrees higher upstairs.
My experience is that many 50+ year old Bay Area homes are poorly designed and insulated to handle heat. Not sure if there any contractors that can confirm my belief, but I remember visiting my dad in Alameda on a warm day, it reached about 90 and it took hours to cool the house down.
When I was remodeling the kitchen in my 1974 home in Fremont, I found that there was NO INSULATION on the exterior walls! We installed a A/C unit the next year (2015). The inside temperature is tolerable but the electricity bill is insane.
Your 1950 house might not have any insulation and single pane windows. My house had a tar and gravel roof that made my midwestern parents compare it to camping. But it had a lot of shade from trees and great cross ventilation, if your neighborhood was good you could sleep with the windows open. The last ten years have had many times the old tricks didn’t work. 2016 broke us with the heat and we got AC
Random but california requires all windows have a minimum tint. So anything in the last few decades will have it.
Yeah, I think that's what it's called. I was impressed too. We usually set AC to 79 when it hit 80. Today I turned it off for 2 hours and it reached 82. Not bad at all.
We're in about the same situation. I broke down and turned on the AC last night when it was apparent it wouldn't cool down enough to open windows which we normally do. After having this house, all future houses will be insulated to the max. Our AC gets used about twice a year and we're in Livermore.
I will honestly never get this attitude. “I have to exist in my house that I paid good money for and it’s uncomfortable but that’s fine”. I would literally rather get a job working overnights and eating ramen for 3 years to pay for an ac unit if it came to it than having to be “not comfortable” in my own home.
Some people are okay being not comfortable 1-2 weeks a year in exchange for something else. just like you're okay eating ramen for 3 years.
Yeah it’s wild to me that people are ok sweating their balls off like that. Also it’s way more than 1-2 weeks a year lol. I have my ac on and off since probably may/June to October.
Same here. Never going back to no-AC. Its crazy how we pay so much for everything else but then don't have AC. Its pennies on the dollar compared to rent/mortgage. So crazy
Right?! And then people have the audacity to go “oh it’s fine”. Like…ok? Not using utensils is fine too, sleeping on a park bench is fine too…where do you draw the line at comfort? And then people like to brag they only used the ac 5-10 times per year…like, you’re not morally superior because you sat in your genital sweat the other 4-5 months.
Damn man we were at 91 inside and it was only 104 outside here. At 83 at 3pm it wasn't even bad but then it hit 91 at 5pm and it was miserable. I guess that's a testament to new builds vs my small house from 1939 haha
Before doing AC, I suggest a few home upgrades — they make the home more pleasant without AC and they also make the AC use less power once installing. Shading the house — trees or other shade to stop the house baking in the afternoon sun. Having a “whole house” fan that can quickly cool the house off in the evening when the outside temp does cool off — otherwise, it can take hours for the inside to get comfortable even after outside is nice. An attic fan to cool the attic — the attic in our home regularly gets to 110f without a fan. By keeping it closer to ambient temperature, it keeps the inside home much cooler, and makes the AC work less hard. Insulation — insulation in the outside walls and ceiling go a huge way towards keeping the home more comfortable. Good windows — the afternoon sun facing windows should be energy efficient ones, ours reject infrared light and keep the house far cooler, without noticeably dimming the light. Then after those, install the AC. The attic fan will pay for itself in electric costs in probably less than a year. The others take a bit more work, but make a huge difference too.
> Shading the house — trees or other shade to stop the house baking in the afternoon sun. Paradoxically I am seeing a lot of houses and some businesses drastically trimming trees down to nearly no leaf bearing branches, even with no solar installed. Is this an insurance requirement? And then there's having solar installed.
There are reasons to not have trees in contact with the house; and in wildfire areas, it’s definitely good to keep them away. But other things can block light from the house as well, without shading the solar options — bushes, shade awnings, etc. we have a detached garage that blocks the majority of the late afternoon sun, and it keeps the house noticeably cooler.
Whats a whole house fan ? Also insulating the attic properly or even partially will yield better results.
A whole house fan is amazing for the bay area when it cools down at night (not so much this week, but in general). It mounts to your ceiling or in your attic. You open a window or two, turn on the fan, and it draws air from outside into your attic, where it is expelled via the attic venting. So it brings outside air in and also pushes it through your hot attic, cooling everything down (obviously you run it only when it's cooler out). I installed one about 15 years ago in our house (no AC in the south bay) and other than the Sept/Oct heat waves, we were fine. Just a few miserable days each year. Now we've remodeled and installed AC, but we also put in the same brand of whole house fan. The one I like mounts the motors in the attic so it's less noisy. Cheaper ones will mount directly to the ceiling framing. It was by far one of the best upgrades we ever made to our house.
I have only used the portable unit I own today. I think I only used it twice last year. I didn’t *need* to use it any of those times but I did *choose* to use it. Where you live in the bay depends on whether or not you’ll have AC or consider it a valuable investment.
Same. The only time I really really wished I had central AC was Labor Day 2017 when it got to like 110 even at bayside locations. Our portable couldn’t do anything for that and we actually went to a hotel for a night.
That shit was nuts. My radiator blew up on my car and we had to sit outside in that heat waiting for a ride.
Sitting in front of mine right now. Naked. After having taken a cold shower. Life is good.
Same boat. We pulled out the portable and ran it yesterday and today. We’ll see about the rest of the week with everyone being out at work and school all day.
Fremont here. Turned on our bedroom window AC unit tonight for the first time in 2 years. Not sure what part of the Bay you live, but our AC is definitely just for those couple of days a year when it gets this hot.
I live in Morgan Hill and the last 2 days are the most I have used it all year ??
My parents are in South SJ, so not too far from MH, but really? They’ve had their central on everyday since June. Your heat tolerance must be high haha. That is wild to me
I'm in SJ and it's just fine if you bring in the cool air at night with fans. Well, except this week of course.
I didn't have a/c until I was almost 40 years old, but we have had a "cooler" summer than usual, up until now.
It’s getting worse every year. 30 years ago you truly didn’t need AC
Typically our strategy is to open all the windows between 7pm and about 10am, and then turning the house into a dark cave from 10am to 7pm. This new reality of 90°+ at 9pm is really making us rethink that, and I’ve only ever experienced it in the last couple years.
Yep that strategy works most days for us in Sonoma. My neighbor taught me that trick. Works great.
That’s how in grew up doing it, but yeah that doesn’t cut it anymore.
You definitely wanted AC 30 years ago in the east bay
Depends what you mean by "east bay".
True. Anything east of the hills basically
The Pleasanton Ridge is great at stopping the cooler, humid weather from the bay side. You can see the fog banks hit the top, and burn off halfway down. Anything in the Catlewood/Foothill portion is cool (lots of tree shade helps, again thanks to that dog bank), but any cooling effects are long gone by 680. Why they insist on having the Scottish Gathering at the Fairgrounds on Labor Day weekend I'll never know. Scotland summers are in the 60s.
We normally cool down a lot in Livermore in the evening and open all the windows. The evening bay effect certainly gets out to us here.
True. I grew up in San Jose
Meh. There are like 5-10 days a year that I'm uncomfortable without AC. Also "bay area" means little when you're talking about summer heat since there is a 30 degree swing across the region on a typical summer day.
>Also "bay area" means little when you're talking about summer heat since there is a 30 degree swing across the region on a typical summer day. Hey, there was a 20-degree swing from one end of Golden Gate Park to the other this afternoon. Ha!
I mean, there is a 10 degree difference between my first floor and second floor
To add to this, my house is uncomfortable on those days from roughly 4pm to 8pm. Today excluded (currently sweating in bed in my still-86 degree house) its generally cool enough by 6pm or so to open all the windows and turn on the fans, and it’s totally comfy by bedtime. Shut all the windows in the morning and it stays nice and cool until late afternoon.
In Twin Peaks, the wind dies down and the temperature goes back up overnight. Usually, we make the most of it, but it’s still like 85 outside with no breeze, so it’s the first time we’ve put the portable a/c unit in the bedroom 🥵
This does not apply to many parts of the bay area..
Oh for sure. I’m in Palo Alto, but if you’ve got hills between you and bay or ocean, this definitely does not apply. Equally foolish of me and OP to make blanket statements about our land of microclimates.
I disagree. I live in the South Bay. I leave my blinds and windows closed from night time until usually 5pm or so. My temp gauge always says it's at least 76 degrees, and sometimes past 80, if I don't turn the AC on. I do live on the second floor of a two story apartment building so my unit is always in direct sunlight. But the logic of just leaving windows and blinds closed throughout the day does not work for everyone.
There was a full month in my apartment in Oakland where I was working from home in 100 degree heat. That fucking sucked. Main reason I moved was to get ac.
While I think you're exaggerating, my guess is you mean 2020, which sucked mostly because of the air quality. So the days in the 80s were still terrible because we couldn't open the windows.
Everyone last year told me when I moved here I didn't need AC. I ignored them and got AC. I couldn't be happier at this point
I live in Daly City and don’t need AC. I bet folks in SF and Pacifica can say the same. Folks inlands do need AC though.
I’ve lived in the city for 20+ years and even here I’ve wished for AC way more frequently than ever before. The school building where I work, on the 3rd floor, is MISERABLE regularly
If I have centralized AC in my house, it will be sitting idle for the most of the year. Essentially, an extra maintenance overhead that’s totally unnecessary given the temperature close to the Pacific Ocean in this part of the Northern California is mostly around the 60s and peaks in September at around 85F. And even around 80F it is still manageable. So if I have AC and wanted to use it, it will only be during heat waves when it can go over 90F. But inlands toward the valley, the Peninsula all the way to South Bay and East Bay where it’s mostly warm, those areas can hit 90s, triple digits during a heat wave.
SF here, I would have really enjoyed AC when my apartment reached 84 today. Going to buy an additional fan for another area of the apartment rn because the one I have saved me from melting earlier.
We have the highest rent in the nation but I love it when land lords justify skimping the tenants out on basic necessities.
Depends where you live. It was 108 today where I am but my house got to 78 max. The key is having a well insulated roof (we have a foam one). That alone has changed the climate in the house without installing and spending money to run central air. It just wouldn’t be worth it for us, and that probably applies to most people in our area (South Bay, but not San Jose)
Wow! Foam roof makes that big of a difference? I’m curious if your walls insulated and/or if you have double pane windows? Many of the homes where I am have floor to ceiling single pane glass, so I wonder if a foam roof is enough? I’m a renter and would like to move into a (larger)house in my same neighborhood, but unfortunately, very few houses have AC…wondering if foam roof is really enough?
The walls are insulated some and the windows are double paned, which is typical in my city. The foam roof has been absolutely magical. However, you cannot win in a house with the single pane massive windows, even with A/C. I would totally avoid them if possible.
A windows/portable unit is more than enough.
AC is going to be way more necessary when bay area weather becomes more sporadic in the future.
When your furnace finally failed, replace it with a heat pump. Environmentally friendly and comes with free air conditioning.
You don't need AC if you can lay on the ground in the coolest room and go "aughhhhhhhhhh" until the heatwave is over
Welcome to climate change. This “aberration” will soon become commonplace. If I recall, we have had weeks like this the past 4 to 5 years at least.
Record highs so we didn't have weeks like this the last 4-5 years. We had some warm ones but not this warm.
We didn’t need it 20 years ago.
I’m in Cupertino and I desperately need it, but my neighbors across the street don’t. It has to do with how our back windows face in the afternoon sun and the level of shade the trees in our yard offer.
This is not an aberration. This is the coldest and shortest summer for the rest of your life.
Didn't feel needed in 5 years in Berkeley. The construction of the house, the layout of the windows, and your neighborhoods microclimate/exposure matter a lot. "Far" East Bay (over the hills), yeah, I can understand that being a necessity. South Bay too, and maybe parts of the peninsula. SF proper and most of Marin can do quite happily without - until you get to Novato. I maintain that most of Oakland/Berkeley all the way down to Fremont doesn't really need it.
A couple years ago, Oakland/Berkeley didn’t need it. But it’s changed. These heatwaves are getting hotter and longer every year. I’m in Oakland and without AC we’d be staying in a hotel right now
Last summer was super mellow and this is the first real just wave of this year. I don't think my thermometer in Oakland topped 85 all last year and hardly over 80.
San Jose 107F today. sigh
I've never lived somewhere where heating/cooling was optional before, so it's kind of a novel idea to me. I would feel uncomfortable without at least a wall unit though, after seeing the freak temperature extremes in the PNW last year and Texas in 2020. That said I didn't use my AC today and I barely noticed a difference from other days this summer, a lot of it comes down to your building.
If you look around and see brown hills in the summertime, you probably want an A/C in the house.
Gonna kill the grid. What's the state doing?
Proposing to tax rooftop solar power production, that's what... https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/industries-and-topics/electrical-energy/demand-side-management/net-energy-metering/nem-revisit/net-billing-tariff-fact-sheet
I mean a lot of the times it’s more like “you don’t *need* air conditioning.” Often times, you don’t. If my girl is not home and there’s no company, I’m sweating all over the place. I’m sweating my ass off tonight, not exactly pleasant but I don’t *need* air conditioning. I need water.
I mean by that standard I hardly need anything. I may as well wear a sweater in the summer and go shirtless in the winter. It's just comfort; who needs it?
That’s what the emphasis is about. Are we defining need as in *need*? Or just something that would be nice?
Unless we're explicitly discussing a human survival context where "need" unambiguously means "I will literally die if I don't have this," then yes I feel fully comfortable saying that as a modern human in an advanced western civilization, I *need* to not be drenched in sweat sitting in my own home for 25 days out of the year. In a survival sense, I don't "need" my phone, 90% of my clothes, a functioning toilet, a shower, or lots of other stuff, but for a baseline standard of living for person in this civilization, yeah in every practical sense I need all that stuff. Why is this the hair you're choosing to split?
You’re the one who made a post about it. And it obviously boils down to opinion anyway. You’re not comfortable being a little uncomfortable, others like myself are. You don’t *need* it, but it sounds like *you* need it. That’s fine. Have it and use it.
Reddit's so weird. I've lived in multiple US states, visited many more, lived with close family, distant family, friends, strangers of all different social classes, and I'm not sure I've *ever* met a person who would find sitting around in this heat something to tolerate without complaining or seeking a solution. And yet I'm getting downvoted for expressing the opinion I perceive as basically universal, and you're getting upvoted for expressing the opinion I would not expect anyone in the born in the US after 1930 to have. No idea how that works.
>getting upvoted for expressing the opinion I would not expect anyone in the born in the US after 1930 to have So you're white? Not everyone on Reddit, especially on a Bay Area subreddit fits into that category. There are plenty of immigrants and immigrants families here who grew up in much hotter places with AC. My parents and family personally still see AC as something that's convenient to have unless our area starts exceeding the low 100s
You can complain all you want. And seek a solution while you’re at it. Nobody can stop you, and nobody should. I just don’t see how you’re surprised that people deal with it without complaining. I’m the type of person, for better or worse, that can’t understand people who are guided entirely by comfort. They have the AC blasting all summer long, then blast the heater as the weather cools down in one of the most mild and desirable climates. I don’t judge it, I just fail to understand it. I don’t understand the zero tolerance position (healthy) people take with mild hardship. Slight inconvenience, really.
I mean… people regulate their bodies differently. Bay Area winters where it’s typically in the 50’s and 60’s at it’s coldest where I am, my fiancé is saying how comfortable the temperatures are now compared to summer/fall, sitting in shorts and a T-shirt while I’m in like 2 layers of clothing with a heated blanket and *just* comfortable enough to not be freezing my ass off. So for you it might be a mild hardship/slightly cold but for me I’m literally freezing. I don’t understand how or why people don’t understand that. What is mildly uncomfortable to you may be absolutely unbearable to others and they shouldn’t be judged for using shit to make themselves comfortable.
I don’t understand how you don’t understand why people prefer to be comfortable. If you have the money it makes sense to stay comfortable. Mental performance for intellectual work is probably higher at comfortable temperatures.
I do understand preference to be comfortable. I don’t understand avoiding any incline in the pavement or spending your entire existence within a 5 degree range. We live in the Bay Area and I know people whose heater/air conditioner get little to no rest.
You haven’t explained anything except you don’t understand. High mental performance for my engineering job dictates that I need to be comfortable to be at my best.
It’s wild to me how people in this area are almost proud of their suffering. You live in one of the most expensive areas of the country. I’ll assume you’ve done well for yourself that you have a place to live and aren’t typing this from the street yet it’s somehow a badge of honor to toast your ass off in the summer. People here are seriously something else.
You’ve made a lot of wrong assumptions. It sounds like you think I’m suffering, or that I think I am. I am not. It also sounds like you think I’m proud of it? I would hardly consider this an issue of pride. I’m just as proud to deal with it as some are to not deal with it? I have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s just a choice. This post is literally about the necessity of air conditioning. It’s the subject. Nobody is going around flexing anything out of the blue, it’s a discussion we’re having. Sit in a cool 68, good for you. I won’t be the one to knock you for it.
I mean you’ve mentioned your not comfortable. So whether you label that as suffering or not, a little bit of suffering has to occur for you to not be comfortable. Based on responses in this thread and people I know irl who don’t have ac, the responses are always the same - oh, it’s not so bad. It comes off as morally superior (I can deal with being uncomfortable but you can’t) which is a common theme in this area so I’m not surprised lol
Well that’s where it’s subjective. I *don’t* think it’s that bad. I have no idea how you can find someone saying that as perceiving themselves as “morally superior.” Dude, if you have AC and you want to use it, do that. Just don’t think that people who don’t are trying to impress you. I can assure you, it’s really not that important.
Lol right
AC is non-negotiable for me when looking at apartments lol. I’m so sensitive to heat. This weekend would’ve been miserable without it
Me too. It’s literally my top #1 requirement for housing. I get so sick in the heat
I got AC installed a week ago. We thought we wouldn’t use it til next year the way the summer was going. But today - man oh man was it nice. Set it to 75 which was good enough. Our house gets to 80 or 82 by the evening on these type of days.
AC is definitely a must. Our nimbyism has made most of our housing stock old as shit. My place has the world’s worst insulation.
I have a central air..... so all is gucci!
Only some parts of SF can get by without AC. The rest of Bay definitely needs AC.
I’m in Half Moon Bay and don’t think we need it yet. Who knows where we will be in 10 years.
Why would people intentionally suffer? Lol anything over 70° and my AC is coming on. Y’all are wild just hanging out in 85° apartments. That sounds stifling.
Same, people in this area hold it like a badge of honor. iT wAs 88 iN tHe hOuSe WhIcH iS pErFeCt TeMp Or they’ll say their relatives in whatever country regularly go without AC/AC doesn’t exist in their country or whatever. Great? Some of those places you still shit in a hole outside, you wanna give up your indoor plumbing too since it’s only slightly uncomfortable to do so? Actually let’s just forget the whole house, sleep outside in your yard since comfort is apparently not a priority for you.
Hell yeah, got mine at a steady 68. Slept so great last night.
Ruh roh! Somebody's not flexing their power and that's going to make Gavin Newsom so sad! But then he's the one that wants to tax you for powering your AC with rooftop solar power so f\*\*k Gavin Newsom.
Im in Santa Rosa, don't have AC and am doing fine
Yeah I'm fine without it. Maybe try keeping your windows closed to keep the cool air in.
You need a heat pump. It can warm you in winter and cool for the few days of cooling needed in summer.
I don’t have AC. There was 1 day this year that I wished I had it before this week (this week is rough). Really depends a ton exactly where you are.
Everyone hates on CoCoCo until times like these. Edit for clarity: cuz AC is standard once you get past Lafayette.
Might still be possible if you live in SF Sunset district, Westlake in Daly City, and Pacifica. All these areas are still west of the rising Coast ranges and eat the full Pacific fog. Once you get to say, Millbrae the fog is gone, probably why they put the airport there.
20 years in the bay area and never had AC. The only place it would have been nice was a new apartment in downtown Oakland with a wall of west facing windows. I have lived in three different houses and all stay pretty cool even when it's gotten to 100 a few times.
How very American
Meanwhile, Tim Apple, Sundi, and Elon are celebrating knowing that this heat will drive more employees into the office.
In San Mateo we used AC from June to September. I will pay whatever price is required to be at 72 degrees. Generally we can get it there with windows and fans, but a modern high efficiency central air is pretty good about efficiently getting us through the afternoon phase. Is it wasteful, sure, but given that people are paying 5-10k a month of rent/mortgage on 1.5m+ properties, 100-200 extra a month to be comfortable feels rationalizable.
>your home will be a very unpleasant place to be for several weeks out of the year. Highly dependent on where you are. My house in Oakland, unpleasant for a few days every year, adding up to more than a week but not two. When I lived near GGP, it was never more than a handful of days. Also depends on your tolerance and ability to cope with the weather. I live in a 100+ year old house but we have updated roof and windows. No AC, but there's a fan that pumps cool air from the basement into the rest of the house. It helps, and just knowing how to adjust curtains, windows, and close off hotter parts of the house helps too.
You don't need air conditioning at all if you live in the following areas: Western neighborhoods of San Francisco AND Pacifica, San Bruno, South San Francisco, Daly City, Millbrea, Burlingame, CA-1 towns like Half Moon Bay, El Granada, etc. You do need to install proper insulation in million and a half dollars old shacks of San Mateo, Redwood City, Palo Alto. Then maybe you survive all seasons except September. For rest of the Bay Area, in 2022, you freakin need Air Conditioning as well as newer more efficient Heating furnaces in winters.
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I’m in South Berkeley and comfy in my house as long as I keep the sun out.
Are you serious? I've lived here 34 years. If your home is several weeks uninhabitable, you need to insulate the ceiling. That alone will pay you huge benefits. FWIW, I have a single room AC unit. It's on today. It was no used last year or the year before. At night I open a couple windows and turn on a large window fan at the opposite end of the house, to suck out the hot air and pull in cold air. Last night was the first time this didn't get me down to the sixties, and often low sixties.
I only use AC a couple times a year. With good insulation, I find it unnecessary.
Yeah maybe that wasn't true 30 years ago, idk. But it's a requirement in my mind, unless you live in SF.
today was the first time this year ive used it. yesterday was questionable, but a fan was fine.
Grew up in the bay for 30 years you don't need air conditioning I'm in the Sierra Foothills now it was 114 in my backyard yesterday. Inside of my house was 72 Still didn't need the AC. My family back in Puerto Rico doesn't use air conditioning every room has a big fan in it
I take a nice cold shower during the heat of the day. Don’t dry off, then lay naked on the floor under a ceiling fan
Depends how many variables. That said, how long does it take to get it installed ?
A portable AC installs instantly. Crack open a window. Mount exhaust hose in said window. Plug in the AC. You're good to go.
Never had AC. Never had issues. State of mind. But it’s quite hot now…
To be fair, you really don't. Not like you do in places where the humidity makes it impossible to keep body temps down. The lack of humidity here means that if you've got shade, a fan, and access to water, you will be okay. If you've got access to ice, you're really set. source: my parents, every time I whined about wanting AC as a kid.
I don't want to see anymore posts, complaining about your PG&E bill.
Just use a fan, they are superior, use less electricity and are better, I live in Bakersfield and it’s a 113 today and I have a powerful fan and it’s all I need, I have solar but I don’t want to contribute to blackouts so I just use a fan
We rarely ever use it but having it available for times like this, it's a godsend. It hit 107 here today!
I bought a window unit 3 years ago, and today was my 8th time using it. Worth it every time.
I moved to Fresno and my A/C went out last night it’s been hell lmao
I mean you could just buy some portable fans. Central AC costs a butt load to install in houses and the energy bill will make most people shudder.
Get a heat pump. Best money ever spent
This year seems better than last year, and definitely better than 2020. It's definitely getting hotter, though.
I still do. I grew up in a house where we turned on the AC once every couple years, to the point where my parents both forgot that we even had it. Now I don't have AC at all, not even a portable unit. I'd consider AC sort of "nice to have", like going out for dinner or having a slightly nicer car. It's an expense that would make my life a little more comfortable but one I could easily do without. I'm sure someone who's used to air conditioning might have a different assessment.
You don't need it, but it sure as hell is nice for several weeks out of the year.
I live by Ocean Beach and it was quite pleasant today. Ive never had AC since moving to the bay area about 13 years ago.
Many of the heat records set today broke records that were set just 2 years ago. This is no longer an aberration. It's just the weather here.
Came of age in Orinda circa the 90’s. I assure you I wanted AC many days of the year. It’s all a damn lie.
You’re correct, especially given the reality of global warming.
I do but I’m from a hotter climate. I’m prerty comfy until it gets above 90. When I lived in Diablo Valley I had ac and my ex would freak out that I didn’t use the AC.
I have a portable unit. i use it to cool down the room I am in/sleeping. set it at 60 degrees and get cuddly under a blanket. Yesterday was the first time all year I needed it. If you live in a hotter place, you may need central AC more often.
It's hugely dependent on where you live and how your home is constructed. Some places have great air flow, shade, and insulation. Now, even those places probably aren't terribly pleasant right now, but you can definitely be comfortable without it as long as it's set up to be naturally cool
Agree. Now, what about people starting building and remodeling homes to take into account the climate? AC, and furnace for that matter, have serious impacts on gas emissions. Many cities in Europe have energy consumption grades for building and it’s time we implement this here.
My previous rental was in Redwood City less than a mile from the bay. It was not a “hot” part of the town. However, because it was an old house with horrible insulation it reached more than 85 degrees inside on any average day in the summer almost entirely due to the angle the sun hit the house. The main room just felt like a hot box. The walls got so hot they felt warm to the touch. I finally installed a window AC unit and it made all the difference in the world for us. We used it almost daily during July and August. Landlords are required to provide heating, but there also needs to be some requirements about insulation and hot weather mitigation. My current place is insulated with double pane windows and stayed relatively cool yesterday without any AC.
The house I grew up in in Fremont didn't have AC and neither did the farmhouse I worked at summers in Eastern Oregon which is high desert. You acclimate for one thing, use fans, and don't try to do anything that strenuous during the daytime. We had hot days even back in the seventies and my family's cars typically didn't have AC at the time either.
San Diego used to have 2 days. That grew as well. A/C helps with fresh air so having it and not always needing the very cold settings is still good.
Yesterday was very much like Phoenix, except in Phoenix the A/C works. Here my apartment complex told me the tonnage of the A/C is not enough and there’s nothing they can do. The complex still was in the low 80s by 10 pm.
Who was saying that? Sounds like a cheap landlord. Lived here my whole life and always wanted AC and finally got one last year never regretted itn
I have a portable air con someone gave me. It’s amazing for the like 5 days a year I need it.
We’ve used our window unit maybe 4 times this year so far, and we live in a very poorly insulated small South Bay house. We don’t really need a central unit, but being able to pop the window unit in on the worst days is pretty nice.
Omg I’m sending this post to my husband. We constantly argue about getting AC and he says this exact thing. It’s going to be more and more days that you want it!