AC hate

Under those circumstances I'd have to cancel my upcoming marriage. :shuffle: Some nights he sleeps in a hoodie and socks. In June. And it's never lower than 22 (72) in here.
 
skatesindreams said:
Your concern for the planet is admirable.
However, I have every right to do what is best for my health and comfort, during hot weather, as appropriate.
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Exactly the same here, skatesindreams. I was without A/C for close to 4 days and the temps were around 90F degrees. Because of my health, I had swelling in my legs and feet, especially with my left ankle and foot. My fingers were also swelled and puffy.

I, too, have the right to do what is right for my health. We're both older now, and I realize when I was without A/C in home that I could possibly have a heat stroke when I started retaining fluid. I did take a fluid pill, and that helped some, but I also had to drink a lot of water so I wouldn't become dehydrated. I had to do this because I wasn't sweating the way I should and it caused the swelling in my body.

Hundreds Die From Exposure To Heat, Humidity Each Year

Prolonged exposure to heat during a humid day as opposed to a dry one prevents the body from naturally cooling through sweat.

“The body cools down primarily by the evaporation of sweat on the skin,” he said. “When the air is dry, sweat evaporates and cools the skin. When the air is humid, sweat doesn't evaporate as well and the body is unable to cool down.”

To offset the stress caused by heat, staying hydrated is a key factor, along with wearing loose-fitting, light-colored clothing and protecting the skin with sunblock when outdoors.

Acclimating the body to warmer weather takes time, he added.

“Heat acclimatization is the process of increasing your body’s core temperature so that the body sweat earlier and in greater qualities,” Danesh said. “This allows the body to cool at lower temperatures and more effectively.” Older people living in hot apartments without air-conditioning are at the highest risk for heat stroke, he said.
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Considering the fact that I'm not a spring chicken anymore, A/C will be a definite must in my home because I definitely do not wish to have a heat stroke.
 
I'll be honest, I can't live without AC, at least not in my house. I also don't do heat very well. I whine, a lot about the cold in the winter in my house, when it's between 55-58* or the rare occasion we hit 62* in the winter (baseboard electric heat), but I'm cheap and there is only so much I can do to warm up my house, but I can handle it. Summer? I'm dying when it's hot.

My house was build with central air in mind (but wasn't build with central heat in mind...). So the second it gets hot, it heats up inside if the AC isn't on. I can't keep it cool if it's hot outside without running the AC. Old farm houses are fine, my 1970s rancher in southeaster PA? Nope. My AC died last summer right during a heat wave 95+ temps and high humidity. We were without for a few days while we waiting for a new part (we got it faster via amazon than the repair people could come so we saved time and $$$ for an easy DIY job). But, that's when I learned that I cannot go without, especially with my migraines. I was miserable and dealing with near constant migraines until I relocated to my mom's. My dogs were miserable, even my cat couldn't handle it. My house heated up to 92* without the air on, even with ceiling fans.

It's fine if you can handle that. I can't.
 
Zemgirl said:
Well, there has to be something in between "no AC ever" and "let's turn every home, office and mall into a meat locker".

I just saw a Facebook post suggesting that instead of assigning people office space based on work teams, seniority, etc., assign them based on preferred temperature and noise level. Excellent idea!
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But then you'd have practically all of the skinny and/or female people in the warm place and "not skinny" and/or male people in a cold place! :-)

At one temp job I had, a very not skinny male person was allowed to have a giant fan blowing in his face and bouncing off his cube wall into mine. But I was not allowed to have a heater. After he moved into that cube, I missed three days of the last week of the assignment because of a stiff neck and back.

PRlady said:
Under those circumstances I'd have to cancel my upcoming marriage. :shuffle: Some nights he sleeps in a hoodie and socks. In June. And it's never lower than 22 (72) in here.
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When I was married the A/C was blasting 24/7 all summer and I slept in a long sleeved nightgown and winter blankets. Three months cost more than three months of heat in the winter.
 
The only thing I remember about pre-air conditioning days in a hot humid climate, was how suffocating the heat was at night, and how hard it was to sleep. It always seemed counter-intuitive that it would feel hotter at night, but it did.
 
Back in the day, ice rinks were outdoors, and skaters did other things during the off-season besides practicing. :soapbox:

Like posting on Instagram, for example. ;)
 
Vagabond said:
Back in the day, ice rinks were outdoors, and skaters did other things during the off-season besides practicing. :soapbox:

Like posting on Instagram, for example. ;)
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But Vagabond, this isn't back in the day anymore, and in the summertime, there will be lots of practicing to get ready for the new season ... unless, of course, the ice rinks want skaters to skate on ice that's beginning to melt all over.

It would be much worse than what Michelle Kwan skated on during the 2003 Worlds. And who knows, someone else besides Uncle Dickie might not give a "rusty hoot" or was he saying "rusty hoop"?

2003 Worlds - Michelle's K&C
 
Simone411 said:
But Vagabond, this isn't back in the day anymore,
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Back in my "day" (90's adult skating) - we used to go up to Troy (Ohio) in the spring when the Kettering rink closed till October. It is a hockey "arena" and the doors to the outside were open. People wore shorts and t-shirts! Not me. We always said that it must be like how the people in CA got to skate year round. Troy was closed in the summer though. I have no idea how the rinks around here are now. Kettering is always on the verge of closing for good.
 
Gazpacho said:
I can't vouch for the accuracy of this article, but they do make sense in terms of physics.

5 ways homes were designed to stay cool before air conditioning
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When I was in high school we lived in a 100 year old farmhouse that had no air conditioning. It would have been built in the 1880s. It had not a single one of those features. It did have more windows than most modern houses and rooms like the dining/living room and the largest original bedroom (which was mine) were rectangular narrower rooms with windows on two sides (living/dining) and three sides (my room) respectively which did make for more ventilation. Two of the other original bedrooms were on the corners of the upstairs and had windows on two sides as well. The remaining one did not, but we only used it as a storage room. There was a new addition dating to the 1970s on the back of the house with a family room and master bedroom and bath. The family room had windows on one side and a sliding glass door on the end--so ventilation from two directions. My parents used that new bedroom which had windows on two sides as well.

It did stay cooler than one would expect and it was survivable with fans and windows open for temps up to the high 80s/low 90s. But I can tell you that in the dead of a Midwestern summer when there can be stretches of temps in the upper 90s and even 100s with overnight lows that really aren't low, that house was unbearable and we'd find reasons to just not be home.
 
triple_toe said:
To everyone bitching about the wastefulness of air conditioning: you do realize this is a figure skating forum, right? If keeping a rink freezing in the middle of July so little Sally Sue can practice for her juvenile test isn't wasteful I don't know what is. :lol:
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:rofl: Beautiful!!
 
triple_toe said:
To everyone bitching about the wastefulness of air conditioning: you do realize this is a figure skating forum, right? If keeping a rink freezing in the middle of July so little Sally Sue can practice for her juvenile test isn't wasteful I don't know what is. :lol:
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Where I am from, the rinks are closed from May till September. Poor little Sally Sue, I guess!
 
triple_toe said:
To everyone bitching about the wastefulness of air conditioning: you do realize this is a figure skating forum, right? If keeping a rink freezing in the middle of July so little Sally Sue can practice for her juvenile test isn't wasteful I don't know what is. :lol:
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The majority of rinks used to be seasonal, & advanced skaters who wanted to practice in summer converged on the one in their geographic area that was open all year. People can still enjoy watching or participating in ice skating while supporting such a seasonal model of rinks rather than so many all year rinks.

Recreational facilities & private country clubs water the golf greens non-stop this time of year. It doesn't mean I have no personal responsibility for my water consumption at home, or ought to use it as an excuse to overuse resources.
 
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I usually take a light jacket when I know I'll have to go inside a building during summer in the US. I think the difference between outside and inside temperature is just too drastic during summer.
I do welcome the A/C during the night though! My parents actually sleep without the A/C during summer. Voluntarily. That is, until I visit ;)
 
Artistic Skaters said:
The majority of rinks used to be seasonal, & advanced skaters who wanted to practice in summer converged on the one in their geographic area that was open all year. People can still enjoy watching or participating in ice skating while supporting such a seasonal model of rinks rather than so many all year rinks.

Recreational facilities & private country clubs water the golf greens non-stop this time of year. It doesn't mean I have no personal responsibility for my water consumption at home, or ought to use it as an excuse to overuse resources.
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I agree. I don't know what triple_toe intended, but I interpreted it as pointing out the irony of complaining about restaurants for using too much AC without mentioning figure skating rinks. Restaurants have a good reason to turn the AC high as it makes the kitchen tolerable for the cooks, slows non-refrigerated ingredients from going bad, and reduces the number of pests.

It's not fair for people on a figure skating forum to complain about restaurants without even acknowledging the AC use by skating rinks.
 
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We used to own an older home, built early 1900's with good cross ventilation, 2 story. We renovated and insulated, did everything we could to make sure it stayed warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer time. But it happened we would get a heat wave where after 5 days of 90+ heat it would warm up and there was nothing you could do. We built a new house 10 years ago and one of the first things that my so wanted was a/c. So we have it, don't use it all the time only when it's really severe. But we live where we have usually dry heat, which is much easier to bear than humidity and heat. You do what you have to do to make life bearable. But I do agree, a lot of offices and stores keep the a/c way too low. 75-80 isn't unbearable to work in, nor would it be that hard on a lot of office equipment. C'est la guerre. ;)
 
We slept with the AC on last night because the heat and humidity have crept up and I'm already not feeling well.

But most nights an open window and fan will do. Jerusalem buildings are all built out of thick Jerusalem stone to keep out the heat; the blinds ("tris") are heavy metal shutters. In the afternoon you see apartment after apartment with the tris closed, especially if it faces south or west. Also most apartments have balconies, providing a cooler place to sit in the evenings. Traditional building in hot cities made sense, the problem is combining that with the requirements for denser living.

(Living in a city that has to deal with climate change/increasing heat, three absurdly different populations with totally different spatial needs and cultures, historical preservation AND a housing shortage makes for some of the most interesting urban policy issues in the world, overlaid with the geopolitics of a divided city.)
 
Susan1 said:
At one temp job I had, a very not skinny male person was allowed to have a giant fan blowing in his face and bouncing off his cube wall into mine. But I was not allowed to have a heater. After he moved into that cube, I missed three days of the last week of the assignment because of a stiff neck and back.
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Workplaces generally ban space heaters because of fire hazard, which fans don't present. Here's an article about safely using space heaters in the workplace. I have yet to see anyone follow these recommendations.
http://info.emilcott.com/ehswire-blog/bid/332992/Portable-Space-Heater-Safety-in-the-Workplace

I'm not really sure what his status as a "not skinny" person has to do with it (aren't most people not skinny?)
 
genevieve said:
Workplaces generally ban space heaters because of fire hazard, which fans don't present. Here's an article about safely using space heaters in the workplace. I have yet to see anyone follow these recommendations.
http://info.emilcott.com/ehswire-blog/bid/332992/Portable-Space-Heater-Safety-in-the-Workplace

I'm not really sure what his status as a "not skinny" person has to do with it (aren't most people not skinny?)
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a. I had desk/floor heaters since the early 90's. At NCR we had to get special permission to use them from our "fire marshall (internal memo and everything) because we sat next to two story wall to wall windows on the shady side of the building. I had that one heater through all 9 years and the first year at National City. A later one used to turn itself off when it got too warm and I'd have to turn up the dial to get it to stay on.

Always, everywhere, turned off and unplugged them before I left. In another NCR building, I was working till 7 p.m. before being off for Christmas/New Year's and had the heater up on the desk (dark out, cold, building heat turned down already). I got home and I wondered if I turned the heater off hurrying to leave! I had to go through my employee list to find someone who was still there to check. Ended up getting my boss (who I loved anyway). It was off. Just one of those automatic things to do.

At National City, they "said" if they found any heaters, they would be confiscated, so for 5-1/2 years, we had to turn them off, unplug them and hide them behind something under the desk.

b. (I was trying not to say overweight/fat). I was always told I was cold because I was too thin.

Vash01 said:
The weather forecast for the upcoming week is 118 on Monday, 120 on Tuesday, The 'coolest' will be 112, that is next Thursday, I think. Today it was 114. I am grateful for the AC. Without it I may not survive. We have excessive heat warning. Have to stay indoor and drink lots of water.
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"but it's a dry heat". ha ha Yeah, I know. I can't imagine. I'd dry up and blow away in the summer out there! I remember my cousin telling me that the tops of cars all had spider web cracks because of the heat. That would be me! My hot flashes start with feeling like I've opened a hot oven and stuck my face in. (TMI!) I would bet that's what it feels like all the time in the summer out there.
 
I am in Minnesota and we are having natural air conditioning all week. Temps in the 70s and low humidity. It is perfect!! Will NOT have to use air conditioning this week. Very cool weather for June.
 
I struggle with A/C. In the school where I currently teach, we have A/C int he classrooms and it blasts like mad. Kids wear jackets. And the vents are in the corners of the classroom, which happen to be the only places to put the teacher desks (due to cords and boards). A couple of months ago, there was a week where one of my shoulders was literally at my ear because of stiffness. I can't wear skirts or capris because my legs will be extremely cold, and I even have to keep a blanket wrap in my classroom. Of course, the A/C can't be controlled individually by classroom, it's on a circuit for the whole hallway, including the computer lab, which needs to be kept colder.

I hate fans and AC. I can't stand having air blowing on me. The rare occasion when I do actually use a fan, I need to have it facing away from me. Same thing when I'm in a car.

I've always been someone who feels the cold. When I was a younger figure skater, I had extremely poor circulation in my fingers and toes. My coach never let anyone off the ice early, but if I went to her to say my feet were cold, she made me get off immediately - it was that bad. There were times my toes would be almost green from the cold, and I'd be screaming in pain when the feeling would come back. Even still, my fingernails regularly look blue or purple because of the cold.

Just like people sensitive to heat would hate for someone to be blasting a heater, people sensitive to cold can hate fans and AC. I wouldn't blast a heater to an entire space just to keep myself warm, so I hate that people have fans and AC to an entire space to keep a select few cold. I'm all for separating based on temperature.

I also want to be able to wear summer clothes in the summer.
 
It's going to be so hot this week, particularly Mon-Wed that there is a possibility they may cancel flights 3pm-6pm. American Airlines is warning passengers to change their flights without the $200 penalty. I am dreading the week. From Friday the temps will drop to 112 which is relatively manageable. I am staying inside. I feel for those who have to Work outdoor. I hope their superiors won't make them work in the afternoon.

ETA- When it is that hot outside, even 80 degrees inside can feel 'cold' to some, and 70 can feel 'freezing'. It doesn't mean they should maintain 90 degree temps indoor. I don't think it is the fault of the AC. At home I keep it at 80 plus or minus 2 when I am home, and 85 when I am away. The electronic equipment won't last long if I didn't have the AC.
 
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Temperatures in Paris have been up in the 30s all week (that's 90s for all you Americans ;)) and today's forecast calls for a high of 37. I would not mind some AC given this.

And there's light outside until late, so it's not even cool in the evening...

This is when I remind myself that at least I get to live in Paris.
 
Meanwhile in the Great Lakes, all that heat out west has messed up the jet stream, and it's a chilly 68 in Michigan.

The furnace kicked on last night. It was set at 60.
 
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