Murphy Strikes the A/C

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

As I am typing this it is 85° in our house. It could be worse. The compressor on the air conditioner failed last evening, on one of the hottest days of the year and with a fire in the delta sending huge plumes of smoke into the city.

In spite of the smoke, we opened the entire house and by morning had gotten the inside temperature down to 79°. Careful management and good insulation limited us to only a 6° rise. Pretty good considering that it was 107° out today! I spent most of today hiding at work.

The repair technician from One Hour Heating & Air will be here tomorrow afternoon, and there was a good breeze and some light clouds rolling up the delta on my way home so I am optimistic that we will cool off faster tonight.

As I sit here in the dark with all the blinds pulled and the fan going, I am reminded of my grandparents house in Atascadero where triple-digit temperatures are not uncommon. To this day it does not have air conditioning an relies on a combination of very good insulation and opening all the windows at night to cool the house before the day warms up. This cheaply build tract house is nowhere near as well insulated, but without grandma and grandpa’s home cooling technique, this place could have been uninhabitable by now.

Come on Delta Breeze!