Central Air Just went out

Here comes the when I was a kid story (but it's true). We lived in a wood frame house, on blocks so air could pass under it (and Dogs, Cats, Armadillos, Skunks, etc), 75 miles from the GoM (Gulf of Mexico for you freshwater people), 1/2 way between Houston and San Antonio. The town can be found under the definition of heat and humidity. My youngest sister still lives there.

The windows were "tall" and had two pieces. The top window, only about 8" from the ceiling, could slide down and the bottom window would slide up. There was a big weight in a pocket in the side that would keep the window from moving after you let it go. Why is that important? Hot air rises, cool air sinks. The hot air would exit via the upper window opening when it was open. It set up a natural "cooler air in / hot air out" flow.

We had an attic fan. It was 4'- 5' in diameter, had a set of self opening / closing louvers, and it pulled outside air through the windows and discharged it into the attic. The only real drawback to it was that when it was real foggy (Spring and Fall usually) it would pull in the wet air and you would wake up a little damp :)

In winter we heated with "butane". I think it was propane but that's what they called it.

I don't remember being particularly uncomfortable when we lived there. The rumble of the attic fan and cool breeze would put me to sleep.

When I go out to Big Bend I stay at cabins up the hill from the restaurant in the Basin rather than the air conditioned things closer to the restaurant. In the summer, when I usually go, it can be 112 down in the desert but up in the high Chisos it's not that bad. 90 at worst.

Idk... Some of the old ways of building make more sense to me.
 
Did somebody say Southern Hospitality?

Well here's a small part of reality
IMG_9448.png
 
Did somebody say Southern Hospitality?

Well here's a small part of reality View attachment 582762
I worked all day Tuesday out in the field on the equipment and sharpening the Brush Hog Blades and the forecast said 103 and truck digital said 116. No Clouds all GA SSUN! Almost had a heat stroke. Barely made it to my truck to turn on the air and chug Ice cold Gator Aid before passing out.
 
Need to install some of those big white fans and rectangular black heat reflectors like we have in TX. That'll keep them 'lectricity's flowing (to the fan so the rotor stays locked when they don't want it to turn :/)
 
When I was a paperboy, my manager grew up here in Arizona before air conditioning. He said in the Summertime they would "move their beds outside, and when it came time to go to bed, they would soak their sheets and jump in bed and hope they fell asleep before the sheets dried out."
 
It's funny, when we get a "no heat" call in the winter, people are willing to buy and use room space heaters to get them through a few days until we can get to them--- BUT in the summer, people are ****ed if you can't get to their "no cool" in a couple hours --- sometimes we gotta remind them to open their windows and turn on a fan until we can get to them--- it's like their world is gonna end if they don't have a/c!!!

Priorities have definitely changed--- never would have even imagined I might have a/c when I was a kid . It was definitely a luxury item back then
 
Top