Fresh Prince Of Bel Air Article
Air Conditioning Systems
Air conditioning systems are not necessary for all climates and locations. For example, they are very rarely used in San Francisco where I live, because the weather is usually mild. Although it can get very hot for a few weeks in the Summer, it is usually not so bad that the expense of owning, maintaining, and running an air conditioning system is warranted. Even in Berkeley and Oakland, which are farther from the water, and so get very hot – sometimes more than a hundred degrees – at some points, there are few air conditioners. I know, because I work in a coffee shop and during the summer it gets hot there!
The only places where you really need an air conditioning system are in places where it regularly gets into the 90s, or a place where it is slightly cooler, maybe in the 80s, but gets regularly very humid. If you live in Arizona or New Mexico, air conditioning may be a necessity. This is especially true if you are old or have a serious health condition. In heat waves during the summer, there is often a death toll, because some people simply need to keep cool or else they will die. So, if you are one of them then please, get an air conditioning system.
Air conditioning systems come in several types. There are, of course, the window mounted systems. These have a few advantages, but also a few disadvantages. One advantage is that they are cheap, and can often be found used but in good shape for as low as $40 or even less. They are also easy to install – just stick them in the window. This means that they don't need to be attached to a central heating and air conditioning system by a professional, which of course costs much more. The disadvantages of window mounted air conditioning is that it only cools one room. If you want to cool several rooms, then the cost quickly adds up. Also, they can be dangerous since, if they are improperly mounted, they can fall and injure, or even kill someone!
Another advantage of window mounted systems is that they are easy to maintain. Basically, all you have to do is scrub out the coils from time to time to make sure that mold is not growing in them, and take them in during the winter so that frost does not build up on the coils, if you are in some place where the temperature regularly drops below zero. But really, the best systems are central air ones because, even though they cost more, and have to be professionally installed and maintained, they cool the whole house at once. Unless you have a very small apartment, this is an obvious advantage.
With summer on the way, my temperature has been rising just thinking about the heat waves. I know it is wasteful, and where I live we only get maybe a week or at most too of really intense heat all summer, but still, I think it might be time to get an air conditioning system. After years and years, sweating it out, or going to the movie theaters to stay at all cool, I feel like I really deserve an air conditioning system, and the fact that I am getting older also really contributes. The problem is that they can be so expensive.
After our window mounted air conditioner system conked out in the middle of the worst heatwave, we got an estimate on installing a new central air system. The prices that they show you online are already quite high, but what they do not tell you is the rest of the story. Not only do they have to install the air conditioning system, charging you for parts and labor, but they might have to completely overhaul your ventilation system. If, like me, you scarcely or never use your heater, chances are that it is not in that great a shape. Especially if you have a house built in one of those new developments that spring up over night with shoddy construction, you probably don't even have properly sealed ducts. Before you get a new air conditioning system, or heating and cooling system, installed, you will probably have to pay for all of those new ducts to be professionally cleaned and sealed. And if the problem is bad enough, and there is enough dirt in the system, you may have to have them replaced and rehung altogether before you can get your air conditioning system.
I think that the best solution for me might just be to get one of the newer window-mounted air conditioning systems. They have become cheaper and cheaper, and they use less energy than ever before, as I have heard. It seems like a more economic solution all around, because I can just spend my time in that room when I want to be cool, without having to pay to run the air conditioning system to cool the whole house, which is a gigantic expense. I think that central air will have to wait at least another year at this point. I would rather spend my money on trips to the beach.
