Withering Heights: Cooling down.

 

The news from here at Withering Heights is that the heat dome has broken.  Today the high is in the 70s, and the night temps are forecast to be in the 60s for today, hotter on Tuesday, and then back to a more normal roll. 

And we did not glow, we did not glisten, we were sweating like gravy was being poured on us.  Nasty.

But the ancient house on the hill that Withering Heights is, is, well, still very warm. Stone and brick - and an asphalt roof - do not relinquish their heat easily. Its getting there. 

What saved our skin were two window AC units, lots of fans and keeping anything hot turned off.   The other thing that saved my skin was a wet washcloth on my head, the back of my deck, and quick one-minute showers to get the sweat off and let the water evaporate and leave me feeling cool. 

This morning, the crew showed up and the work is commencing.  Read I am ecstatic. Well, partially - these wall-mounted units are not lovely to look at, but I will be delighted with what comes out of them this summer, this fall, and next spring. 

And today one of two our mini-split system is going in.  Thank Christ. 

This system is not cheap. 

Unlike traditional cooling units, where you have a thermostat for the whole house controlling the evaporator and fan, a mini-split system places a one-foot by three-foot box mounted high on a wall that is tied to a central condenser.  You can control the temperature in each room.  You can operate one, two, or all four units as you need.  And it is supposed to be whisper quiet. 

Someone said "Well just turn off the window AC units and close a room's door. Sounds like it would work, but it won't.  What one is doing by doing that is creating another exterior wall inside the house that will transmit heat, or cold (depending on the season) into the cooled or heated areas. So you are not saving anything.  This setup also means we don't need to have vent chases and stacks built in the house.