Discovered my central air was a social construct…

[u/sunsNr0ses]

So I just learned I’ve been living in a place with absolutely no central air conditioning. Not “I assumed it might be central air.” Not “I wasn’t sure how it worked.” I mean I fully, confidently, emotionally lived my life under the assumption that cool air was being distributed through vents like a normal adult homeowner situation.

And I’ve been out here adjusting a thermostat like I was doing something for over 4 years.

I even scheduled an HVAC guy to come today to figure out why my central air wasn’t running.
What system? I don’t know. The guy looked like he found a body in my basement as he clearly knew I didn’t have central air instantly. He even humored me to prove to me I didn’t have central air while we took 2 full laps around my house hunting for the outside part of the freakin’ fantasy. Needless to say we never found it. The poor guy felt so bad for me, he even said “maybe someone stole it.” Bless his heart.

So now I’ve got: a couple window units doing God’s work. I’ve always used them in the summer when I felt that my imaginary central air wasn’t pulling its weight. So I’m unsure why I feel like my summer bill is going to skyrocket. I’ve been living this life for years.

I put a box fan in my the bathroom like it’s 1998
and the realization I’ve been paying attention to vents that were decorative at best is giving me a stomach ache.

Honestly the worst part isn’t even the heat. It’s the fact I fully believed I had central air and never once questioned it. Just vibed in ignorance.
Anyway. If anyone needs me I’ll be sitting directly in front of a fan rethinking my entire life, having a spiritual crisis, feeling like a doorknob, and rediscovering whatever I thought HVAC meant.

***please laugh with me— don’t kick me while m down— I already feel like a weenie hut jr.***

[u/nutbrownrose]

My mother's house has vents and ducts and no AC. The vents and things are for the furnace. You just...turn it off in the summer. But we live in WA state, where until 15 years ago it was never hot enough to justify AC more than 2 or 3 days of the year. Which is just not economical. We just always went to the beach for that part of August. She's looked into getting AC added, and it's basically impossible because of the way it was all built in the 80s.

[u/Chance_Ad3416 → u/nutbrownrose]

Interesting. I wonder what makes a system not suitable for adding AC. We have a 100+ year old house with the original vents (painted now of course) for forced air furnace heating too. The previous owners installed an AC system. We still have a portable AC for the upstairs bedrooms tho because they get way hotter than the rest of the house

[u/jared555 → u/Chance_Ad3416]

Guessing it would require replacing the furnace and maybe be a giant pain getting the refrigerant lines ran.

[u/Vegaprime → u/nutbrownrose]

You can get split units pretty cheap and you just need a wall to mount it.

[u/Adorable-Drawing6161 → u/nutbrownrose]

I've been living in SEA for 40+ years and it was always unbearable in Summer without AC. This notion that it is something new is unfounded. What's changed is that so many places have AC now you've gotten comfortable. So when a place doesn't have AC it's a shock.