When was the first time you had a/c in the house?

[oroy54]

I never had a/c until I moved out and on my own. My parents had a/c in their room. That was 1970. I am 51 or 52, I keep forgetting. Roy

[Senior Tech]

Hmmmmmmmmmm........1978 or so...and I'm not telling my age.

[jacob perkins]

my answer is about like seniors
I can remember several places(Texas) where there was no AC,and really no reason for it.I can remember shutting the windows "to keep the heat out."

Houses are built differently now.

[HeyBob]

My dad was an HVAC contractor for his whole life. I can't ever remember living in a house without A/C. We had it in the early 1960's.

[ipic]

When I moved to Texas... never had it in Colorado. But I was sure as heck glad I had/have it in TX.

[Workhorse]

I was born in Upstate New York and never had a/c. We barely even had heat (old radiator type) but when I moved to Florida in '79 I have never lived in a placewith out it. Some had old window shakers but atleast there was always some type of cooling. Hell, even when I worked on the boats commercial fishing for 10 years, half of them had a/c in the cabin.

[oroy54]

Well, Don't you rembember flopping you pillow over to feel the cool side? In some ways, I'm glad things are not like the Old Days.

[James 3528]

I grew up on a dirt road. Was about 10 years old when we got our first window unit.

[gruvn]

I didn't live in a house that even had ductwork til I was 24,they either hot water or steam, but as a kid growing up it was space heaters in cramped little apartments. Hard to tell how many brain cells I lost due to CO while growing up, luckily the houses were pretty porous and not sealed up like todays homes.

[HVAC Pro]

Originally posted by ipic
When I moved to Texas... never had it in Colorado. But I was sure as heck glad I had/have it in TX.

You're addicted to us aren't you?? Don't look now but James may be following you! J/K James, relax.

[Mr Bill]

In 1962 my Dad bought us an 18,000 btu Friedrich window unit from the old White's store in Houston and he insatlled it in our den and it keep a 4-bedroom house cold.
By the way I was 12.

[Green Mountain]

When we got married in 1967 we got an apartment on Broardway in the city of Rennsellaer New York. The rent was $60. dollars a month which included steam heat. Unfortunately it was a second floor apartment. Not far from the Hudson River so the humidity was like 300% in the summer. Plus it was on the main throughtafare so we couldn't open the front windows.

Being a newly wed I wanted some at least every night so I sprung for a 6,000 BTU unit for the play room. (bedroom).
It cost over a hundred dollars back then.

[gibrenob]

My mother had central A/C put in our ranch house in 1973 because my father was ill. It was a Spacepak high velocity system which worked very well for 31 years. I bought the house from my mom in 1982, and was nursing the A/C along for the last 5 years or so, but this year I finally bit the bullet, and replaced the entire system. I hope my new one lasts as long...

[HVAC Pro]

Those old SpacePak systems with the high speed cast iron blower wheels were tough.

[t527ed]

had window units in early 60s. father started working hvac 1969 brought home an old international harvester that they had pulled out on a job. i was 10yrs old and remember taking that rusty old thing apart to clean up so he could paint it and installed it in our house. sold the house in 76, unit ran until 1982 when new owners had us replace heat and a/c. old sucker was still working when we pulled it.

[square2round]

No a/c in parents house while growing up, only baseboard heat. Ceiling and window fans in bedrooms during the summers.

1999 was the first time I had A/C.

[rob10]

About 12 years old.

[rimek]

1972- a Carrier, complete with swearing, cursing installers-

[amickracing]

My grandparents house always had A/C for as long as I remember.
Dad's place had a window unit from the early 80's on (still does).
Mom's place had a window unit from the mid 80's or so. When Mom and I moved we eventually got central installed (mid 90's), man how did we live so long with out it!

Now that I'm on my own I'm back to a window unit in the bedroom Eventually I'll get around to remodeling the basement and installed duct and a heat pump.

P.S. Dad was an appliance repairman for 35 or so years. Switched over to HVAC service around 8 years ago, still does appliances occasionally. Needless to say he usually had a decent supply of window shakers, microwaves, dishwashers, and laundry equipment.

[Shophound]

I'm in this trade largely because of the faltering central a/c our house had when I was a kid. It was one of the first tract house developments with central air (early 60's)...it used a Lennox condenser with the slanted front and a compressor that sounded like a semi-hermetic. About ten years in it kept eating compressors and the guy who'd come out to replace them was a self employed man who had plenty of patience with my constant barrage of questions.

Even as a kid I was curious how that thing worked and once I found out how, it piqued my curiosity more. One thing led to another and now I spend my days in a central plant looking after chillers and boilers and air handlers and VAV's and etc.