It’s difficult to think sometimes how far HVAC technology has come.
I hear these stories from our mother about how they once got through the summers of her youth. It doesn’t sound like such a great time to me. We live in a region where the cooling side of the HVAC is the most important aspect of a heating and cooling unit. While we do indeed get to use the heat during our mild winter, it is the cooling that dominates the HVAC work load. My mom tells tales of having to just be still during the afternoon when it was legitimately blazing outside. They had an evaporative cooler and some fans. That was it for any sort of HVAC cooling. She remembers having to get all the stuff she wanted to do done prior to dinner or after 6pm. The middle of the afternoon was just so scorching hot that the only thing she was looking for was shade and a fan. That story makes our current circumstances even that much more amazing. I just had the HVAC people augment our existing heating and cooling system to a zone control unit. That means there are now 5 different HVAC zones inside the house. This also means no more disagreements or disappointed compromises where the HVAC setting is different. I like it a bit cooler when I get home from work. Relaxing in a cool setting is so good after dripping with sweat through my job all afternoon. Having the zone control means that I can keep the part where our home is much cooler than the rest of the house.