We never had a house with air conditioning

 

…until we got the motorhome.  We always just slept with the window open.

 

But in the motorhome we could control the temperature and didn’t have to have so many blankets on hand, so we got used to sleeping at 65 degrees year-round.  Furnace in the winter, air-conditioning in the summer.  65 degrees.

 

We continued the tradition when we moved into the house a couple years ago.  65 degrees for sleeping.  But recently the air conditioner started giving us trouble.  When we woke up in the morning, it would be warmer than the thermostat setting and the air wouldn’t be blowing.  We called the air-conditioning guy.  He came out, said the machine was working just fine, and replaced our thermostat.  That didn’t fix it, so the next day he replaced some valve or sensor out there.  When he came out early the third day, he took the cover off and found the unit covered by a big block of ice.  When we told him our night-time setting he advised us that air conditioners won’t work right at settings below 68 degrees.

 

We received that bit of news with some skepticism, since this is what we’ve done for years now with no problem.  When we got back from our summer and fall travels I looked on the internet and found his opinion repeated though; that outdoor household air-conditioners like we have, don’t like to be set below 68 degrees.  I also read that air conditioners don’t like to run when the outside temperature is below 60 degrees.  That’s where we are now, cooler temperatures overnight, but with the heat-lag for the house cooling down as the outside air cools, we still want the air conditioning.  We have the arctic insulation package, 6 inch walls, so the house retains heat REALLY well.

 

It’s not like our air-conditioner doesn’t work.  It works great on hot days.  We only have trouble when we’re trying to keep cool overnight on a cool evening.  We just want it to work like it always has.  We don’t want to change our ways and sleep warmer.  I guess we need to try a different air-conditioning guy.  Maybe we’ll get an answer we like better.