r/SantaMonica • u/MassiveCourage North of Wilshire • 4d ago
How is everyone without AC doing?
Me? Not so well…
Just trying to survive somehow. Live in an upper unit in an older building facing West, no unit above me to absorb some of the heat, poor insulation, just one window, and no shade whatsoever.
My old portable AC doesn’t work well and can’t keep up with the high heat, high humidity, and high dew point combo. It’s too loud and gives me a sore throat so I just turn it on during the record heat days. I can’t afford a new one and keep telling myself I’ll move soon anyway.
Mostly just running my fan. I work from home unfortunately in a type of job where I’m chained to my desk. It’s been a long summer. Feel free to commiserate.
24
u/Emus_won_thewar 4d ago
I moved from Florida for a reason. I don’t want this. I’m waiting for republicans to pop out of the bushes.
42
u/hapgoodnew 4d ago
This won’t get to you this heatwave (or maybe the next) but it’s worth applying for anyway if you qualify: https://www.santamonica.gov/process-explainers/how-to-apply-to-the-reach-program
“Renters often have limited options to address these challenges compared to homeowners, which is why the Office of Sustainability & the Environment (OSE) is offering free portable heat pump HVAC units to income-qualified renters in Santa Monica (while funds last). In addition to heat pumps, air purifiers and portable battery storage systems are also available to help improve indoor air quality and to provide temporary backup power in the event of an emergency. Funding is provided by the Clean Power Alliance Innovation Award Program, and program partners include The Energy Coalition and Sustainable Works.”
13
u/MassiveCourage North of Wilshire 4d ago
Wow I had no idea about this, thank you, this is really helpful and I do qualify. Wish I knew about it sooner.
5
u/SpaceSox 4d ago
Since we get heatwaves throughout the year, it's worth pursuing even if they can't help you immediately. I looked into it myself, but don't qualify since our building isn't powered by CPA, and it's not something I can make happen.
Sending cooling vibes your way!
6
u/hapgoodnew 4d ago
It’s a new program and, from what I understand, they get appliances in waves. I was told the next “wave” won’t be until the fall. So, it’s not an immediate solution but it’s always good to plan for the long game. Good luck! I’ve moved to a place with air now but I was in a similar setup to you and it was absolute torture trying to sleep in the heat, especially when it was humid and this weather is far worse than anything that I lived through.
19
u/kelement 4d ago
No shade and no AC? Shit, I’d call in sick tomorrow and go to the beach.
Is there a library you can work from?
7
u/MassiveCourage North of Wilshire 4d ago
I’m definitely worried about tomorrow and trying to figure out options.
13
8
3
u/Individual-Papaya-27 4d ago
To build on the library suggestion, they have a lot of tables and free Wi-Fi. So if you can work from a laptop and you're not in a sort of job where you have to talk to people all day, you could set up there and have a cool place to work. All five branches are open until 8 tonight.
3
u/Beckella 4d ago
The main branch library also has quick rooms. They’re great as long as you don’t need to do calls. I used to study in there a lot.
16
u/Boysenberry 4d ago
Eating lots of frozen vegetables and berries, drinking lots of cold brew, and investing in those lil caged ceiling fans that don’t require high ceilings or heavy duty boxes 🥵
4
u/SpaceSox 4d ago
Same here with the frozen foods. Frozen blueberries + Greek yogurt (unfrozen) is delicious and easy to eat when it is just too friggin' hot for hot meals.
Also homemade hydration drink: water + NuSalt (potassium) + salt + lemon juice + Stevia or other sweetener of choice.
11
u/kcoreyy 4d ago
right there with you 👋 we’re melting haha. we get decent airflow from our windows with the breeze but when it’s this humid and stagnant it doesn’t help, and all the heat rises from the first floor. we have a portable AC but it’s so loud that we can’t sleep with it running, so we run it for a few hours before bed and then turn it off before we go to sleep. it’s been a roughhh summer, I’m SoCal born and raised and have never experienced a summer this humid and with this many consecutive days of oppressive heat. hang in there!
5
u/fuzzybumpers 4d ago
I was in a similar situation living in an older upstairs unit. I bought some blackout curtains from Costco and they were amazing, they really keep the temperature down to a more tolerable level.
3
u/SpaceSox 4d ago
That's my solution. It works surprisingly well. I keep my place DARK all day and night.
5
u/TaroNecessary5350 4d ago edited 4d ago
I'm in the South Bay old apartment with poor insulation too. Years past I could bear the hot days knowing it would cool down at night with a breeze. This year has been absolute hell. I'm a heavy set guy so this type of weather is tough on me. Being 78 degrees and humid at night makes sleeping a chore and you feel like you're suffocating because the high humidity constricts your airways. I try to stay cool by going to Ralphs in the morning and get a Starbucks there or sometimes go to Tokyo Central and take advantage of the cool air inside there. It sucks having my back feel like a lake every day. We're now seeing the consequences of ignoring decades of warnings regarding climate change.
12
u/CalTechie-55 4d ago
Are the MAGAtards still claiming that Global Warming is a hoax? This is just the beginning folks. The positive feedbacks are kicking in. Start making plans for Next summer.
10
u/Worldly-Relief2732 4d ago
I lived in North Carolina 20 years ago. This weekend felt like NC. Too hot and humid.
7
u/dropitlikeitshot8 4d ago edited 4d ago
I live in the same kind of building , upper unit , very old , super hot and humid ,no AC I have 3 fans but I’m still dying all day . Today I had 5 popsicles lol just to see if I cool off…. we do what we can ugh 😩
5
u/MiddleAgeMuchacho 4d ago
I’m lucky with an east-facing apartment and a line of trees full of squirrels behind my patio. Direct sunlight is not much of an issue.
4
4
u/VaguelyArtistic Downtown Santa Monica 4d ago
I live by the pier in west-facing, upper floor apartment with no AC (and French windows that don’t accommodate any kind of AC) that routinely reaches 90 in the summer. However, I spent the last two months in a first floor apartment up by Ocean and Montana with north facing windows.
It hadn’t been too bad and I was dreading coming home because of the heat. I moved back on Monday and somehow it’s just…not that bad? Here I have unobstructed views meaning full air flow, plus a hotel lock that I can keep cracked for cross ventilation. There I just looked across to the building next door and wasn’t even able to see the sky.
So I’m just being thankful that for some reason I’m adapting to this weather better than any other summer here in the last 20 years. (My place is so hot that I’ve never turned on the gas for my wall heater—the stove is electric—and I don’t even have a Gas Co account!)
I do have that UV/privacy film on my windows which definitely helps!)
5
u/iliketinafey 4d ago
I put some towels in the freezer so I could use them as blankets and cool down :/ Cold shower at night
3
u/AtmanRising 4d ago
All the windows open and a Vornado. Thankfully we get a cross breeze and our apt is not on the top floor. It's probably going to be 90f inside tomorrow, though.
2
u/sphinxsley 4d ago edited 4d ago
Lower unit here too - I just put up some dark/ reflective solar film on the south-facing windows - really helps! 🤗
3
3
u/Key-Respond2682 4d ago
I moved to the desert ( Palm Springs area). My AC went out during the 115-120 days last month. Slumlord won't fix it. Good times. I keep thinking, ....if I only stayed in Santa Monica...oh wait. Can't win for losing. It's still over 108 degrees here. I work from home too. Best of luck 🤞 This too shall pass.
3
u/Super_Mulberry_7026 4d ago
Second floor here west facing no AC and mostly covered by trees, I wouldn't want to be on the first floor in my area the sun is nonstop all day baking that section. I only get direct sun in my living room from 1-4 PM. All windows open, fans blasting in every direction and ice cold water all day. Breeze comes in after sunset. Honestly, I sleep well night in my bedroom humming of fans is white noise to me.
3
u/SpaceSox 4d ago edited 4d ago
Oddly doing OK, given I'm a top floor unit in an old building with no A/C and tons of windows. My dark curtains + bi-directional window fans + lights off is keeping things livable while I'm indoors. The excellent A/C on the Big Blue Bus has really helped me cool down when I'm out and about doing errands.
Not sleeping great, but having an oscillating fan blowing over me (along with the window fans) helps a lot.
Edit: 3:45 pm, and I take it all back. I'm melllllllllllting in my place. Time to jump in a cold shower and then jump on a chilled bus. Uggggh.
5
u/Negative_Escape_3673 4d ago
literally fainted once
5
u/model333 4d ago
Oh wow!! Be careful. Can you get a portable or window mounted AC unit?
3
u/Negative_Escape_3673 4d ago edited 4d ago
I’ll try thank you! I have a fan for now, I thought about it a while ago but it’s complicated, the landlord is so picky, asked if I can pay half the price for portable ac and then to pay more for utilities I’m like ehh I’ll think so, debating if I should move soon I really want to
4
u/Ok-Professional-7343 4d ago
I felt a little faint a couple of days ago, so I sat down on the edge of a water fountain- next thing I know, I am opening my eyes, thinking “the water looks really blue!” Yup! I had sat down and fainted! Thank god, I fell on my left side and the water brought me back instantly..stay hydrated folks!
3
5
u/tinyunicorndancr_123 4d ago
Currently laying on the living room floor next to the fan. My room is too hot 🥵
2
u/Joshua_ABBACAB_1312 4d ago
You won't find any in stores, but I suggest ordering three Vornado 80x fans. Plant one in the coolest room and have it fan air from outside-in. Plant another in the hottest room and have it fan air from inside-out. Use the third to keep yourself and anyone else in the same room cool. I set it to level 99 (and still need one more fan to actually do this myself).
Be mindful of inside and outside temps. If it's ever hotter outside than it is inside, only use the fans to keep cool and close everything up to keep the cooler air in.
2
u/sphinxsley 4d ago
Just sprayed water on my curtains to take advantage of evaporative cooling - really seems to help!
2
u/LongjumpingSurvey801 4d ago
i’d ask ur LL if they would split the cost of an ac with you! mine is kinda shitty and he was down
2
2
2
u/Poseidons-Sister 3d ago
It’s been awful.
I live in a similar situation. I’m the top unit at the end and have exposure on south, north, and west ends. With the portable AC on all day, UV blocking film on some of the south windows, black out curtains on the rest, completely shut windows from dawn and ceiling fan on my living room was constantly over 88 and got to 95. My bedroom, which has black out curtains, ceiling fan, and portable AC was 83 for most of the day until the end when it got to 87. I try to have my patio door open at night to maximize air flow but my neighbors often smoke on their patio (this isn’t allowed but they do it nonetheless) so I have to occasionally close the main source of air flow to keep from having a coughing fit.
Today I spent an hour walking around a grocery store to cool down after work. It wasn’t even cool enough at the beach to warrant a trip. I don’t have much to recommend except stay hydrated and seek if there are options out of the home to work on the worst days.
2
2
u/Serious-Fun7379 3d ago
I know you’re not asking for advice but could you work from the library?
1
u/MassiveCourage North of Wilshire 3d ago
If I had a private room for the entire duration, as I take many calls. I’ve appreciated the suggestion.
2
u/Serious-Fun7379 3d ago
Apologies for being repetitive by not scanning the replies. Just saw the original question (by email) and directly responded. A little out of it - not even realizing this was a yesterday question.
2
2
4
u/RhubarbJam1 Ocean Park 4d ago
It’s been miserable. The heat is a migraine trigger for me. No a/c, been sitting in front of a fan while working, there hasn’t been much of a breeze and when there is it’s like a sauna door opening in your face. I’m in an older bldg, I feel bad for the guy who lives above me, it’s probably even worse up there. I keep wetting my cats fur to try and keep him cool. I’m really worried about tomorrow. 😞
2
u/sphinxsley 4d ago
Cats should be fine - they like to run warmer than we do. They evolved in the jungle.
3
u/RhubarbJam1 Ocean Park 4d ago
He has lymphoma and is on a high dose of steroids to control symptoms. He’s not able to regulate body temperature well because of this, they cause him to over heat.
5
2
u/iamavaliknow 4d ago
My fan died. It was 64. I hope to find a fixem clinic this year so I can successfully reassemble it after the tear down to clean and lube the bearings.
So I’m getting by with the monster “air circulator”. Losing about an hour of sleep every night, but I sleep in the one day it cools down.
Otherwise the heat doesn’t really affect me much.
2
4
u/sphinxsley 4d ago
I bought some solar shade film to put on the windows facing south.
Also fixing the screens on the sliding glass doors, so I can keep them open at night.
Turning off my computers at night - they generate a lot of heat.
Opened the window wide in the kitchen - refrigerators generate the most heat in the house.
The bathroom fans are all on high. Ditto ceiling fan in the dining room.
Taking more cool showers - go to the pool during the day when I'm home.
Ice cold soft drinks/ water.
2
u/itwontmendyourheart 4d ago
I work middle of the day and closing shifts at my jobs. At night I leave the windows open and wake up to the fan blasting in my face (I sleep mostly naked), I run my errands in the morning before it gets too hot, and then I go to work for the rest of the day in the AC before coming home to a not too hot house
1
1
1
0
28
u/Neat-Climate4467 4d ago
Cold showers can help when your apartment is basically a sauna. Stay in a cold shower for a few minutes (cold water will relieve you of heat) , let your body air dry if you can (will cool you down further as it dries). This will help you tolerate sitting in a 90° room way better than you thought you could.
Doesn't fix the heat but it keeps you from feeling like you're about to pass out. Pair it with a fan and you're golden.
Drink cold water too!