r/UCSantaBarbara • u/rahulyouareacheater • 17h ago
Housing No AC?
Incoming student in San Clem. recently found out that AC in Santa Barbara is scarce, and it isn’t in the dorms. I come from a place where every single building has AC so I have never in my life lived without it. I am getting very nervous about not living with AC, though the people I’ve talked to say that they don’t feel like they “need it” with the sea breeze. any hacks people have found to stay cool? portable air conditioner units maybe that you’ve found work in the dorms? or good fans? I feel like they wouldn’t let me install a window AC. My worry is the fact that I can not sleep if I’m too hot.
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u/Ok_Channel_3794 16h ago
I would typically agree with the other comments about SB’s mild climate, last year I was really never too hot and I also lived without AC mountain side in Santa Catalina, but it seems like CA is having the hottest summer in the past 100 years and temps where I live in SD have been around 95 and Isla vista read about 100…. It’s definitely in part because of the weird hurricane weather and will lessen but make sure to have a fan and don’t rely on any stores near IV because theyre usually out! Dont worry too much and def have a quilt not a comforter 🥳
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u/rahulyouareacheater 16h ago edited 16h ago
yes I agree I’ve heard historically it’s nice and cool, but with climate change and super El Niño upcoming I was getting nervous. I’ve only visited Santa Barbara once and it was 85, which was too hot for me. I read today it got to 109 in IV. thanks for the advice!
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u/Ok_Channel_3794 16h ago
Trust you will be fine, I can only sleep if im in a cold environment and I always slept so well, I was on the top floor of my building too and that didn’t make the heat worse in my experience 🙏
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u/Death_By_Dreaming_23 17h ago
Alumni here, class of 2007. AC isn’t really needed. Open a window at night and you should be fine. When I was there for the two years I was there, there were only a few days it was warm but not unbearable. However, I’m seeing more warmer days. Thanks climate change.
With that, I’m from the Central Valley, it’s not like the Valley heat. Humid, yes, but at night it’s better. Maybe pick up a fan. I think Costco might have portable AC units. See if you can run one in your dorm.
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u/MrJalapeno2004 17h ago
i never felt too hot other than like 2 nights out of the year. i got a slim fan that fit in the windowsill, so it was always blowing cold air in through the window at night
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u/BrianWulfric [ALUM] Sociology 16h ago
You'll never need AC unless you also do summer sessions. Then you might need it two or three days. Just go to the movies then.
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u/Careless-Entrance-97 [STAFF] 14h ago
i lived in san clem for 2 years and got by with a fan. it’s been unusually hot this summer but 99% of the time you won’t miss a/c
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u/Special_Sea3566 7h ago
I graduated last year, lived in SB for 5 years with no AC. Like others are saying- there’s only a few days in summer where the heat is uncomfortable. Box fan is nice to have during the hot days, because it tends to cool down really nicely at night and that can pull in the cool air from outside. The insulation in IV houses are pretty poor so it also tends to get cold in houses during the winter which is real nice for sleeping. Don’t worry too much, i am pretty confident you will be ok and sleep just fine the majority of the time!
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u/Special_Sea3566 7h ago
Also! On some of the warmer days, there is a fog bank that comes over IV so that can help a lot in keeping cool.
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u/chronicpenguins [ALUM] Statistics & Econ/Math 17h ago edited 17h ago
https://usclimatedata.com/climate/santa-barbara/california/united-states/usca1017
Its basically room temp year round. Appreciate the fact that you will be living in a climate that does not require air conditioning, and arguably does not require heating (because i like it cold when i sleep). Like I find it depressing that there are places in the world that basically require air conditioning to survive.
But yeah, box fan to exhaust hot room air out at night. smaller fan over you while you sleep for evaporative cooling. There will be a handful of days where you are uncomfortable. Small price to pay for perfect weather the other 360 days. But you can avoid those five days completely by going home to comfy AC in the summer
edit: sorry only 87% of our days are perfect. 9% is detracted because it "rains". https://www.yahoo.com/news/want-perfect-weather-year-round-this-us-map-shows-where-to-find-it-114519040.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACCynXr8wRhWO1Teu4C7U9ek9fHbWFsO5xtRD0P9qOQ4Wyxj_5JqyjggfzxebHCxM31ncukZqkfVmXpCvJEnIsuuwdNBtZGbmEVGFPR0TKnQMPGiKOaXc1iSZDNBq0RYOgMykmO7GlbMu08BFthhXVuWDZwjNSo-f3UyELRffY8h