78 Degrees

     Every year in Texas when the Dog Days of August start barking, Texans know all air conditioners need to be barking as loud as possible.  When it's 95 degrees by noon and the humidity level reach rain forest levels it's smart to hunt for some AC or at least some shade.  From June through September, complaining about the heat is a fact of life in Texas.

     As far as I'm concerned, the invention of air conditioning ranks right up the with the automobile and television when it comes to creature comfort.  What would we all do if we had to stay outside until 10 or 11 at night because it was too hot to go inside our houses?  I don't know and I sure don't want to sweat through a night to find out.

     78 degrees is supposedly the optimal temperature.  For every degree above 78 a cooling system uses six percent more energy.  My AC is set real close to the optimal level although I do cheat a little setting it at 77.7 degrees.  Depending on the amount of light in  the room, what kind of cloths I have on and level of physical activity, an inside temperature above 80 degrees stretches my limit of comfort above the acceptable level. 

     The air conditioning system that cools my house turned 21 years old this Summer.  In the 13 years I've owned it I have replaced the fan four times  and the thermostat once but the system is eighty percent original. An annual cleaning usually in April has served the unit and myself well.