Why dont they just buy window air conditioners?

Every year its the same story from them, it gets hot and then everyone complains and says they are going to die and all go into hibernation and expect to melt.

A window AC unit from Home Depot costs 200 bucks. Why dont they just get one and use it during the days it gets hot and put it away when it cools down?

@lordjezo: Could be several reasons: bars on the windows, windows that don't open or open very much, or narrow windows, just to name a few. It could also be that the rooms that are hot don't have windows. I rented an apartment in college that used a hotel-style wall mounted A/C in the main room, and the bedrooms were always intolerable regardless.

I'm sure they're still getting used to the new office, and they just haven't thought about it yet. Give it time, I'm sure they'll think of something.

I am talking about at their homes, not in the office. Jeff has a mansion out in the woods somewhere, yet he complains the heat destroys him and they need to come up with methods for air flow and cooling systems.

And it's been years of this, every single summer they talk about how hot it gets and I wonder why they just wont go get a cheap AC unit from the hardware store.

Window units are a pain to install and uninstall, they're really ugly, and they're really noisy. Like, could drown out a launch Xbox 360 noisy. I used to have to help my Dad install window units in some of the rooms in my grandmother's house when it started getting hot outside. As soon as they were all installed, she'd turn them all on and they'd run all summer. Not the most efficient way of cooling a home, but whatever. They did work, though - when we'd visit her house during the summer, I could sit near one, put in some earbuds, and play portable games without sweating at all! There were some summer days where you could start sweating just by opening the door outside.

But I'm in North Carolina, where AC during the summer is a necessity. From what I understand, it rarely gets hot or humid around San Francisco, so an AC unit is a luxury that wouldn't get used all that often. Running a gaming PC or an Xbox One or something in an enclosed room with all the windows closed when it's seventy degrees outside probably does make it feel pretty hot and I would ask why they don't have a fan near the doorway.

Eh, I'd disagree. For the homeowners, they don't cool those large spaces too well. For high floor apartments, it can seem sketch if the fit is not just right, with it hanging out. Some apartments can also have some weird rules, regarding AC units. One of my co-workers' apartment managing company tried to tell all of its tenents that they couldn't have personal AC units, and that they'd have to rent from the company.

Their complaining doesn't seem egregious, at all. Ever consider they do have AC units installed and it still gets hot from time to time?

I have a little portable AC unit that can roll around on wheels to different parts of the house. Great for hot summers. Thing with home AC's is that they can get expensive on the electric bill if you try to cool the entire house with one. Just stick one in a room and close the door.

Not sure if you're just referring to the SF crew or both coasts, but for the NYC office the most sufferable part of this city isn't being hot in your apartment (although it's not fun), but it's the transit time. Walking in the sun and humidity and then kicking it into high gear in the swamp ass subway stations. Then you get on a freezing cold subway car or walk into a freezing cold store, etc. Really sharpens your complaining skills though.

Jeff needs one of these bad boys:

However they are a lot less practical if you don't spend most of your time in one room.

Everything about living out there is confusing to me and my tiny, rural bubble. No air conditioning when it's hot all the time, renting instead of owning, living with a roommate when you're in your thirties and have a good job... It's like an alien planet that revolves around a high cost of living.

I'm not convinced San Francisco is even a real place.

90 degrees, without a lot of humidity, isn't that hot. If their house has centralized AC that shouldn't be a problem. I don't know if it gets humid in the Bay area, but I doubt they're getting southern humid heat like in Georgia or Florida.

As a Floridian, the idea of living in a house without central AC seems really insane. Hell, both apartments I have ever lived in had central AC too.

I'm in the UK and there hasn't been a great deal of difference from the day to overnight temperatures, I dislike heat and I don't envy the lawn peeps at Wimbledon for taking a lot of flack about the state of the courts (the temps are worst around 4 in the afternoon I think). I have two fans, they move air, don't cool it, but I would vouch that there's a difference. AC is a different thing, I would imagine that renting/hiring short term at this time of year is very expensive, owning the device is a different matter altogether with a high upfront cost. I know that something that isn't used often becomes a liability of sorts even if it is maintained regularly and could also provide a significant benefit (e.g. generator to power fridge and freezer, etc.).

I mean, nothing really compares with the muggy heat of the Georgia area, but 90 is still bad in average/above-average humid places. First hand, I can speak for west side of Oregon and I assume the Bay area is similar, being next to large bodies of water.

Since everyone seems curious... the weather in the SF Bay Area varies a lot depending on how far from the water you are. For instance, in the actual city of San Francisco, the high today will be around 70F. However, 25 miles inland where I live the high today will hit 100. The area where Jeff lives is pretty similar to me.

Older houses in my area were not built with AC, but newer houses (post 1975 or so) usually have central AC. The nice thing about California is there's very little humidity, so it will cool down by 30+ degrees at night. Many people without AC have whole house fans, so after dark you just open up the windows and turn on the fan. Makes sleeping possible.

That explains why I thought it doesn't get that hot around the SF area. I was thinking something along the lines of "well, SF stays kinda cool, so surely the areas around it stay cool, too".

Yeah, I had a hard time wrapping my head around that once I realized that not every place needs AC. Here in NC, we're getting thunderstorms pretty much every afternoon and the temperature stays between 80 and 90. It will probably be even hotter in August. It's probably even worse in Florida.

To the OP, California is just the perfect weather state (in theory) so they don't bother with AC many times. It isn't as humid so the weather drops at night and you usually are fine. If you are out of the sun in less humid type of places you can stay pretty cool.

If you can avoid the expense and the power usage why not?

I lived in Raleigh for 2 years without AC though. Can be done. Gotta be willing to sweat. And take a cold shower every so often. A nice fan helps and managing sunlight and air getting in during the day. And like Jeff every so often I might have to bail to go somewhere with AC but that's fine.

I know it probably can just really suck to some people but it can be done to an extent. Florida I will not speak to because I imagine it can get brutal.

Alright we can wrap this one up. Speculative threads about what the GB staff does at home (or why) aren't really appropriate. If you still feel so strongly about their air conditioning situation at home, reach out to them privately via PM or Twitter or something.