| ▲ | sph 2 hours ago |
| You know what is worse than sweltering under a heatwave? To hear Americans jump at the chance to comment about Europeans and their AC usage. Jesus it’s like they have found their little pet peeve to vent all their frustration towards. Perhaps because we grumble every week there’s a school shooting and you feel you have to take petty revenge somehow. Every thread on social media is Americans whining about ACs in Europe, or lack thereof. Don’t you guys have anything better to do than feel superior because most of us simply cannot have AC, for one reason or another? Meanwhile you have voted for a president that says climate change is a hoax and is investing in coal, for Heaven’s sake, and still here you are, gloating. If I could have installed an AC unit where I live, I bloody would have. Now if you’ll excuse me, I haven’t had a good nights sleep in a week, and won’t for another week. |
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| ▲ | tgsovlerkhgsel 20 minutes ago | parent | next [-] |
| "Simply cannot have AC" is a problem we did to ourselves, or rather, the "its not so bad just suffer a bit" people are doing to the rest of the population. What are the reasons "most of us simply cannot have AC"? Either laws/regulations banning it or making it prohibitive, or living in rentals without proper protection. There is no reason why heat protection couldn't be mandated for rental units just like heating is required in winter. Or why tenants couldn't have a right to install AC at their own expense. Meanwhile, because permanent AC units are de facto impossible, the portable Mideas sell out as soon as the heat wave hits, and we're forced to run air conditioners with literally open windows just so we can run the hose through. (You should get one for next year, by the way. You probably missed the opportunity for this year unless you want to pay a scalper 2-3x the normal price, but they can be installed in essentially any window or balcony, are reasonably quiet, much better than the 'air hose out the window' monoblock units, and they fucking work) |
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| ▲ | ActorNightly 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > us simply cannot have AC Im really curious how this works. Do standalone units not exist? |
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| ▲ | hannasm 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Same question. Electricity and logistics are really the only physical barriers. With solar and a single mini split couldn't you essentially prevent heat death with some very high probability? Freezing to death in winter should be a harder problem at this point right? | | |
| ▲ | doikor 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Electricity and logistics solve the heating just as well. You can use the same device if you want to. Heat pump is just an AC run in reverse, literally all you need is a little valve to reverse the flow. | | |
| ▲ | TylerE 20 minutes ago | parent [-] | | As long as it's only a little below freezing. Try that in Norway, or even somewhere like Austria, and see how it goes. | | |
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| ▲ | megacelebi 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| The numbers don’t lie. |
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| ▲ | wahnfrieden 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | They do. Heat related deaths are reported differently | | |
| ▲ | ajmurmann 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Isn't it that European numbers show excess deaths whereas US numbers are for cases where it was officially recorded as a heat death? |
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| ▲ | CaptWorld 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Not beating the allegations of Europoor mentality. I'm not from USA |
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| ▲ | mschild an hour ago | parent [-] | | Price, mostly, isn't the issue. Living in Germany, rental apartments simply don't have AC. Even luxury apartments that are 4k+ per month typically dont. Thats changing very slowly but still a long way to go. A lot of landlords simply don't give a shit as they're not required to install one and since there is a housing shortage, good luck convincing them of anything. Even if you own your apartment, installing a split AC requires unanimous approval from the other apartment owners before you can install one because making any permanent modifications to the outside of the building (like drilling a hole) needs their permission. The older generation (generalising here) often has the opinion that the cold air from ACs is unhealthy and causes cold. Once you get past all of that, is when price can become the issue. The AC units, even top-of-the-line, cost around 1k-1.8k. Good luck finding someone to install it for you. You need an electrician and a licenced installer. I own my house so I dont need anyone's permission. The cheapest total cost (including the 1.2k for the unit I want) is 6k. Because apparently drilling 2 holes and, running the wire and coolant pipes is 4.8k. |
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| ▲ | shshjsjsjzjz 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| You know fans are a thing, right? Buy a good column fan, place close to legs or torso. Both the noise and evaporation cooling will help tremendously. |
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| ▲ | aaron695 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
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| ▲ | rootusrootus 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
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| ▲ | alephnerd 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > To hear Americans jump at the chance to comment about Europeans and their AC usage A lot of Americans would be indifferent if it wasn't for Europeans (mostly Germans ime - Southern, Central, and Eastern Europeans are indifferent to supportive) who often try to act all superior about not using ACs or heat pumps because they supposedly "cause colds" or are somehow "unnatural" or try to make it a moral action despite a large portion of Americans using GreenTech to subsidize AC spend. TBH, a lot of distaste Americans have for "Europeans" is basically a distaste for DACH residents weird sense of superiority (especially racial - you guys don't realize it but you tend to treat Black, Asian, and Hispanic Americans negatively until we wave our passport and Amex Gold/Plat). Most other Europeans are much more pleasant to be around with. |
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| ▲ | bvanheu an hour ago | parent [-] | | I think USA'n suffers more from discomfort than European, and the gp comment is an attempt at explaining that. this is also my experience as a north American, sweating is a no-go and they clutch AC at 18C. |
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| ▲ | reenorap 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| What’s worse are Europeans that kowtow to their politicians and suffer for no reason whatsoever. You can install an AC if you get the right politicians in that will change the laws. If you don’t have AC it’s your own fault. |
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| ▲ | inigyou 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | There's no European law against AC. It's just expensive energy because it's got carbon taxes in it. | | | |
| ▲ | rwmj 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Sorry what? There's no reason that you can't install AC in your home/office in Europe, and many are doing so. It just hasn't been needed very much til recently. | | |
| ▲ | dranudin an hour ago | parent [-] | | There is, unfortunately. You cannot install AC, with an outside unit, without approval of your landlord. Lots of people are renting, e.g in Germany.
Of course, one can get an indoor unit an seal the window. But it is heavy and takes up a lot of space in a small urban rental.. | | |
| ▲ | vanviegen 4 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | Are renters in the US specifically permitted by law to install airco units that require permanent modification to the property? Or are landlords mandated to install airco units on a renters request? Or..? | |
| ▲ | rwmj an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | Changing the goalposts. We've gone from saying that Europe has (never defined) laws that prevent anyone from installing AC, to saying that tenants cannot make major changes to their properties. Landlords can install AC fine. Home owners can install AC. There are no laws that prevent installation of AC in Europe. | | |
| ▲ | dranudin 32 minutes ago | parent [-] | | I don't think it is changing the goalpost. The law prevents more than half of Germany's inhabitants from installing ACs, because they are renters. Also landlords cannot just install AC just fine. If you just own an appartement, you need the consenst of all other owners in the building. This is also a law. Therefore, practically no landlord will agree to the request to install outside AC, unfortunately. | | |
| ▲ | rwmj 15 minutes ago | parent [-] | | It sounds like a case for having more laws / regulation. Rental properties should have a maximum temperature, else they're not liveable (same as if they were damp or infested). |
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