If we have more summers like this year, there will be a serious lack of demand for a/c in the UK! Would be better off turning them into water pumps!

We just had one installed and although you can hear it kick on and off we are able to sit on our deck only 15' from the compressor and speak in normal conversational tones.

The neighbors most likely wouldn't even hear it in their yard.

That being said I will still try not to run it at night.

Its horrid for sure. I also hate sitting outside on a lovely summers day and have to inhale the fabric conditioner reek from next doors clothes dryer.

What do they think the sun is there for?? decoration

Well yeah...and your point is?

Where is that tongue in cheek smiley?

Im not going to waste a second of the few fleeting months of summer hanging out laundry when I can just chuck it in the dryer

Our neighbours had one installed on our side earlier in the year - it really is quite noisy although we seem to have got used to it now. Nothing we can do about it anyway.

They seem to think it was a good thing and it has been rather warm here in Calgary this summer.

Buying a house means compromise somewhere - it's not a relatively huge cost to instal if the house ticks most of your other boxes

then please dont put a stinky "perfumed" sheet in with it all. Instead of smelling the flowers I get a noseful of chemical rose or someother pollutant

Dotn worry, I wouldnt dream of wasting the money on dryer sheets...the only reason its on is cos its cheaper to use cloth diapers than disposables, and we cant afford for them not to be really dry

Thanks for your comments.

We have managed well this summer in a rented apartment without air conditioning, but I reasoned it wasn't bad because we are on the 11th floor.

And felt it would be worse in a house with one or 2 floors.

Its comforting to know that installing at a later date will not wipe out any semblance of savings we have.

So I am moving central air to my wish list.

I hang out stuff to dry in summer, I avoid using a dryer when I can. It accelerates fading - humble opinion (or myth)----- whatever

There are by-laws here in terms of hanging out washing - you won't find any clothes lines around Calgary for example...

I have stayed with friends twice on vacation in Stoney Creek, Ontario during July and it was very very hot and humid at night. They had aircon(?), well it was cold air that came up through vents in the floor. House was still very hot though so perhaps it was an old system. They seemed to be accustomed to the heat though

Here is NS we don't have aircon but have an air exchanger which silently draws in outdoor air and circulates it around the home. This not used during summertime but I now realise that I should have bought a dehumidifier as we had quite a few hot humid days here. Evenings are the worst as our high efficiency house absorbs heat all day and retains it overnight.

I am sure everyone BBQs outside daily because you daren't switch your oven/stove on. The heat in the kitchen would be fierce

I find it strange that in today's 'green' world that the 'no hanging laundry outside to dry' rule still applies in many places. Certainly adds a lot of expense to monthly household utilities

Still it makes the north pole a future beach holiday destination........

How can you live under such a repressive regime? Albertastan, is it?

Errr... think about that, batty. No beaches.

Now, to address the original question: don't believe these low-life-ex-beaches-dwellers. Central Air is an absolute necessity in Mississauga.

Canadian houses sound like ships. Furnace in the winter, A/C in the summer. If you don't have both you can't sleep at night because of the immensely disturbing silence.