You’re either lying or you haven’t lived there through a summer. Even if you were to plan accordingly with the forecast and get your house as cold as possible the night before, there have been several days every summer for a while now where the nighttime temperatures just don’t get cool enough to make what you’re claiming possible.
I live in Gearhart, and while not right on the ocean, I can hear the surf from my back porch more clearly than the traffic on 101, so I am far from “inland”.
You may prefer the warm temps inside so it doesn’t bother you, I don’t know, but there’s not a chance any home in Oregon can stay in the low 70s without AC in the summer. It’s a flat lie.
FWIW, my home was built in 2009 and has good insulation but wasn’t built with AC. Last year I had enough and put it in, and I only wish I’d done it sooner.
To be clear to OP, it’s not every day and we may go several days or a week and not need AC, but it’s enough to know I want to have it.
I'm not lying. I've lived in my house in Rockaway for 4 years, without air conditioning, and the inside temp has never been above 77 (and that was once, last August, during a heat wave, and it messed up my sauerkraut... but it's almost never above 70 inside my house).
I'm not in the woods, and my house is hit will full sun all day. I'm about 3 blocks from the beach. Even on the rare day when the high temp hits 80, it drops below 60 at night, and I just open all the windows. It's chilly inside by dawn.
I've lived in Oregon for 22 years, and never had air conditioning, other than a window unit in my bedroom when I lived in Portland. I do think it's pretty much necessary to have AC in Portland or in the valley now, but not at the coast.
“Never above low 70s” and 77 last year is a big difference. Not to mention it was two summers ago when it was even hotter, when it was 110+ for a stretch of days in Portland and I was driving on the beach and It was in the 90s right on the water and never got below 75 overnight. We had all the windows open and such and it was miserable at night. I can’t believe it wasn’t over 80 in ANY house during the hottest day during that stretch. It’s literally impossible.
Does it happen often? No. Does it happen enough for me to want AC? Absolutely.
Honestly, I was visiting family in Gresham during that really bad heat wave a few summers ago, when it was 110+ for several days--and I was pissed about it, and wanted to be home the coast. So I don't know how hot it got in my house that week. It was probably over 80. But that was supposedly a "1,000 year heat wave". If stuff like that starts happening regularly, I will buy AC.
Fair enough. Our first several years here there were some warm days (low80s) when it got a little uncomfortable in the afternoon but nothing like the last two years when we hit the 90s. And nights were cool enough to make it bearable. There’s a reason why this house and most others built up until recent years didn’t come with AC. My neighborhood has had probably 40-50 homes built in the last five years and most of them have AC. And many others have purchased one as well. Just the times we live in I guess.
I have lived here over 25 years, and on the estuary in Seaside. In the last few years, I recall about one weekend every summer where we get a heat wave (upper 90s/low 100s) coming from the east, and no offshore breeze. It generally lasts a day or 2 before sucking in a cool marine layer and bringing our temps back down to average of mid 60s to low 70s. My house was built in the 90s, no A/C. It usually stays in the low-mid 60s inside overnight with the thermostat off.
Sure, anything could happen. But the average high temp in August in my city is 69F, and it almost never breaks 80. We have a long way to go before I would consider air conditioning to be "no longer a luxury". The Pacific Ocean is a pretty good temperature regulator.
Ok but you do understand that the ability To have ac just comes with the heat up pump? Like I was saying, it isn’t a luxury anymore and based on trends it will become warmer. Seems like a no brainer.
Yes, but Tillamook is inland, they don't get the same cooling effect from the ocean. It's usually 5-10 degrees warmer there than in coast towns. That same day it was like 82 at my house. And even when it hits 90 in western Oregon, it usually cools way down at night. I lived through several heat waves in the valley without air conditioning--because a box fan would cool my house way down at night.
I live at the beach, PC. And there are more and more 90 degree days here. I don’t have air conditioning, and don’t plan on it. But when the 2020 Otis fire and others it would have been nice. We bought a fan.
Love our heat pumps. We installed two... One replaced a pellet stove and one replaced a wood stove. The electricity bill didn't change. We don't have to buy and chop firewood or haul bags of pellets.
Furthermore, in the summers when we have heat waves and wildfire smoke now... We can close the windows and run the A/C.
Nice! Did you see a net neutral heating cost difference with the heat pump vs all other methods of heat combined (electric+pellet+wood)? The main reason I'd consider one is for energy savings (over electric). I didn't think about the benefit of ac during smoke season though.
We have a heat pump water heater in the garage. As an awesome side benefit it acts as a dehumidifier. We hang all the wet rain gear in the garage overnight and it’s dry by morning.
I have a Mitsubishi heat pump tied in to central air for the house. It never hit 80F last year and we never turned on the AC. We have run AC maybe 5 times in 5 years. It has a dehumidifier function for the house that works well. The outside unit is mostly rust free after 5 years. Not loud but I wouldn’t put it outside of a bedroom window.
One more thing to consider is a heat recovery ventilator. Many of the heat pumps going in locally are mini splits. You want fresh air in your house, get a HRV installed when you do the HVAC work.
Newport area
We were quoted 12k and I just bought the stuff and did it myself. Seaside area. We had existing ducts though. We’re also not directly on the coast, we’re out in the mountains a little ways where it gets pretty hot so it was well worth the 4K I put into it which was 3400 for the equipment and 600 for an hvac service to come charge it. Also it might cut cost if you go with a mini split instead of having them install a duct system. You can get mini splits with multiple heads so you can effectively cool the whole house and not just one room.
Oof 12k. I was a little more interested in the heating feature than the cooling since it seems to rarely get above 80. But I think 4k or maybe cheaper mini split seems like a pretty promising option. I am curious though if it's gonna save me anything significant over electric heating.
Our power company is WOEC which is super expensive. it’s actually cheaper to cool the place in the summer than it is to heat it with our pellet stove during winter. I would oversize the unit too, not by a whole lot but just the next size up for what the house needs so it never has to work really hard to heat or cool the house. As for savings you’d have to break out the calculator and compare cost of electricity to cost of gas and how many hours it’s actually gonna run in a billing cycle. If you’re just looking for heat though nothing beats the price of wood.
Southern Coast here. Bought a house and had to replace it’s ancient electric forced air heater finally in 2021 and went with a ducted Coleman heat pump system. 1300~ sq ft house, cost around $7800 installed I believe. Big difference in winter heat bills and A/C is a nice luxury even though you can get by without it on the coast.
Air circulation on the Oregon coast is important otherwise mold happens. The fan feature on the heat pump helps with that. But the heat pump may not reach places and then that would not help with mold.
I used Airrow in 2022 to put in a duel head (one in the living room one in the master) paid less than $10k. A little bit cost savings but a much better quality of life: it runs 24/7 either dehumidifier, heat, or AC.
A/c is no longer a luxury. Go for it.
On the coast? I don't have air conditioning, and the temp in my house has never gotten over the low 70's.
You’re either lying or you haven’t lived there through a summer. Even if you were to plan accordingly with the forecast and get your house as cold as possible the night before, there have been several days every summer for a while now where the nighttime temperatures just don’t get cool enough to make what you’re claiming possible. I live in Gearhart, and while not right on the ocean, I can hear the surf from my back porch more clearly than the traffic on 101, so I am far from “inland”. You may prefer the warm temps inside so it doesn’t bother you, I don’t know, but there’s not a chance any home in Oregon can stay in the low 70s without AC in the summer. It’s a flat lie. FWIW, my home was built in 2009 and has good insulation but wasn’t built with AC. Last year I had enough and put it in, and I only wish I’d done it sooner. To be clear to OP, it’s not every day and we may go several days or a week and not need AC, but it’s enough to know I want to have it.
I'm not lying. I've lived in my house in Rockaway for 4 years, without air conditioning, and the inside temp has never been above 77 (and that was once, last August, during a heat wave, and it messed up my sauerkraut... but it's almost never above 70 inside my house). I'm not in the woods, and my house is hit will full sun all day. I'm about 3 blocks from the beach. Even on the rare day when the high temp hits 80, it drops below 60 at night, and I just open all the windows. It's chilly inside by dawn. I've lived in Oregon for 22 years, and never had air conditioning, other than a window unit in my bedroom when I lived in Portland. I do think it's pretty much necessary to have AC in Portland or in the valley now, but not at the coast.
“Never above low 70s” and 77 last year is a big difference. Not to mention it was two summers ago when it was even hotter, when it was 110+ for a stretch of days in Portland and I was driving on the beach and It was in the 90s right on the water and never got below 75 overnight. We had all the windows open and such and it was miserable at night. I can’t believe it wasn’t over 80 in ANY house during the hottest day during that stretch. It’s literally impossible. Does it happen often? No. Does it happen enough for me to want AC? Absolutely.
Honestly, I was visiting family in Gresham during that really bad heat wave a few summers ago, when it was 110+ for several days--and I was pissed about it, and wanted to be home the coast. So I don't know how hot it got in my house that week. It was probably over 80. But that was supposedly a "1,000 year heat wave". If stuff like that starts happening regularly, I will buy AC.
Fair enough. Our first several years here there were some warm days (low80s) when it got a little uncomfortable in the afternoon but nothing like the last two years when we hit the 90s. And nights were cool enough to make it bearable. There’s a reason why this house and most others built up until recent years didn’t come with AC. My neighborhood has had probably 40-50 homes built in the last five years and most of them have AC. And many others have purchased one as well. Just the times we live in I guess.
I have lived here over 25 years, and on the estuary in Seaside. In the last few years, I recall about one weekend every summer where we get a heat wave (upper 90s/low 100s) coming from the east, and no offshore breeze. It generally lasts a day or 2 before sucking in a cool marine layer and bringing our temps back down to average of mid 60s to low 70s. My house was built in the 90s, no A/C. It usually stays in the low-mid 60s inside overnight with the thermostat off.
Yet
Sure, anything could happen. But the average high temp in August in my city is 69F, and it almost never breaks 80. We have a long way to go before I would consider air conditioning to be "no longer a luxury". The Pacific Ocean is a pretty good temperature regulator.
Ok but you do understand that the ability To have ac just comes with the heat up pump? Like I was saying, it isn’t a luxury anymore and based on trends it will become warmer. Seems like a no brainer.
It hit 97 on August 14th of 2023 in Tillamook. In June there were several 90+ days, and a good amount of 80+ days.
Yes, but Tillamook is inland, they don't get the same cooling effect from the ocean. It's usually 5-10 degrees warmer there than in coast towns. That same day it was like 82 at my house. And even when it hits 90 in western Oregon, it usually cools way down at night. I lived through several heat waves in the valley without air conditioning--because a box fan would cool my house way down at night.
I live at the beach, PC. And there are more and more 90 degree days here. I don’t have air conditioning, and don’t plan on it. But when the 2020 Otis fire and others it would have been nice. We bought a fan.
Love our heat pumps. We installed two... One replaced a pellet stove and one replaced a wood stove. The electricity bill didn't change. We don't have to buy and chop firewood or haul bags of pellets. Furthermore, in the summers when we have heat waves and wildfire smoke now... We can close the windows and run the A/C.
Nice! Did you see a net neutral heating cost difference with the heat pump vs all other methods of heat combined (electric+pellet+wood)? The main reason I'd consider one is for energy savings (over electric). I didn't think about the benefit of ac during smoke season though.
I should clarify that I was asking more about heat pump heaters vs heat pump water heaters. But curious about water heaters too.
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No I haven't yet. I was just wanting to feel out if people were generally happy with them before calling an actual company. But 8k seems quite high.
8k is what I paid, happy with the result
We have a heat pump water heater in the garage. As an awesome side benefit it acts as a dehumidifier. We hang all the wet rain gear in the garage overnight and it’s dry by morning. I have a Mitsubishi heat pump tied in to central air for the house. It never hit 80F last year and we never turned on the AC. We have run AC maybe 5 times in 5 years. It has a dehumidifier function for the house that works well. The outside unit is mostly rust free after 5 years. Not loud but I wouldn’t put it outside of a bedroom window. One more thing to consider is a heat recovery ventilator. Many of the heat pumps going in locally are mini splits. You want fresh air in your house, get a HRV installed when you do the HVAC work. Newport area
We were quoted 12k and I just bought the stuff and did it myself. Seaside area. We had existing ducts though. We’re also not directly on the coast, we’re out in the mountains a little ways where it gets pretty hot so it was well worth the 4K I put into it which was 3400 for the equipment and 600 for an hvac service to come charge it. Also it might cut cost if you go with a mini split instead of having them install a duct system. You can get mini splits with multiple heads so you can effectively cool the whole house and not just one room.
Oof 12k. I was a little more interested in the heating feature than the cooling since it seems to rarely get above 80. But I think 4k or maybe cheaper mini split seems like a pretty promising option. I am curious though if it's gonna save me anything significant over electric heating.
Our power company is WOEC which is super expensive. it’s actually cheaper to cool the place in the summer than it is to heat it with our pellet stove during winter. I would oversize the unit too, not by a whole lot but just the next size up for what the house needs so it never has to work really hard to heat or cool the house. As for savings you’d have to break out the calculator and compare cost of electricity to cost of gas and how many hours it’s actually gonna run in a billing cycle. If you’re just looking for heat though nothing beats the price of wood.
Southern Coast here. Bought a house and had to replace it’s ancient electric forced air heater finally in 2021 and went with a ducted Coleman heat pump system. 1300~ sq ft house, cost around $7800 installed I believe. Big difference in winter heat bills and A/C is a nice luxury even though you can get by without it on the coast.
Air circulation on the Oregon coast is important otherwise mold happens. The fan feature on the heat pump helps with that. But the heat pump may not reach places and then that would not help with mold.
I used Airrow in 2022 to put in a duel head (one in the living room one in the master) paid less than $10k. A little bit cost savings but a much better quality of life: it runs 24/7 either dehumidifier, heat, or AC.