The first summer we lived down here, I was miserable and thought I had made a terrible mistake.

But, as I understand it now, that’s the way a lot of people feel when they experience their first summer in this region.

The heat and humidity levels were astounding to me. I felt like I was trapped inside the HVAC cooling of my house. And, the level of HVAC cooling in my house was breaking the bank as well. But, I learned from that summer. I learned that it’s so worth dealing with four months of serious heat and humidity to have the rest of the year be so perfect. That’s really the long and the short of it. If I wanted to live here and enjoy all the beauty and great weather, I had to learn how to deal with the heat in the summer. The first thing I did after that inaugural summer was to talk with my new friends who were locals. They taught me so much about having a plan when it comes to air conditioning my home during the summer. They laid it out for me. First, I needed to be sure to get an air conditioning tune-up in the spring. That was really important. And not just to be sure that the heat pump would get through the summer. No, a well maintained heat pump is also a very efficient heat pump. I then learned just how to seal up my home in order to keep the HVAC cooling inside and not leaking out or letting the heat in. I got a lesson in direct sunlight heating as well. That meant shades were drawn during the peak heating hours of the day. And finally, I got a grip on the thermostat setting as well.

Getting the basics in HVAC cooling from the locals