Residential HVAC has been around in this region for going on 75 years of so.
That’s not to say that after the advent of the heat pump the entire region jumped on board.
But that’s roughly when our region first got a taste of air conditioning. I’m in my mid 50’s so I grew up inside a home that had central air conditioning. I never gave it a thought really because I never had to go without the cooling comfort that came from the heat pump. But I remember when I was about 10, my dad took me to the place where he grew up. I never met my grandparents as they worked hard and died pretty young. The house and the small farm went to dad and his brothers who kept it in the family by selling it to a cousin. So when dad took me out there, we had free range of the place. It was so fascinating that I can see it in my mind like it was yesterday. The cousins actually were still working the farm but there was still no central air conditioning. I think I remember a window air conditioning unit but I can’t be sure. So my dad who is now 80, grew up without any residential HVAC. Not a heat pump, not a swamp cooler or anything but a ceiling fan. That’s something that just almost snaps my brain. I couldn’t last a month in the Summer without the cooling comfort I get from the heat pump. My dad told me that when he was an early teen, they went to the city to a store just so they could experience air conditioning. Again, my mind stays blown.