Growing up in the north, the furnace was always the priority! When I was a kid, hardly few homes were outfitted with any type cooling system. We were one of the only families to invest in cooling equipment. We had a portable cooling system that was the size of mini van. At that time, it was one of the smaller cooling units on the market. It required at least two adults to carry it, my room was the only room with a window large enough to accommodate such a bulky piece of equipment. I had to rearrange my furniture to not interfere with the cooling system. I was expected to leave my door wide open at all times so that the cool air would spread to the rest of the house, but the cooling system was super loud. It rattled and screeched and kept me awake at night. It consistently dripped water, and I needed to situate a pail underneath to prevent my carpet from getting saturated. The equipment supplied a tremendous amount of chilly air, and even during the middle of July, the high outside temperature and humidity was no match for it. Unfortunately, there was no way to regulate operation. The cooling system was either running at maximum capacity or completely shut off. My father liked to keep it running all the time. My room was so chilly that I dressed in sweatpants and long-sleeves to go to bed at night. I’d then huddle under a heated blanket and shiver, and the air from the cooling equipment smelled musty and it spread dust into my room. Because of my experience with that cooling system, I never wanted to install a cooling system into my own house. My husband insisted, and I was surprised by the improvements in technology.