Do Houses at The Sea Ranch Have Air Conditioning?

A guest who booked a summer vacation recently asked us if we had an air conditioning system installed in Sea Ranch Abalone Bay. Our house does not have a central air conditioning system. In fact, guests wishing to book a summer vacation at Sea Ranch will discover that most of the houses in our architecturally renown community do not come with air conditioning.

Generally we don’t worry about air conditioning as Mother Nature’s coastal fog and onshore breezes serves as our perfect natural air conditioning system.

Fog – Mother Nature’s Air Conditioning System for Summer

Yes, all those endless summer movies you’ve seen featuring California’s sunny coast are more Hollywood than real. While the sun eventually comes out, you more likely encounter misty, cool, foggy summer days instead of toasty sun baked days. In fact, Mark Twain could have been speaking about Sea Ranch weather when he’s been said to exclaim the coldest winter he experienced was summer in San Francisco.

California One of Least Air Conditioned State

Amazingly enough, even with rising adoption of air conditioning in nearly 90% of American homes throughout the United States, research shows that almost 30% in California are still without it. Data imply that nationwide there are 14 million households without air conditioning. Of these, 3.7 million are in California.

Temperate Mediterranean Climate

Generally, Sea Ranch, California has a warm late spring to summer Mediterranean climate. This makes it a favored time to visit. And if the house temperature becomes too warm for you, just open up the windows. This allows the fresh ocean breezes to act as your air condition system.

Even the fall through winter seasons are quite tolerable. In fact many prefer this time period especially given it coincides with whale migration season. There’s another value of vacationing during the fall through early winter. The air has stabled and the fog bank remains off shore more often.

Sea Ranch Annual Climate and Weather

Generally average summer temperatures during the months of June through August range from a high of 68ºF to a low of 44ºF. Traditionally, (before climate change was a thing) the odd hot day on the coast would rise as high as 74ºF.

Actually, the warm season lasts for 4.0 months, from June 10 to October 9. In fact, it is the fall with its stabilized air patterns that offers guests the most comfortable weather, with an average daily high temperature above 70°F. The hottest month of the year in Sea Ranch is July, with an average high of 73°F and low of 51°F.

The cool season lasts for 2.4 months, from November 24 to February 6, with an average daily high temperature below 59°F. The coldest month of the year in Sea Ranch is December, with an average low of 42°F and high of 56°F. This is also our rainy season, providing California is not in the midst of a drought.

Climate Change, Sea Ranch, and Re-thinking Air Conditioning

Unfortunately though, over the last few years our summer weather has experienced occasional spikes in temperatures jumping up above 81°F. Most recently, in fact temperatures have begun to climb as high as 90ºF or more.  Yet our cooling ocean breezes and the flow of the fog coming onshore then later dispersing back to the horizon continues to keep hot weather in check. As climate change creates more weather challenges we will continue to do our part to become an “eco-mmodation.”

How to Keep Sea Ranch Abalone Cool

On those rare days when added ventilation is needed our guests have access to ventilation fans for the bedrooms, the living room and the game room.

The solution to rising heat: Create  cross-flow ventilation

As mentioned above, Abalone Bay relies on our coastal fog and onshore breezes for our air conditioning system. This has worked well for decades. However, as the rare temperature spike occurs we instruct our guests on how harness mother nature in unison with our fans to create a cross-flow ventilation for comfort. You may also find it helpful for your home.

What is Cross-Flow Ventilation and the Chimney Effect?

Cooling our house through natural ventilation requires methodically closing windows, doors and shades during the heat of day and opening them at night to let in the cool air. This allows the natural ventilation to flow throughout the house relying on the outdoor wind and the “chimney effect” to cool a house. The chimney effect occurs when cool air enters a home, absorbs heat in the room, rises, and exits through the windows. This creates a partial vacuum, which pulls more air in through lower-level windows.

The best way to keep the heat in the house from rising just as high is to lower the shades and open the windows as you notice the temperature rising as the sun travels east to west. The good thing is while the shades do provide screening from the heat they still offer viewing to the outside.

As the sun begins to dip in the west you will note (hopefully) the onshore winds pick up- our form of AC. This usually begins around 3-4 PM. So hopefully relief from the heat will follow.

How to use Ventilation Fans

Ventilation fans will assist in cross-flow ventilation to create the chimney effect. Below are five steps to using them effectively.

Step 1
Open the window in the room(s) that you want to ventilate. If the room has windows or doors positioned on opposite walls, open those windows as well. For the bedrooms, it will mean leaving the doors open.

Step 2
Determine which window allows the wind to blow into your room (usually on the west side of the house). You can use the wind to enhance natural ventilation, along with your fans.

Step 3
Place an electric fan in front of the window where the breeze enters, pointing into the room. You can use a standard tall fan. For box fans, use a stand, place it on a table, or TV tray in front of the window.

Step 4
Place a second fan pointing out of the window or door on the other side of the room. It may seem counter-intuitive to blow air out of the room. However, it creates a circulation through one window and out the other. You can also use a window exhaust fan to achieve this.

Step 5
Turn on the fans to ventilate your room. The wind will blow into one window. Then continues through the fan into the room. It continues through the second fan and out the window. This creates a continuous motion that will cool the room.

Special Sea Ranch Warning When Ventilating the House

While keeping the windows open may invite cooling breezes into the house, it could also invite unwanted visitors as well. On occasion raccoons may try to enter your Sea Ranch house looking for a midnight snack or a soft bed. To assure this doesn’t happen to you follow these tips. First be sure all food (yours and your pet’s) is put away. Then double check that screen doors are locked if you choose to leave doors open. However, those rascally creatures may also try to tear the screens to enter.

Specific Tips to Cooling Sea Ranch Abalone Bay

We offer up the following tips to help cool down our vacation house, Abalone Bay. They may be applicable to what ever house without air conditioning you may be in as well.

As the temperatures begin to rise:

Locate Fans:

• Find ventilation fans located in the bedroom closets and in the small “closet” located in the wall that divides the dining room from the kitchen. 
  
• Box fans placed in or near windows can help draw in cool air from outside or pull warm air out of a room depending on how they are placed. If the blades face the window screen, the fan helps pull hot air out of the room. Flipped the other way, it draws in air from outdoors.

Early morning:

• Close all the shades by late morning, especially on the southern and western/ocean sides of the house. 
  
• Open the kitchen and/or living room sliding glass door, keeping the screens closed. We recommend keeping the shades down too.
  
• For the tall windows in the dining room pull the shades down as far as the window opening. This allows breezes to flow easily without damaging the shades.
  
• Open the front door – the coolest corner of the house as it is in the north.  The downside to this tip is you may have to deal with bugs (or worse birds) flying into the house.

Air Circulation:

Our heating System cycles air through the system while warming. It can also be used to keep the air moving everywhere, including the bedrooms. You can turn off the heat, yet keep the system set to run the fan, which draws the home’s air through the filter and sends it back through the registers. We keep the fans set at “auto.” But if you need more air circulation, reset to “circulate.”Sea Ranch Weather Summary

Special Warnings for Abalone Bay:

Be sure to latch the guest bedroom doors to the wall with the attached clips. If the wind picks up it can slam the doors shut with extreme and dangerous force.

Also watch that the wind is not so strong as to cause damage to the fully opened Game Room windows.

Sea Ranch Weather Summary

When will you be booking your Sea Ranch vacation? The best months for good weather in Sea Ranch are April, May, June, July, August, September and October.

Are you hoping for a Spring Vacation? Then you’re in luck! April’s climate is especially beautiful with an average morning temperature of 52°F rising to has high as 65ºF. Summer of course are the warmest, with winter (December, January, and February) being the coldest and with any luck the the wettest with rain continuing through to March.

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