The annoying thing about our house is that it is two stories but only has one thermostat and only one air conditioning pump. This matters when you live in a place like Hawaii and your housing office wants you to keep the air running (they have, until recently, paid for it) to prevent mold in the houses. The problem with leaving the air running is that in order to get the upstairs cool enough to sleep (say, no more than 78 degrees F), the downstairs is usually set for 70-72 degrees F. That’s frustrating. I feel entirely too cold (and the air conditioner works entirely too hard) for the downstairs just so I can go to sleep at night and not sweat all night long.

A few weeks ago I noticed that when I dusted the house, within two or three days I already had a good coating of dust everywhere again. This is also frustrating, especially when you have company. Anyway, I noticed that thick gray dust was coming out of the air vents, so I called maintenance and they scheduled an appointment to come out and clean the system.

The technician came out to the house today at 11am, spent two hours cleaning, and left me with clear (and shiny clean) air vents. Yay!

Since then, I haven’t touched the thermostat… but the house is now freezing cold! Well, J (the Minnesotan) says it’s “comfortable,” but I’m in a sweatshirt inside. I’ve even raised our thermostat to 75 degrees F and am still cold. The best part? The upstairs doesn’t feel more than a degree or two warmer than the downstairs!

Lesson learned: clean out the air vents on the inside with a vacuum! It makes a whole world of difference.