As a kid I became enamored with being on the beach.

The sand, the surf, the crashing waves and endless sunshine, I knew even then that I needed to live on the beach one day.

It took a lot of years, but finally as an adult I was able to get a house right on the water. I come to find out that spending a few days on the beach during the summer is very different from living there all year round. I actually understand now why snowbirds have a house up north and a beach house for holidays. It turns out I run my furnace a lot more here than I ever did before. You would think a beach house wouldn’t need a lot of heating, but for about half the year I run the heat regularly. All those cold winds coming off the ocean just suck the heating out of a place, no matter how good the insulation might be. Another thing I didn’t expect was the high moisture and salt content in the air quality, thanks to the sea spray. Running a dehumidifier isn’t just a good idea here its darn near mandatory! I actually have an upstairs dehumidifier and another one I keep in the front door downstairs, and I keep them both running 24/7. I really don’t want to sound like I’m complaining, because I really do love it here, I just rely on my HVAC system a lot more than I expected. Even if I ran the furnace every single day, though, I would still love the beach.

Cooling representative