It can get hot and humid, though this year was downright chilly. However, you can survive without AC here. Most people have air conditioners, but they take them out in the fall, and don t put them back in until late spring. If buy a house here, you will probably want to buy a few air conditioners separately. Leaving them out all winter can damage them, and let lots of nasty cold air in the house, which is the last thing you want when it s only 3 degrees out.
The home I grew up in was in Florida, and didn t have air conditioning. I survived.Here in the Northeast, it s not uncommon for homes to not have air conditioning. The number of really hot days is actually quite limited, and you can get by without AC. Fans can go a long way to address whatever discomfort we do have.I ve been collecting meteorological data for my home in upstate New York for several years. That data shows that we have had about four times as many heating degree days as we have had cooling degree days over this period, meaning that the dominant concern is winter rather than summer.
By and large, yes although the design if your home can have quite an effect on just how tolerable it is. I know I wouldn t last through June, July and August on the third floor of a Triple Deckah without at least A/C in the bedroom! In the suburbs it s not quite as bad. You need to ask yourself how well you sleep when it s warm and sticky . It s not so much the heat as it is the humidity which, during the summer can be like Miami.I drove for years without A/C in my car and never thought about it. Now I wouldn t be without it.
I live further south, in Delaware. I have a window unit. And it was on maybe three days all summer.Many of us in the northeast get along fine without air conditioning. You might get a couple of days where you d want it, but I wouldn t say it s miserable like it would be in say Georgia without it.
Well, people survived for thousands of years without A/C!!!!!Anyway, although lots of people have room A/C units in New England central A/C is not that common. The Acton/Westford area has only about 20 days a year of extreme heat and/or humidity - closer to the coast is even less.
I visit my family in Boston every summer for three months and they do not have Air Conditioning in the house. Just with fans is comfortable enough. The only thing I had to deal with the weather is the constant raining.
You don t need central air conditioning at all. Get window units and use as needed per room. I have a bedroom unit only which I use 7 or 8 nights each summer. Even then, I set it on a timer so it goes off a couple hours after I fall asleep.