When you reach a certain age, though, you may find you can’t sleep at night unless the bedroom is fairly cool. That was why I had the idea of putting a room air conditioner in the wall back there–naturally, by evening my bedroom is the hottest room in the house. Several people, however, advised against this on the theory that it would damage the salability and possibly the selling price of the house: it’s a tip-off that something’s wrong with the HVAC system.

@ Terri: Humidity isn’t a problem until mid-July and August. We have a summer rainy season, and then it can get pretty damp around here. Most people who have swamp coolers also have regular air-conditioning. Swamp coolers are very effective in April, May, and June — and very cheap. But in July and August, they not only don’t cool effectively, the extra humidity pumped into the dwelling just makes you miserable.

That shouldn’t be a problem in your area though.