Air conditioning gets cool reception in New England

The region's real estate market may have cooled, but houses here are still hot, at least compared to the rest of the country.

The numbers look particularly brutal in the midst of this week's heat wave: Only 58 percent of New England households had air conditioning in 2001, the last year for which statistics were available, compared with 77 percent nationwide, and 98 percent for the region that includes hot spots Oklahoma and Texas, according to the federal government's Energy Information Administration .

Boston, of course, isn't Houston, where air conditioning is as essential as running water. Many locals believe they can tough out a few blasts of heat each summer.

``That's the way a lot of people think," said Mel Fink of Mel Fink & Associates in Brockton, who installs and services air conditioners.

And because of deep-rooted frugal habits, some longtime New Englanders regard air conditioners as an indulgence, added Arthur Krim , a Cambridge author and a cultural geographer. Their philosophy: ``If you want to get away from the heat, go climb Mount Washington."

That wouldn't have pleased Willis Carrier , who completed blueprints for a mechanical air conditioning system in 1902, according to the history of the company he founded, now Carrier Corp.

Boston made some air-conditioning history when the Boston Floating Hospital (now Floating Hospital for Children) became the first air-conditioned hospital in 1906, according to the National Academy of Engineering. Joan Fallon , Floating Hospital for Children spokeswoman, said she was unaware of its role in the chronicles of air conditioning.

According to John R. Stilgoe , a professor in the history of landscape development at Harvard University, New Englanders of the 1930s sometimes had their first air-conditioning experience when they traveled in railroad cars.

Others were first frosted in movie theaters of the era, said Donald E. Ross , an engineer who has written about the history of air conditioning. To boost summer attendance, theaters would advertise their cool confines by hanging banners from their marquees featuring igloos and Eskimos.

But while moviegoers chilled out, workers often sweltered. Air-conditioned office buildings did not become common until after World War II, Ross said.

In Boston, most indoor professional sporting events were not air conditioned until the FleetCenter opened in 1995. During the 1984 NBA Finals , players gulped oxygen to cope with the 97-degree temperature in the old Boston Garden. And fog rising off the ice halted a 1988 Boston Bruins Stanley Cup game there .

While an August heat wave would seem to be a boon to companies selling air conditioners, that isn't necessarily so . By August, most homeowners without air conditioning figure they can make it through the rest of the summer, said Bob Young, owner of Service Now in Billerica.

``If this was June, it would be absolute madness," he said.

But as more people have become accustomed to spending much of their time in air conditioned spaces elsewhere , they seem to finally be ready to turn down the thermostat at home, even in New England. Greg Furrier of Furrier & Son Heating and Air Conditioning in Wakefield, which installs air-conditioning systems in new condos , said it has become a necessity for many.

``Are you kidding me?" he said. ``You couldn't sell a new home without it."

Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com.