Could he get something like this for his room?
Syra cuse. He has to live with it. His roommate moves in 4 days before him so hopefully he can circulate air with the windows and such before we get there!
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I looked into getting a ChillWell, but the reviews on Amazon (to the extent that is useful) are abysmal. It gets an overall 2 out of 5 stars.
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Yeah, itâs just an evaporative cooler, like a swamp cooler. True A/C has to vent to the outside.
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I looked long and hard at portable ACs, and that seems to be exactly the issue: you have to vent the water out somewhere.
If anyone knows of an AC that doesnât need to vent outside, many of us (and especially our students living in dorms without AC!) would be most appreciative.
Sadly, the laws of physics donât permit that 
. Wish it werenât so!
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Physics was never my strong suitâŠthanks anyway!
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For AC, you also need to take into consideration the electrical requirements and capacity of the dorm - I am guessing that is why many of the older dorms have not been converted to AC yet - as the system can not support it. Both of my kids colleges have restrictions on mini-fridge size/output for this reason too and can not support AC units - even if family purchased and professionally installed.
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Agreed. I think thatâs the situation with our D too.
I got a fan (they call it an air circulator). That is permissible, and I hope it will help. Iâve heard putting ice in front of the fan helps too!
I didnât know any dorms had AC, lol. My kid who went to Cal Poly slo never had AC. Every year thereâs a heatwave in September where temps near 100 degrees and the kids are miserable, then it subsides and itâs temperate again until June. The solution they recommended was those big box fans to put in the window and draw in circulation. Berkeley kid will also have no air conditioning and it sounds like the same pattern, there may be a heat wave in August or September, but then the rest of the school year will be fine.
UC Davis dorms have AC. 
Do they really??? UCLA doesnât, Berkeley doesnât, CP doesnât⊠I did not know many did.
Yes, Davis can get very hot. Both Riverside and Merced dorms also have AC. USC has dorms on campus and dorms in the Village. The dorms in the Village have AC.
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Our friends at USC have not had air conditioning. I didnât have air conditioning at San Diego State either.
The difference for California is all in the proximity to the coast. Once you get into that central valley, god help you if you donât have A/C.
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One thing folks might want to consider for their students in non-AC dorms is a fan that can be a ârealâ fan and then switched to an exhaust fan to take out the heat. It simply changes the direction that the fan blades spin.
We have one, and it works well. Basically, during the day/sunlight, you set the fan to exhaust to draw out the heat to the outside, and then in the evenings, you switch it to being a normal fan. The one we have has two fans, that have separate fan/exhaust switches for each set of fan blades. Itâs meant to sit in the window, but has legs to allow it to be standalone within the room.
Plenty of these are available on Amazon etc.
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I think 20 at this point. Thank goodness for that.
That whole campus will be great when itâs finished. New racket center, softball fiel, rugby fields and field house.
Letâs just hope they open the bridge back up before soonâŠ.
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Many of the newer UCLA dorms have A/C.
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Thatâs awesome! My niece had no air conditioning at UCLA and none of my kids have had AC at college. My daughterâs dorm at Cal Poly was newer, but nope on the air. I guess itâs good my son isnât expecting any climate control at Berkeley, because he wonât be getting it 
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Yep, the bridge work is going to be a traffic problem for a while. And if rains cause any flooding or downing trees or wires on Alexander or Harrison, chaos.