Yes, it’s hot - so let’s cool it!

Rebekah Bos couldn’t handle it anymore.

The six fans sprinkled around her house weren’t cutting it. The stay-at-home mother of two young children grew tired of making trips to the water park and the mall just to stay cool.

“We’ve done what we can, but we’re like, ‘Oh, it’s hot.’ We want it done. We want the air conditioning installed right away,” said Bos, who had air conditioning installed Wednesday.

She’s not alone.

The current wave of summer heat in Spokane and North Idaho, combined with last summer’s unusually high temperatures, have driven many homeowners to install central air conditioners. Mike Talbott, an employee at Sturm Heating & Air Conditioning, said his company is well on its way to installing more units this month than July 2003.

“As soon as it gets up to the 90s, the phone goes off the hook, especially on Mondays,” Talbott said. “Once you get into the mid-, higher 90s, it’s ‘I can’t take it anymore, it’s too hot!’ “

He said his company has already installed more than 100 air conditioners this month, and Sturm’s installation schedule is backed up for about a week.

It’s no surprise during a month that’s seen more than its fair share of days with temperatures above 90.

Ron Miller, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Spokane, said this summer’s temperatures are reading slightly higher than average. Spokane summers average 15 days where temperatures reach or exceed 90 degrees, but residents have already experienced 11 above-90 days this year. Coeur d’Alene this year has had nine above-90 days, though Miller said temperatures there usually read one or two degrees cooler than in Spokane.

Memories of last summer’s blazing temperatures have also made home air conditioners appealing this summer. According to Miller, 2003 was the fourth-hottest summer on record since the observation site was moved to Spokane International Airport in 1947. Summer 1998 was the second-hottest summer on record since 1947.

“When you look at it from that standpoint, we have had two of the hottest summers on record recently,” he said.

All this has sent some homeowners scrambling for air conditioning.

Residents can choose air conditioning units designed for use in one room or central air conditioning, where all the rooms in a house are linked through one ventilation system and temperature is controlled by one central panel.

Talbott said installation of a new air conditioner can cost anywhere from about $1,700 for a smaller house to $4,000 for “a real Cadillac unit for a very big home.”

The cost of installing a central air conditioning unit also depends on the house. Homes with electric baseboards and boilers may require pricey new vents and ducts, though most homes come with ductwork.

Homeowners worried about costs should also consider the potential impact on their electricity bills.

Tom Kliewer, an employee with Avista Corp., said he wouldn’t be surprised to see an extra $150-$200 on a monthly bill for a large house that ran central air conditioning throughout the day.

He said homeowners can use a formula to roughly predict how much it costs to use an appliance: number of watts multiplied by hours in use, divided by 1000 (converts it into kilowatts) and multiplied by 86 cents (Avista’s rate).

“Cooling in itself takes a lot of energy, and how long you run the air conditioner and at what temperature can have as much of an impact as its energy efficiency,” he said.

He said air conditioners labeled as energy efficient can reduce a bill by up to 40 percent compared with a regular air conditioner, though he warned that energy-efficient units don’t come cheap.

Mike and Karen Powell saved for their air conditioner for nine years before getting one installed in June.

“It’s been too hot out the last few summers,” Mike Powell said.

Karen Powell used to sleep in the cool basement during the summer, avoiding the hot upstairs bedrooms.

“It was 95 degrees,” she said. “It was an inferno!”

Homeowners interested in getting an air conditioner should shop around and solicit several quotes before choosing, she recommended. Her air conditioner cost about $2,100 to install.

But now she can comfortably sleep upstairs.

“You know that feeling where you walk into a movie theater and it’s that cool, crisp air in the summertime?” she asked. “It’s like that.”

The National Weather Service forecasts highs in the lower and mid-90s throughout the weekend for Spokane and North Idaho.