The house we bought ten years ago did not have central air.
It is heated with baseboard heat and a wood stove and we never really thought much of it.
As we have gotten older, however, we have become less tolerant of the heat during the summer months. At first we bought a small window unit for the bedroom but over the past two years we have purchased several portable units that are dispersed throughout the house. This keeps our home cool and comfortable. The problem is having the units serviced. I am not able to load all of them in the truck anymore and haul them to the repair shop once a year. Portable units need maintenance from time to time just like your traditional HVAC system so we decided to call our HVAC dealer and set up an appointment. When I told the girl on the phone that it was for portable units she said that they normally worked on those at the shop. I explained that I have six of them and that it was difficult to bring them all in. She set up an appointment for me and said that if any of them needed additional work the technician could bring them to the shop and return them for an additional fee. I was fine with that and told her that I would gladly pay for the home service call and any charges if it meant that I didn’t have to try hauling them myself. This was still less expensive than having central air installed and at my age, if I can just pay someone to fix things I would rather do that anyway.