Cooling Off

[Jules]

Any hints for cooling off - you or your house.



No blackout curtains - wet the window and apply tin foil. It adheres.

Another option is cardboard in the window. Neither are a nice look but sometimes you just do what you have to.

Cook early in the morning and warm food up later in the microwave.

 

[Kaila]

If I get too hot, I use a cold pack from the freezer
on top of my head, to lower my body temp and quell head pain,

after drinking extra water for hydration!

I keep a few of the soft and flexible cold packs in the freezer, so I can rotate them, and always have a cool one available, if needed;
which I only use for hot nights, or head pain, ...other than when I bump into things.

They are not expensive, and are widely available now, in stores.

 

[Kaila]

A fan set in the window, and turned to blow air OUT, instead of in,

often moves the warm indoors air, better than having the fan in the other direction,
which I'd originally assumed would be better, but wasn't.

 

[Aunt Marg]

A fan set in the window, and turned to blow air OUT, instead of in,

often moves the warm indoors air, better than having the fan in the other direction,
which I'd originally assumed would be better, but wasn't.

Yes, we used to do that in our first home.

One box fan set in one window on low, drawing air from outside and blowing it in, and another box fan set in another window on low, blowing air outside.

The draw in and out method helped cool our home considerably, even on hot muggy nights.

 

[Kaila]

One box fan set in one window on low, drawing air from outside and blowing it in, and another box fan set in another window on low, blowing air outside.

True! If you have 2 fans and 2 available windows,
that does work well.

 

[chic]

I need my AC guys. If I were ever without I'd use an icebag filled with ice on my head or a cold pack/ice towel like athletes use.

 

[Aunt Bea]

It’s easier for me now that I’m retired.

I remember many times when it was just cooling off enough to sleep when the alarm would go off.

I sleep with a fan next to my bed year round and it does help with the heat.

My best advice is not to fight Mother Nature. Adapt your life and your schedule to the weather.

In this area the intense humidity and heat lasts about three days and then a cold front comes through to cool things off.

 

[hollydolly]

I have no AC as most of you know... I have double glazing and the house is well insulated so it's very hot in here , we rarely even put the heating on in winter.
To have AC installed here as I already have in Spain would cost a fortune.. and window AC's are not suitable for our windows here..

So..I have to have an oscillating fan blowing right on my bed... as well as the ceiling fan going ...I sleep in the suit God made me .. and just one very thin top comforter, or sheet... and Still I am too hot sometimes.

OTOH the o/h sleep through 90 degrees with a winter duvet and a top blanket..and complains he's cold...

 

[Chet]

I closed up the house yesterday and put on the AC. While I was cool, I felt isolated in a box with just the noise of the AC and no birds or leaves rustling outside from the wind. Today I'll stay opened up and turn on the AC just for sleep.

 

[Chet]

I have no AC as most of you know... I have double glazing and the house is well insulated so it's very hot in here , we rarely even put the heating on in winter.
To have AC installed here as I already have in Spain would cost a fortune.. and window AC's are not suitable for our windows here..

So..I have to have an oscillating fan blowing right on my bed... as well as the ceiling fan going ...I sleep in the suit God made me .. and just one very thin top comforter, or sheet... and Still I am too hot sometimes.

OTOH the o/h sleep through 90 degrees with a winter duvet and a top blanket..and complains he's cold...

Oooh! Tell us more.

 

[dobielvr]

I'm trying not to use my A/C, due to the fact that I'm still paying off my HIGH bill from winter time.
So, I've got my ceiling fan on and an upright one that oscillates directed towards me. I keep it in the fixed position.

I'm cool...

 

[Don M.]

While we haven't had many days, yet, with temps in the 90's, the Humidity has been very high. That adds 10+ "feels like" degrees to the temperature, and is almost like walking into a Sauna when going outdoors. We keep the AC on 74 and I run a dehumidifier in the basement to keep it from getting damp.

 

[hollydolly]

While we haven't had many days, yet, with temps in the 90's, the Humidity has been very high. That adds 10+ "feels like" degrees to the temperature, and is almost like walking into a Sauna when going outdoors. We keep the AC on 74 and I run a dehumidifier in the basement to keep it from getting damp.

yes we run a dehumidifier in the barn and shed... it gets so hot and humid in both of those,...

 

[Becky1951]

I have no AC as most of you know... I have double glazing and the house is well insulated so it's very hot in here , we rarely even put the heating on in winter.
To have AC installed here as I already have in Spain would cost a fortune.. and window AC's are not suitable for our windows here..

So..I have to have an oscillating fan blowing right on my bed... as well as the ceiling fan going ...I sleep in the suit God made me .. and just one very thin top comforter, or sheet... and Still I am too hot sometimes.

OTOH the o/h sleep through 90 degrees with a winter duvet and a top blanket..and complains he's cold...

Do you own your home? If so you can cut an opening in a wall, frame it in and install a window unit a/c.

 

[Becky1951]

I live in the mountains and whatever the temp in town is which is what shows on my weather app, I'm about 10 degrees cooler in summers, however I'm also about 10 degrees colder in winter.

 

[hollydolly]

Do you own your home? If so you can cut an opening in a wall, frame it in and install a window unit a/c.

yes, I own my home, my house is made of solid concrete bricks, my husband wouldn't even consider cutting a hole in the wall for a window unit.. if it came to it he'd rather pay the thousands £££'s it would cost for a unit like we have in Spain ( which incidentally only cost a few hundred)... but the problem is, he doesn't feel the heat so he doesn't see the necessity for an AC unit...

 

[hollydolly]

I live in the mountains and whatever the temp in town is which is what shows on my weather app, I'm about 10 degrees cooler in summers, however I'm also about 10 degrees colder in winter.

until last December my daughter lives at the top of a mountain in Spain, and it was cooler than in the towns, but hotter than the beach which was just a 20 minute drive from the mountains...

 

[John cycling]

We've never used a/c in this house in over 3 decades living here.
Fortunately the temperature rarely gets over 90, though it got up to 112 a couple of years ago.

The sunshade material I installed in frames on the west, south and east windows helps quite a bit.
The inside of the south windows is now 10 to 15 degrees cooler in late summer when the sun is shining on them.
The west windows have an even bigger reduction in the afternoons and evenings but I don't recall how much that is.

Plus I went in the attic and stapled radiant barrier foil to the house and garage rafters a few years ago.
The attic and garage ceilings used to get up to 130 degrees, and now the highest I've seen is right around 90.
Inside the house the temperature is usually in the 70s in the warmest parts of the year, and it rarely gets above 80 degrees.

Conversely, the inside is warmer in the winters.
For a few days of work, the long time payoff is immense.
Sleeping is comfortable with no clothes and only a sheet (or no sheet) when it's hot.

 

[terry123]

Here in Houston I use the ceiling fans and the a/c stays on through September at least. Sometimes also part of October. The humidity will kill you here.

 

[Gary O']

Any hints for cooling off - you or your house.

We open things at night
Close things in the morn
Use two floor fans

Works fine here in the basin, as it cools to the 50s F