Block out the heat and sun during the day. Have everything open during the night, with a tactical fan placed wherever it helps the most.
But this only really helps the first few days. After that it’s down to accepting the situation and being so tired that you fall asleep anyway.
I used to not have AC. I found the best strategy was to open up all the windows at night and let the cool night air in, and then as soon as I wake up I close all the windows, curtains and blinds to trap the cool air in and prevent the sun from heating it up through the windows. If you live in a house that has a basement and central heating, you could add some intake ducts down there and turn your furnace on to fan only mode to circulate the cool basement air into the rest of the house.
I grew up without AC in Florida.
Sit in the shade with a fan, be still. If in the shade and a breeze, and not moving around, a pretty high temperature is comfortable.
Go to places with cold AC or to cold springs to get cold, it will last awhile after you leave.
If it gets cool at night, open your window at night to let in the cold air, close it in the morning to keep that air in for the morning. But once it heats up inside, you are better off with ventilation - open windows on both sides of the house and run fans, to move air throughout the house.
If it’s dry where you are (it doesn’t work here) get wet and let evaporation cool you. Even here you can get wet and stand naked in front of a fan you will get cold.
STAY HYDRATED.
If you’re in a humid environment and you have a way, dry the air. It makes any other cooling thing you do more effective.
I was previously convinced that taking cold showers was my only saving grace during hot summers, but this year I got the advice to try to take a warm shower a short while before bed, and I’m surprised to say that it has helped. This is for high 20s though so YMMV for sure.
Other things that help:
- Open windows when outdoor temperature is lower than indoor temperature, and try to get a cross breeze going if possible
- Keep light out of the house by closing blinds during the day
- Wear linen clothing and use linen bedding, this material works better for warm conditions
- Fans help reduce perceived temperature by several degrees
Buy an AC unit. A mini split is fine.
tuen on the fans, close shutters during the day, drink water
Unfortunately I got used to it. I say unfortunately because lukewarm weather (even something like 22°C) feels extremely cold to me as a result.
Sleep in the basement
Open everything up really early to cool the house and use fans to direct airflow. Close all the blinds facing the sun and follow it around the house through the day doing the same. We are lucky to have a basement so we also direct cool airflow from the basement to upstairs and through the house on the hottest days. We also run a dehumidifier because it’s very humid here.
what are your tips to stay cool during the summer?
U aren’t supposed to do anything else than getting used to. Stop burning so much fuel in doing something so futile since once u r on ur way to the job u r gonna suffer like hell even if only when getting down the car.
Wanna do something useful, buy a really hot coffe and drink it, once ur temp goes down ur gonna even feel cold at normal temp from that point foward, u welcome.
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If you have cool nights, setup fans up at night to bring the house down to a lower temperature. Close everything up in the morning when the outside temp starts rising above your inside temp. If your place is insulated reasonably and there’s no excessive sun from windows, it will stay cool for the day.
Protip: Setup the fans in all rooms on one side of a chokepoint in your house/apartment (stairwell/hallway) to exhaust, to encourage airflow. Open up all the windows on the other side for intake. It’ll also help reduce pockets of hot air left over from the day before.
I practice this same thermal battery idea as well with an extra tip of having a couple of fans on timers (sun up to sun down) that sit on the floor and blow the cold air up. It makes a significant difference, especially if you can sit a fan where the cold air from the AC falls to the ground.
Pro tip: Point the fan so that it blows outside and DO NOT put it directly on the window or right next to it. Instead, move it ~50cm away from the window to take advantage of Bernoulli’s principle (push the air out more efficiently by pulling the air surrounding the fan).
You can cool down the room even if the door is closed. You are lowering the pressure inside your room so the outside air is forced to rush in. If you place the fan like I explained, and point it at the lower part of your window and you put your hand next to the upper part of the window, you will feel the cold air coming in.
Cool shower! Put water in your tub with a fan nearby.
I’ve never gotten this to work very well. Though I didn’t do it with a fan. Any tips?
Get in tub; get out; lie in front of the fan. It won’t cool your house, but it will keep you from dying of heat stroke.
Ah, I thought you were using the shower as a way to cool down the air for your house. This makes way more sense.
I’m sorry, but are you serious?
Any tips other than the fan…
You could try an ice dildo. I hear that a 6 incher tends to last about an hour…
Live in a dry climate. The evaporating water will cool the house. Doesn’t work if the air is already wet
Wet T-shirt and sitting in front of a fan.
We naturally cool our bodies by sweating.
You can sort of hack that process by getting a t-shirt wet, putting it on, and allowing the moving air to help speed up the evaporation process.
WARNING: NOT FOR USE IN HIGH HUMIDTY.
Adding more water to an already hot and humid situation risks a Wet Bulb.
You can sort of hack that process by getting a t-shirt wet, putting it on, and allowing the moving air to help speed up the evaporation process.
better when don’t wear a shirt, spray yourself with water and sit it from of the fan; the convection feels fantastic on your skin.
And suddenly all those wet t-shirt contest promoters out there became heroes instead of villians.
WARNING: NOT FOR USE IN HIGH HUMIDTY.
Adding more water to an already hot and humid situation risks a Wet Bulb.
If the water coming out of your cold tap is cool (which it should be, since pipes are typically underground), then I think maybe it would still work because you could refresh the t-shirt with colder water occasionally. It’s just less than ideal compared to doing it in a dry climate.
It would cool you a little as the cold water absorbs heat, but you’d have to wring and repeat as soon as it heats up, which might end up being often
Aren’t you going to catch a cold?
No. A cold is a virus, you won’t catch one by cooling yourself.
That’s exactly what a virus that was trying to trick me would say…
C’mon Greg, don’t you wanna be cool 😈
But, if the virus is already present in your system, cool and wet conditions can lower the effectiveness of your immune system. Tmyk
If you have a freezer and a fan, freeze a bunch of water bottles and then put them right behind your fan blades for a cheap AC-like chilly breeze. If you have enough bottles, you can cycle through them and refreeze as they thaw out.
I’m no thermodynamics expert, but wouldn’t this make your house warmer overall, unless the freezer is outside or in a garage/shed?
It will make the air behind your fridge warmer in exchange for making the air around your body cooler. There’s usually not great airflow behind the fridge so it won’t affect the rest of your house much.
If you’ve got an open kitchen or something you can still freeze the bottles at night and use them during the day.
You’re right which is why our freezer is out in the garage rather than in the house.
It will
Wish I knew this a few months ago
Another thing you can do is buy an ice vest - a vest with waterproof pockets for ice packs. They usually come with a load of extra ice packs so you can freeze and cycle through them. They’re great if you have to go outdoors for something.
AC is expensive but the freezer is already on so I’ve been rather creative with its use haha.
Doggo also enjoys a rubber bone thing that I fill with water and freeze so he can chew and stay cool. Also love freezing ice cubes full of berries and stuff too.
Thanks, I’d forgotten about this one. Our AC will be out for a few days. I’ve already started loading water bottles into the freezer.
Put them in a huge bowl of cold water to stretch the effectiveness. I did exactly this during an unbearable summer and it worked well. As to the comment about heating a room, you’re providing cool air on yourself. Worked well enough for me.
