It seems most of us have been under the heat wave for a few days now. If not now, we've all experienced insufferable heat at one point.
How do you stay cool? If you're an environmentalist, how does staying cool impact your lifestyle - or does it?
Do you have any tips on staying cool in extreme heat / humidity?
I read a wickedly good article about life before air conditioning, and suddenly TONS of thing started to make sense that I hadn't thought about before. Namely, AWNINGS! And SHUTTERS! And H or L shaped buildings to stimulate cross breezes!!
I was hoping that my move out to the country might allow me to live a summer without AC. I tried it this past week with the heatwave. Hmmm. I think not. I used fans and shade, and it wasn't intolerable, but I would prefer to have the AC. True, the nights are CRAZY cool, and I love that. I did a pretty damn good job of keeping the heat out of the house and letting the cool in at night, but it was uncomfortably hot these past few days, and impossible to stay on top of. I need to get a piece of wood cut to size to put in my window unit. The problem is that I don't want it in the bedroom, because I want the natural cool breeze at night. I might have to put it in the sewing room which is more central anyhow, and would cool down the kitchen as well. The living room is not possible because the windows open vertically, like a door.
The secret is to seal in the cool, let out the heat. So during the hot day, close all the windows, blinds, curtains. Keep out the hot air, the sun, the heat. It seems counterintuitive, but it works. As soon as the temperature outdoors is LOWER than the temperature indoors (helps to have thermometers, but just going out and feeling works too), you throw open all the windows and screens and position fans if you want to suck the cool air into the house.
My parents have NEVER had AC. They are pretty good at doing this. Their house is mostly tolerable for most of the summer. It's those few intolerable nights that make or break me. And like I said, it's cool at night where I live now. So if I can just get through the days...
I live inside when it's like this. I did go out for about five minutes this morning, before it got beastly. We have central A/C at home and it's running constantly now. It even runs all night! I'm dreading the bill. But what can you do?
We have window units at work that barely function and keep it just bearable - at about 78F.
This kind of weather, even living inside and blasting the a/c in the car - it makes me cranky. I don't sleep that well with the a/c on and I miss being outside.
I actually spend more time outside in winter than I do in the summer. If I ever had to live one mile further south I'd kill myself.
I try to use the AC as little as possible because I just prefer to have the windows open and listen to the birds and feel the breeze throughout the house.
These past few nights have been just as hot / humid as the days so there is no point in opening up the windows and letting all my air conditioned coolness escape from the house. I have the AC blasting at night and then turn it off during the day to keep the house cool (it's easier to cool the house at night with the sun down, than during the day with it blaring on the top of the house - obviously).
However, when it does get cool at night, I'm with you Jo. I open all the windows at night and close them during the day if necessary. I also close all blinds where the sun shines.
We live near the lake. In fact, you can see it from our backyard. During cooler days there can be upwards of 15 degrees difference between our yard and a yard five km's from here. However, during these insufferable heat waves, even the cool breezes from the lake don't make any difference whatsoever.
Yeah the two big problems are:
a) if you let the heat in, you're snookered. It's way harder to get the heat out than to keep it out. You have to be vigilant the night BEFORE the heatwave hits and then keep it at bay
and
b) in the city, the nights are horrid. No breeze, steam rising from the black ashphalt. Ugh ugh ugh. I don't miss the city one bit. It was sooooo cool in my house last night I turned off both fans and crawled under a down blanket. I shit you not. A down blanket.
That's why I love living one block from Lake Ontario! The lake breezes are sweet and usually cool the place down but not when it's THIS hot. Nothing but AC cools off the house in this kind of heat/humidity.
I live in the South, so heat is a way of life.
So is AC.
I consider myself an environmentalist, but AC is something I won't compromise on, and I won't apologize for. It's not just the heat, but it's the humidity, too. I've tried living with the windows open, and that just coats everything in a sheen of moisture. Furniture and clothes get ruined. (Same reason I don't line-dry clothes -- they would never dry!) I get no breeze -- in fact, the entire southern part of the state gets no breeze, it seems! -- unless you're on water. There's the mosquitos, too -- and the palm-sized cockroaches, the wasps, etc. Sorry, but I'm shutting the windows, bolting the doors, and cranking up the cold stuff!
I run ceiling fans as well as the AC. The ceiling fans allow us to keep the AC at 76 during the day, and lower it to 72 at night. But even so, it's back to getting hot down here, so I dropped the AC to 74 just a minute ago.
I agree PG. I don't apologize for using the AC either - especially at night. I CANNOT sleep when it's that hot.
When DH and I were living in our first apartment, we lived on the second floor of an old house and there was no AC. It was stupid hot in there during the summer and I couldn't take it. We had a small window air conditioner but because it was old and loud, we couldn't have it in the bedroom so we put it in the kitchen which was useless because the kitchen would be the only cool room in the house because it was closed off from the rest of the apartment.
Once we bought our house with central air, I vowed to use it and never, ever feel badly for doing so. It's here. I use it and I pay for it.
I don't apologize for AC use either. The main reason I wanted to experiment with going without was that I'm now paying my own power bills, whereas at the old place I wasn't! LOL Also, I wondered if the country was that much cooler than the city.
Once I get it installed (and I will put it in tomorrow, after the heatwave breaks LOL), I'll use it minimally -- ie, just when I'm home. Paying my own bills, and all... LOL Even to have one cool room is fine by me... SOME relief. I don't need every room cool. Nothing I hate more than having to put on socks and a sweater or *gasp* having to GO OUTSIDE TO WARM UP. That's nutty. I just like it livable. That is not too much to want out of life. Same as having heat in the winter.
I agree Jo. I hate working in offices that have the air so cold that you actually have to wear a sweater INSIDE! What a waste.
Once you have to pay for all your utilities, you really take care when using them
I also don't apologize for using a/c. My ancestry is ENTIRELY northern European. My genes don't have it in them to deal with heat. The hottest it gets in the places where my people came from is about 75F and even that, not often.
I do the whole curtains/windows shut during the day bit - J always complains that the house is like a cave during the summer. But it only goes so far. We don't have a lot of shade trees around our house and this week it's only cooling off into the mid-70s at night - not even close to cool enough for comfort.
I do like it chilly at the office, though. Like cold enough that I can have hot coffee and enjoy it. And cold enough that I can take a walk outside and come in and feel nice. I don't mind wearing a sweater. Alas, I'm miles from that here! It's 78F and counting. Sigh.
I agree about the house being a cave. I love natural light and closing blinds is painful for me but it's a small price to pay.
RE: electricity use and paying for it. I had an interesting experience once. I had a one-bedroom apartment with just a window AC unit. I was very careful with its use, turning it on only when I was home, etc. The last three months I was there, I decided to heck with it. Back then, the Elec Co would take unpaid bills from your deposit (no reporting to credit agencies, either!), and since I was leaving the state, and didn't want to wait on a refund, I just figured I wouldn't pay the bill and they would get paid from the deposit. I ran that AC night and day (this was May, June and July in Florida). It got icy cold, just the way I like it but never get, because AC is so expensive.
It added just $5 to my monthly bill! I couldn't believe it! To think I had suffered in that apartment for years, over a lousy $5 per month! I still got a refund two months after I moved. Ridiculous!
Windows open with fans in them when it is cooler outside than inside.
Now that is 6pm to 7am.
Spend as much time as possible in the basement, including sleeping. ( 5C cooler)
Put insulated window batts/shutters in for the hottest times. My favourite are foil bubble insulation. Lightweight , cheap and easy.
I am also making outdoor Roman Blinds as a temporary measure for the two hottest months.
It is easier to keep heat out first before the window than to try to cool it later.
Trellis along the south and east walls with annual vines growing up to cool the walls that get sun.
Wide garden area along the south and east walls so there is not pavement, but cooling earth and plants were the sun is hottest.
Grow shrubs to shade walls/windows.
Acclimatizing my body to heat, so that air conditioning is not necessary.
Adjust my schedule to do outdoor work when it is the coolest.
Very short cooling showers or spritz face.
I have always planted Scarlet Runners in front of areas that get direct sun. They look so pretty...nice little flowers and big, green leaves.
They grow fast and they really block the sun and the heat!
I just make a lattice out of string and when the Runners start, they grab onto the string and take off!
I don't have AC here in England, but we are getting weeks where it gets to the 80's - it's not bad on the ground floor (first floor) of the house but the 1st (2nd floor) gets awful. We use fans. We can open windows later in the day it helps. Ceiling fans where we have them. It can be a bit unbearable - in the car is the worst!
I too won't apologize for it, in the south. I too have northern european genes and a very low tolerance for heat. I used to live in the south, ran A/C constantly. We lived on a military base so they paid the bill. We are moving back to the south unfortunately, after my time here I am worried about how I can handle it. We will run the AC.
I agree with not opening windows - in the south the bugs are WAY too bad. DH gets bit by anything so we have to keep that at bay the most.
I like using a box fan blowing outwards in a central window and one other pointing inwards. The air circulation helps to make me cooler.
Growing up in Tennessee, we had to have the central AC on day and night about 7 months a year. My mother did keep the house like a cave, she had those thick curtains with the pads to block out light, she even put tin foil on some of the windows, but it didn't help a bit, the house was a hotbox until the AC came on.
I have zero tolerance for heat/humidity. The weather here in San Diego is weird. Right now we're still in our marine layer days. They call it May Grey and June Gloom, but it goes well into July, too. The sky is permanently grey with the marine layer cloud cover on the coast (where I live), and the temps are very cool. I can't remember when I last saw the sun and felt warmth, but it's better than burning up all to hell. The "summer" usually starts around the end of July/beginning of August, and goes until around mid-November. It stays in the 90s and easily gets up into the low 100s most days during those months, and we live on a canyon facing south with full all day sun exposure. All the advice about keeping the blinds closed or running the fans or having all the windows and doors open never worked. I'd be sitting on the sofa watching TV in shorts and a t-shirt utterly drenched in sweat. We finally had to break down and buy a portable AC unit for the bedroom because it stays around 100 F up there during the summer. All of our windows are of the sliding glass patio variety, so we can't buy any window AC units. We had to buy a patio sliding glass door doggie door to put the vent and water tube out to the patio to run the thing. It's loud, it doesn't work nearly as well as a regular window unit, but it's the only way I can sleep 3 months out of the year here.
(07-08-2010 12:16 PM)NKBurlington Wrote: [ -> ]I agree PG. I don't apologize for using the AC either
And my pets don't apologize for having me run the A/C all day. I leave home about 6:00 a.m. and get home around 6:00 p.m., but I have the A/C running all day even though there's no one home, and I do this to keep the animals cool.
Even though it's still hot at night, I have a ceiling fan in the bedroom, and there's enough of a breeze from that to keep it cool enough to sleep. I would hate to have to keep the A/C on non-stop. Not because I hate A/C, but because I hate paying a fortune for it. Like Jo's family, my family never had A/C either when I was growing up. Getting an oscillating fan was as considered a luxury.
Air conditioning day and night, and swimming pool in the late afternoon. We also have ceiling fans in every room. We reverse them in what passes for winter here.
And I agree with everything PG and Dana said about using AC and closing windows, too.