For those without AC..

oXYnary · Jul 2007

Question.

How do you keep your house cool during the summer? The person I rent from now thinks to open the windows/doors during the evening and shut the house up tight with blinds closed during the day. Problem is it gets really hot from 5-10pm.

I heard that having two fans on opposite sides of the house in windows to create a cross breeze through the house works the best. I even found a few webpages stating this.

Actually, we got in a fight over this point, and one of the reasons I am moving out the end of this month. But hey, if hes right, its best to know for the future.

Daz · Jul 2007

It's easy.

""The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco."

- Mark Twain

aesir · Jul 2007

open the windows when its cooler outside than it is inside. Having fans to cycle the air through the house helps. It's also good to keep drapes closed to direct sunlight isn't heating up the inside of the house. Other than that, there isn't a whole lot you can do short of buying a ton of ice.

indian_boy · Jul 2007

well here's how we do it in india: buy ceiling fans, turn fan on when in room with said fan. of course the cross ventilation system works, but that just costs more power, and isn't as effective as doing it when in a car. Shutting the house up tight? depends on colours: if its all black, believe it, it will get hot. Don't use blinds, use curtains. Windows closed if its a hot breeze.

the ultimate method, which is done when its too hot to breathe: put ur fan in a box container filled with clean water. turn fan on, and if set up right, water will spray the room. it will be nice and cool, and hasn't damamged electronics in my house till now.

hope i helped. cheers!

Joao Sapiro · Jul 2007

yeah ceiling fans should do, really easy to set up too , and really pleasent since thye make moskitoes and shit get the fuck out

Rob Galanakis · Jul 2007

It was unbearably hot today, and ceiling fans worked fine, we don't use AC. More problem than keeping me cool (I don't mind any temps too much), is keeping my computer cool.

However, I went to take a dump, and was drenched in sweat by the end. Bathrooms are always a problem.

Mongrelman · Jul 2007

Prof, maybe you need to make an adjustment to your diet?

(sorry, sorry, couldn't help myself)

Luxury · Jul 2007

I use 2 fans at opposite ends of my apt pretty much 24/7. One blowing in and one blowing out. Works pretty well except the the metric tonnage of dust I collect.

McIlroy · Jul 2007

I live in Washington probebly close by OX and supposedly you don't need AC so everyone says, but man it's 80+ degrees in this damn house wtf are they smoking ? 80 is not even close to comfortable ! I have a small very good fan that I haul around the house that blows right on me and that seems to work pretty well . My friend has a portable AC and it cools the room it is in very well .

http://www.air-conditioners-america.com/category.asp?subcat=CP05&manufacturer=Alen

ebagg · Jul 2007

Just keep a fan aimed at where ever you're sitting, that seems to do the trick. Keeping windows open at night sucks unless you have a screen, I hate having smacking bugs all night...

Ferg · Jul 2007

get naked.

sonic · Jul 2007

If you have some engineering skrillz its easy to make a homebrew AC.

First, you buy a cheap 10 dollar fan from Walmart, or a bigger one if you'd like. Then get a clean garbage can, a huge bucket, whatever. Now get some copper tubing and run it from the bucket to the fan, and wrap it in coils around the backside of the fan. Make sure you secure the copper tubing to the fan with like those twisty tie things or something. Now run the other end out your window.

Now, fill your bucket with ice/water (and maybe some salt, I think that keeps it from melting so fast), and go to the other end and siphon the water (suck on the tube) until it starts flowing a little. Now leave it, and you have something that will keep your place very cool for very cheap! If you have any kind of electronics/ghetto rigging skills, you can get a fish pump to get the water through the tube and into another bucket, so you can recycle it as well.

TelekineticFrog · Jul 2007

This is an old trick, but it works. Take a towel, like a normal sized towel you'd use after a shower to dry off with. Get the towel wet using cold water, drape the wet towel over the front face of a fan and turn the fan on. It actually cools the air as it passes thru. You'd be surprised how cool it can make air. Of course don't have the fan dripping wet so you don't get shocked or anything, just wet not dripping excess water.

oXYnary · Jul 2007

Sonic, isn't that the same as a swamp cooler? From what I understand they are the most effective in dryer environments. Pretty neat project non the less, I just don't have the tools, the room, and live on the second floor.

I have my Vornado (the best fans you can get and made in US) blowing out towards my window. If I blow it towards me only, it helps slightly for me to be cooler, but the rest of my room gets hotter, which can crash my computer.

I was more interested though in seeing if the main house leaser is right or I was about the method of keeping the house cool. I keep thinking he is wrong because without airflow the heat is going to build. It may not be as cool initially, but the temperature inside wont get to such extremes.

Pseudo · Jul 2007

It depends on the placement of the house too. When I lived in Santa Monica my apartment was in the shade of a nice big tree for most of the afternoon, and we kept cool all summer long by opening one window and putting a big box fan in the window (facing outside), and then opening a window on the other side of the apartment (with no fan).

Just down the street from me my friend had an apartment without any shade, and it was easily 90+ in his place at all hours of the day even with 4 or 5 fans going.

sonic · Jul 2007

If you put tin foil on the windows it will reflex light away, causing less heat to be absorbed. It looks ghetto as hell, but if you're a poor bastard it sure beats catching on fire

Toomas · Jul 2007

Move into insulated stone/brick/concrete house?

Ephemera · Jul 2007

Oh well, I guess I gotta get some ceiling fans

PfhorRunner · Jul 2007

I live near Seattle, it IS damned warm, and I heard Wednesday is supposed to be far worse, but I have lived here all my life without AC. Shutting the house up tight during the day and leaving the windows open at night works. But it only REALLY works if you have something to catch the sunlight OUTSIDE your windows before it reaches the inside... think of it this way, the light still passes through the window, striking the blinds, the blinds heat up, the blinds are on the inside, the inside thus gets warm. If you have some sort of shade to put on the OUTSIDE of your window then this might be more effective.

sal_manilla · Jul 2007

Years ago they used the water method where a window fan (called a swamp cooler)had an inch or two of h20 in the square base. It worked but mold got to be a problem. Closing the shades etc during the day to keep the sun out is good. Not much you can do if you live upstairs. My condo is on ground level and hasn't gotten above 78 yet. I have a lot of shade trees now too. I haven't needed the A/C as of yet with several 90 degree days. A fan on you helps a lot especially when you sleep.

For those without AC..

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