How To Avoid Summer Heat Without AC
We are having a particularly hot summer this year. Many people may not have AC which can be deadly for people and pets, alike. So what do you do? I know we live in a modern age and many of you are equipped with central air, but the world was not always that way. It's only been up until the last half century that people could afford to stay cool. They still went to work in wool suits and cleaned their homes in any temperature. What did they do? Here are five ideas to stay cool in this heat without the benefit of air conditioning. If you have any other ways to avoid summer heat, please share with us!
HOT AIR OUT, COOL AIR IN
It's a simple rule of thermodynamics. If you want your home or apartment to stay cool, keep the hot air out. You do this by not letting the sunlight in during the day and capturing the cooler air within the house at night. During the daylight hours, keep your windows sealed shut and your drapes closed. If you can add layers to this, such as with porch awnings, this is all the better. Once night arrives, however, open those windows up and allow a cross breeze into your home.
BECOME A FAN OF THE FAN
If air is moving, then the room is cooler. It doesn't even have to move very fast. You can have a one mile per hour breeze and it can cool the temperature by 1-3 degrees. At night, you want to have your fan sucking in the cool air from outside, while during the day you want to be pushing the hot air out. Use ceiling fans in your house to push the heat out. Keep doors to upper floors closed during the day. Heat rises, so the rooms on the upper levels will be warmer. Fans throughout the house will help you survive the summer heat.
MAKE YOUR OWN AC
People in the 18th and 19th centuries had "air conditioning" too. It wasn't in the traditional sense of the technology. What they would do is put a block of ice into a pan and put that in front of a fan. The fan would move the air, which is now cooled by the ice. Try it with a frozen milk jug filled with ice water! It actually works! It also keeps ice water handy if you need a drink. Stay hydrated on these hot days!
SHUT DOWN THE ELECTRONICS
If you are at work all day, you don't need to have the heat generating appliances plugged in. One of these is a flat-screen television. Those put off some nice heat, which adds to the temperature of your house. Shut it off when you are not at home. Unplug it or turn off the power strip. Do the same with other heat generating appliances that you may have. Even if you are not at home, they are still adding to the heat that your pets feel during the day or the heat you will bear in the evening.
INSULATE
This is something that you probably do not think about too much in the summer. Insulation is supposed to be for keeping the warm air in, right? Well, in the summer heat, it does the opposite, too. It will keep the hot air out. Make sure that your attic is well insulated in the summer to avoid the transfer of those super high temperatures. A fan in the attic might also be in order to keep things nice and cool, too.
