Buy a portable AC unit and install it in your bedroom or living room window.
It does it’s job but it’s suuper ineffective - you have to have a window open to suck in (hot outside) air that the portable AC cools itself with and throws out.
That open window even with that “sock” cover it comes with, lets back so much of the outside air and if you are like me renting a badly insulated flat, you are comfortable only when the AC is running, it won’t really cool down (and keep cool) the living space.
I do wonder why they don’t make a dual hose portable systems so that at least the unit is not pulling the air directly from the window, mixing already cool inside air with the hotter outside one.Look on Facebook marketplace - you could get 2-3 used for the price of one new.
I have a basement where I swear it’s 10°C colder than upstairs.
I mean, given heat rises, the basement probably is 10 degrees cooler
Plus at least part of the walls will be exposed to the ground, not the air, and since past the first layer the ground stays consistently relatively cool, that helps a lot.
Not surprised, my basement is 58-64F (~14-18C) year round, no matter how hot or cold it is outside.
Keep windows open at night and into the morning
Fan pointed straight at you, on max blast through the night
It’s significantly worse if your house is humid, and dehumidifiers increase the heat, but they’re still worth it
The difference between how 80 F feels at 65% humidity vs 45% humidity is ridiculous. Lower humidity also makes cooling yourself by misting or damp cloths a lot more effective, because it will evaporate quicker.
It’s significantly worse if your house is humid, and dehumidifiers increase the heat, but they’re still worth it
Fun fact: the reason air conditioners are called “conditioners” instead of “coolers” is that they were originally designed for dehumidification.
Dehumidifiers should make it feel cooler since sweat evaporating is how we cool ourselves. Too much humidity means our sweat won’t evaporate and we can’t cool off.
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
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.
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.
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.
It will
You’re right which is why our freezer is out in the garage rather than in the house.
Drink lots of water, I guess? An air cooler might also come in handy - they’re way cheaper than an AC. And yes, don’t hold your yellow pee, because the burn will be intolerable.
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.
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 😈
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.
Run cold water over your wrists when you’re starting to get hot.
And dab some cold water behind your ears.
Most important here is the dabbing.
All the coolest people dab, often and without irony.
Or any area of your body where there’s a lot of blood vessels near the surface of your skin.
I like standing in a cool shower and letting the cool water run over the front and back of my neck.
By living in a country with no seasons
The perfect plan. The only thing that could screw it up is if the climate somehow changed.
You dont wanna just be blowing around the oven-like air trapped in your house. Open two windows on opposite ends of the house, and point a fan facing outside at one of the windows. This will pull air from the opposite window and create a crossbreeze of fresh air.
Lying shirtless on a hard floor can also help cool your body down
Go to the movie theater or supermarket for some AC.
Library is free
Happy cake day!
Do you have ceiling fans? I honestly have rarely even wanted AC because ceiling fans do such a good job at keeping the place cool up to at least the low 30s, when I’m not headed up from doing exercise.
Thank you for the cake day message!
Spray water (fine mist from a bottle) on the inside of your windows and use it to stick aluminium foil to the glass, shiny side out. I do the top ⅔ of the north-facing windows (I’m in the southern hemisphere) each summer and it reduces the indoor heat significantly.
If you have a basement, stay in it. When it was 108°F here in Seattle the other year, it was in the mid to high 70s in my basement office. If you do not have a basement, am evaporative cooking method can cool you a bit of you are in a dry climate. You could also hit up a pool or grocery store or movie theater. All those will help you cool off.
Check Craigslist for a portable AC unit. I was able to snag a free dual hose portable AC unit a month ago. The hotter it is though, the higher the prices are on Craigslist.
My basement has mold :(
An AC unit could actually help with that since it will dehumidify the space. Many have a dehumidify only mode. You would still want to bleach the mold that is there though. If you are renting, let your landlord know and hope they do something about it. It might be a legal requirement that they do something about it, especially if it is black mold.
Get a cold wet towel wrapped around your neck. Feels so good.
