Keeping house cool

[Mary Fisher]

That's what everyone says.

[Sponix]

How's this for a good idea?:

Fan assisted radiator connected up to the cold tap. The outlet could go straight into the drain. If I want it colder I simply turn the water up a bit..tap water is always cold!

I'm on water rates so cost isn't an issue and I'll be too hot to care about the environment..

:)

I'm a genius and I didn't know it!

sponix

[Doctor Drivel]

In the US, environmentalists are lobbying to get summer a/c usage down.

[Doctor Drivel]

Or lose weight.

[Sponix]

I ain't heavy!

[The Natural Philosopher]

The combination of OPEN windows and curtains does help.

Agreed closing curtains with shut windows just transfers solar gain to the curtain and into the room. Although with thermally line curtains, its better =- much better. Heat stays behind and conducts to the air outside.

Classic Mediterranean style construction.

I think some general points are in order.

Without using some form of cooling - evaporative or air con, its very hard to lower a house temperature below the mean diurnal temperature.

Large thermal masses inside the house - or its actual structure, do help to prevent the afternoon peaks though, and the classic structure is thick walls, thick roof, overhanging eaves to prevent direct sunlight, and venetian type shutters to let in light, and air, but not the sun.

In places with a huge diurnal range - typically dry semi desert climates

- the mas stays warm through the night as well.

Lightweight well insulated structures with large DG windows do not do well in the heat.

[Phil L]

Cavity wall insulation works both ways.

[Doctor Drivel]

Medical attention?

[Gav]

or, would radiators work to cool as well heat (not at the same time tho)

kinda like aircon but all in one system!

patent pending!

[Owain]

It's like shoes. Style /or/ comfort.

Owain

[Guy King]

The message from [e-mail] (Sponix) contains these words:

Nor are you my brother.

[Andy Hall]

Doesn't work. You would have condensed water all over the floor and not good cooling results.

[Mary Fisher]

LOL!

[Gully Foyle]

So you draw heavy curtains and then turn the lights on? Personally I'd rather be hot and see the daylight.

[Gully Foyle]

(he's my brother)

[Gav]

like a toilet cister does? not good. mixing two lines of thought, pc liquid cooling and home cooling!

what is the problem with the brits? we spend thousands on heating our homes because it's cold, then moan about heating costs. when it's warm we moan about that too!

[Mary Fisher]

Certainly not.

We don't spend much time indoors in summer. Only our dining room and bedroom face south, we eat in the garden and sleep in the dark. The sitting room faces north and is delightfully cool.

But the dining room isn't dark either, despite being cool.

>

[Pete C]

My neighbour has aluminium venetian blinds that seem to work quite well. I've got blackout blinds, in very hot weather I put a reflective sunshade on the inside that stops heat being radiated into the room.

Having a _big_ fan (like a floor standing air circulator) that blows air in from the cool side and out of the hot side of the housecan help.

Yeeees, but come winter it's not so good...

cheers, Pete.

[sponix]

Nah, I suffer from the heat in the house over the summer when it reaches 25 or 26 deg C.

Even visitors say it's too hot.

sponix

[Joe]

Do you want to look cool or be cool?

We've had some success with greenhouse shading fabric outside on wires strung from eyehooks. Together with Arab-pattern window use i.e. open at night, closed by day.

I also have a door-shaped piece of hardboard with a fan-shaped hole. Placed across an unused bedroom door at night with the window open, it helps bring in cool air when the wind doesn't blow, which is basically every night when it's hot.