Methods of cooling a room

[Mary Fisher]

Wrong.

Wrong.

Wrong.

[BAH]

You can't be right mate! It's easy to get warm and keep warm in almost any situation, it's nigh on impossible to keep cool and continue with everyday activities in recent weeks. As for the Med, help yourself to the misery if that's what you like, I shall be in Scotland or further north in the next heatwave.

[Bob Eager]

Generally, I agree...but as for the TV...just bought a 14 inch (OK, not big) with a standby *consumption* (OK, mostly heat) of 2.9 watts. Not really a lirtle less than a few hundred...! Even multiplying for a decent sized TV, I can't see it reaching ewven 50 watts.

Computer monitors...easy to switch off, a major power hig, and the bit that actually wears out a decent amount when on, not to mention the largest fire risk in a PC...turn that off always when not using. Easier and quicker (and thus more likely to be done) than the PC itself. And of course engage power saving on the PC but don't allow the hard disk to spin down.

Yes, very much the case here yesterday. North-east Kent coast, south westerly wind...very hot! However, today it was the opposite. Noth westerly wind, off the sea, cooler than inside...

Yup. Just bought a big blind for a big, bare window today! But it was too hot to fit it....

[al]

Every so often I find someone with the same infuriating views on temperature. They're the gits that are allergic to aircons in the office and turn them off. In the winter they have the heaters on full and sickly hot. As other posters have said - you can always wear more, not less!!

Grrrrr ... ;P

a

[Bob Eager]

Never knew how tall she was before....!

[parish]

Huh? you can add unlimited layers of clothing to keep warm, but once you're naked you can't take any more off.

There's a difference - humidity; dry heat doesn't feel as hot as humid heat.

[John Rumm]

Exactly how much heat radiation are you expecting to get off the under side of a hot tile?

The only way a radiation reflective layer is going to have a major effect is if you put it on the outside of your tiles..... go wrap your house in tin foil!

[John Rumm]

Depends on what you mean by noisy... the mono block units are noisy as in the noise of a fridge freezer combined with a large fan - i.e. irritation if you are trying to watch TV or sleep - but not as loud as a vacuum cleaner!

Some people find that the small "personal" evaporative coolers do work a bit - the evaporation effect will cool the air they blow out at you a little bit - and the amount of moisture they contribute to a room is relatively small once it has a chance to diffuse within the room (they only consume a cup of water a day). The larger "room sized" evaporative coolers are on a hiding to nothing in our climate however.

This is correct.

Chances are it would help your bodies natural cooling mechanism to work more effectively. There would also be a side effect benefit in that they presumably include a fan to move air through them which would help keep the air moving in the room a bit.

In scientific terms however the de-humidifier is likely to raise the room temperature by an amount equal to its power dissipation. This will offset or even counteract the benefits.

They can claim to reduce the temperature since if you measure the air output temp it will be colder since you have extracted some heat from it to help vaporise the water. Alas its a bit like wind chill - the thermometer does not tell the whole story!

All the usual things... insulation, increasing shade - plants, trees, creepers etc. Reducing solar radiation absorbtion with blinds or solar window film, forced air ventilation (fans etc). Turning off heat sources.

You can get portable split units - you hang the condenser outside the window and its connected to the air handler inside via an "umbilical". Not that cheap mind:

[John Rumm]

That would be partially IR translucent wooden shingles then... not that common on UK houses!

[Julian Fowler]

So that means you don't understand what a citation is then.

Julian

[Simon Gardner]

NOT a good idea if you value your property. Depends on the tree of course, but never plant any too close to the house. Your foundations are valuable. You can do yourself considerably more financial harm than you would ever expend air-conditioning the entire house, the garage, the garden shed, the Wendy House and the dog kennel.

[Baxter Basics]

he has got a point (!) Tiles will absorb radient energy from the sun and re-radiate some of that down into the attic space. Lining the inside of the roof with tinfoil would reflect some of this back, and reduce convection currents.

Whether it would make a noticable difference to the rest of the house is another matter!

Since I am sick of renovating my kitchen I might try an experiment this weekend

[Baxter Basics]

So if you wrap your hand in foil and stuff it in a BBQ the foil will act as a heat barrier- let me know how you get on at A&E ;->

[Fishter]

No, because the foil is an extremely good conductor of heat. It is also extremely good at blocking radiant heat. So if you created a glove of foil /that did not touch your skin/ then you could stuff your hand in a BBQ.

[RichardS]

Compared to the amount of heat that is transferred into the house by direct thermal conduction from the (hot) tiles to the air and hence induced thermal convection, the amount introduced by radiant energy is small at these temperatures.

You'll be much better off insulating between the rafters. That will stop the loft space heating up to such a high temperature, and hence reduce direct thermal conduction to the house below.

cheers Richard

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[IMM]

It is a combination of bothg radiant barrier and heavy insulation on the loft floor. 300mm min.

[Julian Fowler]

... but where's the website reference to support such an outlandish idea?

;-)

Julian (currently wondering whether some solar panels on the south-facing roof of our house would provide enough power to drive some form of a/c).

[IMM]

You obviously have a compliant. Have seen a doctor?

[Julian Fowler]

You don't get it, do you ... you cited *a specific paper*, not the whole site. You've only started referring to the whole site when people started pointing out the erroneous conclusions that you'd drawn from your original citation.

How often, BTW, do you imagine that people thinking about a/c issues in Florida refer to the material on insulation published by BRE?

Julian

[Fishter]

And if one is already doing an impression of Britney Spears, how does one decide which item of 'clothing' to remove?