Strategies for staying cool

[Chris Hogg]

I hate this hot weather.

So what's the best way of keeping cool, apart from wandering around

90% naked?

Keep windows open to let the outside air circulate, even though that air may be warmer than inside?

Keep windows shut to keep outside hot air, outside? But then indoor humidity rises and you can't sweat as well.

Blinds or curtains drawn across, or is it that once the sun has shone in through the window, it's too late and the hot curtains still heat the room, and the only effective screening is shading outside?

Or what?

[Martin Brown]

Shade all the windows facing the sun either with curtains or if you don't care what it looks like from outside the aluminised holographic mylar gift wrapping paper available from WH Smiths and Clintons.

You can also buy products sold for this purpose at 10-50x the price!

Windows open on the shaded side of the house and one window slightly open in any occupied room for a through draft. Upstairs windows all open overnight to lose heat and any top window lights open in rooms to let the hottest air near the ceiling escape.

White or mirror finish will reflect a lot of the heat and light away. External shading works the best but bluetacking some aluminised mylar across the worst south facing windows will make a big difference.

Better loft insulation can help too with bedrooms but installing it right now in the middle of a heatwave may not be a good idea!

My house has sufficient thermal mass that its core temperature remains in the low twenties irrespective of how hot it gets outside. The south facing bedroom (not a second home office) required the mylar treatment to be usable on two counts seeing the PC screen and not overheating.

[Sam Block]

Chris Hogg [e-mail] wrote

Get a decent aircon.

Nope, keep everything shut up so it doesn't warm up.

Nope.

Yep. and only open up after it gets dark when its cooler outside.

Still better than letting the hotter outside get inside.

Yes, that helps.

No reason why you cant close the blinds and curtains before the sun gets up.

Still better than letting the sun stream in.

That's certainly worth doing.

Decent air conditioning.

[alan_m]

What works for me for part of the day is to open windows and use a fan very close to the open window - but blowing the hot air out of the window which tends to bring in slightly cooler air from the cooler side of the house.

I too have tried different strategies but in this type of weather every room is around 25C (possibly down to 21/22C at night) It is the draft that provides some comfort level.

[Tim Streater]

+1

Reduce movement during the day. Reduce food intake. No more pie and chips for the duration.

I'd say keep big windows closed but fanlights open.

Cerrtainly keep all curtains etc closed during the day. As soon as it starts to cool off, open those where the sun isn't shining on them, and open the windows where cooler air can blow in.

Keep fanlights open in bedroom overnight to get in maximum cooler air. If you feel safe doing it, or don't have an animal prevent from going out, add larger windows to that.

Anyone know anything about the concept of a cool room with an external a/c unit for that room only?

[RJH]

Keep still and a fan blowing on you. You'll feel cooler as the heat is transferred - but evaportation rises, so drink plenty of water. Is what I tell myself ;-)

[Andrew]

Turn off unnecessary electrical equipment. How much power does your computer setup use ?. This all results in more heat being produced inside the thermal envelope.

Just close all sun-facing windows and curtains, and open windows facing the other way, then open/close as needed during the day. A fan makes it more comfortable simply by increasing the evaporation of sweat.

I get up at 5AM and open all the windows and get a nice through draft of cooler air to lower the inside temp before the sun starts to make its effect more obvious, then go through the closing/opening routine. Overnight I open the loft hatch so that upstairs hot air (noticibly warmer than downstairs because I have

300mm loft insulation) creates an upward draft out through the ridge vents, drawing cooler air in through the windows.

When it gets up to 36C+ I resort to covering the south windows and patio doors with some emergency foil blankets which are silver on one side and gold on the other but they are some sort of mylar? film which lets some light through but reflects solar radiation. Back in 2003 I turned a large poly/cotton decorators dust sheet into a canopy, tied to the south bathroom and bedroom window stays with some garden string and a couple of 6 foot stakes at the other two corners to create a sort of gazebo. This was amazngly effective by stopping sunlight hitting the south wall and lower windows.

[williamwright]

I have been naked day and night for four days now, except when Mrs Ponsonby came with some scraps for the hens.

From past experience I know that when I do put some clothes on it will feel horrible.

I stay naked as much as is is practicable, even in less hot weather. My skin is much happier, and I feel far better psychologically. I've always felt slightly encumbered by clothing. You know how you feel when you can finally take your mask off? How you felt as a kid when you could take that uncomfortable uniform off? That's how I feel when I complete the process of undressing when I get home.

I have CCTV in the house so my kids can keep an eye on me.

Bill

[NY]

If I was wandering round the house in the nude, I'm not sure I'd *want* the kids to be able to keep an eye on me ;-) There are parts of parents that should not be seen by their children.

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

Chris Hogg explained :

Wondering round completely naked, let it all hang out :-)

Open windows overnight, as soon as outside is cooler than inside, close them when the inverse is true, but still leave some ventilation. If the indoor heat becomes too much hang wet towels in front of fans, evaporation will cool the air by a few degrees.

Draw blinds curatains where the sun streams into rooms, to keep the IR warming the interior.

[Andy Burns]

Frequent journeys to B&Q, Screwfix, Toolstation, Axminster etc with the aircon turned to max!

[Andy Burns]

Just fit a mini-split aircon for the room

[Adrian]

In message <sd99pg$nnp$ [e-mail], Harry Bloomfield <?.?@harrym1byt.plus.com.invalid> writes

And what were you wondering about ?

Adrian

[Sam Block]

Harry Bloomfield; Esq. [e-mail]> wrote

Yes.

No need to do that.

Not just when the sun streams into rooms.

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

Sam Block laid this down on his screen :

That depnds on how leaky the house is, we do need some fresh air.

A house where you can never see out, would be awfully claustrophobic for me.

[tim...]

though it wont be for long (whatever you do)

even with my windows blocked out, my flat is still reaching an uncomfortable

30 degrees by the afternoon

With experimentation, keeping widows open and running fans to get some airflow, *has* made the room more comfortable even at this higher temperatures

Though this week is not as high as last year when it reached 33/34 degrees (can turn the clock back to experiment at that temp, will have to wait for the next time!)

should work, but IME isn't

that's a trivial issue for a few days of the year.

don't you find that an uncomfortable solution?

I think you are right

only external shading will work

unfortunately, I have no means to provide that here.

[tim...]

hasn't worked for me

The room has still reached the outside air temp by the afternoon.

I'm sure that most people know that making through draft helps

but not all properties are suitable.

Not IME

[Chris Hogg]

I'm not convinced by the suggestion that curtains, or even interior blinds, will keep out the heat. The sun just warms up the curtains, which then transfer the heat to the room. I've always understood that blinds etc are only effective if on the outside, like shutters, to stop the sun coming through the glass. You may get some benefit from highly reflective indoor blinds that reflect the IR back out, but broadly speaking, once the IR is in, it's in.

[tim...]

for use one week a year

doesn't sound like a very environmentally sensible solution (because I'm sure that having got it you will over use it)

but it does still warm up.

(FTAOD this is not happing through my roof).

[Sam Block]

No you don't when you have it open at night.

Doubt that is true for most.