Strategies for staying cool

[tim...]

At night

I haven't ignored the other advice

I have followed it to the letter, in as far as that's been possible for something that I am making to a budget, out of cardboard, for temporary use.

Of course what I have made doesn't fit 100% flush to the inside of the windows. It's made out of cardboard. (Even if it fitted on first use, it quickly started to bow.)

If I had a couple of grand to throw at the perfectly engineered solution, I'd be better off just buying an air con unit.

only if you haven't read what I have previously posted.

In the winter that's an advantage.

But I don't think it's the cause of my problem in the summer

[tim...]

Not an excessive amount

I hate downlighters

I have 100% LED bulbs

No, of course not (as someone who moves often you ditch that as soon as possible)

as little as possible.

I do

I once looked at a flat that had the heating in the ceiling.

and I thought, what a bloody daft idea.

[Andrew]

Are there gardens surrounding the building ?.

Is there any possibility of planting some deciduous small trees or shrubs that could provide some screening to your windows from the sun ?. In winter they lose their leaves so you don't lose any winter sunlight.

If you are on the ground floor, would a small split aircon system with the external compressor on the ground, but hidden by small shrubs be acceptable to the buildings management ?.

Ditto an external shop-style awning that rolls back into a box above the window. Has the building management actually said that this is a no-no ?.

[Martin Brown]

I think that you have singularly failed to understand how to do it at every possible opportunity. When you find me and TNP agreeing about this on every point then it pretty much must be *you* doing something wrong!

Blue tack or sellotape and aluminised mylar film is very effective. It cannot defy the laws of thermodynamics but it hugely slows down ingress of heat. Couple that with windows open overnight and you have a reasonably effective solution at very low cost.

I no longer believe what you say any more.

ISTR you spent all last year claiming you couldn't keep fresh fruit for more than a couple of days because it was so hot in there.

I suppose you haven't mentioned your glass furnace in the kitchen then. (one of my friends really does have one)

[tim...]

well yes, we pay a man to do the gardening for us

subject to majority consensus as to what he should do.

in front of the windows of the flat below me, you mean?

I doubt it (but I'm not on the ground floor)

They don't have to

getting permission for simple things is like pulling teeth, anything substantial would never get off the ground

and that's if you don't get other residents complaining about one flat looking different to the rest, which they will (believe me, they will!)

[tim...]

Oh no I haven't

I have made a panel with reflective film on one side, which, early every morning, I place against the inside of the closed windows, to reflect back the sun's radiation. This panel fits as snugly as possible within the alcove containing the windows. I then have the blinds and curtains closed behind this panel, as much to keep it in place as anything else, but presumably it also adds an extra barrier to the heat radiating into the room.

I place this up against the window all day when it is hot and sunny

and then the sun has gone in I remove the panel and open the window to try and cool the room down to the overnight temperature

Oh and I also have fans on in the room to move air around and make it feel a bit cooler even when it isn't.

Rinse and repeat

and it hasn't worked beyond delaying by a few hours the point in the day when the room peaks at 30 degrees.

Now, please tell me what it is that you previously told me to do that I haven't done? Within the constraints of my not having any access to do things to the outside of the windows?

or perhaps, at the level of a simple DIY solution with cardboard, it plain doesn't work

I can't sellotape it to the window frame every morning and remove that every evening, that would take all the paint off the frames.

Blue tack is not going to secure it completely, (just like it doesn't with pictures on the wall -BTDTGTTS)

It has to just "sit there". Anything else is too permanent for 2 weeks use a year.

as I have answered previously

that "huge slowdown appears to be "just a couple of hours"

If that is as good as it gets, I suggest - not worth the inconvenience.

I think that's because I didn't explain fully what I was doing, assuming that you wouldn't take me for an idiot who didn't follow instructions, and that therefore I *was* following instructions.

It was vegetables

but that's a different order of temperature

keeping vegetables so that they don't go quickly over ripe requires you to keep them at a temp of less than 10 degrees.

I agree I have nowhere in my house where that is possible (other than the fridge obviously)

My house never gets that cold, even when it minus outside and I don't have the heating on. (So far, I only have the previous 2 winters to go on, neither of which were bad)

Whether this is due to thermal solar warming or from my neighbours I have yet to establish.

But I fail to see what it's got to do with my lounge heating up to 30 degrees in the summer.

I haven't a clue what you are talking about

I cook simply, mostly with an induction hob and microwave, neither of which radiate heat into the room beyond the short cooking period

I use the oven to cook in, less than once a month

[The Natural Philosopher]

Its the heat *conducting* in to the room from your panel that you haven't addressed

Replace it with pieces of celotex, cut to size

[tim...]

but that's an order of magnitude more expense than some cardboard that I blagged for free

It's also much harder to store somewhere when not in use - currently the card is stuffed down behind a wardrobe. I'd have to spend a merry couple of hours to move it forward for a thicker item

[The Natural Philosopher]

Pay peanuts? - get monkeys!

Well then use thermally insulating curtains. But that costs even more