[HamRadioRocks]

NOTE: I rent the house I currently live in, so renovation isn't an option. The air conditioning is a window unit. This isn't an issue now, but it will be in about 6 months.

What can I do next summer to be able to withstand more heat so that I can cut back on my use of air conditioning? (I will be using the foil-in-the-windows trick to keep the sun out, as the blinds do a poor job.)

I've been finding it MUCH easier to cut back on heat than air conditioning. It's easier to get used to colder temperatures, and I have the option of adding another layer of clothing, an extra blanket, etc. I also use humidifiers to boost the humidity, and I've taken steps to improve the insulation (rope caulking in windows, plastic window coverings). I used to keep the thermostat at 66-67 degrees in winter. Last year, I kept the thermostat at 63 degrees. This year, I started the heating season back in September and early October with the thermostat at 67 degrees and have since gradually lowered it, now down to 62 degrees. Towards January and February, I think I'll be able to handle an indoor temperature in the upper 50s. (That would be remarkable, as 57 degrees is my out-of-town setting.)

Getting used to hotter temperatures in summer is MUCH more difficult. Before I learned about Peak Oil and before I saw Al Gore's movie, I kept the indoor temperature in summer in the upper 70s. Since then, I still keep the indoor temperature in summer at 79 degrees. I find an indoor temperature of 80 degrees uncomfortable, and I find warmer indoor temperatures to be oppressive.

Any suggestions? It helps that my bedroom has a ceiling fan, but I prefer not to use it when I sleep. (It's noisy, and I'm also afraid of the possibility that something could break while I'm sleeping.)

Would a dehumidifier help? On the one hand, I could handle a higher temperature if it were less humid. On the other hand, I've read that dehumidifiers give off hot air and consume huge quantities of energy, which would defeat the purpose of cutting back on the air conditioning.

[WisJim]

Knowing where you are located might help. Here in NW Wisconsin, I find that with good insulation and weather tightness, the same things that help keep us warmer in the winter without burning as much heating fuel, help keep the heat out in the summer. Minimize use of appliance or activities that heat the house, especially during the day, during the summer. Shade helps--maybe somekind of quick growing plants could help shade the house, especially the south and west sides (assuming you are in the northern hemisphere). I find that hops plants make incredible growth in 2 or 3 years, and die back almost to the ground after frost, but that may not be an option for a rental.

[onecvj]

I get by in winter at about 62 degrees also (a little colder at night if my basset hound is in the bed), but summer is more of a challenge. I was in Paraguay for a month and endured 90-100 degree temps in a house without AC. They had a small window unit in each bedroom except mine, so the nights were the worst. But I was surprised at how comfortable the rest of the house was during the day without AC. I don't know much about construction and architecture, but houses here in the US just aren't designed to be comfortable without AC. Maybe you could try moving the window unit into the bedroom and see how the rest of the house does with fans and open windows during the day. You could at least sleep comfortably.

[HamRadioRocks]

The window unit is fixed in place and can't just be moved around. Even if it could, it would be necessary to make permanent changes to a bedroom window.

As for the insulation, the trouble is that I want to be able to open windows during the summer. The plastic sheets on the windows and the rope caulking in the cracks around the windows are fine for the winter, as I can't imagine any good reason (other than escaping a fire or something) to open the windows.

But in the warmer months of the year, there are times that I want to open windows (like when the house is hot but the air outside is cool, which often is the case in the evening after a day of hot temperatures but low humidity).

[RonMN]

I've beenliving without AC now for 3 years and there are some "tricks" to it.

A fan on you works great.

Open up the windows at night & a fan in the window to get the cool night air in.

Close the house up in the morning to keep the hot air out.

Lay on a tile or concrete basement floor & your body heat will be sucked right out of you in 5-10 minutes.

Underground basements stay pretty cool.

The body cools itself thru sweating...it wasn't until the 3rd summer (this last summer - 2006) that my body was sweating properly to keep me cool (AC is addictive).

Drink alot of water (not pop or coffee).

The more you complain about the heat...the worse it feels (quit bitchin')

[gg3]

If you need to raise humidity and lower temperature at the same time, wash a bunch of laundry and hang it on indoor clothes lines or drying racks. This will get you evaporative cooling and the water that evaporates raises the humidity. It will also save you about 2.5 KWH from not running the dryer. (If you want clothes & towels to have that "soft fluffy feeling," five minutes in the dryer at the "air fluff / no heat" setting will do the trick before hanging them on the line.)

If you need to cool down rapidly, sticking your feet in cold water for a few minutes will do the trick nicely. A small fan pointed straight at you from close range will also work wonders. Sticking your head (only) under the shower long enough to get your hair wet is also excellent for evaporative cooling.

For getting to sleep on a hot night, stick your feet out from under the covers. Feet are highly efficient radiators, and you will be surprised at how quickly you cool down enough to want to pull your feet back under the covers.

For heating, a regular heating pad stuffed between your outer and inner shirt layers does the trick at only 50 watts (compared to 1000 watts for an electric space heater or the equivalent in gas for gas heat). I've been using this trick this year, and it works perfectly well down to about 62 degrees ambient room temperature, which is where I have the heater set to turn on.

Though at this very moment I'm trying to get over a nasty cold (caught from relatives over Thanksgiving break) that has been sticking around longer than usual (everyone else I know who has a cold says the same thing; must be a new cold virus). So as of a few days ago I turned the thermostat up to 68 degrees until the cold is gone. This should be less than a week additional. After that it's back to 62 and the heating pad, working toward 55 and the heating pad.

It would take 20 people wearing heating pads to equal the power consumption of an electric heater. Thus, you can get heating pads for everyone in the household (e.g. assuming a typical average family of 4) and still be saving 80% of the energy & cost of everything above minimum heating level.

If you generally keep the house cold in winter, a space heater with a strong fan, pointed into the door of the bathroom, is justified to prevent getting chilled when stepping out of the shower wet. Look for a heater with a "low" setting that's about 500 watts, for example a switch with settings of 500, 1000, and 1500 watts. The 500-watt setting should suffice, or 1000 if the house is especially cold. Running one space heater for a half hour isn't a big deal when you're conserving everywhere else.

[MD]

if you have a well sealed house with little traffic during the day, and nighttime temperatures at or below 70, open all your windows when you go to bed, and close them just before sunrise.

Assuming you have shaded you sun windows, the interior of the house will remain 10-15 degrees below ambient outdoor temperature all day(amount depends on your specific dwelling).

This difference is generally enough to make you "feel cool" after entering.

Right before the peak temperature of the day, you could kick on the AC for an hour, but you will discover through practice that once you are that close to opening the windows for the next night, you won't want to pre chill the air just to have it blow out the window.

We have done this for years. There are many "stay cool" tricks that will be relearned, starting this summer.

[TommyJefferson]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('HamRadioRocks', 'W')hat can I do next summer to be able to withstand more heat so that I can cut back on my use of air conditioning?

[pup55]

I see from your other posts that you are in Cedar Rapids.

Keeping cool during the summer is a real pain in the neck in that part of the country because of high humidity, and also, because the heat tends to hang around long after dark. It's nothing for it to be about 90 degrees at 10:00 at night.

Your house, at 800 square feet or so, is probably one of those WWII GI bill houses that are so abundant in the midwest. If so, it is probably decently insulated and has rather small windows, which is fine, but the ceilings are probably only 8 feet, therefore the heat gets trapped right about head level during the summer. I suggest you find a way to vent the hot air out of the top of the house. In the south, they have "whole house" exhaust fans, which can do a prodigious job of this if installed properly. Basically these things are huge exhaust fans located centrally in the house, in the ceiling, and vented either to the attic or directly out into the outdoors. You shut the windows on the west side of the house (the side that the sun is beating down on during the evening) and open the east windows (been in the shade most of the day) and hit this thing and it sucks in the shady air from the east side and vents out the hot air no problemo out the top. Cools the whole thing down in about five minutes, if the fan is big enough. I see that you are renting, so maybe the landlord will object to a hackthrough of the ceiling, but surely you have an opening in the ceiling somewhere in the place, such as a closet somewhere up into the attick in which you can apply the basic concept with a cheap and temporary fan.

Of course if the "shady air" is still 90 degrees, there is not much you can do about it, but it might still be an improvement. I suggested to the guy in the thread above that in Italy, it is not uncommon to increase the amount of shade to have a big patio with a trellis over it, and a grapevine growing over it, to increase the shade area. So much the better if you can do this on the east side of the house. In the winter, the leaves fall off, so you can catch some sun, so it works as both a heating and cooling thing. This can be accomplished without disruption of the basic house structure.

Also, it would be good if your attic were vented properly. A lot of these old houses have attic spaces and black shingle roofs, and basically you end up with about 150 degree air trapped right above your living space. In Texas, there are thermostatic controlled attic exhaust fans for this exact purpose, that keeps this hot attic under control. Get on the landlord and maybe he will install one for you.

In Iowa, it is pretty typical to have your house oriented east-west or north-south, due to most of the towns being laid out using the grid system, but in Cedar Rapids, as memory serves me, this is not the case in a lot of the town, due to the surveyors being hilariously about 30 degrees off of due north when they laid out the original town (thus causing the older part of the town to be slightly out of whack). This might make the problem a little more difficult.

Plan B is just go outside and sleep in the back yard. My dad has stories of this during the dust bowl days. I suggest mosquito repellant if you try to do this.

Tell us, HamRadioRocks, if "Ole's Ham and Egger" is still open in Marion. This used to be a great place to get a really greasy Iowa breakfast at 3AM after the bars closed.