It’s summertime where I live and that means it’s time to bring out my fans, close up my blinds, and begin the battle to keep my house cool. In the 18 years I’ve lived in my current home, we have never had an air conditioner. The average daily high during the summer months sits in the high 80 degree Fahrenheit range (about 55 degrees Celsius), but can reach 100+ degrees when we have heat waves (40+ Celsius). Staying cool in these temperatures takes some strategy and planning. I’ve tried nearly everything over the years and have come up with some sure fire winning methods to keep cool without air conditioning.
Even if you have air conditioning in your home (lucky!), these tips can be a big benefit to your budget. Try using these tips in addition to running the AC and you may find your house stays cooler while your electricity bill stays lower. If you try a few of them out, let me know how they work for you.
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Keep the Heat Out
The first thing I recommend is shut the windows tight and use quality window coverings to block out the sunlight. If you visit my house on a hot summer day, you will be sitting in semi-darkness. Get used to it. We have. I start in the morning. As soon as the morning sun reaches my windows, I close the coverings. For me, that means 2 inch blinds and light blocking curtains. Tip: I have found that angling the blinds upward directs whatever heat that does come in towards the ceiling. Since heat rises, I’m giving it a head start. This means that my floors and furniture does not heat up. The heat is trapped up near the ceiling where nobody really feels it.
Let the Coolness In
No, I’m not talking about having great clothes and a cool car. I’m talking about waiting for the air outside to cool down and letting all the cool air in. As soon as the outside air is cooler than my inside air, I open all my windows. Fortunately, we often have a breeze in the evening hours and it helps to open the windows on both sides of the house. This creates a cross breeze that can cool you off faster. I usually leave the upstairs on the house open all night. We are fortunate to live in an area where it is safe enough to do this.
Other ways to let the coolness in include an attic fan and a whole house fan. These are both installed in the attic. The attic fan has a thermostat that senses when the attic reaches a certain temperature and blows hot air out of the attic space. This can keep your hot attic air from warming your house. We have one of these. It was installed before we bought our home. I would say it is moderately effective. It helps on hot days, but not really during heat waves.
The whole house fan is also installed in the attic, but has a vent into the home. When using this fan, you open all windows and turn on the fan. It sucks the hot air from your house up into the attic, pulling cool outside air into the house. Unfortunately, we do not have one of these because our attic space is not configured for one. But the systems cost significantly less to install and to run than air conditioners.
Use Less
This tip sounds like a minimalist idea, and, in a way, it is. Minimizing the use of appliances and other electronics can help keep your house cooler. Have you ever put a laptop on your lap and felt how much heat it puts out? There are 5 laptops in my house, two televisions, and numerous kitchen appliances that all put out heat. Minimize your use of these things and minimize the heat they put into your home. Your electricity bill will benefit too.
Use the Sunshine
Isn’t the idea to stay out of the sunshine? Yes, unless you have laundry to dry. Using your dryer can really heat up the house. Try hanging laundry out to dry on hot days. It’ll keep your house much cooler and save on your energy bill too. If you live in an HOA (home owner’s association) that forbids hanging clothes out to dry, try contesting that rule. Many HOAs are changing their requirements in order to be more climate friendly.
Be a Fan of Fans
If you want to stay cool without using an air conditioner, you’ll need to use some fans around your house. We have at least 10 fans in our house. I have heard the argument that fans use up a lot of electricity. Not true when compared to using the AC. Window AC units use 50 times more energy than a fan. Central AC units use about 125 times more electricity than fans. It is estimated that 25% of all power use in the United States goes to running our air conditioners. Using a fan saves energy and money.
We have a couple of ceiling fans in our home. They may not win any style awards, but definitely help keep the air moving. If you have ceiling fans, make sure you have them switched to the summer setting. That’s right. Ceiling fans have summer and winter settings. I
When it comes to floor fans, I have had a lot of success with the Vornado brand. They have held up for many years and move a lot of air for a smaller sized fan. Tip 1: The time to shop for fans is before the heatwave hits. Tip 2: Putting a bowl of ice in front of your fan creates cooler air. It may not look pretty, but it does the job.
Explore
Another great tip I can give is to get out of the house and explore. When the house is empty, it stays cooler. That’s the first benefit. And you get to explore someplace cooler. That’s the second benefit of this idea, Go to the library. Visit a museum. See a movie. Find the cool spots in your town. And by cool, I mean the places with good air conditioning and something fun to do. It’s a win-win-win situation. You keep your house cooler. You get to spend time doing something fun. And you get to do it in air conditioned comfort.
Be More Social
It might sound like freeloading, but when it gets hot at home, it’s time to visit a friend or family member who has air conditioning. It’s even better if they have a swimming pool too. When my kids were younger, I would load them into the car and drive 30 minutes to visit Grandma. My mom doesn’t have AC, but her house is old and has thick walls. It is always cool in summer. I also had a great neighborhood friend who would invite us over to swim on a regular basis. Bless my friends and family for helping us keep cool!
When All Else Fails
Last summer we had a major heatwave. It stayed well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit for about 9 days. I couldn’t keep the house cool anymore. In fact, the temperature on the upper floor reached above 90 degrees. Try sleeping in that! I suffer from migraines and the heat is one thing that can really trigger them. After so many days of discomfort and a headache that just wouldn’t quit, I got desperate and went online to see if there were any bargains on local hotel rooms.
My husband and kids came home and I informed them I was heading to the Holiday Inn Express a short drive away. At first they thought I was crazy. I told them that they were welcome to join me, but the thermostat and the television remote were under my control. One teen opted to stay home with the pets. Everyone else joined me in air conditioned comfort. I cranked the AC down to 65 degrees and turned on HGTV. No one complained. They even had fun in the hotel pool.
Yes, getting a hotel room in your own town is a bit extreme. But it was totally worth it and I’d do it again. In 18 years (20 if you count the 2 we lived in an apartment across town), I’ve only had to use the hotel option once. I think that’s a pretty good record.
What Hasn’t Worked to Keep Cool
One thing that hasn’t worked well in our house is a portable air conditioner. Have you seen those? It’s a tall unit on wheels. You have to vent it through a window. The one we tried wasn’t exactly portable. It had wheels, but weighed well over 65 pounds! It was bulky and awkward to move, especially when trying to get it upstairs. And it produced a lot of heat. So while it was blowing cold air into the room, the unit was also heating up. It managed to cool our bedroom by a few degrees, but was big, bulky, and noisy. I wouldn’t go that route again.
We live in an HOA that forbids window units and I never seem to have the extra thousands required to put in a central AC unit. So I will continue to use the process above and keep an eye out for hotel bargains on occasion. How about you? How do you stay cool when the weather heats up?
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