How to beat the heat without relying on air-con
On Monday we talked about keeping our houses cool so we didn’t have to turn on the air-conditioning so often.
When we do turn it on, it’s recommended to keep it at about 24 degrees so we’re not using extra power to turn our houses into fridges. But Australia is just a very hot place, so we’re going to have to come up with alternatives if we are going to try to reduce our reliance on air-con.
Here’s a few suggestions:
- Ceiling fans and pedestal fans help cool you down by moving the air around. If you have one, you can use it instead of air-conditioning, as it’s less power-hungry. Try putting a bowl of iced water in front of a pedestal fan to give it an extra chill.
- Another pedestal fan trick is to use it to get rid of hot air trapped inside your house. The air is pulled from the back of the fan to the front, so if you need to vent in a hurry, point it towards an open window.
- Keep a little spray bottle filled with water in the fridge, and use it on yourself to cool down when you get home, or before you go to sleep.
- Eat a curry or something with a lot of chillies! They make you sweat, which cools you down. It’s worked for people in India and South-East Asia for centuries. Also make sure you’re drinking plenty of water to keep hydrated.
- Sleep in the backyard, if there’s a breeze. We loved doing this when we were kids – sleeping bags on the lawn, stars above.
- Take a cool or lukewarm bath or shower: very relaxing after a long day.
Have you got any other ideas? What did you used to do when you were younger, or what have you seen in other countries where it gets too hot?
3 Comments
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We’ve just gotten rid of our 35 (at least) year old reverse cycle air
conditioner so we could put in a good heater – we worked we were
using the air conditioner about 2 weeks of the year in the middle of
summer and using the heat every night for 5 months. If you can surivive
an Adelaide summer without aircon, you can survive it anywhere!
We’re lucky that we live in an old Federation house that stays fairly
cool in summer and is a warren of rooms that we can shut off during
the day (with the blinds drawn) and open up at night when it gets
cooler. Admittedly, sometimes it gets a bit hot (like now) but you know
it’s not going to last forever. I never had an air conditioner until I
moved into this house – we used to live in a little unit that was an
absolute sweatbox so anything is a vast improvement!
That’s a really smart choice, Barbara – I like how you assessed what was really needed for your specific situation instead of just sticking with the standard setup!
Great picture!
Spraying the spray bottle at the fan helps too as it then sprays back over the room to give a burst of coolness. Possibly not the best way to treat electronics but it works, especially when trying to fall asleep at night.
I used to love sleeping outside in summer, old mattresses on the verandah. I don’t know people don’t do that anymore – no big backyards to catch the night air now, I guess.