No AC in the summer? No problem.
We’ve mentioned a few methods for surviving the winter months, hunkering down in a crisis, in your vehicle, or how to manage power outages at home, but there’s one aspect we may not have talked enough about.
Having no AC in the summer is a different kind of “survival”…
There are few things worse than trying to catch some shut-eye (or even just relax!) in an incredibly hot, sticky room. But brutal summer temps are unavoidable for most of us at some point in the year. So how can you cool down without AC?
If your AC breaks down during the warmer half of the year, you’re going to have a challenge on your hands before you are able to get it fixed. Assuming your other electronic appliances are still working, here are 7 action steps you can take to minimize the heat in your home and stay as comfortable as possible without a functioning AC unit:
- Eat Cold Foods. The less you use your oven the better, as it will make the kitchen and other rooms warmer than they already are. Among cold foods you can eat are fruit, salads and popsicles.
- Keep the Lights Off. Light bulbs produce heat and use up energy, so the more you can keep them turned off, the better.
- Fans are Your Friends. First, make sure your ceiling fan is turning counter-clockwise. Put your floor fan near an external door facing an external wall. A pan of ice water in front of the fan will cool the air as it blows. Try to create a cross-breeze that can help circulate air.
- Close Your Windows and Blinds. Hot air will enter the house if the windows are open and the sun will radiate heat within your home if the blinds aren’t closed.
- Avoid Alcohol and Caffeine. Because both of these items are diuretics, your urine output will increase if you drink coffee and alcohol while trying to battle the heat. This could cause dehydration. Stick to water if you can.
- Go Swimming. The more often your body is immersed in cool water, the cooler it will stay. Another option is a bath in cool water.
- Use a Cold Towel. Soak a washcloth or towel in cold water and wrap it around your neck.
What other ways have you discovered to keep cool when it’s hot outside and the AC is not working? Hope you’ll share them with us.
I find if I hang wet washed clothes inside evaporation cools and if I have a cool foot bath . I have also a piece of cardboard the size of my sunny windows wit tinfoil tape on one side and black gorilla tape on the other, I turn foil side out to reduce heat in summer and black side out to get warmth in the winter. I hope this helps others as it has my family.
I grew up in the heat of Arizona. When I was a child and our swamp coolers weren’t working because of the humidity we had a simple solution. Turn on the fans and get some beach towels! We would get the towels moderately damp so that they weren’t dripping and then put them over our bodies like blankets. I tell you what! It worked like a charm.
Keep a spray bottle of water and spritz yourself when you feel too hot. The evaporation will cool you down if the humidity is not too high. If you don’t mind a wet shirt, dampen a T-shirt and wear it. These worked for me when the electricity went out in my apartment in the summer.
We have several small battery powered box fans and keep the rechargeable batteries full along with a good supply of d cell batteries. The fans gobble up the juice. But, in Kansas in the summer they are worth their weight in gold. We can bank on at least a day or two each summer with a power outage of some sort or another. Hanging a washcloth over the fan or having it blow across an ice block helps even more.
Living in Houston Texas where you can see the heat rising off the streets it is sonhumid. The worst is during a hurricane and there is no electricity to run fans. We are eldry so we keep air on 78 during day and 76 at night. We do have 2 small gasoline generators so if electricty is off we can run a 16 inch fan and a refrigerator. We keep batries for a 56 year old transistor radio I got for my sixteenth birthday. If a lot of the family is here we play board games and dominoes. We haven’t had to do this in several years. We were blessed during Harvey last year as we did not flood, never lost lights. However could not get out of subdivision. In all other storms we have lost lights for days. My first storm was carla.
I live in a hot-summer climate, with an indoor kitty, and like to keep my power bill low. The most important factor in keeping cool is SHADE. If your house, apartment, RV, whatever, is surrounded by shade trees, they do wonders to keep things from heating up unbearably during the day. Also awnings, umbrellas, shadecloth screens, etc. to cover any “holes” that let the sun through, especially over the windows.
Even though it’s headed for 113 F today, I won’t need to turn on the AC until about 3 PM. I run it so the temp stays 85 degrees inside, to keep kitty comfortable — the little critters can’t handle the heat as well as people can. I keep a block of ice in the freezer, to place in front of a fan just in case the AC goes out, and also have a portable enclosure for kitty that I can assemble outside in a shady place if need be.
When the sun goes away, even if its still hot out, I open all the windows, turn on the fan, and let the cooling process take place overnight. I might also help it along by hosing down the patio and surrounding area, to provide evaporation.
These are all great ideas. Maybe I ‘ll be able to come up with another one!
Hang wet sheets over open windows to use the cooling effect of evaporation. Of course, this does not work with very high humidity and high temperature.
freeze water in 2L bottles and set behind fans
Do your cooking outside on the grill. Not using your stove in hot weather helps keep your home cooler.
Humidity is a bad thing in the summer. Use a dehumidifyer to keep the air as dry as posible.
If you have a basement, then spend your time during the heat down there. This is one option that does not require electricity to work. Our basement is always cool in the summer.
Open all windows at night if possible. Let the cool air of the evening and early morning infuse the house. When you get up in the morning, and the temperature outside begins to climb, close the windows, stopping the exchange of air. A small box fan or ceiling fan can then be used to stir that captured air throughout the day, extending the comfortable time you might have.