It’s an HVAC worst-case scenario: Your AC’s given up the ghost—but so, it seems, has the air conditioning of half the metro area. You’ve gotten yourself on the schedule for your HVAC company to come out and start repairs, but it’s going to be a while. Meanwhile, the mercury’s rising, everyone’s hot and uncomfortable, and tempers are flaring. What can you do?
The good news is that there are some options for helping cool down your home even when your AC is on the blink. You can use these tips to get more service life and efficiency from a functioning air conditioner too. Try these seven ways to cool down a hot room from your friends at Peace Heating and Air Conditioning, and remember to chill!
Limit Indoor Cooking.
Whether you’re using your oven, stovetop, or microwave, every appliance you run adds a certain amount of bled-off thermal energy into your environment. Sticking to outdoor grilling, cold salads, and sandwiches are ways to get around this problem. In a pinch, ordering in from your favorite food delivery service or going out to eat is also an option. Of course, part of cooking is cleaning. Put the summer heat to work for you by using a bucket of sun-warmed water to clean your dishes after eating, as this will help prevent the thermal transfer from the hot water you would otherwise use to do your washing!
Hang It Out to Dry.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that your dryer is one of the most heat-intensive appliances in your home. If you can, line-dry your clothes and linens in the wind and sun rather than running your dryer. This will save you money on your power bill during the hot summer months and prevent your dryer from heating up the house. If you must run the dryer, do it after sundown with your home’s windows open and fans set up to help circulate the air in your home.
It’s Curtains!
Keeping your curtains and blinds closed and investing in heavy-duty blackout drapes can help prevent a lot of external solar and heat energy from infiltrating your home in the first place. This is especially true of windows facing west and south, as these windows are more likely to get more intense sun exposure during the day. In a pinch, you can also use blankets or sheets to line your windows and serve the same purpose. Granted, this method won’t look as nice as designer drapes and blinds from your favorite home goods store, but when you need a fast way to cool down your home, blankets and bed linens get the job done!
Take a Cold Shower.
A quick blast of hot water to clean off the grime and sweat of the day followed by a long session under a cool shower can help you chill out for an hour or more. Bonus points if you let your hair dry on its own rather than running a hair dryer or even toweling off, because the evaporation of the water will help keep you cooler for longer. And on the truly unbearable hot days, especially if you can’t get to a river or lake, taking a cool bath is a great way to beat the heat without warming up the house!
Your Biggest Fans
Creating a cross-breeze by positioning two fans so one is pulling outside air into the house and the other is sucking inside air out is a wonderfully efficient way to keep your home cool during the hottest days. You can also use your bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans to help draw heated indoor air out of your house. Some people like to place damp cloths over the fan that pulls outside air into the home, because again, evaporation is your friend when it comes to keeping your cool!
Take A Screen Break.
We’ve gotten so used to using smartphones, tablets, computers, and TVs all the time that we often forget electronics also generate heat! Limiting your screen time during the hottest parts of the day does more than just keeping your house a couple of degrees cooler, though. Turning off the screens can also help you and the ones you love reconnect in the real world, helping to keep domestic harmony intact and reducing the likelihood of frayed tempers caused by being overheated and cranky. Instead of going for the screens, consider playing a board or card game or talking about everyone’s day or week!
Lights Out.
Just like with screens and monitors, electronics, and appliances, conventional light bulbs shed a certain amount of heat energy in the process of creating light and normal operation. Switching to LED or CFL lights, which are more energy-efficient and don’t produce as much heat, can help keep your home cooler when you absolutely must have light for whatever reason. However, when you have the opportunity, it’s better to just keep the lights off, especially during the hottest parts of the day.
We at Peace Heating and Air Conditioning hope you’ve found these tips useful and that they’ll help you and your family stay comfortable in the summer heat. If you have any other suggestions, tips, tricks, or tactics for keeping your home cool, we’d love to hear about them in the comments below. Remember, even if your air conditioning is working fine, you can still use these tips to keep your home energy bill lower and get more life, reliability, and efficiency from your home’s HVAC system. It’s just one more way of helping you and your family keep your cool through the hot summer months from your friends Peace Heating and Air Conditioning, “Where peace of mind meets heating and air conditioning!” For all your HVAC maintenance, service, repair, and replacement needs during the summer and year-round, we invite you to call us at (704) 746-9723 or click here to contact us through our website!
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