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Where I live the summer's get pretty hot and muggy, many times temps will be 90s and 100s, with humidity at or above 50 percent. And if I ran the A/C, my electric bill would be close to or above $400 a month, way more than I can afford! So I came up with a way to stay comfortable without running up the A/C bill.
I put two 20 inch box fans in each room that's occupied. One is put in a window that does not get the afternoon sun, and it is blowing into the house.
The other is put in a window on the opposite side of the room, blowing out. This way it creates a draft and the out-blowing fan pulls the air through the room. I do this and many times it's brought my indoor temps down by approximately 20 degrees! I rarely have to turn the a/c on, except on the very hottest days.
The front of my house faces directly into the hot summer sun, so another thing I do is I go to the automotive department of Wal-Mart and buy the window film that is supposed to go on the car windows. I buy the one that only allows 5 percent of the light through. I cover all of my windows on the front of the house with this film. The film allows me to see out, but doesn't allow hardly any hot sun to come in.
After summer is over when it's time to take the film down, I tape wax paper to it covering the entire sheet. Then I take a dowel the width of the film plus 2 inches (for handles) and simply roll it off the window. Then it's easy to re-use the next summer.
Between the fans and the film, my summer time electric bill dropped from about $400 to less than $150. Well worth the time it takes to set this up!
Oh, I almost forgot the animals! When it does start getting a little warm, I can always strip off some clothes or wear something much cooler. Poor pets can't do that. So if they get uncomfortable, I take a wet wash cloth (or towel if you have big dogs) and make them lay down on the kitchen floor where it's cool. I put the washcloth so that it covers their chest and belly. I also put another wet cloth across their head. They don't like it but it cools them off. Especially if I set a real small fan so that it blows lightly on them.
If that's not enough for them, I soak them down with water, then towel dry them enough so they don't drip and let them go.
For the cat, LOL that's another matter! Now that's a battle! But I take him and put him in the sink and douse him with cool water. I towel him dry just enough so he's not dripping and let him go. The cool water keeps him cool for hours.
By Cricketnc from Parkton, NC
By
04/07/2010
Being a Florida girl, I know exactly what you are talking about, and I do the same techniques! Even for my pets......but, not the cat. He'd never let me get him wet! :)
By
04/06/2010
I love your ideas - I'm in Australia just coming out of the hot summer period - would have used these ideas - will save it for the next hot season - our air con was running almost all of the summer including overnight
By
04/06/2010
Actually the cheapest way to cool your house nicely is to go back to window units. Why cool the whole house if you are all in one room? Why cool the living room and kitchen when everyone is asleep? You will be surprised at how little it costs. You can buy a nice energy effecient unit for 100-160 dollars. It is at least worth that to use at night and turn the central off.
Below you can read previous posts and comments about this topic. The discussions on this page has been archived 1 time. Select a discussion and read the feedback here.
(Archived Apr 05, 2010)Keep House Cool Without AC
In the morning, I close all of them and just use a small tabletop or floor fan to keep the naturally cooled air moving. You'd be surprised by what a difference it makes to have air moving instead of using the AC. I "chase the sun" during the day, pulling down blinds to avoid the sun as the day progresses.
Keep in mind, too, that televisions, computers, etc, all put out significant heat, so keep that to a minimum or just BBQ as much as possible and use a small or Energy Star TV. An hour before bedtime, I may check the temperature in the house and, if it's too high (above 76F), then I turn on the AC for about an hour.
After that, open the windows to let the cool night air back in. Using the ventilator fan in the bathroom also helps suck the hot air out, and window fans are great for pumping the cool air in during the night. My electric bill drops significantly during the summer, because I'm not using the HVAC system to heat or cool the house.
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