The heat is coming

It's been going back and forth between chilly and almost too hot.. I'm really waiting for the 2-3 week span of over 100 days that we normally get near the end of summer.

But, for those of you who live somewhere that doesn't have winter 2/3 of the year, this is probably the perfect time to share some stay-cool-cheap tips that I've used.

I'm not a big fan of overly-cold cooling methods, so anything involving ice in direct contact with any part of the body, or very cold showers... I'm not including those.. :p

We don't use AC, even though we have a window unit. I think since we got it from my step-dad, some 3 years ago, we've used it twice, for a day or two at a time at most. I'm not sure if that says something about the house, us, or the shit weather we get, or just that the other tricks work well enough that that sort of electricity drain isn't necessary. Whatever the reason, I've gone most of my life without AC, including the 3 years I spent in Houston, and I don't see that changing now, just because I can stretch my budget to afford it, if I eally really wanted to.

So I imagine I'm not the only person who either can't afford or doesn't want to pay for AC, yet a lot of chronic pain sufferers don't deal well with heat. In the spirit of making life better, I thought I might share some crazy tricks that really help you beat the heat, cliche though that statement may be.

On to the crazy ideas!

Everyone says "use a fan in a window" but I've got an improvement over such an easy concept. I used to live in a house with no functional venting on the second floor; no heat, no cool. I put a box fan into a window, airflow pointed out, and duct-taped cardboard around the fan, functionally sealing it so that air couldn't blow back in around it. In summer, a second window -usually in the basement, but any shaded window in a cool room will work- is opened just a bit to allow air movement, and the fan is left on indefinitely. This works best for a bedroom window or any apartment window, as larger houses generally need a bit more than this. My current house (~1500 sqft) is a bit too large for this to be the only life-saver. If you have a large enough space, and it isn't anything near air-tight, this can also be used in winter, even in the coldest of areas. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's entirely true, and I've done it. It's probably not great for the heat bill, and almost certainly not better than a space heater, but when your options are be cold or waste a little heat, well the answer seems kinda obvious.

Use white tagboard or paint some cardboard white, and tape it to any windows that get direct sunlight. A matte finish works best, and reflects more light than gloss or semigloss (crazy, right?). This will reflect a good amount of the sun, and prevent it from heating up your space. If you can put the white material between the window sashes and the screen/storm window, even better, because the warmed material would never come into direct contact with the air in the room. If your area allows it, foil can also be used with great success for this, however care must be taken; if installed poorly into a window that gets direct light, even for 5 minutes a day, the reflection and concentrating of the light rays CAN AND DO melt or discolor siding, even on the neighbors' houses. Trust me on this one; I used to work warranty claims for a window company (FYI, that is never covered by warranty, and usually not by insurance unless the damage was done to you and not by you)

If your room is quite dark because you are trying to keep the sun out, try putting mirrors around in places where light does come in (because hey, if you aren't using AC, you probably have a window open somewhere!) such as a mirror across from the window, or even a few under the window, angled to reflect light. This will reflect the light around the room, increasing how bright it looks. Not strictly a heat-buster, but since you won't be keeping as many artificial lights on, it can certainly help! If possible, open windows should be in shaded locations, but enough light still comes in for mirrors to help substantially.

Swap your lights for LED bulbs, and unplug all electronics which aren't in use. This seems more like an energy-saving tip, but remember; energy converts into heat in all electronic devices we have, bar none. We don't have the capacity to make waste-heat-free devices, currently, since heat is one of the main byproducts of the electrical resistance required for said devices to work. LED light bulbs produce significantly less heat than other types of lights, and because of this lack of waste, they use a lot less energy. I have replaced all of my commonly-used lights with LEDs, and I adore them. I get mine at Menards for about $4 each, and they save at least that in the first year of use, if swapping from incandescent. They stay cool enough that I can handle even a still-on light bulb that has been on all day. Lights used infrequently can be replaced with CFL bulbs, as well, and even that helps. To make this more understandable; the bulbs I use are 65 watt equivalent, which means the same light output as a 65 watt incandescent bulb. For a 65-equivalent CFL, the power draw is 21 watts, and for an LED, it's about 9. Just think about that; same light output between the incandescent and LED, but 56 watts less energy, which means 56 watts less HEAT.. per bulb!

Unplugging devices is basically the same concept. All electronic devices draw power whenever they are plugged in, even though, to my understanding, they have an internal switch that is supposed to prevent that. Over time, it wears down, and current feeds into the device, even though it's off. This is especially true of large devices like TVs, game consoles, and computers, which use a lot of energy, and anything with an LED indicator light. If the light is on, you are wasting electricity and generating heat. Even if the light isn't on, if the device is plugged in, you will be using power. My solution was to plug everything in to power strips that have on/off breaker switches, organized into power groups; stuff not used daily -video game systems, for example- have a power strip that stays off most of the time, while commonly-used devices like TV and computer are wired to a single strip so they can easily be turned on during the day. The difference between having the devices plugged directly into an outlet vs. using a power strip is that when you turn off the power strip, the circuit is interrupted, and no power flows through the strip, so it can't even reach the device to be wasted. You can't do that with standard outlets (although GFCI outlets are good for this).

Invest in a small kiddie pool or a large sturdy tote. I know, whaaaaat? Even if you live in an apartment, a cool foot soak can easily turn even the most miserably hot, still night, into an entirely comfortable (and skin-nourishing!!) experience. If you have enough space in your living room, move the table and set up a cool foot soak (if you use a kiddie pool, get one that is hard-sided; you do NOT want to risk it going flat and flooding the living room). Water contact causes you to lose body heat 25 times faster than air contact, which is why you get hypothermia so much faster in water than air, but the same applies to small temperature differences, as well. As long as the water is colder than about 80 degrees F, it will help you feel better. As a bonus, when you no longer need or want your foot soak, you can use the water (assuming you didn't add anything to it) to water houseplants!

Close off any view of outside, and watch a string of winter-themed movies or shows. Seriously, it really does help. Since we generally watch winter-themed movies in winter, and the sight of snow reminds us of cold, this is purely a psychological trick, but a reasonably effective one. Just resist the temptation to look out the window to verify the weather, and allow your suspension of disbelief to take over.

I find that cold showers just make me miserable really quickly afterwards; your body is convinced that it's now cold, and you thus need to conserve body heat. As contrary as it sounds, though, a hot shower on a hot day is marvelous. For much the same reason as the cooling problem, the body thinks it's REALLY hot after a hot shower, and that it needs to cool very quickly. Because any temp post-shower is cooler than during-shower, you feel better, and the effect lasts longer. Best to air-dry. I find this actually makes me quite chilled for a long while, while a cold shower leads me to sweat within minutes of getting out.

If you want to do outdoor activities, pick up a parasol or cheap umbrella; the sun/shade difference is really quite impressive, and you aren't stuck hanging out under trees. I took a parasol on a whale-watching boat ride a few years ago, and it was easily the best choice I've made about sun protection in a long time. A parasol/umbrella and a utility clamp combine to make an excellent chair shade on-the-cheap, and the whole setup is great for sitting around the outdoor kiddie pool, soaking feet and having some frozen drinks.

Frozen drinks bring me to my next point, though; they don't cool you down. Not really. They may make you feel cooler, briefly, but similar to a cold shower, the extreme cold temp of the ice actually shocks your system, and can increase heat output. The best thing to drink on a hot day is just-cooler-than-room-temp water, something in the 60-80 degree range, depending on preference. Just like the shower trick, though, you CAN drink hot fluids when it's hot out, and for a very similar reason, it will make you feel cooler after a brief uncomfortable period.

If you have a desk fan and a spray bottle, you can mist yourself when it's really bad, but beware; after the water dries, you'll feel warmer than you were before. This trick is really only good for the worst of the hot days, because you have to keep spraying yourself to stay cool. It does work, just not the best.

With a bit of metal tube, an aquarium water pump (from amazon, you can get a decent one for about $8-12) a foam cooler, some ice, and a fan, you can make a dehumidifier/air conditioner. This will only work until the ice melts completely, so it's not really a long-term solution, but it can be super useful on really humid days. You can probably find a way to add dry ice to it to make it last longer, but I don't really know where to get that around here, so I haven't tried it. Either way, I found directions for it online. There are also directions to convert an old window AC unit into a dehumidifier for the house, but I haven't tried that, either.

If you want cold coffee (iced-style) but don't want it watered down (seriously, eew) you can pour what's left of your pot into ice cube trays and pop them in the freezer. Add a few of these to your coffee for a wonderful iced-but-not-thinned morning cup. Whiskey stones are also quite good for this. Avoid using those plastic water-filled ice cube things, though; not only does heat tend to increase leaching of chemicals from plastics, the sudden shift in temp can cause them to break.

If you have access to your ventilation system, and especially if you keep your furnace in the basement, keep your fans blowing year-round. If your always-on furnace fan isn't sufficient, consider investing in in-line vent fans; they aren't too pricey, and they drastically increase air movement, though they do tend to be a bit on the loud side. If you have the option, have your air drawn from the basement in summer; the basement is a natural heat sink, generally staying right around 55 degrees F (~12C) so circulating that air will help keep everything much cooler. This trick works best when you keep it running this way for days at a time, because it does take time for the heat to leach out and equalize.

Just like with heating in winter, close off any rooms (ideally, corner or south-facing rooms) not in use, but keep windows open in them. The closed rooms will act as a heat/cool buffer zone, and help to regulate the overall temp, while also decreasing the cubic footage that needs to stay cool. By keeping windows open, with a fan blowing out if you have one to spare, you ensure that heat and moisture don't build up beyond the ambient outdoor levels, preventing humidity-related damage as well as preventing a pocket of excessive heat from being in contact with the rest of the space (through walls/door). This helps most when it's hotter outside than inside, and you don't have windows open throughout the house. Rooms can be opened again when the temp falls below whatever comfort point you like, to maximize air flow. I have a second floor south-facing room that spans the entire front of the house, and that sucker gets amazingly hot very ridiculously quickly. Closing it off, having light-blocking curtains, and keeping the windows open has made HUGE improvements to the temp of the rest of the house. And with just one room!

If you have a window AC, and more than one story, put it somewhere on the second floor, close to the middle of the structure or near the stairs, make sure your ventilation system is running, and put a circulating fan in front of it to blow the air into the hall. This can keep most average-size homes a reasonable temperature, but don't expect it to keep the whole house at 50 degrees. Cool air, being more dense, sinks, and the heated air tends to be concentrated on the second floor anyway, so this strategy is very effective. As a bonus, if you have a non-bedroom you can put the unit in, it will keep noise levels manageable, and should keep most rooms fairly comfortable. This couples very nicely with the window fan with cardboard mentioned above.

Share your odd tips and tricks for staying cool, I love learning news hacks to make life easier!!!