6 Ways to Keep Your Home Cool Without AC

Daox · 06-16-10, 07:16 AM

Most are pretty well known I think, but still worth posting. I have yet to do the wet sheet idea. Most of the time I just open up the house at night, put a few fans in the upstairs windows sucking air out, and that keeps it cool enough through the day.

6 Ways to Keep Your Home Cool Without AC | EcoSalon

osolemio · 07-09-10, 01:33 AM

I find that at times, the focus is solely on temperature, whereas one should consider both temperature AND humidity.

Where I live, it does not become THAT hot really, yet still hot enough to make for uncomfortable nights with bad sleep. Most houses here do NOT have A/C, only heating.

As long as the air is not too HUMID, most people can accept temperature up to 80F without too much discomfort, while even 70F, if humid, can be unbearable.

I have thought of a simplified A/C system, in combination with the seasonal heat storage (underhouse heat storage in the clay). So for those days I need cooling/dehumidifying, I would send the extracted heat into the heat storage, instead of venting it out of the house. That way, the energy is not wasted, but joins into the system of long term heat storage (seasonal).

To have more dry air at night would be quite nice. The biggest issue I have with making a simple system for A/C is the condensation, without making bacteria, fungi or other unwanted growths!

Ryland · 07-09-10, 11:32 AM

Humidity really will make you suffer, yesterday it was dry and 90F here and it wasn't to bad, earlier in the week tho it was 75F with 90% humidity and my cloths were soaking wet with sweat.
One of the biggest mistakes I see people do is to open windows when it's hot out, even bigger is to put a fan in a window in the day time! moving air feels cool even if the warm air is warmer then the stagnant air, so get a indoor outdoor thermometer and find out the real temperature, my out door sensor is in the shade on the north side of the house and the indoor sensor is in the kitchen so I do get readings at the far ends of cool outside and warm end of the inside and still the reading says it is cooler inside then it is outside most days, the other thing I started doing is putting a small thermometer on the fan with the air blowing over it, that way it's easy to tell if the air I am drawing in to the house really is cooler then what I already have, turning the fans on late at night or early morning and turning them off late morning as the temp is starting to go up seems to work best as mornings are the coolest time of the day.
Humidity is also key, my indoor outdoor thermometer also reads humidity inside, if I open a window or turn a fan on I look at the humidity level and if the humidity starts to go up then I close the window and turn off the fan.

Clev · 07-09-10, 06:58 PM

We suffered last summer through being hot and sweaty AND paying a high electricity bill. We have a 10,000 BTU window A/C in the living room, but because of its positioning, it kinda blows across the back of the TV and into an area where nobody sits.

I fixed that this year by putting an oscillating fan in front of the unit, aimed to sweep across the couch. It captures and puts the cooling where it's needed, and we've found that we only need to run it for a few minutes at a time to cool us down right away, instead of cooling all 400 sq. ft of living room and kitchen to try to catch some wayward cooling.

We also keep the bedroom, bathroom and entryway doors closed during the day to keep the cooled area smaller. A big problem is the upstairs (A-frame, no insulation at all) leaking heat down the stairs. There's no way to put a door at the top of the stairs that I can figure, so I'm considering trying some curtains or something to try to slow the heat creep during the day, but which can be opened at night when we open up the house.

Xringer · 07-11-10, 08:09 AM

This morning, it's cool out, but Humidity=98%
All the outside glass has dew on it. So, I'm trying out the Sanyo's Dehumidifier mode.
In less than an hour, the living room has gone from 60% to 51%..

It's been pretty hot since the 4th of July.. We have had the Sanyo running 24-7, set between 74 & 72 degrees F.
We are cooling our whole house, except for one small unused bedroom.

From 7/4/2010 until 7/11/2010
---------------High-----Low-----Average
Temperature: 96.8 °F 51.4 °F 74.9 °F
Dew Point: 74.0 °F 42.7 °F 61.5 °F
Humidity: 97.0% 27.0% 66.1%

Weather Station History : Weather Underground

It's been cooling down at night, but the humidity is awful.
This weather isn't real hot compared to Texas, but it's hot for this area.
The house picks up a good amount of solar gain during the day. Okay in the winter, but no so good in the summer.

Date-----kWhs used by Sanyo ASHP
7/4/2010 6.86
7/5/2010 6.97
7/6/2010 8.82
7/7/2010 7.26
7/8/2010 7.53
7/9/2010 6.97
7/10/2010 5.82

50.23 kWh = $10.04 or $1.43 per day average.

7 x 24=168 hours / 50.23 kWh = .300 kWhs. So we are using about 300 watts, 24-7.

So, if we cut back on using the electric oven & stove top, watching the Plasma TV,
using the toaster, keep those Incan lights off, don't buy that Iced Coffee..

We shouldn't feel the impact of that extra 300 watts we are using this week.

Anyways, For the few weeks that we need AC in the summer around here,
I think it's worth ten bucks a week to stay cool.. (And my wife loves it)!

I highly recommend the Sanyo Mini-split for people who don't have a lot of money
to spend on kWhs or elaborate (complicated) heating & cooling systems.

Cheers,
Rich

Xringer · 07-28-10, 08:13 AM

Apparently, Global Warming is back with a vengeance. Cities around here are having the hottest July on record..
Today is the 28th of July and our Sanyo AC has used 108kW hours so far (during July).
3.857 kW hours per day, cost us 78 cents per day. (Our rates are some of the highest in the USA).

IMHO, this is month wasn't the best month for trying to get along without AC..

Considering we are paying about $10 a day, just in real estate taxes,
78 cents/day for power during the worse heat we have ever had,
doesn't really seem that bad.

Heck, we spend $12 a week ($626.4 per year) for candle pin bowling!
That's an average of $1.71 a day.. More than twice our AC cost for July days.

Running the Sanyo is one of the cheaper things we are doing this summer.

Cheers,
Rich

06-16-10, 07:16 AM	#1
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	6 Ways to Keep Your Home Cool Without AC Most are pretty well known I think, but still worth posting. I have yet to do the wet sheet idea. Most of the time I just open up the house at night, put a few fans in the upstairs windows sucking air out, and that keeps it cool enough through the day. 6 Ways to Keep Your Home Cool Without AC \| EcoSalon __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

07-09-10, 01:33 AM	#2
osolemio Hong Kong Join Date: May 2010 Location: Hong Kong Posts: 108 Thanks: 20 Thanked 17 Times in 13 Posts	Temperature and humidity I find that at times, the focus is solely on temperature, whereas one should consider both temperature AND humidity. Where I live, it does not become THAT hot really, yet still hot enough to make for uncomfortable nights with bad sleep. Most houses here do NOT have A/C, only heating. As long as the air is not too HUMID, most people can accept temperature up to 80F without too much discomfort, while even 70F, if humid, can be unbearable. I have thought of a simplified A/C system, in combination with the seasonal heat storage (underhouse heat storage in the clay). So for those days I need cooling/dehumidifying, I would send the extracted heat into the heat storage, instead of venting it out of the house. That way, the energy is not wasted, but joins into the system of long term heat storage (seasonal). To have more dry air at night would be quite nice. The biggest issue I have with making a simple system for A/C is the condensation, without making bacteria, fungi or other unwanted growths! __________________ Space heating/cooling and water heating by solar, Annual Geo Solar, drainwater heat recovery, Solar PV (to grid), rainwater recovery and more ... Installing all this in a house from 1980, Copenhagen, Denmark. Living in Hong Kong. Main goal: Developing "Diffuse Light Concentration" technology for solar thermal.

07-11-10, 08:09 AM	#5
Xringer Lex Parsimoniae Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Woburn, MA Posts: 4,918 Thanks: 114 Thanked 250 Times in 230 Posts	20 cents per kWh, we can afford AC. This morning, it's cool out, but Humidity=98% All the outside glass has dew on it. So, I'm trying out the Sanyo's Dehumidifier mode. In less than an hour, the living room has gone from 60% to 51%.. It's been pretty hot since the 4th of July.. We have had the Sanyo running 24-7, set between 74 & 72 degrees F. We are cooling our whole house, except for one small unused bedroom. From 7/4/2010 until 7/11/2010 ---------------High-----Low-----Average Temperature: 96.8 °F 51.4 °F 74.9 °F Dew Point: 74.0 °F 42.7 °F 61.5 °F Humidity: 97.0% 27.0% 66.1% Weather Station History : Weather Underground It's been cooling down at night, but the humidity is awful. This weather isn't real hot compared to Texas, but it's hot for this area. The house picks up a good amount of solar gain during the day. Okay in the winter, but no so good in the summer. Date-----kWhs used by Sanyo ASHP 7/4/2010 6.86 7/5/2010 6.97 7/6/2010 8.82 7/7/2010 7.26 7/8/2010 7.53 7/9/2010 6.97 7/10/2010 5.82 50.23 kWh = $10.04 or $1.43 per day average. 7 x 24=168 hours / 50.23 kWh = .300 kWhs. So we are using about 300 watts, 24-7. So, if we cut back on using the electric oven & stove top, watching the Plasma TV, using the toaster, keep those Incan lights off, don't buy that Iced Coffee.. We shouldn't feel the impact of that extra 300 watts we are using this week. Anyways, For the few weeks that we need AC in the summer around here, I think it's worth ten bucks a week to stay cool.. (And my wife loves it)! I highly recommend the Sanyo Mini-split for people who don't have a lot of money to spend on kWhs or elaborate (complicated) heating & cooling systems. Cheers, Rich Last edited by Xringer; 07-11-10 at 08:19 AM..

07-09-10, 11:32 AM	#3
Ryland Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Western Wisconsin. Posts: 913 Thanks: 127 Thanked 82 Times in 71 Posts	Humidity really will make you suffer, yesterday it was dry and 90F here and it wasn't to bad, earlier in the week tho it was 75F with 90% humidity and my cloths were soaking wet with sweat. One of the biggest mistakes I see people do is to open windows when it's hot out, even bigger is to put a fan in a window in the day time! moving air feels cool even if the warm air is warmer then the stagnant air, so get a indoor outdoor thermometer and find out the real temperature, my out door sensor is in the shade on the north side of the house and the indoor sensor is in the kitchen so I do get readings at the far ends of cool outside and warm end of the inside and still the reading says it is cooler inside then it is outside most days, the other thing I started doing is putting a small thermometer on the fan with the air blowing over it, that way it's easy to tell if the air I am drawing in to the house really is cooler then what I already have, turning the fans on late at night or early morning and turning them off late morning as the temp is starting to go up seems to work best as mornings are the coolest time of the day. Humidity is also key, my indoor outdoor thermometer also reads humidity inside, if I open a window or turn a fan on I look at the humidity level and if the humidity starts to go up then I close the window and turn off the fan.

07-09-10, 06:58 PM	#4
Clev Wannabe greenie Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Crestline, CA Posts: 74 Thanks: 1 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	We suffered last summer through being hot and sweaty AND paying a high electricity bill. We have a 10,000 BTU window A/C in the living room, but because of its positioning, it kinda blows across the back of the TV and into an area where nobody sits. I fixed that this year by putting an oscillating fan in front of the unit, aimed to sweep across the couch. It captures and puts the cooling where it's needed, and we've found that we only need to run it for a few minutes at a time to cool us down right away, instead of cooling all 400 sq. ft of living room and kitchen to try to catch some wayward cooling. We also keep the bedroom, bathroom and entryway doors closed during the day to keep the cooled area smaller. A big problem is the upstairs (A-frame, no insulation at all) leaking heat down the stairs. There's no way to put a door at the top of the stairs that I can figure, so I'm considering trying some curtains or something to try to slow the heat creep during the day, but which can be opened at night when we open up the house.

07-28-10, 08:13 AM	#6
Xringer Lex Parsimoniae Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Woburn, MA Posts: 4,918 Thanks: 114 Thanked 250 Times in 230 Posts	Apparently, Global Warming is back with a vengeance. Cities around here are having the hottest July on record.. Today is the 28th of July and our Sanyo AC has used 108kW hours so far (during July). 3.857 kW hours per day, cost us 78 cents per day. (Our rates are some of the highest in the USA). IMHO, this is month wasn't the best month for trying to get along without AC.. Considering we are paying about $10 a day, just in real estate taxes, 78 cents/day for power during the worse heat we have ever had, doesn't really seem that bad. Heck, we spend $12 a week ($626.4 per year) for candle pin bowling! That's an average of $1.71 a day.. More than twice our AC cost for July days. Running the Sanyo is one of the cheaper things we are doing this summer. Cheers, Rich