As noted in our article about weather proverbs, what the skies and winds are doing outside dictates a lot about our lives and daily actions. When it’s hot outside, and that heat seeps into your home, it’s hard to muster up the motivation to do just about anything. You’re damp, sticky, sweaty — it’s just plain uncomfortable.
So are you supposed to languish in the summer months and blankly stare at the boob tube while sweat drips down your forehead? Of course not! If you have air conditioning (70% of U.S. homes do), you can always blast it and create a nice wintry environment for yourself. But that uses a ton of energy and jacks up your bills. Plus, the artificial chill just feels wrong when it’s so warm outside. Isn’t there a way to find a happy medium and be comfortable while still feeling like it’s summer out there? Darn, right there is!
Below you’ll find tips to keep your house cooler when the thermometer creeps up and up, ways to make your A/C use more efficient, as well as what you can do to keep your own person more comfortable.
Windows/Blinds
Open windows at night. In places and during times of year where it substantially cools at night (overnight temps in the mid-70s or lower), pop the windows open once the sun goes down. You’ll be amazed at how quickly the warm air is replaced with cool, refreshing air.
Better yet, utilize fans (or a whole house fan if you have one) to create tunnels of cool air coming into your home. To get the most out of your efforts with this method, crack a window on the main floor of the house, while widely opening a window on the second floor on the opposite side of the home, with a fan in that one sucking the air out. Since heat rises, you’ll more quickly get the hot air out and cool air in.
Keep blinds closed during the day. Up to 30% of unwanted heat in your home is coming through your windows via the greenhouse effect — sunlight and heat enter, but cannot escape. The remedy is to keep your blinds closed during the day; if this makes your home feel too much like a cave, focus especially on west- and south-facing windows. Doing this can actually lower the mid-day temperature of your home by almost 20 degrees.
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To make this action even more efficient, get light-colored blinds that will reflect rather than absorb the sun’s heat, and open them again at night when it’s cool. You can even place cardboard in the windows to further block heat from entering.
Appliances
As discussed above, windows are one of the biggest sources of unwanted heat in the home. The other biggest violator: appliances. The obvious is the oven, but all appliances throw off a lot of heat when running. Below are tips that will mitigate their heat output. I cover some A/C tips in this section as well to maximize its use and efficiency.
Do chores at night. Laundry machines throw off a lot of heat. The washer is running hot water, and driers are obviously using heated air which inevitably escapes and radiates out from the machine. Now, you can’t get away with not doing laundry (hopefully), but you can ensure it’s not heating your home during the hottest parts of the day. Do your laundry loads at night to keep things cooler. Also, regularly clean the dryer vent for a quicker cycle.
Your dishwasher also puts out a lot of heat. Like with laundry, run it at night to minimize the heating effect. If you have a quiet model, start it before you go to bed and you’ll wake up with clean dishes!
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Skip the oven/stove; grill more. Any usage of the oven or even the stovetop is going to heat your home. So what’s one to do? Dust off the grill and get comfortable with it! You can grill many of the things you’d be making in an oven or on the stovetop — meat, pizza, veggies, fish, and even desserts like cobbler!
If you do use the stove, make sure to turn the fan on, especially if it vents to the exterior. If it just recirculates the air, it won’t cool things much, but it will at least improve airflow.
Keep the furnace fan on. Most thermostats allow you to manually turn the fan on that blows hot air through your home in the winter. In the summer, that fan can be run on its own to circulate and more evenly distribute the cooler air from the basement or main level. It also acts as another way to keep the air flowing and moving, which makes you feel cooler (more on that below).
Maximize your air conditioner. If you have A/C, the smoother and more efficient it runs, the better it will cool your house when called upon. Installing a programmable thermostat can help this process, rather than you fiddling with the temperature every morning and evening. Summer temperature recommendations are as follows:
- 75 degrees, +/- 1-2 degrees, during hours you’re home (the warmer the setting, the more energy efficient; energy.gov recommends 78 degrees, which seems a tad warm to me personally)
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- 80 degrees, +/- 1-2, during hours you’re away
- Sleeping: it’s well-researched that people sleep better when it’s cooler. If there’s a time to crank the AC a little bit, the overnight hours might surprisingly offer the most bang for the buck. Experiment with a few different temp settings to see how you feel in the morning, and go from there.
These temperatures will feel very warm at first, but after a week or two, your body will adjust and you’ll get comfortable again. So don’t deviate too much from these recommendations until you’ve tried it out for a full week or so.
Change your AC filters regularly. Every 4-6 weeks, especially during the months of heaviest use, change out your air filters if you have an air conditioner (check them more frequently if you’re running the furnace fan). A dirty filter not only reduces air quality, but also the efficiency of airflow. Know your filter size, and always have a few on hand.
