staying cool


Another record setting hot summer is upon us.  

There's many ways to stay cool.  We are blessed on the West Coast with ocean breezes - until we're not.  Who would've thought that British Colombia and the Yukon Territory would see consecutive days above 100F!? or Portland at 116F - yikes!  Global weirding indeed.  

Keeping our body cool is essential to good health.  You've probably gotten lotsa tips on how to stay cool:  staying indoors, in the shade, resting from noon to 6pm, drinking lotsa water, wet towels on your forehead and neck, on and on...

Here's a few suggestions on how to stay cool inside your place: 

1) Basic first steps to staying cool indoors: You best line of defense against having a hot house/room is to prevent warm outside air and sun rays from coming in.  

    First make your area dark all day.  Get some curtains (ideally thermal) and make sure your windows and doors are closed and weatherized properly (caulking, sealant strips, etc).  One of the most effective ways to keep your house/room cool is to have tree shade.  If you can't plant trees, perhaps relocate your  cool room to where there is shade (or at least where the afternoon sun doesn't shine).

    Next try to create as much thermal mass inside as practically possible.  I've put 55gallon barrel drums hidden inside the middle of the house and filled them with water.  You can also pick one room and focus on making it your 'cool room'. 

2) Get a fan or evaporative cooler.  

We're lucky in the West to have relatively low humidity.  Most places west of the Rockies have humidity levels below 30% and can take advantage of this by blowing air across tap water and dropping the temperature between 10-25F. 
That means you can play the dewpoint curves.  I barely remember the word 'psychometric' from Thermodynamic classes, so pardone my rustiness... it's basically a chart that shows the moisture content of air at a specific temperature (aka wet bulb temp).  


One big caveat to fans:  if the temperature is above 95F  TURN THE FANs OFF.  Blowing hot air around will only make you hotter - not cool you down.  Also, if the humidity outside is above 30%, evaporative coolers are not very effective.


2a) You can buy or build your own evaporative cooler.  

DIY evap coolers are easy to make.  I made one several years ago out of a 5 gallon plastic tub with an aquarium pump, pvc pipe with holes dripping water into a filter, and four computer fans blowing the cold air thru.  Here's one example:   https://youtu.be/DJN3lwVLGxs

I've seen other DIY units where they use a styrofoam cooler, put ice in it, cut out big holes on top for a USB fan and exhaust elbows.  Heck you can put out some trays of ice water and have a fan blow the surface cold air.  The ice will melt fast, but it'll give you a brief jolt of very cold air. 

3) Root Cellar - 

I like hanging around in the root cellar during super hot afternoons.  Its underground location makes it cooler than the main house.  


4) Whole house fans.  Gone are the days of flushing out the house with cool morning air.  It's not so cool anymore!  The biggest increase in temperatures has not been the daily highs,  it's been the morning low temperatures that have increased WAY more than daily highs.  

5) Last, but not least (it's the most popular in the USA) is to install air conditioning.  The new highly efficient heat pumps are the way to go.  If you can get a geothermal air-to-air or water exchanger type heat pump, you'll save over 50% of the electricity.  (btw:  A/C is part of a positive feedback loop:  the more A/C installed the warmer global temperatures will become!  yikes!!)

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Additional ways to cool down: 

* GET USED TO IT!  Our body has an automatic thermostat.  Our skin's sweat beads provide natural cooling.  But with all our A/C controlled environments (ever been to a Starbucks in the summer = freezer city!) we are not giving our bodies a chance to use its automatic thermostat and therefore we feel way hotter.  

*  Put a wet towel on your forehead and/or neck.

* Take a cold shower!  don't dry off - let the surrounding air dry your skin as you feel the evaporative cooling effect. 

* Take a siesta.  Most of the world around the equator enjoys a nice long siesta during the heat of the day. Just tell the boss you have an important, long meeting :-)







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