What are your advices to cool homes without AC ?
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Pretty good (but long) answer with historic solutions here : https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2025/06/dressing-and-undressing-the-home/
My short answer : do not let the sunshine in (stores, awnings, shutters), let it flow let it go (air), I like big walls and I cannot lie
Came here to point to this.
Also, if outside noise is preventing one from keeping the windows open over night, get custom-fitted silicone earplugs.
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Hi there, time to share ways to keep your home cool during hot times
So ok, usual ways I use:
- open everything during night
- close everything during day
- external sheets on windows without shutters
- some curtains to prevent heat from going upstairs
I was also wondering if plants could also help inside, any ideas ?
Share your advices !
When its hot, avoid cooking indoors if you can. Especially iff you dont have proper exhaust in your kitchen. Buy some food that require less heat or none. Sandwiches, Fruits, Salads, etc.
Keep your home cool and yourself too.
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Yeah the mozzy mesh is a life saver, for both mosquitoes and flying termite/ant swarm after rain, but do keep in mind that meshes will restrict some air flow. Still, it's better than nothing, and combine with that rooftop onion you might get better result.
I never knew what that rooftop onion does. But now that I know, that's another thing to fix.
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Lose weight. I'm totally serious. Thin people have much higher natural tolerance for heat.
It's no coincidence that so many developed countries have become addicted to AC. The fact is that most people there are now overweight and in many (USA most obviously) over 40% are literally obese. Conversely, AC is much less common in places like France and Japan, and it's not just because they're too cheap.
If you want to stay cool in a heatwave, it helps not to be wearing a blubber overcoat that you can't remove.
I mostly agree since it's healthy either way, but back when I was half my weight when I studied in a 4 seasons country, coming back to the year round hot and humid home country still makes me immediately sweat the moment I step out of the plane. Constantly felt like I always have a blanket on me. Anecdotal for sure, but I just want to say my piece.
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Aren't there AC systems that just evapourate water from municipal supplies to the atmosphere?
I mean, yes, I'd agree that blowing air over a standing water body isn't AC, but we're getting close.
You're thinking of a swamp cooler. In some places they work great, in other places they're next to useless.
Air conditioners are called that because they "condition" the air by not just cooling but also by reducing the humidity.
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Hi there, time to share ways to keep your home cool during hot times
So ok, usual ways I use:
- open everything during night
- close everything during day
- external sheets on windows without shutters
- some curtains to prevent heat from going upstairs
I was also wondering if plants could also help inside, any ideas ?
Share your advices !
Passive or Active Ventilation. The idea is to encourage air to pass through the home, which helps with removing heat from inside. Passive Ventilation would be opening windows, using wind catchers, etc. This depends on the design of your home, among other things that you probably don't really have control over. Active ventilation is the same idea, but you use strategically placed fans to induce good airflow. For example, if you have two windows that are opposite to each other, you can place a fan at one window to intake air, and a fan at the other window as exhaust.
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Hi there, time to share ways to keep your home cool during hot times
So ok, usual ways I use:
- open everything during night
- close everything during day
- external sheets on windows without shutters
- some curtains to prevent heat from going upstairs
I was also wondering if plants could also help inside, any ideas ?
Share your advices !
If you can afford it, buy a single window AC unit, install it in your bedroom, and then live in there all summer. That's what my parents did when I was little and we lived in a house with no AC. If you can't afford that, a box fan in the window once the sun goes down, then shut it off in the early morning and close/black out the window/draw shades as soon as the sun is up to try and keep the cooler air in that one room for as long as possible.
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Lose weight. I'm totally serious. Thin people have much higher natural tolerance for heat.
It's no coincidence that so many developed countries have become addicted to AC. The fact is that most people there are now overweight and in many (USA most obviously) over 40% are literally obese. Conversely, AC is much less common in places like France and Japan, and it's not just because they're too cheap.
If you want to stay cool in a heatwave, it helps not to be wearing a blubber overcoat that you can't remove.
AC is much less common in places like France
It's everywhere around me (in France) because it's becoming too hot, whether people are fat or not.
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If you can afford it, buy a single window AC unit, install it in your bedroom, and then live in there all summer. That's what my parents did when I was little and we lived in a house with no AC. If you can't afford that, a box fan in the window once the sun goes down, then shut it off in the early morning and close/black out the window/draw shades as soon as the sun is up to try and keep the cooler air in that one room for as long as possible.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]What part of "without AC" did you fail to ducking understand?
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This works really well. I also open the downstairs windows. The hot air going up and out creates a draft effect, sucking in cold air from the downstairs windows.
I could never do this, I get swarmed by June bugs at about 850 everyday, it's like someone kicked a hornets nest outside my windows
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What part of "without AC" did you fail to ducking understand?
I mean, pretty much any person with central AC would read that as âwithout central AC.â And the answer would be the same: Fucking install AC. Installing central AC is too big of a project for most, so a window unit is a decent stopgap.
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If you live in a humid area, AC will become more and more valuable. Wet bulb temperature. At some point your sweat will no longer evaporate and you'll die. Climate change cometh.
Yeah, this recent heat is expected to cause deaths. Not only because of the heat itself, but because of the humidity. Humans can tolerate extremely high +100°F temps when itâs dry⌠But when you start cranking up the humidity, that tolerable temperature quickly begins to drop. At 100% humidity, that tolerable temperature is only in the mid 80âs. Above that point, even the best fans wonât help cool you. Because fans only work by evaporating sweat, and in high humidity that sweat doesnât evaporate.
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You're thinking of a swamp cooler. In some places they work great, in other places they're next to useless.
Air conditioners are called that because they "condition" the air by not just cooling but also by reducing the humidity.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Ah, okay. So not technically an AC unit then.
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Lose weight. I'm totally serious. Thin people have much higher natural tolerance for heat.
It's no coincidence that so many developed countries have become addicted to AC. The fact is that most people there are now overweight and in many (USA most obviously) over 40% are literally obese. Conversely, AC is much less common in places like France and Japan, and it's not just because they're too cheap.
If you want to stay cool in a heatwave, it helps not to be wearing a blubber overcoat that you can't remove.
Not disagreeing but none of my kids are at all fat and one is so hot-natured, it's not always just insulation. One of their cousins, too, she was just never cold and always hot.
I did always joke with my ex that I was built spare because I am from the hot part of the world, and he was padded because he was from Michigan.
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People in hot climates do not sit outside. They also do not open their windows. Because they're not insane.
Huh? I sit outside, with a fan on, in up to 35/95F in the shade. And it's humid here. Outside hot does not feel as bad as inside hot, and you do learn to be still and cool enough. It is not weather to go running, but sitting, in the shade, with a fan? No problem.
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Hi there, time to share ways to keep your home cool during hot times
So ok, usual ways I use:
- open everything during night
- close everything during day
- external sheets on windows without shutters
- some curtains to prevent heat from going upstairs
I was also wondering if plants could also help inside, any ideas ?
Share your advices !
OP, do you have an air conditioned library or a cold springs near you? When I was living without AC I found that getting really cold at some point in the day chilled me off for quite a few hours, made the rest of the day feel better. I had a friend who would get in a cool shower then not dry off just lay in the wind from a fan.
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I mean, pretty much any person with central AC would read that as âwithout central AC.â And the answer would be the same: Fucking install AC. Installing central AC is too big of a project for most, so a window unit is a decent stopgap.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Yup. A $100-200 window unit(personally I prefer "portable" units with the exhaust hose to the window - keeps the main unit out of the sun that causes it to work harder) will be your best bet every single time. But sure, go ahead and check the price of tinting every window(about $20 per window) or getting blackout curtains(~$20 per panel in my experience) or any of the myriad of lesser solutions. Then, when you've spent as much or more with worse results and finally cave on getting a small unit, you'll wonder why you ever did anything else before. Nevermind the fact that OP basically said "so aside from all the normal passive options, what else is left?" AC. That's what's left. Unless you want to advise them to replace all the insulation/windows/seals in their house.
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Yup. A $100-200 window unit(personally I prefer "portable" units with the exhaust hose to the window - keeps the main unit out of the sun that causes it to work harder) will be your best bet every single time. But sure, go ahead and check the price of tinting every window(about $20 per window) or getting blackout curtains(~$20 per panel in my experience) or any of the myriad of lesser solutions. Then, when you've spent as much or more with worse results and finally cave on getting a small unit, you'll wonder why you ever did anything else before. Nevermind the fact that OP basically said "so aside from all the normal passive options, what else is left?" AC. That's what's left. Unless you want to advise them to replace all the insulation/windows/seals in their house.
But sure, go ahead and check the price of tinting every window(about $20 per window) or getting blackout curtains(~$20 per panel in my experience) or any of the myriad of lesser solutions.
tin foil and painters tape $1.50 per window.
Unless you want to advise them to replace all the insulation/windows/seals in their house.
winter blankets and old shirts.
couple with a window fan and a swamp cooler can reduce internal temps 10-15°.
poor af growing up. that's what we did. bonus points if you're in a trailer. you can open both ends and have fans blowing from one end to the other.
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Hi there, time to share ways to keep your home cool during hot times
So ok, usual ways I use:
- open everything during night
- close everything during day
- external sheets on windows without shutters
- some curtains to prevent heat from going upstairs
I was also wondering if plants could also help inside, any ideas ?
Share your advices !
Hot showers at night or when youâre feeling extremely overheated. Trust me, thatâs way better than cold showers. First shower warm, then get soapy, and then shower as hot as you feel comfortable. I do this for over 10 years now and itâs amazing. My theory is that it heats up the body and due to the outside being cooler, it actually cools your body down - albeit 35°C. By the way I shower with ~42°C regular lol
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But sure, go ahead and check the price of tinting every window(about $20 per window) or getting blackout curtains(~$20 per panel in my experience) or any of the myriad of lesser solutions.
tin foil and painters tape $1.50 per window.
Unless you want to advise them to replace all the insulation/windows/seals in their house.
winter blankets and old shirts.
couple with a window fan and a swamp cooler can reduce internal temps 10-15°.
poor af growing up. that's what we did. bonus points if you're in a trailer. you can open both ends and have fans blowing from one end to the other.
I mean, sure, if you want to look like you live in a meth lab. Or you could spend a little bit and have something 100x better and actually functional and not be miserable. This is like that whole boot problem: you can only afford $20 boots so you buy them and they wear out in 6 months. Over 5 years you spend $200 when a nice pair that would've lasted as long or longer would cost you $100.
You can get an ac for like $60 new, like $20 on Facebook. Walmart has Artic Kings on sale every year for that much. But yeah, spend hours of your time Macgyvering a makeshift solution that maybe drops you 10°. You know what "10° degrees cooler" is where I am? 100°. You'd still be plenty miserable.
