Hello,
A new angle to preparedness it hitting my radar with 'climate change': heat! While my area tends to get only a week or two of hot weather per summer, this is clearly changing. It has been 30C or greater for 4 days in a row last week alone, and Friday/10 hit 35C which is a new record. After work Friday the wife & drove to another city...that hit 40C/1024. I've only a couple times been in 35C much less 40!
I thought to post here today as it occured to me on our 4 hour drive I could expect to see drivers unprepared for this, identified by overheated engines & blown tires. Checked my wife's tires the other day and they were at 40psi vs. desired 34. I checked mine before driving and during to ensure they stay 5psi short of maximum pressure. However, I doubt everyone is mindful of how much their tire pressure changes with the air/road temp..! Only saw a few vehicles with hoods up and one bus with a blown tire.
Other than keeping on top of general maintenance, coolant, tire pressure, gas, coolant levels (& backups in prep bin in back) and keeping water in vehicle for the drive, what might you advise to be covered in overly hot situations? Will also be dressed for sweating + Tilly hat and have AC in vehicle.
Tangent to this is apartment temp control of course; last summer my wife cancelled her veto of my building the unfashionable Evictor fan setup in our living room: https://imgur.com/gallery/H1W3CGV Using this and selecting the 'replacement' air source makes a huge difference for our space. Our building has banned window-shaker AC units, though our (less efficient, arg) portable unit cools the bedroom effectively (too loud to sleep with).
As suitable I'll wear a gel water-soaked headband to use the conductive & evaporative principles (low humidity here), wet my shins in front of a fan, and keep a level mood to not generate extra body heat. Eating frozen fruit helps as well, and eating certain foods that require less effort to digest.
I'm curious to all of your heat-fighting tactics! Please share!
Might is Right is the wrong thing to say but the right thing to understand.
Marthony, I have a window ac unit I can put in place that actually does a great job, but my real secret weapon against heat is the basement. I went through the same heat you did and my downstairs is nice and chilly. A usable kitchen, rec room, bedrooms, bathroom...just everything I need to live comfortable. I also have a powered blower motor up in the attic that I can turn on and this makes a huge difference in keeping the house cool. I had forgot all about this as I put it in in the 90s and forgot about it unit about a week ago!
That doesn't help me for outside but it gives me a cool place to retreat too (basement at 62 F).
PS: I forgot to mention but the upstairs south facing windows are aluminum horizontal blinds in reflective flat aluminium colour. These help greatly in reflecting back the heat.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
My house is shaded by Boston Ivy which covers the house. We are in an area mainly surrounded by trees, so it never gets too uncomfortable inside. Nova Scotia is favored by cool breezes off of the North Atlantic during the summer months (which also moderate the temperature in the Winter). The coolest area is the basement where we have a living area, bathroom and bedroom. We have fans throughout the hose for the hottest days, lots of windows to catch the breeze and we are within walking distance to the Atlantic Ocean, if we really wanted to cool-off (not during shark week). 😆
Keeping cool outside involves the usual precautions: loose clothing, hydration, Tilly hat (periodically rinsed in water), sunglasses and the requisite sunscreen. Do the hardest work in the early morning or evening and don't over-do-it. Basically all common sense...
None you improvise, one (or more) is luxury.
Indeed Peppercorn, I expect your attic blower is the same principle my Evictor setup just much more powerful - remove the hottest air that rises to the top. I've the option to retreat to the basement as well, but it is only storage cages down there and not private.
Wayne, our apartment has no cover; we've 5 banks of windows that take in the sun to about 1:30pm. Without the Evictor running it reaches 27C in the living room by 10:20am. Closing the blinds with blackout material stitched to the sunny side means the heat rises to the ceiling instead of heating up most of the space, but they aren't that effective. At least it cools at night very well here!
I took the hit and bought a Tilly hat as well; worth the price! =)
I suppose what I'm really looking for are new ways to apply physics for coolness. Repeatedly wetting my shins in front of a floor fan is effective, and my Evictor was clever, but more will be needed in the years to come.
Another widget I improvised last year was a conductive-cooling fan-cooler: I used 2" hard foam insulation to build an enclosure with a 6" fan at one end and a series of holes at the other, where they were angled to flow upwards at my shins in the office. Within the otherwise sealed box were 6 vessels full of frozen water, plus pieces of foam rigged to force the air to hit all vessels vs. flow over or around them with less contact. The air that exited was 12C cooler than what entered, and then the cooled air also applied the evaporative principle when running over my shins. Efficient, but only on a small scale. Lasted >5hrs with each sealed vessel about 2L. It also acted as a minor dehumidifier and puddled within. A better implementation might be to have the output rigged to a tube that exited down on one's head for maximum effect. This is the same principle as hanging a frozen mass in front of a fan and being in the airflow, but more efficient.
Wayne, I'm a former hotel front desk worker and have lost my faith in common sense being common! =) I've had to explain to guests that having the window open to let a breeze through does not cool the room when the input air is hotter! They've confused the effect of being in the path of the moving air and getting the evaporation principle...that doesn't happen when you aren't in the room.
Hoping more members here share their techniques for staying cool!
Might is Right is the wrong thing to say but the right thing to understand.
I took the hit and bought a Tilly hat as well; worth the price! =) ...I suppose what I'm really looking for are new ways to apply physics for coolness.
I agree that Tilley hats can be worth their weight in gold. Cooling through evaporation is often overlooked by people. It can be as simple as wetting down your hat or clothing and let them dry on your body. I was introduced to this as a boy working on my Uncle's farm on the prairie. Something so simple, yet effective...
None you improvise, one (or more) is luxury.
It is!
Even on the west coast, enough evaporation happens to cool you down in summer. I start my outdoor work with a shirt and head soak-down. If you’re not constantly needing to water the bushes, you’re dehydrated.
Keep a towel in the car , as well as bottled water. Towel can be soaked down and wrapped over head, used as a portable shade, easier to sit on the side of the road, blanket at night, etc. Umbrellas if you’re worried about walking a big distance. Effeminate, yet effective:). Amazing how few people even have quality sunglasses, Ie ray bans, etc. Hope that helps!
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One is none, two is one.
Keeping the windows and curtains closed works quite well. A friend in Lethbridge, years ago, showed me this. When I'm not at my cabin, I keep the curtains drawn and even on the hottest days, when I arrive, it's nice and cool inside. Of course, foolishly, I open the curtains for better light and it doesn't take long for it to heat up inside.
Those who are unwilling to defend freedom, will become unfree.
Indeed Wayne, two vehicles ago before I'd AC, during a drive in hot weather I'd wear wicking clothing and wet my chest with the vents aimed there. Made a huge difference!
Jonesy, I only this summer carried an umbrella this way; while I felt a bit foolish I didn't regret it. On the lookout for a white umbrella now, though frequency of use is likely low. On the opposite end of effect for this - don't use a black umbrella as it will act as a broiler! Once after coming down from a hot hike we went to an outdoor patio restaurant that had black umbrellas outside. Did not combine well with +30C heat!
Tazweiss, I find curtains to be a mixed bag. True they help as they will reflect some heat back out, but some still rises up to the ceiling. I'd be curious of other features of your cabin to know how it handles heat. Our apartment may just have too many windows for this to work; 5 banks of them taking in the sun to 1:30pm raises the temp to 27 by 10:20am if the Evictor isn't on. Your windows & curtains may be better suited as well.
We used to have a shack at a lake in BC, and installed horizontal venetian blinds on the outside of the main windows. At 3" deep & set at the right angle they prevented the sun from reaching the window but didn't impede the view - the ultimate solution!
In my first loft unit with a balcony I rigged a dark shower curtain outside the windows to prevent sun from entering. There were also 4 windows at the top of the loft area without curtains. It could be 20C & sunny outside and would be 30C in the loft area! I taped aluminum foil to cardboard inserts and used a 6' dowel to place them to block sun & aid sleeping in on weekends. I also discovered the attic access (just roof area with insulation) and rigged a 20" box fan to fire upwards into it, connected to a plug-in timer so it would run 8am-11am (to chill) plus 9pm to 11pm. The box fan might not have been required as the air wanted to go that way anyway, but it was more effective...provided you didn't mind smelling the hallway air that was being pulled into your unit!
Unfortunately the scale of windows in our apartment prevents mounting cardboard & aluminum/mylar inserts, and the building has banned them as being too ugly. I experimented with one insert by adding self-adhesive bathroom window privacy prism plastic, as it would refract less and not cause glare, but in my own opinion it was still ugly.
Might is Right is the wrong thing to say but the right thing to understand.
One of the things that helps, is that all of the south facing windows are shaded. The deck and main entrance to the cabin is on the south side. I built the roof of the deck out far enough that during the summer, the deck is shaded. During the winter, the sun is low enough to shine into the windows. Also, the cabin is designed to allow for maximum air flow so we can take advantage of breezes from the east or from the north.
Those who are unwilling to defend freedom, will become unfree.
I bought two sided tape and Emergency blankets (foil) and the dollar store. Taped up around the perimeter of each window, on the inside of the glass, cut the emergency blanket to fit, and stuck it on. I can still see through it while it's reflective on the outside. Works like a charm!
Also opening up the windows at night when it cools and closing them in the morning when it starts to heat up is helpful. I also go around the house and close the curtains (where I have them) when the sun is shining in that window ~ opening them up when the sun's moved on of course.
I have some thick bamboo blinds for the big bay window out front. I put them on the covered porch to shade the porch AND the window.
Years ago I planted lots of trees around the house. Now, 35 years later, they provide my home with welcome shade in the summer -and the occasional branch that gets broken off in a storm 😉