Comments on: Coping with the heat

By: nikto

nikto — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 00:37:07 +0000

Blowing the hot air out of the house and bringing cool air in with an attic fan worked great over 20+ years for most summer nights in the San Fernando Valley of SoCal.
But in the last 5-6 years, summer nights have very very noticeably NOT COOLED OFF enough to make that approach worthwhile anymore.
We used to have 95-degree summer days, but temps would normally go down into the mid-60s
by 10-11 PM.
Not any more.
We still get the 95-degree days (or hotter), but it never seems to get below the low 70s anymore at night, even by 4 AM!
We finally surrendered to the change and are having refrigerated AC being put in as I speak.
Once again, the big difference in recent years is not so much in the DAYTIME temps, but much *warmer nights*.
And the change has been consistent now
for a few years.
I can’t apeak for Global Warming, but I sure as hell CAN speak for Southern California warming in recent years.
That’s for damn sure.

By: Michael O'Hare

Michael O'Hare — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 04:13:23 +0000

A dimmable cfl is not the same as a three-way. Your two-level luminaire probably requires the former. A fair number of incandescent lamp styles have no practical cfl replacement, especially including those that are physically small and bright, like 60w candelabra base. And dimmable cfls are only provided in a few basic shapes. Replace what you can and await the march of technology; fortunately, the payoff is proportional and not all-or-nothing.

By: SP

SP — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 19:17:44 +0000

I unfortunately have to disagree with your bit about dimmable cfls. I just went out this weekend and tried to replace all our bulbs- most of it went well, and there were coupons sponsored by the energy companies for discounts on the standard bulbs. However, we have two rooms with dimmable fixtures (11 bulbs total) and four two-setting floor lamps. I tried 3-way bulbs in the floor lamps, but on the low setting the bulbs didn’t work, so they were effectively one setting bulbs- we use both settings, so I returned them and put the incandecents back in. For the other fixtures, a chandelier had no equivalent wattage dimmable bulb- I got the only wattage available (5x3W), but it’s too dark now- and the other set didn’t have dimmable bulbs in the right base size. I think the market for cfls is still a bit immature since some matching replacement products are not available anywhere.

By: mr.ed

mr.ed — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 01:40:46 +0000

There are three-way fluorescent lamps (bulbs) to replace your incandescent ones, which produce 85% of their output as infrared energy: heat. Hope that helps.

By: yoyo

yoyo — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 20:38:47 +0000

Use a toaster oven or microwavve instead of a full oven for any baking.

By: American Citizen

American Citizen — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 19:18:19 +0000

This only works if you’re building a new house or replacing a bad HVAC system, but geothermal cuts your heating/cooling costs by a lot.
The main disadvantage is the extra $6,000 over the price of a regular system it takes to drill the wells and install it. The system pays itself back, but not everyone will think 5-7 years out.

By: Bud

Bud — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 19:01:46 +0000

This is all great adivce until the dew point hits 70. Then all the fans in the world won’t help due to humidity.

By: Cranky Observer

Cranky Observer — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 14:54:56 +0000

If you can handle the color of the light and plan to stay in your current abode for a long time (say at least 5 years), LED lights save even more money, energy, and waste heat than cfs. There are now LED replacements for can light bulbs, which I find a particularly good use.
Cranky

By: Jesse

Jesse — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 04:35:45 +0000

If convincing slum lords that such things as “radiation” and “watts” even exist were so easy I might not be sitting in an 89 degree Utah living room at 9:52 p.m.
However, the exhaust fan trick has already helped me. I was trying to blow cool air in and, as a result, only cooled one room that is rarely occupied. Thanks for the tips.

By: doretta

doretta — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 04:17:19 +0000

Don’t run a screensaver at all. In circumstances where you don’t want to put your whole computer to sleep at least set up your computer power management to put the monitor to sleep when the screensaver would have run. Screensavers served a purpose before monitors had that capability but for the last decade or so they’ve been a monumental waste of electricity.

By: George Willcoxon

George Willcoxon — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 01:50:13 +0000

At least, that’s what I’ve been doing for the past week.

By: George Willcoxon

George Willcoxon — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 01:40:05 +0000

Alternately, you could move into GSPP 105, crank up the AC, and bring a cooler of Budweiser.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 23:48:12 +0000

Don’t forget–if you live in one of those old houses with a nice, stone, full or 3/4 basement, spend as much time down there as you can. We move our family room set up down there in May, and keep it there through September. Our basement will be a good 8-10 degrees cooler than the top two floors.
It’s funny, when the temp is about 72 degrees, we can actually get a situation where the basement is cold enough to require long sleeves or a blanket, the first floor is just right, and the top floor is warm enough to require the ceiling fans or a brief AC cool down.

By: Michael O'Hare

Michael O'Hare — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 23:20:08 +0000

Very little. It depends on how much air it moves. A typical range hood is only about 200 cfm; it’s good to get this hot air out directly, but it won’t have much impact on the rest of the house. A serious range hood with a 10″ exhaust duct can be rigged up to a fan that really moves air, but the maximum here will still only help the whole-house fan, not substitute for it. 2000 cfm through a 10″ pipe will sound like a jet warming up. Anyway, you wouldn’t want to be throwing away all that heated air in the winter.

By: Tom Hilton

Tom Hilton — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 23:04:17 +0000

I assume a stove exhaust fan accomplishes at least some of this?

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 21:44:20 +0000

Another bit of advice is to put your computer to sleep if you’re not using it. For modern computers a short press of the power button will do this (save your work first just in case). The computer emits almost as much heat (and consumes almost as much power, about 300 watts) running your screen saver as when you’re actually doing work.
Also consider buying a flat-panel monitor if you’re still using a CRT. Not only do they use a lot less power, they also “warm up” instantly, so having your computer sleep more often isn’t nearly as annoying.

By: Michael Connolly

Michael Connolly — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 21:11:27 +0000

Thank you!
I grew up in DC in the 50′s and some of this I know – but a lot is new to me. It never occurred to me to think about awnings, for example.

By: Ben M

Ben M — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 19:44:24 +0000

The “shut the windows during the day” advice is indeed important: I know several people who live under the mistaken impression that windows should be kept open during the day, so that breezes would “cool the house down”. Unless the house is perspiring, a breeze doesn’t cool it: it just speeds up the equilibration between outside and inside. Your body does perspire, so a breeze will indeed cool you down; a reasonable oscillating fan costs about $20-$30 and consumes only ten watts at low speed.

By: Michael O'Hare

Michael O'Hare — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:07:29 +0000

Nice point about the fridge (and the freezer, if you have one; in Vermont, lots of people kept their freezers outside in the shade all year, though of course you can’t do this with the refrigerator in cold climates as all your food will freeze).
I agree I was too tough on the circulating fan. But it has nothing to do with the more important flushing function of the exhaust fan.
I can’t claim scientific validation for the following (speaking of lunch) but a family tradition holds that the following is an absolutely optimal hot-weather meal:
Cut up tomatoes, cucumber (opinions vary on whether it has to be peeled), sweet peppers, and chives. Mix these into one to two cups of cottage cheese, a dollop of sour cream, a generous grind of pepper, and salt to taste. Mmmmm….
Alternate version, could be dessert: substitute peaches, plums, pitted cherries, etc. for the vegetables.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:00:54 +0000

The tree. I fell in love with the tree, and it was my main reason for buying the house. It is a 50-year-old fruitless mulberry; it provides deep, deep, shade; it stands between us and the afternoon sun. I love my tree.
BTW, you’re right about circulating fans vs exhaust fans. The only time we have used the a/c was at night when the temps refused to fall below 90 degrees and the humidity stayed above 60%.

By: SamChevre

SamChevre — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 17:56:00 +0000

As a native-born Southerner who grew up without A/C, all this is familiar. Here are a few more tips:
Cook in the evening–eat a cold breakfast and lunch. This way the house cools down overnight, and you don’t re-heat it.
Put the refrigerator outside, or if that’s impossible, put it in a small room that can be closed off from the rest of the house.
Wear appropriate clothes. There’s a reason that seersucker is a classic suit fabric in the South.
Air circulation matters a lot at high temperatures–once you are sweating slightly, moving air feels several degrees cooler that still air. So get and use a circulating fan.