When you’re home in the summers, and the sun is doing its worst, all you want to do is to turn on the AC and forget that there’s an unbearable amount of scorching heat just out the door. That may also make you wonder, what if there was no AC?
That scenario may frighten some of you, but there’s a lot of ways that you can turn down the heat in your room. Although there’s nothing quite like AC, it is not the only solution to the heat problem.
AC usually gets the job done quickly and easily, but these devices consume a lot of energy, and in case there’s no need for AC, you can use the alternate, easier ways to bring down the heat in your room.
In this article, we’ll be discussing twelve tips you can use to cool your small-sized room without your air conditioning system. So, without further ado, let’s begin.
1. Let the air in!
In smaller rooms, opening up a window can be a great help in lowering the heat inside. If the heat inside is higher than the temperature outside, opening up a window provides you with fresh air from the outside. You can use windows to create a cooling pressure current as well, which you can do by opening the top section of your windows on the downwind side of your house and the bottom section on the upwind side. You can also use film to cover up your windows. It not only reduces the infrared heat from the outside but provides you with privacy as well.
In case the outside is warmer than the inside, and you’re using cooling devices, you can close the doors, and windows to maximize the effect.
2. Adjust your Clothing
In summers, clothing becomes a practical matter. From the dress you’re wearing to what goes on your bed, you decide to make the heat a little more bearable. With lighter clothing items, you can make sure your body stays cool. For the room, you can opt for clack-out curtains with a white reflective backing area may lower the heat penetration from the outside considerably.
Choosing a cotton sheet, instead of other heat trapping material, will make you feel a lot more comfortable while sleeping. You can make these clothing changes, among others, to make the inside of your room more comfortable.
3. Use Household Fans Strategically
There are a lot of different types of fans inside your house, and using these strategically can help you keep your room cool.
Use your ceiling fans counter-clockwise in the summers. That may require some effort on your part, but it is going to be worth the effort. Doing this will create a wind-chill breeze effect, lowering the temperature.
When you’re in the bathroom, taking a warm steamy shower, afterwards make sure to vent the excess steam using the bathroom fans. Similarly, in the kitchen, you can turn on the exhaust fan while working to make sure there’s no heat lingering around you. In the nighttime, when the outside is cooler than daytime, you can open up the window and place your fan towards the window to create a cross-breeze. It’ll give you a comfortable night’s sleep.
4. Make your own domestic AC out of a fan
If you don’t have an AC, you can manufacture a home-made AC to keep the room low. The basic version is simply putting a frozen gallon jug behind your fan, and cool air will flow towards you. There’s another, bit more sophisticated version that you can make yourself to cool your room.
- For this, you’ll need a Fan, a Cooler Box, Zip Ties, a Water pump, two clear Plastic Pipes, and a 3/8 Copper Pipe.
- Take out the outer shell of your fan, and using the zip ties, attach the circular 3/8 copper pipe to the outer shell in a circular fashion.
- Once your done setting up the outer shell, attach it back on to the fan. Now, take the cooler box, and at the upper-left side of the box, make a hole.
- Place the water pump inside of the box, and attach one side of the first clear plastic pipe to the water pump, and the other on to the open end of the 3/8 copper pipe.
- Take the second clear plastic pipe, and attach its one side to the other open end of the copper pipe, and leave the other side inside the box.
- Fill the cooler box with water until the pump is submerged. Place a block of ice inside the box. Your set up is ready!
- Turn on the fan, and after a short while, your homemade AC will start lowering the temperature little by little.
5. Use Electrical Devices Smartly
There are a lot of devices that, which you can use smartly to keep cool. If you’re using a washing machine, make sure to use it when the heat levels are lower, so the resulting heat doesn’t make it worse for the inhabitants. In summers, instead of using the dryer, you can let the clothes air-dry and save energy while keeping the temperature low.
In the kitchen, you can cook early to avoid an unnecessarily laborious cooking session.
You can lower electronics use and keep the heat and energy consumption lower. Use these devices smartly and when necessary.
6. Cultivate shade around the house
Cultivating shade around the house protects it from the direct blow of sunlight and makes your home cooler on the inside.
You can do a lot of things to achieve this. You can do landscaping around your home to block direct sunlight is blocked and doesn’t reach the inside as harshly.
Vines that can cover the outer walls of the house and stop the sun rays from penetrating directly. You can do that, and you can also install an awning by your windows to block the sun from entering straight inside your room. There are many ways to cultivate shade around your home, and you can take the steps that better suit your needs.
7. Products for Lowering inside temperature
Along with the fans, you can use other products to keep yourself colder inside the room. Along with cooling your room, you can also do something about keeping your body cooler to make yourself comfortable.
Products Chill pillow, pillows with memory foam gel make it easy to fall asleep with their cooling technology. You can also use buckwheat pillows, as they have air space and don’t hang on to your body heat.
Other products for this purpose may include cooling towels, mats, blankets, and cooling neck wrap, etc., among other items.
8. Use a Dehumidifier with the Fans
If you’re in an area where it is hot and humid, you can use a dehumidifier, along with the fans, to keep the temperature inside in check. A dehumidifier will remove the excess moisture from the air, which is responsible for your clammy skin, mold and mildew formations, dust mites, cracks on the walls, etc., and coupled with excess heat, can be very annoying. You can use a dehumidifier along with your fans to make the inside of your comfortable.
Related read: Best Air Conditioner Dehumidifier Combo – Buyer’s Guide
9. Use a Swamp Cooler
In case you have dry heat, a cool-mist humidifier is a good idea. Although humidifiers don’t lower the temperature that much, they can still make the environment comfortable in dry areas.
A swamp cooler works effectively in battling against heat, and you can install a unit in your room to stay chill.
Related read: Best Swamp Coolers For Your Garage
10. See about your Attic
The attic is the top-most part of your house and incidentally is affected the most by heat. You need to configure the attic so that it doesn’t get affected by the heat so much.
Proper ventilation is necessary. Make sure the airflow is not restricted. A white roof helps deflects the sun rays that otherwise can penetrate and warm the attic. Insulating the attic walls is also ideal, as it doesn’t let the heat enter the inside of your attic that easily.
11. Adjust your bed
Heat rises above, and you can escape the hot nights by setting up your bed on the ground. You can sleep on the lower couch, or you can use a mattress to make your bed on the floor, where it’s colder and more comfortable. Before sleeping, you can slightly wet the cotton sheets or fill a warm water bottle with cold water or ice and lay it by your feet.
You can cool your night clothes as well, to make yourself comfortable while sleeping.
12. Change your lighting
Regular bulbs that we use in homes lose a lot of energy and emit heat. You can lower not only heat but also your power consumption, saving you money on the bill as well by switching to a more efficient lighting option. Instead of Incandescent, Iridescent lighting, you can switch to LED lighting, which is more energy-efficient and lowers the heat produced by regular bulbs.
Conclusion
Heat in summers can be a real pain in areas where the temperature goes up considerably. In the absence of an AC, surviving the heat seems almost impossible. But, there are ways to get around this hump, and you can make the inside of your small room a lot more comfortable using a few simple tips we’ve mentioned above.
These methods may vary in their effectiveness based on your region and home’s architecture, but you can get the basic idea and evolve it to suit your requirements. These simple, ingenious ways of cooling your room may sound ordinary, but they can be a real-life-saver in certain situations.
So, keep it cool, and stay fresh!