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Tips to keep the house cool on a hot day

August 8th, 2008, 6:00 pm · 9 Comments · posted by Cindy McNatt

An old post revisited:

Running the air conditioner all day is good if you’ve got it. But what if you don’t have an air conditioner at all? You can keep you and your house cool in a few simple steps.

  • Keep the heat OUT. 40 percent of the heat that gets in your house radiates in from window glass. If you have drapes, vertical blinds, shutters or any type of window covering keep them closed during the day to prevent heat from radiating through the windows. Especially cover windows where the sun shines directly on them.
  • Keep windows closed. Letting the breeze blow only heats up your house. Close your windows before it gets hot and keep them closed during the hottest part of the day.
  • Use blankets. If you don’t have heavy window coverings, hang blankets over your windows to prevent heat from radiating inside. This works even better if you hang the covering outside to prevent heat from hitting the glass in the first place.
  • Set your ceiling fan to run counter-clockwise to pull hot air toward the ceiling.
  • Create cool zones with floor fans and misters.
  • Keep the lights off.
  • Don’t use the oven, stove or other heat generating appliances such as the clothes dryer.
  • In the evening open your windows and doors to bring cool air inside again.
  • Do it again in the early morning to exchange the warm inside air for cool.
  • Position fans to blow the hot air out not pull hot air in. At night, reverse the process to pull cool air inside.
  • Sleep downstairs, it’s cooler there.
  • Take your shoes off. Feet release body heat. Or put your feet in cool water
  • Keep a bowl of cool, wet wash clothes in the refrigerator and use them to cool down.
  • Stay hydrated. Drink plenty of water.
  • Take frequent cool showers, jump in the pool, play with the hose. Keep your hair wet.
  • Bring pets inside when temperatures top 90 degrees. Provide water and shade.
  • Keep watch on elderly family members and neighbors.

Latest news on the heat wave and drought:

Santa Ana winds to hit O.C. this weekend

Temperatures to hit 100 degrees in the O.C.

Feds say O.C. on the verge of severe drought

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 9 Comments

  • LilyC says:
    May 18, 2008 at 7:10 am

    Good advice! But thank heaven for a/c. I remember coming home after school to our un-airconditioned old house in Floral Park as a kid and floating in a cold bath as if it were my own little swimming pool. Or tossing and turning all night because it was too hot to sleep even with the ceiling fan. Or playing with my mom’s ironing water spray bottle so I could walk through the cool mist. And running through the sprinklers. As precious as those memories are, I’ll take the a/c any day!

  • Nay Schowengerdt says:
    May 18, 2008 at 7:42 am

    Thank you for all of these great tips for keeping cool! A guy friend of mine here, in the O.C. near the coast, told me yesterday morning to especially conserve energy early in the day and afternoons on these hot days so that the folks in the northern part of the county won’t suffer a grid blackout with their AC (they really need it inland of Santa Ana). He uses little or no power tools, keeps lights off, no t.v., etc. For my own personal comfort on these uncommonly hot days, I try to keep my neck cool: I read years ago that if the neck stays so, so will the rest of the body (or maybe, it’s a psychological thing? :-) I keep wet some kind of a thin, long, neck scarf dimension piece of light cotton and tie it loosely around my neck. A little plant-spritz water bottle usually follows me around as well on hot days and if I’m lucky with a good breeze or two, it feels wonderful!

  • Some Chick says:
    May 18, 2008 at 10:38 am

    We use these tips regularly. It’s rather expensive to run the AC. Luckily our house has ceiling fans in every room, they run 24/7 during the late spring and summer and all the way into later fall. I installed heavier drapes in our fron room, keep all windows closed as well. We have installed a whole house fan that works WONDERS! When it’s cooler in the evening we open a few strategic windows, turn it on and sucks all the cool our from outside. I even think we received some sort of rebate on it for the energy reduction. During the summer when the jasmin is blooming the house smells very nice.
    My grandmother also said that drinking hot tea or coffee when hot will actually cool your body. As a little girl I felt that she was CRAZY! It really works! Your body is much cooler.
    Sleeping with florr and ceiling fans are the way too go, put one in the open window all night and keeps house cooler through the morning hours.
    Ice or cold water on the wrists and neck will cool the blood circulating throughout the body and cool you off.
    Spritver bottle, my husband has been misting the water in the direction of the floor fan so it cools and mists back on him or dunking his feet into the cooler that has witer and ice from the day cools quickly.
    If you have the floor fan and are sleeping, you can point your head so the fans blows on it, this will help keep the head cool and you are more comfy sleeping.
    Again, keep the rooms as dark as possible, shut out the heat, and keep the air circulating.
    Don’t recommend letting the kids play in the sprinklers or hose in the heat of the day, not only are we approaching drought this summer but will actually burn your lawn. Water the lawn in the evening when it’s cooler and this will help cool the air around the house. Just put in the sprinklers for about 3 minutes, off for about an hour, then 3-5 minutes again, this will avoid unnecessary run-off and force the lawn roots to dig deeper for the water, your lawn will be rather lush. Ironite helps keep green. By gloved hand, throw out an even coat and water lightly. Be carefull to avoid direct contact to blooming flowers and the decorative contrete, will result in rust stains.
    Good luck and stay cool.

  • Jane N RSM says:
    May 18, 2008 at 10:47 am

    Another way to stay cool is keep a bottle of lotion in the refrigerator, and use it to cool off. It’s great. I used this tip last summer when I was pregnant!

  • Jim Nasium says:
    June 8, 2008 at 10:11 am

    Great article

    It a little known secret to keep the windows closed. People always thing the breeze will cool the house down but it simple math…

    If its 75 in your house and 90 outside–opening the windows will eventually make your house 90 degrees.

    The Other thing is run rotating fans. People think that does no good because it doesnt reduce the house temp. They’re right it doesnt reduce house temp but it reduces YOUR skin temp–and thats what counts. It creates a windchill and blows heat off your body. Works even better if you put some water on your skin.

  • MARK IMAI says:
    June 29, 2008 at 1:20 pm

    where can i purchase a chinese flame tree?

  • Cindy McNatt says:
    June 30, 2008 at 9:03 am

    If you are local, try Laguna Hills Nursery in Foothill Ranch

  • Fay Calhoun says:
    October 9, 2008 at 6:32 am

    Here’s a tip that can save you money…Instead of buying and using the paper coffee filters, you can use the feet of a pair of stockings as your coffee filters. Just clip them from a pair of panty hose–the type that won’t allow coffee grinds to go through–and stretch over the coffee bin. These are reusable. Just empty and rinse the stocking filter, hang to dry and reuse.

  • Cindy McNatt says:
    October 9, 2008 at 1:34 pm

    Mark Amai, check Laguna Hills Nursery. If they have one it will be really discounted now.

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