In some countries the summers are really hot and we need to spend a lot of electricity on cooling The House. What do you use to block the sun and be more comfortable and fresh in the summer?
I don't have any air conditioning so I simply put some big drapes on my windows. This, plus a small fan keeps the temperature just fine in my room, cheaply, without the added cost of electricity. But to be honest, if it would be possible - and it's not, I'd install air conditioning
Well I don't believe buying an air conditioner here in the UK is worth it for one day of sun a year, so I have a couple of cheap fans for inside and if we are in the garden we have a bit canopy that gets put up and then when it cools down it gets packed away in the back of the shed until next year.
I used to have one of those fans you guys mention, but it got broken and I never bothered to buy a new one. What seems to be working for me (and in the summer temperatures can be above 40ºC during the day and around 25ºC - 30ºC at night) is to leave the windows closed during the day and blinds down too because that seems to block the sun and the heat out. At night, it's just reverse the process.
It's very hot and humid in my country so it's very lucky that we have an air conditioner in our room (only in the bedroom) and we have a ceiling fan in the living room. But since the cost of electricity is really high and to leave the air conditioner all day would boom up the bill we have to turn it off every now and again. In order to keep the room cool when the AC is off, we keep all the curtains down to prevent the room from getting the sun in.
I have pretty hot Summers as well, it's a bit unbearable if you don't take precautions. I have big drapes that block most of the sun, which in turn keeps the house much cooler than outside. I addition to this I also have a fan that I turn towards myself if it's one of those days that it's even too hot in the shade...
Those fans are pretty cool, like I said before I had one that broke down and I didn't bother to buy a new one, also because I have small kids and have those things turning around is always tempting for them to put their little fingers inside and I don't even want to think in the consequences of that. So in the next years no fans for me lol, I think it's wiser.
We have blinds on the living room and we close them when the sun shines on the area so that we won't feel that hot. We also have an electric fan in every room so that we can just turn it on everytime we feel hot. I think having curtains is quite useful too to block the heat of the sun during summer.
A wetted handkerchief on the back of the neck can be really cooling. Also on the wrists is another place where many place a cold clothe. There are a lot of different things out there to cool oneself, but this method seems to be the cheapest I've used so far.
Ah, that handkerchief method is widely seen at the desert movies, the actors put it under the cap, I imagine that it has to be refreshing, but actually I have never tried it. This summer I guess I won't be needing anything to block the sun because we are already in July and the heat hasn't arrived yet, so I suppose the summer has gone elsewhere...
I have lived for many years in a very humid, tropical climate. Not just did I have to keep the heat out, but also the dampness. I saved a lot of money by keeping the vegetation around my house neatly trimmed, so there was always a free circulation of air. During the hottest time of the day I would close most of the windows and turn on the ceiling fans, which always provided relief. Even though we had air-conditioning available, we didn't use it often as, apart from costing a fortune, I couldn't stand the constant noise and feeling of being locked inside a fridge.
I hate air-conditioning as well and I don't use it unless the weather is really hot, at work I mean, because at my place I don't even have an air conditioner device, like you say it's too expensive and I can't even imagine how much it would cost to install one. This year we haven't had any heat waves just yet, just near 30ºC in some days, nothing like that the 40ºC we had last year, so far so good...
It is hot and humid in my area, we keep the shades down and the windows closed to help keep it cool in the house, we also have fans in the rooms to circulate the air. My room is the hottest room in the house so I have heavier curtains up to block the sun during the summer, they come down in the winter to let the sunshine in.
Yes, that is exactly what I do, but this year it hasn't been necessary, believe it or not, but in the middle of July - peak summer - and we still have in our bed winter clothes, so most likely this year we will not have those crazy nights in which we have 30ºC and everyone is walking on the streets because they can't sleep lol, that's a typical summer day.
