Ellie ThompsonTrying to function in a home that is too hot feels like a terrible cosmic joke. Your productivity dwindles into nothing, you have no patience for anyone or anything, everything feels gross to the touch, cooking and adding heat to the chaos feels like torture, and you can’t imagine doing anything other than lying as still as possible, trying to maximize your surface area. Despite the brutality of a sweltering home during the hotter months, many people struggle to keep their homes cool either for financial or other practical reasons. The following will explore a few passive ways you can help keep your home cool during the hotter months. The goal here is to minimize the energy, time, and money it takes to keep a home cool.
Address Your Windows
A huge amount of heat gets transferred through glass windows if the sun is blazing outside. Not only are the panes themselves less insulated, making heat transfer possible, but the bright warm light outside also contributes to the feeling of your home baking beneath a magnifying glass. Professionals at Oakhurst Blinds suggest that you consider some conservatory blinds or curtains which can keep the sun out and contribute to window insulation. It’s a good idea to close the blinds on the north, east, and west during the morning until midday and to close the blinds on the southern side of your home after midday until sunset.
Clean And Maintain Fans And Air Conditioning Units
If you have devices in your home that contribute to cooling the air, one of the best things you can do is ensure that you’re properly cleaning and maintaining them. Dirty air conditioning units have to work twice as hard to keep up, and this means your energy bill is going to suffer. The cleaner and better maintained your system is, the less you’ll need it running to get your home at an ideal temperature. Some cleaning tasks can be done on your own, but others might require the help of a professional.
Clean Your Refrigerator Coils
Sticking with the cleanliness theme for a moment, when was the last time you cleaned your refrigerator coils? When the coils get clogged with dirt, hair, and dust, it makes it far harder for your fridge to get and stay cool. While this is only one small part of your home, it’s especially important that nothing is impeding your refrigerator’s ability to keep food fresh. This is a quick and easy task that can end up saving you quite a lot on your utility bills.
Tackle Insulation
One of the biggest problems when it comes to keeping a home cool is weak points in your home’s walls, roof, or foundation that allow heat to enter or escape. Take an hour to inspect your home, looking for gaps surrounding doors and windows as well as gaps or holes where the outside air can get inside. Make a little list and begin sealing off your home properly. Not only will this help you maintain an ideal temperature using less effort, money, and energy, but it will also help protect your home from critters that are especially eager to explore during warmer months. Things like ants and fruit flies will be much less of an issue if your home is sealed.
Manage Your Doors
You probably aren’t leaving the front door open during the day if you’re worried about keeping your home cool, but you might not be thinking about other doors. Close any unused rooms during the day so that heat has a harder time moving through your home. In the evening, when things are cooler, you can open up these doors and let rooms experience a pleasant temperature drop.
Ceiling Fans should Rotate Counter-Clockwise
This tip seems odd because, at first, it’s easy to wonder why the direction a fan spins should matter all that much. A counter-clockwise fan in the hotter months will help cultivate a wind-chill feeling that can greatly contribute to feelings of cold.
Cook Outdoors
If you have the option to grill on the hottest days of the year, you might want to take it. When you turn on the stove or the oven indoors, you’re adding a massive amount of heat to your home. Cooking outside can help keep the indoors cooler.
The above list should have given you a few good ideas regarding how you can keep your home cooler during the hotter months. It’s important to understand that too much heat can be seriously damaging to the human body. If the heat is destroying you or members of your household (including pets), get out of the house and somewhere cool for a few hours, like a friend’s home, the beach, or the public library. Likewise, if you notice any symptoms of heatstroke, respond immediately and reach out to local healthcare professionals.
