If I know it was 27°C this morning it’s becuase we went out horse riding before it got hot. A swim at lunchtime and then siesta.
I tried to adopt that kind of schedule but my boss complained
Have you considered insulating the walls on the inside or outside, Fossy? Cooler in Summer, warmer in Winter, lower energy bills. Some of our walls today:
Newly built, unfinished extension wall in red brick: Outside too hot to touch, inside warm. The bricks have about the same colour and thermal resistance as a British cavity wall with polystyrene beads in the cavity.
A section of old uninsulated wall painted white: warm on the outside, not quite so warm on the inside.
Properly insulated white painted wall: warm on the outside, cool on the inside.
Have one. Don’t use it. Too noisy to work with, takes the temp down by about ten degrees. Uses several KW. Was 30 in the office yesterday. I use a fan and spray some water at it to add to cooling with a plant sprayer.
By 2050 the International Energy Agency expects the number of AC units to reach 5.6 billion, which would make AC the second source of electricity demand globally, requiring as much power as the current capacity of the US, Europe and Japan.”
What will be the biggest demand then? Electric cars?
I tried to adopt that kind of schedule but my boss complained
My boss hadn't used to complain. Up at 05:50 for a run/bike before walking into the office at 08:00 and then a lunchtime swim. It's true that the siesta habit only started when I quit employment and went completely self employed.
Our walls have the insulation panels inserted between the outer brick and the breeze block. Built 27 years ago. Same issue with neighbour's south facing rooms too. Downstairs is cool, those two bedrooms hot. Thing is the house is really cheap to heat on gas in winter, really thermally good (electricity is shocking due to various gadgets/hot tub). It's only a few weeks of the year.
Would local planning regs allow you to paint the south-facing walls white? There was a report on our local TV encouraging us to paint roofs/walls white where possible, the temperature differences and economies they reported were significant.
We didn’t get fancy specially made ones, we went to Ikea and spent £100 about a decade ago.
Except that what I’m happy with regarding curtains & what Mrs Efg is happy with are two completely different things.
Plus we’d need 4 pairs of quite big curtains, so it’s curtains to that idea.
Actually we do have blackouts in the bedroom though.
Would local planning regs allow you to paint the south-facing walls white
Not much point as the only south facing wall is a gable end that’s in the shadow of next doors gable end.
Yep, got a couple of portable units. One upstairs cooling the hallway with fans blowing into the offices (Both of us WFH). One downstairs to cool the lounge down ad hoc as needed.
Seriously considering a proper installation in a couple of rooms.
What will be the biggest demand then? Electric cars?
Not a chance. I imagine heating would still be number one, then cooling , then manufacturing? Transportation sector currently uses 1% of electricity in the US for instance, I don’t see that overtaking the cooling sector by 2050?
Research by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency predicts that by about 2060, the amount of energy used worldwide in cooling will overtake that used in heating.
Over the next 15 years, according to the EU, the energy used to cool buildings across Europe is likely to increase by 72%, while the energy used for heating them will fall by 30%.
Have a cold shower - don't be a pussy about it. Don't dry yourself - the evaporating water cools you further.
Jump in your local river!
Paint your house white.
Fit shutters OUTSIDE yr windows.
Insulate yr house
Another idea as I'm the one cooking tonight, a portable induction hob used outside doesn't heat up the house. I carry the oven outside too.
had a shower - went out on the bike. Keeps you cool for 10 minutes. Or go for a drive with aircon on. (I expect Greta will tell me off soon).
First things first, and this will save you a fortune in the winter, is your house properly insulated? With the impending gas price rises in mind we insulated our loft this spring and our house has be noticeably more comfortable in this years hot weather.
Jump in your local river!
It's currently about 3cm deep!
A few years ago we built above our garage and instead of speccing radiators/ boiler etc to heat it I put an air con unit in at a cost of £1000.
It’s a 9m x 6m space and right now I’m sat in 20 degree comfort and have slept in here for the past week with the kids. It runs off solar panels on the south facing roof mainly and is used to heat in winter and cool in summer, much like countries abroad do.
Our main house is a south facing barn that gets absolutely roasting in this weather no matter what we do, I’d guess there are a lot of houses out there like this so with the global changes happening maybe it’s time to either build houses like the Spanish do or fit air con.
IT was effective at cooling the air ….. but not at cooling the structure so when turned off it heated up very quickly.
Thermal mass of the walls is far greater than the thermal mass of cold dry air. You really need to use it early on in the day to stop the fabric of the room heating up, or just leave it on all night. Once the walls etc have heated up, it will take a lot of cold air to cool them off.
Our 8000 BTU unit only cost £250 just before the 40C heat wave. Currently churning away cooling the bedroom.
Have a cold shower – don’t be a pussy about it. Don’t dry yourself – the evaporating water cools you further.
Jump in your local river!
Paint your house white.
Fit shutters OUTSIDE yr windows.
Insulate yr house
You're wrong about the shower. If you get out of a hot shower you'll feel cooler as long as the ambient temperature is less than the shower was. If you get out of a cold shower into a warmer ambient temperature you'll feel warm straight away.
Jumping into our local river will give me wet feet.
I don't want the only white house in the street thanks.
I'll stick to drawing the curtains.
At work we bought a portable 12000btu air con unit a few months ago, planning ahead before they sold out or jumped in price. 30m2 office, just 2 of us and 4 desktop PCs running. AC struggles, just about keeps below 28C by the afternoon. Problem is they throw a lot of heated air out the exhaust (to a vented roof void in our case), but equally are pulling that air in from outside at over 30c as well. Chasing its own tail really.
That doesn't sound right. Most portable units extract to outside via ducting but they draw in air to cool from the room itself. Otherwise you'd have two ductings going outside and needlessly cool warmer air....
Does tieing a leaf blower to the end of the firewood processor count? That was my setup for today so I was in a good breeze at the machine.
And this is why we're ****ed.
Try opening a window.
Air con.... FFS.
It took 66 posts for someone to say it like it is. 🙂
Try opening a window.
But that’ll let more warmer air into your hermetically Sealed passivehaus…..
Idealism is wonderful but it’s almost s workable as taking your horse outside to cook
Don't open a window when it's 25 inside and 35 outside.
And this is why we’re *.
Try opening a window.
Air con…. FFS.
Bad advice is another reason why we are*
😉
Windows/doors etc open in the cooler air evenings/night and v. early morning. Basically wherever it’s both safe to do so and the air is cooler out than in. Keep them closed when the air outside is hotter than the air inside. Shutters are a good call. We’re in a Victorian property with 6-foot high sash windows and 1” -thick wooden shutters which completely cover the windows. They make a big difference. Even better if they were on the outside
Open all upstairs windows and just the ones in the shaded side of the house downstairs to set a cooling convection current in motion, bearing in mind that moving air is far more pleasant than static air.
21:03 just opened the windows (mosquito nets in place) as it's cooler out than in. Nice breeze through the house. Only 34 tomorrow, Winter is on its way.
This year I've learnt to open all the windows at 6am and then close them all up at about 8am, and shut the curtains. I also close the internal doors to the kitchen and lounge as they get full sun all day.
The rest of the house stays comfortable, on the hottest day last month I got home at 2pm and my wife hadn't even turned on the fan I left out, the house was about 26c.
[I]The temperature in my (east-facing) bedroom was 29C at 8am this morning[/I]
Is your bedroom a heated green house? It's about 16 degrees overnight and about 18 at 8am here, didn't hit 29 until midday!
I noticed this house and our last house both got noticeable cooler when we added loft insulation (and quieter...thanks seagulls!)
Is your bedroom a heated green house? It’s about 16 degrees overnight and about 18 at 8am here, didn’t hit 29 until midday
Not that that comments by me but our bedroom once or twice a year can be 29 degrees with no signs of cooling if the roof has been battered by the sun on both faces. Clay tiles and no insulation in the area between sarkin and plasterboard on the cheeks.
On those nights I sleep in the much cooler downstairs....
Bike tinkering in the cool cellar provides some relief. Couldn't cool down after footy last night so I resorted to a buff soaked in cold water which did the job nicely. Giant fan and blinds keeps the home office cool in the day.
Just have an oscillating fan and get naked... problem solved.
And this is why we’re ****.
Try opening a window.
Air con…. FFS.
Steady on tiger.
I wouldn’t be running it all day every day, more like an hour on an evening when it’s hot hot upstairs, downstairs is fine. So a few hours a year.
Please tell me you’re 100% carbon neutral. Or Greta Thunberg.
Slightly confused by The Times quoting an Imperial College professor saying that air conditioning is “bad” because it just moves the heat out into the surrounding area, but recommending a heat pump running in cooling mode instead.
I have a portable one but only use it in the evening to cool the bedroom (in the eaves) from its 30+ temperature. Because it’s about 20C outside at that point, the fact that it’s sucking in outside air isn’t a big deal. It’s running off solar power so I’m not particularly worried about environmental issues.
Slightly confused by The Times quoting an Imperial College professor saying
But not at all surprised.
Shade netting draped over the outside of Windows helps a lot. I trap it in place by closing the openers on it. Bedrooms that age South facing still getting hot but it's Keelung the temp down a few degrees more than closing the black out curtains alone.
What about ceiling extractor vents connected to some ducting and a fan sucking the hot air out, would imagine an easy fit to the upper rooms on most houses with a loft.
Please tell me you’re 100% carbon neutral. Or Greta Thunberg.
This has to be one of the most beschissen arguments....
Very few people, even those in developing countries, are carbon neutral. If you want to be part of society and have a job then you're most likely contributing to the increase in of C0² into the atmosphere.
However, you can make the choice to be a high contributor or a low contributor.
I sat on a train from Munich to London and will do the reverse journey on Monday. Had the option to fly, but I hate flying. It cost me more, but I'm happy to pay that extra €40 to be sat on a train than sitting on a plane. Ironically, I'm only here because my sister needed someone to look after the old man, dog, cat and house whilst four of them flew off to the Algarve for two weeks.
Hope you gave the selfish ****s both barrels for that 😂 🙄whilst four of them flew off to the Algarve for two weeks.
I've been biting my tongue for their lifestyle choices for the past 24h.
Watering the lawn (it's grass, FFS), all the lights on (it's like Blackpool Illuminations at their place.... Why are there lights at the front of the house.... "It looks inviting" who the crap is going to be "invited" other than thieves?), fans on in every room to help keep the place cool and circulate the air despite all the windows being shut?.....
I despair.
As such I'm now down the pub.
It’s a 9m x 6m space and right now I’m sat in 20 degree comfort
You don't have to make it like a fridge.
Well i went for a swim in the river today so feeling like a cool eco-warrior. Thankfully it is yet to be filled with untreated sewage like most UK watercourses!
Whenever you see US films, all the apartment blocks have air-con units wedged in the windows. How come we don’t have them?
^^^ traditionally it's been too cold to warrant it and we're made of tougher stuff. You've got to remember, the States is filled with the dregs of European society. Those that had nothing and never made it in Europe ended up emigrating.
#hardenTFU
It’s a 9m x 6m space and right now I’m sat in 20 degree comfort
At 20 degrees Madame would be sat next to the wood burner looking up with puppy eyes in the hope I'd light it even though we normally light it when the temperature drops under 18..
Whenever you see US films, all the apartment blocks have air-con units wedged in the windows. How come we don’t have them?
Neighbour down the road has one, so they are available.