Clock Thermometer
How can I cool down my room?
According to the thermometer in my clock my bedroom reached 30.1 degrees C at 1am last night. To put that into perspective, we rarely get that temperature outside during the day. It is NOT sleeping temperature!
Do people have any suggestions to cool the room down or help me sleep? Fans, windows, doors, etc don't even bring it down by a whole degree. I'm a pretty light sleeper so I'd rather it wasn't too noisy either.
Hi Johnny,
I've been going through this problem for a few months now and have found no silver bullet to quickly reduce a room's temperature without using air conditioning.
But, with some foreward planning, I have been able to keep things at comfortable levels.
The most important thing is to stop heat building up in the house in the first place.
1. Keep all of the curtains/blinds closed all day. If you're out at work during the day then this is no problem. If you have windows with no curtains/blinds then either line then with aluminium foil (as per the previous answer) or simply tape together sheets of white paper (to reflect the light out) and then back this with black bin liners to stop the light coming in. Tape this to the window with the white side pointing out. You can buy heat reflective films for windows but if you don't mind the lack of light, just use the foil / bin liner solutions. Sun = Heat
2. If it's hotter outside than inside (even if there is a breeze), keep all of the windows closed. If the windows are open then you will be allowing in warmer air. This feels illogical because when there's a breeze you feel cooler but that's just because it's helping your sweat evaporate. If you let in warmer air with a breeze the house temperature will increase.
3. Try to minimise the heat you generate in the house. If you have a boiler providing hot water all day, turn it off during the day. Don't cook during the day in the house (bbqs are great). Don't iron during the day. Turn off your PC when you don't need it. Turn off the TV when you're not actively watching it. Use energy saving light bulbs - these generate much much less heat.
4. Once the air outside the house is cooler than inside, you can open the windows and room doors to cool the house using the outside air. If there's a good breeze then the air will flow with the direction of the wind through the house and quickly cool it. If there's no breeze then this is when you need to use fans. You need to place fans near the windows on the cooler side of the house to draw air in (the fan will be facing away from the window) and you then need to place fans on the hotter side of the house pointing out so they push the warm air out of the window. This way you create air flow from the cool side to the warm side and this will provide cooling.
5. If you have a basement which is cool, then use a large air circulator to push air up the stairs.
6. When humidity is less than 40% (which it isn't right now) then you can use evaporation of water to provide extra cooling. Place a couple of 3/4 filled litre water bottles in the freezer during the day. At night, place these frozen bottles in a tray/bucket of water in front of a fan. As the ice melts and the water evaporates, it sucks in heat and this lowers the temperature of the air infront of the fan.
Remember that while a fan pointing directly at you will make you feel cooler, it will not cool a room - it is just helping your sweat to evaporate and in a closed room will only serve to raise the temperature of the room.
Finally, if you're in this for the long term then there are solutions from warmer countries that can be used.
a) Plant trees on the warm side of the house. These will eventually provide shade and stop the sun hitting the house
b) Paint the house white to reflect the suns heat.
c) Use heat reflective roof tiles.
Hope this helps,
Simon
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