No Air Conditioner? How to Keep Your Cool No Matter How Hot it Gets

[jtuck004]

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-keep-cool-without-an-air-conditioner-171724

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Thankfully our readers have come to the rescue with a long list of tips ranging from from absolutely quirky (but they swear they work!) to "why didn't I think of that!?" good old common sense ideas. Bookmark this quick list of possible solutions and get started on your cooldown plan! [br]

Freeze a 2 liter bottle with water. Put in a pillow case and hold to your chest like a teddy. Cooling down the central core will cool down all extremities as a result. My roomie calls them "ice babies". - Novalis[br]
I have a couple of old plastic water bottles in the freezer 3/4 filled with water. When it's really warm I fill the remainder of the bottle with tap water and take them to bed with me, creating a 'hot water bottle' in reverse. I tuck one behind my back and roll the other one in a towel for the front side and I'm pretty good to go. - Hawaiinei[br]
When I was younger my bedroom was in the unfinished upstairs of our cape cod style house. No heat in winter, no AC in summer, but I loved the privacy! On the hottest nights I would employ window fans, and a spray bottle, set to the finest mist. When I got hot, I'd spray myself with some cool water and let the air from the fan chill me. - BrandeMT

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More tips for hot days at link.

[AwakeAtLast]

1. Good for anyone to know

A/C units can break down - thanks for posting!

[yeoman6987]

2. That's awesome!

I don't keep my home very cool...79 in the Summer so on some days that would help me. Thanks!

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. good tips

[Warpy]

4. If you've got a wee freezer like mine with no room for soda bottles

go soak your head. You'd be surprised at how fast wet hair will cool you off, especially if you don't bother to towel it off, you just sit and drip.

A friend soaks a towel and puts it under her bare feet to cool off, but she's got tile floors. It's not practical for my hardwood. She swears it works.

Sit in front of a fan with a spritz bottle. Spray into the breeze once in a while. The fine spray comes back at you, cooling you off head to foot without drenching you.

The best way to stay cool for hours is to go jump in your swimming pool. We peasants without them need to take really quick cool showers to accomplish the same thing, the key being not to dry off too much.

[jtuck004]

5. Costco and other stores sell packages of small cotton hand towels. I run them under water,

wring it out, and swing it by one end, or hold it out the car window until it cools.

Then I twist it and swing it around my neck.

Kinda like those little neck coolers they sell at the fair, but much cheaper, and they double as a rag better.

You mentioned the swimming pool - I am thinking of Kansas where they are barring families from that little bit of relief. Hate for that state to rank among the worst, but they are working hard on it.

[watrwefitinfor]

24. The warmer the shower water,

the cooler the air will feel when you step out.

Wat

[Warpy]

35. A cool shower drops your core temperature

and that's more important for an old bag like me.

[Surya Gayatri]

26. Wet head = cool as a cucumber. The head has more blood vessels than any

other body part (per square cm.) and will rapidly cool down the rest.

The reverse is also true. If you get your head wet in freezing weather, it can be very dangerous and lead to hypothermia. You lose more heat through your head than anywhere else.

[Warpy]

36. That's actually a myth, you lose more through your feet and hands

The point to soaking your head is that it's got hair on it and hair will dry slowly enough to keep you cool for an hour at least. People with baldies or buzz cuts probably need to wrap a wet dishtowel around their heads for the same effect.

[Surya Gayatri]

37. Interesting...that's not what the surgeon who sewed up my bloody head told me.

It was a wound that only required 7-8 stitches, but I was soaked in blood.

She explained that the head has the highest concentration of vessels, which explains why it bleeds so profusely.

[Warpy]

38. Oh, scalp wounds bleed like stuck pigs, blood everywhere

but that bit about the head losing warmth faster than other parts of the body has been debunked. That doesn't mean that a lot of people have stopped believing it.

[NV Whino]

6. No air conditioning here

It only gets hot a few, nonconsecutive (usually) days a year, but I've mastered the art of opening and closing blinds and windows and fan placement.

This year a friend, who installed air conditioning in her house, gave me her mobile swamp cooler. It's been great. The addition of water with the fan, and when things really heat up, ice, works really well.

You can get these things for under $200. The one I have isn't the best one available, but beings that it was free, I'm not complaining. If you're interested in one of these units, look for one with a removable water container that can be easily emptied and cleaned.

[passiveporcupine]

13. I do the window and fan program too

But if it never cools off enough at night to bring the house temps down in a long heat spell, it can be difficult.

And I have a natural water cooler too...my house is about 25 feet from a year-round creek (plus lots of shade), and I know it is part of the reason my yard and house is always at least 5° cooler than any of the surrounding areas.

[NV Whino]

15. Oh yeah, not cooling down at night...

I know I'm dead the next day, and try to find an air conditioned friend, or library, or I put in an extra volunteer shift at the hospital.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

7. Cold showers help....

Just don't expect to impress anyone when you come out.

[Surya Gayatri]

27. Get in there in your T-shirt and undies and come out dripping.

You'll stay cool for an hour or more.

You can blot off the excess droplets and just keep the damp.

[Arugula Latte]

40. ...

[dem in texas]

8. Grew up in Texas with no AC

When I was a kid, AC was not around. We got our first window AC when I was about 16 and it only cooled the living room and dinning room. We had a big attic fan and turned in on when we went to bed, It pulled the night air in the house. I suffered with allergies and was miserable. AC would have helped so much.

We kept all the windows raised. Now I would be afraid to do that for fear someone would break-in. Many of the elderly who die each year from the heat do so because they are afraid to raise their window for fear of being robbed.

God Bless Central Air!

[raccoon]

25. As one who grew up in SC with no AC, ITA.

If somebody hasn't lived it, they have no idea.

God Bless AC!

[Warpy]

39. Here in NM, I'm considering mini splits

because I don't have ductwork in this old house, just an ancient floor furnace.

Then again, I'm developing an appreciation for hot weather in my dotage. My joints don't seem to hurt quite as much when it's hot and a fan has been working well for me.

Triple digit heat is just too hot. When it gets that bad, I soak my head.

[enid602]

9. trick

When I was a kid, if someone complained of feeling hot you would face their back, and gently poke one shoulder blade, then the base of their neck and finally the other shoulder blade with your index finger. With the same finger, you would then draw a question mark on their back, with the dot of the question mark landing on their lower back. Then, blow on the back of their neck. Finally, you gently squeeze the back of their neck with your index finger and thumb. At the same time, you would say:

dot, dot, dot . . .
question mark . . .
ocean breeze . . .
give a little squeeze . . .

Works every time with kids.

[angstlessk]

10. I lived in the second floor of an apartment without AC

I had a fan aimed at me, but the plug was loose. For some reason my cats (kittens) would walk close enough to the plug to unplug my fan...and not just once but many times.

My poor cats (kittens, actually (the very ones who pulled the plug (I had 3))) were huffing because of the heat.

I pulled out the crisper drawers of my fridge and put each kitten in (did not close the door, just held the kitten in) till they were cool...once they got cooled down, they ran around the apartment till they were huffing!

[udbcrzy2]

11. We had no a/c when I was young

We used two huge window fans. I don't know how we made it back then.

[passiveporcupine]

12. I have a freezer neck scarf, and I needed it today

But I couldn't find it.

I had to go to town and waited till almost 7pm, and still it was so hot it was almost unbearable. I think it was over 100° in town, and it's always about 10° cooler at my place. I went shopping and came out of the grocery store at almost 10pm and it was like walking into a blast furnace.

Not my cuppa tea.

But this freezer scarf is really cool and everyone should have one. It's just a little scarf you tie around your neck. It contains a fabric tube of gel beads...you soak them in water and then freeze it and they stay cold for awhile. Your veins in your neck get cooled off before the blood hits your brain, and it really helps to keep the brain cool...which helps you feel better all over.

I was showing signs of heat prostration before I even got to the grocery store, but the air conditioning in there helped me a lot. I can't even have a cool breeze blowing in my car, because my heater is stuck on "on" all the time (cable problem) so I have to keep the blower off and just depend on open windows.

I don't remember it ever being so hot here, for so long before. We have three more killer days before it starts cooling down. I'm finding my scarf tomorrow if it kills me.

These little neck scarfs would be good gifts to make for friends and family, and I bet dogs would appreciate them too.

[raouldukelives]

29. Those are lifesavers!

Nothing beats tying one of those things around my skull when it hits 110.

[SheilaT]

14. I spent my first three years in the DC area without a/c.

My second summer I bought a window fan, and it helped enormously.

I currently live in Santa Fe, NM sans a/c. I have no windows that face due west, which makes a difference. I'm also careful to manage open windows and doors, as well as a small fan in the room I'm currently in. I am planning to replace the french doors here with a sliding glass door with a screen, so I can leave it open and not let bugs in. That will help considerably.

[WillowTree]

16. I prefer to not sleep with the AC on all but the hottest or most humid nights.

What works pretty well for me the rest of the time is that I have a small fan, about 10", on my dresser that is aimed about 3 feet above my bed. It keeps the air above the bed moving without blowing on me. I also have an oscillating pedestal fan in the corner, in front of the window. When the air flow from that fan crosses the path of the dresser fan, it creates a gentle flutter above the bed that's really delightful. That gets me through most of the summer.

You might say I'm a big fan of fans.

[TorchTheWitch]

17. keep cold tap water in the bathtub and stand in it

I don't know why, but just putting your feet in cool water can cool you off all over even in that horrible humid hot whether when the air is like pea soup, and you sweat like a pig.

In the place I lived before moving to this dump one year the a/c crapped out and took a week to fix. I had the big second floor apartment that was the whole top floor of the building, and the difference in temperature between the first floor apartment and mine on the second floor was incredible. I've noticed it's the same way in this place... ground floor I almost never need the a/c, but just half way up the steps, and you just BAKE.

I got the idea for keeping cold tap water in the tub not even really filling it as much as half way and just standing in it for an all over cool down remembering all the times when I was a kid and we went to the beach or the lake, and be just cooking in the heat until your feet went in the water, and suddenly you were fine and even thought it was too cold to really want to get in much farther.

Works the same for me in reverse, too. If my feet are cold in the winter I'm shivering, but as long as I've got on double socks and my winter slippers, I'm generally good.

During that week without a/c also just so happened to be the week we got that summer where it went a bit over a 100 degrees without a single puff of a breeze with miserable humidity. I was so worried about my dog with his thick winter-dog coat, but he was fine in front of the fan and he'd climb in the tub once in awhile himself and stand in the water... then play in the water... sit in it, splash around in it, etc. until the whole bathroom was drenched. And then he'd take all the gallons of water that his coat soaked up and go jumping into my bed making sure to roll around to soak every square inch.

Of course, us women with hot flashes - all bets are off.

[pansypoo53219]

18. yes.water. we have no AC. tho it was not even close to hot last year. the year before. bad.

i get in shower w/ undies & get them wet. then put on clothes. when i worked in a stain glass shop. i'd get my shirt wet + go back to soldering. and ice. tho i hear hot tea works.

[C Moon]

19. I have problems in the heat.

We have central AC that broke in heat waves last year and the year before—it was the outside condenser fan both times, but the tech didn't catch it the first time.
Anyways, I bought a backup portable AC, and I also bought a chest cooler thingie—you drop it in cold water for awhile or refrigerate it, or freeze it, and it cools to something like 50 degrees for a few hours.

[tencats]

20. Homemade Air Conditioner DIY - The "5 Gallon Bucket" Air Cooler!

DIY- can be solar powered!

[Sherman A1]

21. Cool!

In more ways than one. Thanks for posting.

[blogslut]

22. A cool bath works wonders.

When I went without air conditioning I would fill the tub with tepid/cool water and soak for a while. It really helped. Bonus, you can keep the tub filled and just get in it whenever you get too hot.

[B Calm]

23. 59 degrees outside and delightful.

[Snarkoleptic]

28. I have heard that draping a slightly damp towel over your legs

and blowing a fan from toe to head works well.

[LWolf]

30. I simply put a cotton shirt

in cold water and put it on...without wringing it out. It might not work in humid areas, but it does the job, and works until the shirt dries out...about 2 hours.

[DFW]

31. We don't even have air conditioning in our house

It's rare that we ever need it here in Germany, and if we have to sleep in the basement, then we do.

[RandiFan1290]

32. Stanford Researchers' Cooling Glove Boosts Exercise Recovery

[PotatoChip]

33. I'm cold.

I just took a shower and my hair is still wet, so I had to go around shutting windows. It's warm out today, about 70, but too breezy. And when the sun goes behind the clouds, well... brrrr!

I refuse to turn up the oil furnace, or build a fire, though. Maybe I'll bake some cookies and let the oven warm up the place.

Good tips though. Perhaps I'll get to use them if summer ever gets here. Sigh...

Thanks jtuck!

[IronLionZion]

34. If you have access to ice, put a bucket in front of the fan

blows cool air into the room.

look up cooling foods to eat: tofu, cucumber, yogurt, greens, fruits, etc. it can help your body feel more cool.

avoid eating heating foods: meat, spices, cinnamon, etc. will make you feel warm. Don't use your oven.

Have showers with cold or room temperature water, it will help keep you cool for a bit afterwards too. Avoid hot showers.

Menthol/peppermint products like body wash and shaving cream can feel very cooling.

Make sure you get enough water, potassium, and real salt (not sodium) if you're sweating a lot.