keeping your home cool at night.

People often leave windows open, then close all the internal doors.

Must keep doors open to allow air flow. Makes a massive difference.
And turn electrical equipment of. A computer heats a room up a good few degrees on it's own.
 
The only problem with leaving your windows open is that you get the bloody birds signing at 5am! Which isn't too bad, but it's not for everyone! :p

Out of interest how much power does an AC unit draw? Must be relatively expensive to cool a whole room I'd have thought.

A/C in the UK is a little daft as it doesn't really get hot enough IMO. However, the Brits aren't used to proper weather! ;)

I'd make sure your landlord, or you, insulate your loft more as well, this really does help a lot. I'm in the loft room of our house, and there's pretty much no insulation, so it does get toasty, but a nice breeze does blow through the room as I have a window on either side so it's not too bad. However, insulation would really help. It's just a shame you can't tan through a window! :( :p
 
Dolph said:
With the obsession with demanding huge amounts of insulation in houses, it's getting more and more relevant.

I'm starting to seriously consider a split setup to replace the portable one...
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Insulation helps keep the house cooler though? My uninsulated garage gets much hotter than any rooms in the house.
 
Freefaller said:
Out of interest how much power does an AC unit draw? Must be relatively expensive to cool a whole room I'd have thought.
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Mine is a 3.5kW, but that's peak when the compressor is running. I think it averages at about 2/3 of that. I only have it on for an hour or two before I goto sleep though.
 
I take a cold bath, does not make the house cooler but makes me feel cooler...

however if think you can die if you jump into a cold bath, some latent reflex that stop your heart, or you breathing or something...
 
Lightnix said:
God ****ing damn it. It's too warm so I open a window, and now this huge moth is flying around my room putting me on edge every time it decides to sneak up on me, and it's still too warm! :(

Any donations for an AC unit would be much appreciated. :p
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Aha, need to keep windows closed here as well. If it's open for more than 10mins, the bedroom seems to become a wildlife haven, moths, spiders, brontosauruses etc :(.
 
I usually just suffice with a desk fan to blow some air around. My house is pretty good for allowing breeze through with all the windows/doors open.

Problem being that I have two kittens at the moment and they can't go outside. They are now able to climb/jump up to the windows so I can only open them an inch or two at best.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
I call shananigans to that.
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It is complete tripe. Though I suspect someone with heart/lung issues may be more susceptible to some sort of reaction.

I've jumped into an ice hole in the artic circle as part of a surival training course I was on 10 years ago. I'm still here.... albeit several inches smaller. :( :o

In fact I went swimming in the Solent couple of weeks ago and it was at about 14C - I didn't die I don't think.
 
Freefaller said:
Out of interest how much power does an AC unit draw? Must be relatively expensive to cool a whole room I'd have thought
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As to how much power it draws, the absolute maximum current I've ever registered my unit drawing is 5.5 amps.

P=IV so power = 5.5 x 240
Absolute max Power draw = 1.32 kW

Since that's when it's providing about 4kW of heat, you'd actually be getting a bargain there, but tbh i never need that amount of heating... It would top 30c in winter in no time.

Cooling: With a small modern split system like mine, to cool the whole room (17 foot by 10 foot) once (from say, 25c, down to 18c) takes about half an hour and during that time the unit draws about 800 watts for half an hour (0.4kWh).

Last time I checked we pay 11.5pence per kilowatt-hour for electricity... - so the cost to "cool a whole room" once would be about 4 and a half pence (or 5 cents if you use euros).

In general use I just set it to maintain a temp of 18c and leave it... and even on the hottest days it only sips 8 pence per hour, which in my opinion is well worth it for the joy of having a truly cool place to chill out. Of course if I fancy doing a spot of extreme overclocking I set it to 14c - since the unit is more powerful than the room needs, even in summer the temp in the room drops to 11c, and the temp of air coming out of the vents actually drops below zero...

All I need to do now is fit my computer on a bracket in front of the vents. :D
 
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So not horrendously expensive, but you still need to keep the room cool once cool, no? I guess for the 3-4 days we get of "hot" weather it doesn't seem too expensive, but still seems a bit of a extravagant purchase for a few days of hot weather. :)
 
I find it excellent to open bedroom window, put a fan in the window sucking cool evening air into the bedroom (door closed). I do this at about 8pm. By 10.30pm, the bedroom feels like it has AC :D
 
Over Clocker said:
I find it excellent to open bedroom window, put a fan in the window sucking cool evening air into the bedroom (door closed). I do this at about 8pm. By 10.30pm, the bedroom feels like it has AC :D
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I do this too! Also adds protection against the insects, they have to be incredibly lucky to get past the fan of death.
 
edscdk said:
however if think you can die if you jump into a cold bath, some latent reflex that stop your heart, or you breathing or something...
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Have you never been swimming before?

Check the waters freezing and jump in at the deepest part. Works best in rivers because they're usually like icebaths and you can sunbathe and get hot and sweaty before jumping in.
It certainly gets the blood flowing and makes you breathe heavier, it's lovely though.
 
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