Forget the chickens, How do I keep my family from cooking in the heat?

[ozark hen]

Our electric has never run over $160 tops! Believe me if I get hot then the a/c goes on!! My DH turns it up and I go behind him and turn it down! Hot weather and hot flashes just don't make a happy wife!!

 

[joanm]

I grew up without a/c and now I just can't imagine living without a/c in the south! It's so humid here you can't breath! Fortunately, I'm cold natured and my temp stays on 80!

 

[Poison Ivy]

I'm just plain spoiled I keep the a/c on 24/7 in the summer once it gets upper 80's. When the hurricanes came through a couple years ago. We were without electric for 11 days. The humidity was so high my carpets were wet and the wool rug I had down was so wet I had to drag it outside it was ruined. I can't handle the 98* heat or the humidity thats just as high. So I keep the house at 72* we have 3 window units but only run 2 most of the time. Electric runs around $300. during july & aug. for us. Other then that its around $160 or less. other summer months.

 

[Judymae]

We had water coolers when I was younger. If that is the same thing as a swamp cooler then they do work but you do have a few downsides. I remember having a hard time opening and shutting dresser drawers. Anything wooden would swell from the excess humidity. But you never caught me complaining. I liked the cool air. Humid or not!

 

[jkm]

I live in western oregon, in a house that is now ten years old, the summers are hotter since we moved in, the cities are full of concrete and it does not cool down at night.
my mother had chemical sunburn and cannot tolerate heat, or glare.
Our house has a heat pump/ac, and a ceiling fan ,
but the best thing I did when I moved in was plant trees!

my house and yard is so cool compared to the treeless, shrubless lots next to me. those owners now live as prisoners , they can't come out in their yards when its hot.

I have a standard new lot , which is really small for those of you that do not have growth boundaries, anout 8 000 sq feet.
I now have 15 trees, lining the entire lot,
Leyalnd cypress, golden cypress, three golden linden, five locust, and a few more odd balls, none of these is an expensive tree,
but the difference it makes in the comfort of the house.

trees are a amazing! plant the right trees, in the right place and the energy bills go down.
I planted a very large cypress on a whim, its now about 25 feet high and 20 feet wide.
this winter that tree alone broke the cold wind from the west, and this summer its a joy to sit in the shade.

I changed my planting /grass strategy last year and added white clover to the lawn, clover takes less water, grows slower and gives a nice green feel with almost no fuss. trying to weam myself off water thristy plants, but i do love hydrangeas, next year they should really be established and need less water.

I have light block, insulated drapes on my window, which is the hottest west window.
we do run the a/c. but at 76, not 72.

our bills are tolerable, the heat pump has a controller,
so we cost average over the year, winter day temp is 67 and night is 62..

trees are a long term strategy, but worth every penny.
when I hear the neighbors running their ac pumps, i am glad I planted trees.
mom says our electric bill is around 100 month, unless we have a jan blizzard,
the big electric waster is the hot water tank, really the american system is sooo stupid, the european on demand is so much more efficient.

 

[LilyRoseDaisy]

Quote:
I was just reading about evaporative cooler reviews on Amazon.com and ordered this one- Sunpentown SF-608R Air Cooler. One reviewer said that moisture wasn't a problem and she uses it in Florida. I don't think CA is nearly as humid.
We are getting 110 degree weather here in AZ and decided to get this for our chickens. If it works well, we might get one for us and turn off the AC!

 

[CarriBrown]

We aren't humid by any means. We are literally in the desert... that is California for ya!!! But the swap cooler has really worked well for us.

 

[Chelly]

We are sweltering today - I'm feeling very sorry for myself. Its 90 degrees inside the house - with all our fans going, and just blowing hot air around.... I even hosed down the roof and patio - didn't make any difference....
its NASTY!!

 

[AccidentalFarm]

I can't imagine living without AC, but I am very interested in getting a swamp cooler to try out. I figure if it doesn't work well for us in the house, it'll be a nice addition to the coop.

We do have relatively high humidity fairly often, but I read that even at 50% humidity a swamp cooler will cool down an area by 20 degrees. It also said that they use an amount of energy equivalent to a 60 watt light bulb!! Those two things alone make it worth the $100 or so to try out a smallish model.

 

[MTchick]

Insulating reflective curtains! Any window that has a dark-backed curtain, thin curtain, or no curtain at all is making your house into a greenhouse! We put in insulating white-backed curtains on all our W and S facing windows and it has made a tremendous difference on the temperature of our house. Very inexpensive modification, too. Open them at night, close them in the morning, house stays cool.

We don't have AC so we've done a few things to keep the house cool. For one, insulating the attic was extremely helpful and well worth the money. After that, insulating the walls of the house (it was a very old home, no real insulation) is awesome for both winter and summer. Then the curtains went up- very handy. Lastly, we have a window exhaust fan (like an attic fan) in the upstairs that keeps the 2nd floor cool via promoting a cross-ventilating breeze.

Good luck.

-MTchick