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

[Nifty-Chicken]

We don't have A/C in our house and have been able to rely on ceiling fans and open windows at night to keep us relatively cool.

Last year was a scorcher and this one is expected to be worse. The methods above won't cut it.

I'm afraid to put in an AC unit for fear that we'll have it on all the time and the electricity bill will go through the roof.

Here are some ideas... has anyone deployed these, and if so, what are your thoughts / comments / suggestions?

1) Air Vent on roof: I've heard these work pretty well for alleviating the heat in the attic:
http://www.airvent.com/homeowner/products/staticVents-windTurb.shtml

2) Evaporative / swamp coolers: I hear they are cheap to run, but there are cons (only cool down the air so much and cause dampness throughout).

Any thoughts on these and other ideas to keep my family nice and cool?

 

[ozark hen]

it is just hitting the upper 80's here with tons of humidity and here I am having hot flashes as if it weren't hot enough!

I hate turning on the a/c until I absolutely have to so I have box fans in the windows pulling air out during the daytime and turn them around at night when the air is cooler. It is very comfortable ...now! We have had central air for about 18 years now so I haven't looked at units now but my guess....you can find some energy efficient ones now since other appliances are all energy efficient. Shop around first...never buy when it is a "have to" situation. Start looking now and do lots of comparison shopping. My guess you will find some a/c that is both very comfortable and economical. Good luck!

 

[silkiechicken]

If you install ac, just have it on set to some crazy high temp like 80 only when people are home, and have it off otherwise. Here in WA, ours goes on when it goes over 75, but luckily, that's only maybe a few weeks of the year.

 

[dlhunicorn]

Here is the link to thread on my collected articles on HEAT STRESS and how to keep your birds from dying of it:
http://p072.ezboard.com/fbackyardchickensfrm1.showMessage?topicID=22798.topic

 

[CarriBrown]

Quote:

Well, we've gotten sick of $600 electric bills, so we bought a portable swamp cooler (for our bedroom at night) and installed a whole house fan.
I bought drapes for the windows and we keep them shut during the day. That seems to help, too.
Although... it's supposed to be 97 tomorrow... We've gone this far without running the A/C, but I don't know how much longer that is going to last!

 

[dlhunicorn]

I live in Holland where it is very unusual to have airconditioning... though the weather changes the last ten years have meant that we often have temps reaching over 100 degrees ... that being said it is often cool enough at night to cool the house off (if not I give it a bit of help by hosing the house down with the hose

)
I have a brick house
During the day I have those foil thingys you use on your car on the outside of the windows that recive full sun (I stappled a few together and made a roll-up "curtain" only it is hung up outside to reflect the heat off)...
I cool my house down by positioning my fans at the door to blow the cooler air in at night...
In the daytime I shut the curtains and windows to keep the warmer air out.
I also have this neat little fan that you can put icecubes in to cool the air it blows for when it is really hot.
This is how I get thru the hot days of summer without an airconditioner (oh...I lUV to shop in the airconditioned stores

)

 

[justusnak]

Bananas. THey help lower your body temp. We have central air, but I hate to turn it on. We have a full basement, and I had DH move the computer and tv down here for a family room. The dogs stay down here with us....and stay cool most of the day. I have to admit tho....now with the temps getting in the lower 90's...the air will be on and set to 80. I can handle 80...not lower 90's. We had the air set on 76....the temp in the basement was 64..BRRrrrrr....OFF went the air!! LOL
Hope you can stay cool in this summer heat. Maybe put up a screened room outside on the lawn, and have camp outs on the warmer nights. We used to do this when I was younger...we didnt have air either.

 

[bayouchica]

We don't have a/c in our house but do have an attic fan. That fan does a real good job of atleast moving the air in the house, but when it's hot it's hot.
We've got a window unit in the bedroom.I usually will turn it on during the hottest part of the day when it gets over 90 or so then turn it off at night.
Maybe get some box fans to remove the air in the house & have one pulling air in??
Does it get real humid where yall live? Mold can be a problem, I have some leather boots & jacket I constantly have to wipe the mold off of them during the summer.
Good luck with all that & stay cool,

Miriam

 

[Chelly]

We live in a crummy rental house, no air conditioning, no attic, no insulation, no fans other than our small portable ones....
ITS STINKING HOT!!

Last year the temp hit an all time high for me INSIDE the house, it got to 108, at that point I took the kids outside, and turned on the sprinkler! CLOTHES and all!

 

[pattycake]

We don't have air conditioning either, but it only gets REALLY hot for two or three weeks here, and we can deal with that. What I do is open the windows at night and put fans in the windows, then as soon as it's hotter outside that inside, I shut the windows. This works for short hot spells.

Usually there comes a time when the house just doesn't cool off, so we sweat. I lived in southern Louisiana for a couple of summers and no AC, wow, that was bad. You just had to move very.... slowly.... and drink cold drinks in the shade....