Refresh your apartment without air conditioning, day and night

Tips to cool your apartment or house without air conditioning when it’s hot. You will find here all the techniques that exist to lower the temperature at home.

Cooling your apartment

Cool your apartment without air conditioning during the day

• Close the shutters and curtains
• Do not open the windows if the air outside is warmer than the air inside the house
• If you don’t have shutters, put a survival blanket, a reflective windshield cover, or aluminum foil over windows exposed to the sun. You can also invest in UV filters on your windows that reject up to 80% of the sun’s energy (20€/m2)
• Ventilate the air with a ceiling fan (more efficient), or a desk fan. The fan does not produce fresh air, but creates a breeze that helps the skin to sweat and lower the body temperature
• Place 2 or 3 plastic bottles full of frozen water in front of the fan, in a tray
• Use a misting device (like a short glass filled with water), and spray in the air, the micro droplets will evaporate and capture heat. The evaporation of water consumes the ambient heat: 1 gram of water evaporated = 600 calories less in the atmosphere. This is the principle of air fresheners
• Pass a wet mop on the floor. The evaporation of water will lower the temperature.
• Stretch light wet cloths, like sheets, on a clothesline. And spray water on them as soon as they are dry: always the principle of water evaporation…
• In the same way, plants with large leaves will cool the air by evapotranspiration. Water their feet and their leaves by misting them: they will release even more moisture and freshness
• Avoid long cooking times, the oven, the iron… and also turn off TV screens, hi-fi systems and computers that give off heat

Refresh your apartment without air conditioning at night

• Ventilate by using windows located on opposite sides of the building to create a draft
• Dry your laundry inside, the evaporation of humidity will refresh the atmosphere
• Put back in the freezer the bottles of water you put in front of your fan during the day (the salt added to the water reduces the time needed for the cooling process if you are in a hurry)
• Take a cold shower, and drink a large glass of water before going to bed
• To fall asleep, wet a large towel or sheet in cold water, wring it out as much as possible (in a machine for example), and cover yourself up…
• And avoid sleeping naked, because perspiration evaporates less well than if there is a cloth on your skin. And you risk to catch a cold