The following contribution is from another author.
If your home isn’t geared up to handle the heat, a heat wave can be pretty miserable reality compared to the enjoyable summer you were hoping for. Here are some simple ways to stay cool at home when temperatures are soaring.
- The most obvious way to keep your home at a bearable temperature is to fit air-conditioning. Invest in a heating and cooling system that will keep your home comfortable all year round. To keep it working efficiently, make you sure you have it serviced regularly by a professional company, like plumheatcool.com.au/brivis.
- Keep the curtains closed during the hottest part of the day. The curtains help to block the sun from the house, keeping the indoors cool. As soon as the temperatures drop, get the curtains open again to let the cooler evening air in.
- If your air-con isn’t up to scratch, or doesn’t cover the whole house, make a budget version by putting tray of ice in front of a fan. As the ice melts, it cools the air being blown out by the fan.
- Fill your hot water bottle with water and then freeze it. Now you’ve got an excellent ice pack for when it gets really hot.
- Many of us find it very difficult to sleep when the air is very hot at night. If this is you, put your sheets and pyjamas into a plastic bag, and then put them into the freezer for a few minutes before bedtime. They won’t stay cool all night but should give you enough relief to let you fall asleep.
- Wear light, cotton pajamas at night, and swap your sheets for cotton ones. Cotton is more breathable than other fabrics and will help you sleep better when it’s very hot at night.
- If your room is getting very stuffy, hang a wet sheet in front of an open window. As the air passes through the sheet, the water will cool it down, cooling the air inside the room.
- Don’t turn the oven on unless you really have it. You probably don’t want hot meals anyway, and the oven will throw a lot of heat into the kitchen. Instead, leave it off, and either cook outside on the barbecue or eat cold meals.
- Appliances like the dishwasher and the washing machine give off heat too. Try to leave them off during the day and instead run them at night when the air is cooler and you’re not near them as they run. If you’re really struggling, even charging your phone in a different room can make a bit of difference.
- Heat rises. If you can’t sleep, moving your bedding to the floor and sleeping there can help a bit if you’re really desperate. If upstairs in the house is hot, move downstairs to sleep and see if that’s cooler.
- Old style fans can just seem to stir the warm air around when it gets very hot. If that’s happening, turn the fan around so it’s facing towards an open window. The fan will push the hot air out towards the window instead of into your face.
