What temperature is it outside right now? If you live in the southern hemisphere the answer might be VERY HOT. Over the past two weeks some parts of Australia have been experiencing record-breaking heat spells with consecutive days of over 40 degrees (104F) and a temperature of nearly 47 degrees (116F) being experienced in the far Southern States. These are temperatures extreme for even our hot dry country and have recently resulted in our most devastating bush fires and loss of life in our history. We here at www.beforeourtime.com wish to convey our deepest sympathies to those who have lost so much.
If you are in Australia over the summer you might be thankful that you are in one of the 60%* of Australian homes with some form of air conditioning to beat the heat. But what if you don’t have an air conditioner? Or what if the extreme heat has severed your power supplies? How did those who lived before our time beat the heat and keep comfortable in hot conditions at home?
First, consider your notion of keeping comfortable. With air conditioning commonplace in cars and workplaces and, increasingly, in the home our idea of what is a comfortable heat may have changed over time. Instead of embracing warm weather by sitting on a shady verandah in light-coloured cotton clothing sipping a cool drink we have become accustomed to trying to bend nature to our needs rather than adapt with the seasons.
How soon do you turn on your air conditioner? Do you want a year-round temperature of 22 degrees or can you cope with a 25 degree room temperature in the summer?
Confused about celsius vs farenheit? Use our handy chart!
Our house in Sydney has no air conditioning and despite a week or two each year when the temperatures reach into the late 30s and early 40s we find that we can cope quite well without it. We are lucky to live in a house built in 1919 which was designed with the local climate in mind.
Our house is solid brick, two stories high with 3.3m ceilings and small windows to the west side of the house. The house stays relatively cool, even on the hottest day of the year – with a top internal temperature of around 27 degrees on those days.
We have found that the only areas of the house to cause heat build up are the parts that have been altered since it was built. The original design had two upstairs patio/verandahs – one off the south side of the house and one off the north. Both of these verandahs have been filled in (one is now my office, one a bathroom) and they are the hottest parts of the house. In the original design these rooms would’ve been open to the elements and provided shade and cooling breezes. Now, enclosed in glass, these rooms magnify the heat which then radiates to the nearby bedrooms.
We are not saints. On those 40 degree days we wish, along with the rest of Sydney, that we had on- demand air conditioning, but on the whole I prefer to live with the windows open rather than closed which would be the case with the refrigerated air-conditioning that is needed in our region.
We are fortunate to live in the house we do however many people live in hot boxes designed with economy or fashion in mind rather than suitability for the local climate. If you are in such a house without air conditioning or a well-designed house how do you cope? Here are some ideas from before our time:
Quick fixes – when electricity is down
- Keep your windows and doors closed, your blinds down and your lights and appliances off. The key is to prevent heat from entering your home and from the relative cool of the evening from escaping. Electrical appliances radiate heat and use should be kept to a minimum.
- Drink plenty of water
- Allow yourself to sweat – sweat is nature’s evaporative air conditioner
- Wear light colours, a hat, natural fibres, loose clothing.
- Fan yourself
- Dab water on your wrists and other pulse points
- Wet towels or sheets to lie on
- Get wet! Swim, take a cold shower or bath, play water games.
- If water restrictions allow – sprinklers on outside act as a natural air conditioner
Quick fixes - power available
-Get the air moving – ceiling fans, portable fans
-Get air moving over water – have fans operate over a tray of ice or water, or through a wet towel
-Use your freezer to make ice - for your drinks or as an icepack.
Longer term fixes – optimise your house design
- build verandahs and patios which act as a solar clock – shady areas at each point in the day
- build water features near the house (for evaporative air conditioning effect)
- plant shady trees under which seating can be placed for hot days
- have soft rather than hard landscaping near the house
- install smaller windows on the west side of the house
- create breezeways through the house
- install roof and wall insulation or build your house from naturally insulating materials such as mud brick.
What are your tips and tricks do you have from before our time for keeping your cool on the hottest days?
*Source: abs.gov.au
9 comments:
You thought I could only give tips about surviving several weeks camping in minus double figures temps. but I do remember spending afternoons in the bathroom with my pre-schoolage children playing in a "cold" bath – even better with the window open when there was any hint of a breeze. When and where was this, I hear you wonder? England in the 70's! We had temperatures in the +30's for several years. The children loved it as most do love guddling in water.
We rent, we live in a hot box. Anything above 36 degrees and the house is unbearable. I blew the tax refund on a portable aircon unit the year we moved here and my partner was slightly outraged that I'd spent that block of money without consulting him (impulse buy) but the house was that bad and the kids were so young.
Our lounge room faces west so when we had that recent 47 / 116 degree day we thought that bunkering down with the aircon and some dvds would be the best plan but we had to put the outlet hose out the west facing windows and try as we might we couldn't prevent the west wind blowing more hot air in than the unit could counter.
My tip is to hang the blinds outside where possible. Glass actually magnifies the heat exponentially so even though inside curtains and blinds block to a degree, you are much better off not letting the sun hit your glass at all.
Sorry to rave, can you tell I am slightly obsessed about handling extreme heat?
Stomper, you are completely right. Putting blinds on the outside is a classic heat stopper I completely ommitted.
I'd love to install some retractable awnings over our huge south windows (the filled in verandah) but I doubt I'd get it past the heritage boffins at our local council.
You must be an expert at heat management after the recent temps in Melb!
I tried the wet towel in front of the fan but I didn't think it did much.
I'm a big fan of closing everything up before it gets hot - windows, blinds, doors, etc. It works for our place for a day or so, but after then it warms up quite a bit.
Luckily, we get a sea breeze which tends to cool things off pretty quickly.
My best tip is to do as little as possible. Lay low until it passes.
We got A/C last year ( reverse cycle - also our heating when things get too cold ) .. but I like the heat, so don't tend to use the A/C ( our heating bills however !! )
Despite the fact I love the light-filled windows-open vast-open-spaces look, we tend to live in the dark, drawn blinds all day, with just the fan going. We too are double brick, and it's usually quite ok.
I'm also the BIG fan of sitting around with your feet in a bucket of water .. and of spraying a squirter of water thingy at a rotary fan - nothing more refreshing ( oh, and some Calipos in the freezer - yum ! :)
My house faces east-west, although there are some windows to the north. We get the morning and afternoon sun. The house is three story and my bedroom is right at the top. I don't think there can be any insulation in the roof. You can feel the increase in the temperature with every step on the stairs.
When we moved in there were only narrow aluminium venetians on some windows and (very Sydney) no curtains. Over the years I have had extra blinds and curtains put in, and we do have air-conditioning - essential in this hot house. I open windows at night and close up the house during the day, and have put block out fabric permanently over the shutters of the west facing windows. Now I am plotting some sort of outside blinds, and last week had draped a tablecloth (outside) over the east facing flyscreen doors! Now I am plotting some exterior blinds.
I can't believe how poorly designed many Sydney houses are in terms or energy conservation and heat control.
How did we survive before aircon? Coming to Australia from Scotland in Spring of 1967 I quickly learned to close up the house every morning and open it at night to let the 'Albany Doctor' (a roaring cool breeze from the southern ocean) through, to dress in light, loose clothing of natural fabrics and eat light cool food.Driving in the heat we put wet towels up at the passenger side windows.
The following summer when Alison was born was the hottest summer on record (and this record stood until Alisons 40th summer last year!) Keeping her cool was a full time job with wet towels in front of fans, lots of sponging down,very little clothing and lots of cool boiled water to keep her hydrated. I kept all the media reports and graphs of temperature etc of that period and was pleased to be able to include them in Alison's 40th birthday scrapbook.
I remember visiting Nanu one of the summers in UK she talks of and somewhere have a photo of her parched back garden.
Our older southern homes were built with keeping cool in mind. Chimneys were placed on either end of the house, intead of in the center, as would be expected in a cold climate. Breezeways were common features.... a wide central hall way that ran straight through from the front to the rea of a house. Wraparound porches and high ceilings were a must.
Today, air conditioning is a convenience with which I'm very reluctant to part. We see temperatures 90+ F, sometimes as early as late May, certainly by mid-june through September and sometimes into October. August is pretty much miserable with temps hovering at or above 100F.
We do have blinds/shade/curtains at every window and keep them closed. I keep the lights off and the fans on, which reduces our electric use by as much as 40%.
I am sorry, when it gets extremely hot, I use my A/C. That's how I cope with hot weather. But for some reason I can't use the A/C, I make myself wet all over. I jump in the shower with all my clothes on and get wet, it keeps me cool. That's my 2 ways of keeping cool.
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