Life Style

Surprising Ways to Keep Your Home Cool Without an Air Conditioner

If you don't have an air conditioner, check out these creative ways to stay cool all summer long.

Hack a Fan

With a bowl of ice and a fan, you can create a faux ocean breeze. Simply fill a mixing bowl with ice or an ice pack, and put the bowl in front of a fan. Turn the fan on, and the air will mimic a chilly, misty breeze.

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Set Your Ceiling Fans to Rotate Counter-Clockwise

A ceiling fan isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it appliance. In the summer, the fan blades should rotate counter-clockwise (as you look up at it) to push the air straight down. Increase the fan speed on really hot days.

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Cooling Curtains

Sometimes opening all the windows just doesn’t cut it, in which case, spray a sheet with cold water and cover the window’s opening. The breeze will hit the sheet and pass through the cool, damp fabric, which can help bring the temperature down in your home.

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Make a DIY Air Conditioner

Feel like getting crafty? You can create your own air conditioner by using a fan, 3/8 copper coil, a water pump, ice, cooler box and a plastic pipe.

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Turn On Your Bathroom Fans

Your bathroom fans, as well as the exhaust fan in your kitchen, drag the hot air that rises and push it out of your home.

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How to Keep a Room Cool Without AC: Try Insulated Window Films

Window films offer a ton of benefits, from cutting energy costs to providing you privacy while still enjoying the view and light of the great outdoors. They can provide up to 98 percent infrared heat reduction compared to unprotected windows, and reduce temperature imbalances in your home.

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How to Keep a Room Cool Without AC: Chill Pillow

You’ve switched out your flannel sheets for a lightweight set, and there’s another way to cool down at bedtime. This pillow contains cooling gel that disperses your body heat.

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How to Keep a Room Cool Without AC: Install an Awning

Installing an awning above your windows will work to shield your home from the sun’s rays. This will ensure the amount of heat your home absorbs is reduced.

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How to Keep a Room Cool Without AC: Hack Your Windows

Open the top section of your windows on the downwind side of your house, and the bottom section on the upwind side. This will create a cooling pressure current. You can make things even cooler by facing a box fan out the window.

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How to Keep a Room Cool Without AC: Plant Vines

Planting vines will work similar to installing an awning. Vines like ivy grow quickly and provide cooling shade. The climbers reduce temperature by blocking the sunlight that heats up exterior walls

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How to Keep a Room Cool Without AC: Get Rid of Incandescent Lights

Incandescent bulbs waste an estimated 90 percent of their energy in the heat they emit, so if you’re trying to keep your home cool without purchasing an air conditioner, small shifts like switching to compact fluorescent lamps can cool your home while also lowering your energy bill

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How to Keep a Room Cool Without AC: Set Up Your Fan in the Right Place

Because fans merely keep air moving around, rather than actually cooling the air, it’s best to set up your fans in windows or hallways so you can create a cross breeze that will draw in cooler air from the outside (or a cooler part of the house) to the warm areas

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How to Keep a Room Cool Without AC: Do Chores at Night

From running the dishwasher to doing laundry, it’s best not to let hot water and heated air fill up your home during the hottest times of the day. Keep things cooler by doing chores that create heat at night. Another good tip is to regularly clean the dryer vent so the cycle doesn’t take as long.

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