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The old-school way of keeping the summer heat out of your home

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Re: The old-school way of keeping the summer heat out of your home

#51

Post by asymmetric »

exe34 wrote: post #26
elmer2 wrote: post #2

While all of these might offer some cooling in your home, nothing beats air conditioning.

I've put some fabric on the outside of my windows using nylon thread, a stapler and some plastic suction cups. It made the day time temperature of my living room go from about 32°C to about 23°C during a heatwave in the UK. I won't need aircon in that room now. I do have an upstairs office that will keep on getting hot, so I might get an aircon there in a year or two. But I'm not desperate thanks to a tiny bit of eff…

That’s amazing and inspiring! Does it look like what’s described here? https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2025/06/dressing-and-undre...

Re: The old-school way of keeping the summer heat out of your home

#52

Post by asymmetric »

themaninthedark wrote: post #47
inigyou wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah the entire population of Spain moved to the UK every summer and back in winter. That must be the immigrant invasion that Reform are screeching about.

Or maybe just from the cities to the seaside.... https://blog.myheritage.com/2018/08/good-old-summertime-our-...

If we’re talking about mass seasonal exodus, then this is an entirely recent phenomenon in southern Europe, post-WW2. So depends on OP’s definition of “old-school”.

Re: The old-school way of keeping the summer heat out of your home

#53

Post by JKCalhoun »

somewhereoutth wrote: post #24

Maybe we need shade structures - a shade above/around the building and detached so that air flows underneath and there are no thermal bridges to the building proper. Like you would make to protect tents at e.g. Burning Man.

In theory, houses are close to this. The attic is supposed to allow air to flow—the house itself having an insulating blanket on all sides.

My home though appears to have very limited air flow in the attic-space. I'd like to get those "twirly things" installed on the roof to bring the attic-space air temperature down.

Re: The old-school way of keeping the summer heat out of your home

#54

Post by JKCalhoun »

draven wrote: post #7
codingdave wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By what measurement? They all surely beat air conditioning in terms of energy usage.

They are complimentary. Shutters reduce the amount of heat coming in. AC gets whatever heat managed to go in out. One thing I'll never understand is not having shutters, only curtains. I live in France, almost everyone has shutters. But in other countries it's often different. I lived in Thailand for a couple of years and had only curtains, so the sun would still get past the window pane, heat the curtain, and the AC…

Low-E glass in the U.S. is supposed to reduce this by blocking a significant amount of infra-red radiation.

Re: The old-school way of keeping the summer heat out of your home

#55

Post by 4gotunameagain »

arcza wrote: post #43
4gotunameagain wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to be hellbent on marketing AC. I don't understand why it has to be a polarizing issue. Clearly it is much different than heating in winter; the latter is a matter of survival, while the former is mostly a matter of comfort. One could indeed argue that in the precarious state we are in, expending energy for unnecessary comfort should be minimized, something that passive designs can aid. As we also try to min…

People literally die of heat exhaustion and legislation is being discussed now about mandatory AC in care homes. You and others on the "AC is far right" brigade are the polarising commentators here, not us.

I have absolutely no problems with AC when necessary, but I do have problems with unnecessary energy consumption in a warming planet.

I do not think AC preference has anything to do with political beliefs, and I despise the "us and them" tribal mentality.

Re: The old-school way of keeping the summer heat out of your home

#57

Post by carlosjobim »

asymmetric wrote: post #52
themaninthedark wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe just from the cities to the seaside.... https://blog.myheritage.com/2018/08/good-old-summertime-our-...

If we’re talking about mass seasonal exodus, then this is an entirely recent phenomenon in southern Europe, post-WW2. So depends on OP’s definition of “old-school”.

Also before WWII. Nomadic tribes have followed the seasons for thousands of years.

And before industrialization, cities were administrative centers and not production centers. The king or ruler and all the elite would go away in the summer to escape the heat, and then there wasn't much reason for everyone else to stay in town. And it didn't cost money to go stay with your relatives in the countryside or seaside. But you'd probably have to help out with farm work.

Re: The old-school way of keeping the summer heat out of your home

#58

Post by franktankbank »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #53
somewhereoutth wrote: post #24

Maybe we need shade structures - a shade above/around the building and detached so that air flows underneath and there are no thermal bridges to the building proper. Like you would make to protect tents at e.g. Burning Man.

In theory, houses are close to this. The attic is supposed to allow air to flow—the house itself having an insulating blanket on all sides. My home though appears to have very limited air flow in the attic-space. I'd like to get those "twirly things" installed on the roof to bring the attic-space air temperature down.

I have a temp controlled fan (I should verify its working). The thermostat is downstairs so the upstairs where we slept was generally 5 F hotter. Installed that fan near the roof peak (actually replaced an existing vent) and it made a big difference in the summer.

Re: The old-school way of keeping the summer heat out of your home

#59

Post by carlosjobim »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #55
arcza wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People literally die of heat exhaustion and legislation is being discussed now about mandatory AC in care homes. You and others on the "AC is far right" brigade are the polarising commentators here, not us.

I have absolutely no problems with AC when necessary, but I do have problems with unnecessary energy consumption in a warming planet. I do not think AC preference has anything to do with political beliefs, and I despise the "us and them" tribal mentality.

But that circles back to my original comment: Should people use only the absolutely minimum heating needed to survive, or is it okay if they have some comfort also?

You can survive the winter in a house with a 5 centigrade temperature by putting on a lot of clothing and continuously drinking hot tea, huddling together under thick blankets. So would you have a problem with those who heat their houses more than that on this warming planet?

Re: The old-school way of keeping the summer heat out of your home

#60

Post by iamnothere »

benj111 wrote: post #12
elmer2 wrote: post #2

While all of these might offer some cooling in your home, nothing beats air conditioning.

Is this an American thing? There seem to be a number of comments akin to "you'll prise it from my cold dead fingers" when that isn't being suggested.

As other commenters pointed out, the US has many areas with extreme humidity, which AC helps with. There are also desert cities (such as Phoenix or Las Vegas) where aboveground human habitation wouldn’t even be possible without AC, at least not on the scale of a city.

We are also (rightly) suspicious of people attempting to remove or restrict some personally favored appliance or tool. Often the early stages of this process appear as social media influence campaigns about how the thing in question is unnecessary or harmful. (I don’t think AC is at risk of being restricted here, but I can see why others might be overly protective.)

Many northern areas of the US still have buildings without AC, mostly older buildings.

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