How to Cope With Heat

New 2/11/24 The Boat Galley Hot Weather Tips Please read this especially if you do not have air conditioning. There are hot-weather tips here I haven't seen anywhere else and they are ingenious.

New 3/22/23 show your parents this article from Family Handyman explaining tax rebates and government financial assistance with improving efficiency at home

Summertime can get gnarly fast if you don't have AC. Edit 7/7/22 found an article detailing AC units that are beefy which would work, here, because expense or no expense, if you're in a hot enough place and have to buy an AC unit, it'd damn well better function right - please don't feel bad about setting up a GoFundMe and asking for help from friends and so on if you need this! Since I live in Texas with a non-trustworthy power grid, we are also looking into paying (through the nose, via pooling the funds of family and possibly also friends) for off-grid solar panel and battery bank installation, in order to power said AC if the grid goes down. Again. We're currently eyeing LG Solar, as SunPower would cost us $50,000, and holy shit that's expensive.

3/19/23 found Ductless mini split air conditioners These work really well. Almost as well in my experience as a PTAC (that's the neat machine found in motels that both heats and cools and has a drip line on the outside for condensate), but they don't guzzle energy like PTACs and thus don't usually require re-wiring the electricals in a room/house.

12/4/22 found Whole house evaporative air coolers These are swamp coolers. They're way cheaper than AC systems, but still require professional installation and have a bit of a learning curve. They don't work that well in humid climates but in dry ones ohboy you're gonna want one

Just for reference, LG inverter AC units can be bought on Amazon. In tandem with coroplast, cardboard, insulation panels (owens-corning pink foamboard or insulfoam work well), heavy curtains and/or sheets nailed over the window, these help a lot. It's important to get the right unit for the right size of room and ensure that it'll work with your home's wiring; if it's replacing a previous unit of the same electrical stats or if it takes less "juice" to power it, it will be fine.

Here are some tips for handling it from my folks. They're from Israel and were there during a heat wave in the 80s when they had no AC.

Edit 7/3/22 check out this guy's Instructable for an ice hat

Edit 7/11/22 don't know if any of you can put this to use but here's how to jerry-rig a heat exchanger if you happen to have a very large cold body of water near where you live Instructable for that

• If you have anyone with medical issues, be sure that they have window AC units and that the rest of your place has a good AC system. If not possible, scrounge around to ask for help from everyone you can; maybe they can be put up in a different place for the summer. Even moving up to a place further up North might be an option. This also applies to the very young, the elderly, and people who for one reason or another might not be able to thermoregulate that well. It's worth noting that near large bodies of water is usually cooler, so coastal areas might also be a good idea.
• No AC, able-bodied? Try this method. Take five cold showers a day, or more, that last around five minutes a piece. During each shower, give it about a minute for you to cool down, then turn the shower to "warm" not hot for a couple seconds, then back down to cool for a minute or two. Don't towel off. Let the evaporation help cool you. Many times in Israel many folks take two-minute cold showers morning and evening; before and after work; for this reason. Five times a day or more is well, if you've got a heat wave and no AC.
• Most attics in the US have two vents on either side that are designed to open and close. In summer, they generally should be open to let superheated air out. Check them and open them, and prop 'em open if need be
• If you happen to have those little turban hat-looking things on top of your roof, look up a guide for how to lubricate the bearings on your specific make and model. They're designed to let out heat at a faster rate depending on how hot it gets but they can't if they can't spin well. Do note: you'll need several layers of plywood to make a path because most of the time, attic joists have absolutely no weight-bearing surface in between meaning you take a nice tumble into the main living space if you try to put your weight between the joists (those are the wood things on edge in an attic)
• There are now attic fans that are solar-powered. Installing one to vent superheated air from an attic can save you a lot on AC costs and these are far cheaper than insulation. If you can't make a hole in the roof to install one, which is more effective but both dangerous and a hassle that usually requires a local contractor, you can install one or two of these right next to the vents on either side of the attic. Or, you can hire a contractor to install bigger vents on either side of the attic; again, also a hassle.
• Out and about, here's how to cope with heat: find a cold body of water. Jump in there, and quickly jump back out. Then jump back in again just until you cool off a bit. Then jump back out. Repeat as needed throughout the day. Also, dumping a bucket of water over you, clothes and all, can help if it really gets bad.
• Very thin cotton clothing, especially white, is good
• Light straw hats help deflect sun without holding in heat, but only in dry weather
• Walk and travel in the shade as much as you can
• Minimize energy expenditure during the hottest hours of the day
• Do not add sunburn to your list of worries. Use sunscreen and reapply religiously.
• Sleep under a wet sheet on a tile or concrete floor, preferably with a fan over you. If you read a book or work on a computer, sit directly on this floor while doing your work. Basements are better for hanging out most of the time and for sleeping, as are well-designed adobe houses, and well-designed homes built of earthbags or similar.
• Wiping down the floor with water once an hour does help, if you live in a dry area
• Drink water. Lots of it. Israelis actually prefer water lukewarm so as to get it down faster. Add a half teaspoon of sugar and a half teaspoon of salt to a cup of it if you feel you need an electrolyte boost.
• Speaking of, Israeli salad is itself full of electrolytes. Learn how to make it and summers get way less uncomfortable
• Snack on fruits, basically anything you can find, as dessert. Again, more electrolytes
• Cold green tea with mint is nice. Maybe it's just psychological but it is nice.
• Eating less animal products is a good idea. Anything Mediterranean and the cuisines of the Middle East, which are very similar throughout the whole area, have plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, which is great when it's 101 F and you don't want to get warmed up by say, shawarma. Spicy food doesn't help.
• Get a bag of ice. Chew on it, wipe it on your forehead and arms, stick some under your armpits, put a couple cubes on various areas like legs, whatever, to melt. Used this trick on a long car trip through a desert. Was not fun but worked.
• In a densely populated place with a dry climate, throwing buckets of water on pavement in the street every few hours can cool down the whole area a bit. Of course, this is a colossal usage of water. Seawater, assorted untreated-for-drinking water, or lake water should work fine for this though. Somehow getting said water on rooftops will also help, even if in a humid place.

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