First Aid Kit: Staying Cool Without An Air Conditioner

Like much of the world, it's getting a lot hotter in the Bay Area. No matter where one falls on the “are air conditioners ethical?” spectrum, the bottom line is that simply cowboying up in the stagnant air of our apartments is not a feasible solution. The California of today is not the California of the more temperate 1970s. Still, no matter how hot it gets, energy-hungry air conditioning appliances represent both an immediate and long-term expense that can be hard for many of us to afford.

But you don’t have to suffer. Here are some home-cooling solutions for you to try, ranging from easy breezy tweaks to more involved projects.

A caveat, however: Extreme heat conditions can be deadly, especially for vulnerable groups like infants, the elderly, and people with medical conditions (and pets!). It’s always best to know the nearest libraries and cooling centers near you.

The home-cooling checklist

Keep an eye on these small things you can do to reduce the heat at home:

• Clean up any clothing or other stuff that’s piled up. Clutter decreases the volume of air inside of a room, which makes it heat up faster.
• Use reversible shades or blackout curtains on your windows, with the lighter side facing out to reflect sunlight. In a pinch, you can apply a heat-reducing window film to any windows that get a full blast of sun during the day.
• Don’t forget to clean your fans often, since they’ll likely pull in dust or exhaust
• Switch incandescent lightbulbs to LED bulbs, which emit less heat.
• Make sure your ceiling fan is spinning in the right direction! The blades should move counterclockwise during the summer to funnel the cool air downward.

The self-cooling checklist

Make sure you have smaller creature comforts available:

• Stock your freezer with ice packs and, barring those, recycled bottles of water. Just remember to leave an inch of the bottles empty so they don’t explode. Use these on your pulse points and neck with a towel as a buffer.
• Asian neck fans are legitimately worth the investment: Worn around the neck, they produce a bubble of cool air around your head. Plus, the newer models are rechargeable. Personally, I like the Jisulife brand. (They’re not paying me to say this!)
• Supply rehydrating treats for your animal friends, from frozen blueberries to snacks with high water content.

Use the power of evaporation

Hang a damp sheet or towel in front of an open, breezy window or box fan to create a quick swamp cooler. The evaporation creates a cooling effect — but only in places where the humidity is low.

Harness the wind

You’ll need two (ideally box-type) fans for this one. Find a window in your home that tends to get a lot of shade, and position one fan so that it blows the cooler air inside of your apartment. Position the other fan on the other side of the room or floor pan, directing it to blow air outside so that it cycles the stagnant air out. 

Craft a cheapo air conditioner

You’ll need a styrofoam cooler, plastic bottles (any kind; enough to fill the cooler), at least one elbow-style dryer vent, and a small (around 8” x 8”) fan. The fan should be smaller than the lid of the cooler. The cooler will hold frozen bottles of water while the fan, seated on top of the closed lid, will blow air directly onto them; then, the cooled air will be directed out via the dryer ducts. (The number of dryer ducts you use depends on how big the cooler is.)

First, plan out your cuts: Use a marker to trace the fan on the lid. Plan to cut just inside of the line you’ve marked here. You’ll want the fan to rest on top of the hole — like it’s peeking inside. Then find spots on the lid where the dryer ducts can sit, and trace those. Use a kitchen knife to cut where you’ve marked.

Then, seat the ducts on the holes so that they face the same direction. If needed, use tape to seal any gaps at the base and keep air from escaping.

Fill the plastic bottles with water, leaving at least an inch of free space, and freeze them overnight. Put them into the cooler, close the lid, and turn on the fan. And you’re good to go! Just make sure to pour out/wipe up the condensation that collects in the cooler over time.