Submitted 4 hours ago by heythatsprettygood@feddit.uk to [deleted]
https://feddit.uk/pictrs/image/78c53fd4-455c-42ad-b3e6-d8d97d054b5e.webp
(please end my suffering)
I had ordered an airco before this madness started, but unfortunately the had to order it and it hasn’t arrived yet. It has been hot for days already, it’ll be 35 or higher the next 4 days, and I live under an almost flat, black roof with the sun on my the entire day. There will be no eepy sleepy time
When my wife and I were looking for a home, our main priority was actually that it’s “climate proof”.
We found a souterrain apartment facing east, on top of a hill, far from any rivers or forest.
So it stays cool in the summer even without A/C, and is unlikely to flood or get caught in a forest fire.
What is souterraine?
A fancy French word for basement.
Actually a floor that’s halfway between street level and basement.
So it’s possible to build normal windows into it, but they’re very low to the ground outside.
Australians:
As a Brazilian who's also experienced with a hot climate, I'd say this would work if anthropogenic climate change weren't leading to... wet bulb... high temperatures. When current temperatures are 40°C and the air's relative humidity is practically 100%, no amount of wetting or sweating will get rid of the warmth, because evaporation can't happen when the air is already saturated.
!lemmyshitpost@lemmy.world
Good point, I suppose the Aussie solution works best in a hot and DRY climate.
Houses that trap heat also trap cool air.
People who say their well-insulated house “traps heat” are probably keeping their windows open in the hottest part of the day.
This is simply not true. Many Europeans have windows specifically designed to let infrared radiation in, but block it on the way out. So as soon as any sun hits any window, that’s a lot of heat coming in and not going out. Very nice when it’s cold, but not as good when it’s hot. Most people have blinds and curtains on the inside, which doesn’t help. I have blinds on the south side which are closed, but the rest of the house only has blinds on the inside. So for a lot of hours in the day heat does get in.
Well, those are windows with glass in. I don’t think there are many places which have windowless houses, and since windows leak more heat than walls in winter, you typically have smaller windows in very cold places.
Blinds on the inside do help, because they trap a layer of hot air next to the windows rather than letting it further into the house. It’s better to keep it all outside, of course, but it’s better than nothing.
Even with all the windows and blinds closed, the temperature of the house still gets warm. Then it's hard to expel that heat before the next day, so it gets even warmer.
A poorly insulated house would heat up quicker, and so have a higher peak indoor temperature. They will lose heat faster at night, yes, but if you ran a comparison with each house starting at the same temperature and allowing them both to equalise at the end, the average temperature of both would be the same.
The key insight is that insulation makes it slower for the outside temperature to heat the house up as well as to cool it down, so in a heatwave, insulation blunts the worst of it. Also you can actively reduce the insulative properties of a house by opening all the windows, so that it actually cools down much faster at night. This means that, in practice, the average temperature of the well-insulated house will be lower than that of the poorly one.
This kind of conversation (which occurs repeatedly whenever the weather gets hot in the UK) makes me despair, because we all need to be insulating our houses better, both to reduce our energy usage in the winter, and to protect against extreme heat.
At my place that trick works the first day, but after that it’s over. The house always heats the same under this sunshine, slowly rising to 28-30 at the end of the day with everything closed and down from like 22-24 in the morning. The only question is whether that’s better than a higher temperature with a slight breeze and fresh air. Today, it won’t be higher than 30, so I’d rather have wind. The next 4 days, it’ll be 35 or higher, so everything will get closed down during the day
I’d keep things battened down so you’re starting from a lower base.
A breeze can be provided by a fan. (And it makes a huge difference - bigger than the breeze through a window)
For anyone looking for some cheap help tips:
Block the sun from cumming in, by hanging a curtain or bed sheets on the outside of the window. Of course real shutters would be even better, but price and price wise this gets you there.
Close your windows in the morning BEFORE 8:30 or so. Open then after 20:00 but only if it’s colder outside. Keep them open during the night. You can not cool a house down with warm air. Yes it’s warm inside, but it’s even hotter outside so opening a window during the day does not help you. If you like a breeze, buy a fan
Yes, this exactly! This works especially well if you have temperature sensors in your house, since then you can know when exactly to open and close based on the difference between internal and external temperatures (or at least that’s what I say to myself to justify my Home Assistant setup). Extra effective if you put a fan in the window during the cooler night.
I’m in the attic so all heat goes to my room; I need to keep the shades down 95% but leave the window open so the heat can escape and air can circulate.
For 1 these metallized emergency blankets work much better. Aluminum foil also works but it’s not as durable when put outside
Holy shit, is this the moment where our balkan mud and straw houses just win? Finally, the punishment of our oppressors that was promised to us at battle of kosovo has come!! (/j ofc)
We have bought reconstructed late 19th century house - all ground floor, with 1m thick stone/brick walls - here in Czechia. Even without air conditioning the temperature inside never gets above 23 degrees C even in the middle of summer. Its great. Bitch to heat though.
33c in sweden where i live which is a very nice temp but the people melting arround me. Also where i used to live in hungary will have 41c which is somehow almost a record but it never goes above that. I dont understand how the weather works there, last summer we had like ten days with 40+ but the all time record for all of hungary is sonehow only 41.9 at the same time even tho there are hotter cities than where i lived. Kinda shit to have almost record breaking weather every year cause youre like “ahh but serbia and bosnia have it worse” but in actuality its almost always hotter in hungary.
Blackout blinds and fans are more than enough.
If it’s a couple days maybe, but in a heatwave everything will heat up eventually.
you can open windows during night, as long as night air temperature is tolerable
Not sure how true that is, although I don’t understand how, one side of my house is noticeably cooler than the rest and it has stayed like that throughout the heatwave even without turning on the ac
Can’t confirm. Especially if you live directly below a roof.
Is Big Roof to blame? Find out more at 9.
Said the British, living right at the edge of the heat dome
davetortoise@reddthat.com 1 hour ago