Keeping your house or apartment cool on hot days

Morning is a good time to prepare your house or apartment for the 80+ degree temperatures forecast for later today.

Here are some tips gleaned from across the internet for cooling down your home in the likely event you are not equipped with an air-conditioning system.

1. When the air outside is cooler than the temp inside, instead of having a noisy fan in your bedroom try this trick. In another room place a high-velocity fan so that it is level with and blowing out toward an open window. Then open the window(s) in your bedroom. Now turn the fan on high. It will pull the air from the outside through the bedroom window(s) and while being noisy away from you. If you can position your bed so it’s in the air flow it can feel like you have a fan blowing on you but without the noise. Be sure to run this setup for 15 to 30 minutes before bedtime.
2. Shut all the doors and windows in the morning before it gets hotter outside than it is inside. Closing drapes and blinds is also a good idea. This locks in the cool air and minimizes letting in outside heat from sunlight and hot air. Running fans to keep the inside air moving will make it much more comfortable than stagnate air. Don’t open again until the temperature outside is lower than the temperature inside. At that time, feel free to throw them all open.
3. Got a lot of fans running near open windows? Be sure you have an equal number (or size) blowing in as are blowing out. Otherwise you are just stirring up the air and not bringing in the cool air. Best to have all blowing out on one side of your home or apartment and the rest blowing in on the other side. Or, if you only have a few fans, put all on one side blowing out and none on the other side (like in example 1 above).

Be sure your windows are equipped with adequate screens. Windows with weak, ripped or missing screens are easy points of entry for insects, small animals and criminals.

If you have lost the battle and need to escape, the fountain at Centennial Riverwalk Park is expected to begin running today and is a fun way to cool off.