Stay Cool Without Central Air Conditioning

Working from home with no air conditioning is a challenge, and summer weekends with the family are harder to enjoy when the weather is too hot to relax. Whether the air conditioning is on the fritz, or you’re just trying to save some money on the bills, there are a few ways to keep cool without central air. Check out these tips and find the ideal way to keep the house cool without AC.

What Makes the House Hot

There are many factors that raise the home heat index, year round and not just in the hotter months. The location of your home plays a big part in how to cool a room without AC, so it can be useful to know what side of the house collects the most heat and plan for those challenges ahead of time. 

The hot side of the house will vary for every home, depending on the direction of the floorplan, the architecture itself, and even the season. When considering how to cool a house without AC, pay attention to the orientation of your home, looking for characteristics such as which side of the house has the most windows, and the direction those windows face. 

To know how to keep a room cool that faces the sun, you have to be aware of the way that the angle of the sun in relation to the roof and windows influences the temperature year round. In the northern hemisphere, southern- and western-facing rooms tend to collect the most sunlight and heat because of the direct angle of the sun at the time of day the sun hits. 

• The morning sun is more gradual and less direct than the sunlight hitting the house toward the afternoon. 
• The sun is at a lower angle during winter months and southern-facing windows will receive the most light. 
• Summer months are warmer, and the higher angle of the sun is more likely to hit directly on the roof than the windows.

The more direct sunlight a house receives, the warmer it will feel inside. Because of this, a reflective, white-painted “cool roof” can be a good all-over solution to home cooling. A cool roof can be up to 50 degrees cooler than a standard dark roof and can keep the rest of the home cooler as a result. When looking into how to stay cool without air conditioning, it’s important to factor in the specific challenges that your home has built into it to look for the most effective alternative cooling options.

Outdoor Tips for a Cooler Indoors

If your home is too hot without central air, do a quick check to see where the light is coming in and how to block it. Plan awnings or shutters over windows, or utilize umbrellas and other canvas shades angled over larger areas to reflect the sunlight off the house. Sometimes adding shade with the help of outdoor landscaping will do the trick.

Evergreen trees are a good year-round option, but multitasking fruit trees can add whimsy to the yard. Pergolas and awnings are another reliable way to cut the amount of sunlight that hits the house. Plant climbing vines over fences or lattice work as an added buffer to create shade or just as a sun-break to keep the heat off the walls of the house.

How to Beat the Heat Without Air Conditioning

When planning how to cool a house without AC, there are many potential fixes and it’s going to be a matter of finding the ideas that work best for your space. Some are as simple as putting a bowl of ice in front of a tabletop fan to introduce cool moisture into the fan breeze, or to close the doors of unused rooms to keep the air from mixing unnecessarily. Other ideas offer more long-term solutions for setting household habits to enjoy the benefits, even when there’s no air conditioning.

One of the first things to look at when working without air conditioning is the layout of the home. Some rooms are cooler than others, particularly those entirely enclosed within the house, such as a hallway with no exterior-facing walls, or a basement. Without a shared exterior wall, the rooms won’t collect as much heat from the sunlight, so plan to spend the hottest parts of the day in these rooms to keep cool in a room without AC. 

Start With the Windows

Closing off the windows is one of the easiest ways to plan how to cool a room without air conditioning. It allows you to control the amount of sunlight (and therefore heat) that gets into your home. 

Durable cooling curtains can absorb and keep the sunlight out, keeping the room cooler. Utilize the heavy material of blackout curtains, or multiple layers of different types of cloth, from sheers and lace inside layers. Insulated curtains add color on the room’s interior but have a white backing to reflect the light.

Another option is to choose horizontal blinds that can adjust the blades to either overlap and seal light out, or that can be angled to control the amount of light allowed into the room. Reflecting the sunlight up toward the ceiling with the angle of the blades can allow light in while still reflecting the heat back outside. 

The idea is to shield the windows from the direct sunlight, so another option would be to use reflective and insulating window films. Window decor films block the direct heat of the sun rays while still allowing daylight to filter through. It puts the reflective surface right up against the glass of the window, which means the heat doesn’t even get into the house as is the case with curtains or blinds. 

Daily Habits for Keeping the House Cool

A few simple changes to the routine can help the household stay cool without central air conditioning. One key principle of relying on natural air conditioning to cool a home is to keep the temperature lower as long as possible. That means that you don’t want to use the stove, oven, or other appliances that require the use of heat during the day. Any cooking or baking that you do should be done first thing in the morning before the temperature rises, or late in the evening once the worst of the heat has passed.

Use a microwave, a slow cooker, or a pressure cooker rather than the oven or stove. Stick to smaller appliances indoors that don’t simmer as much warmth in the air around them. Another alternative is to build an outdoor kitchen or built-in BBQ on the back patio that will keep the heat outside and allow for all the same tasty meals you and your family love.

Avoiding using heat-generating appliances during the day can mean doing chores at night instead. Hold off on turning on the dishwasher until the middle of the night (though it can be emptied or loaded at any time.) Run the laundry, especially the dryer, after the outside temperature has dropped and you can open the windows to start moving the heated air out of the house. Look for appliances that allow you to set a timer and start their usual cycles late at night.

Unused appliances can generate heat when left plugged in on the countertop. This means the appliance is drawing electricity, which adds to the monthly energy bill, too. If you aren’t using something, even if it’s just a toaster or a blender, unplug it! It will keep the house cool and save you some money.

Another common heat-generating household item is the lightbulb, believe it or not. The light from even energy-efficient incandescent bulbs can warm up the air around the bulb. It’s a good idea to replace the bulbs in the house with cooler, brighter LED bulbs whenever possible. LED bulbs use less energy and as a result create less heat. If you can’t replace the bulbs, just make sure to keep the lights off, especially in unoccupied areas of the house.

How to Use Fans to Keep the House Cool

Knowing how to cool a room with fans and air circulators is the next best thing when there is no central air conditioning to rely on. Fans don’t actually cool the air like an AC system. These can be handy not only to create a cooling breeze, but also to move hot air and humidity out of a room and pull cool air in. 

Start at the Top

Many homes already have the perfect fans built in. A whole house fan works quickly because they pull the air out of the house directly, and since hot air rises, a whole house fan pulls hot air out very effectively. The kitchen range hood exhaust fan or the bathroom exhaust fan are also options to vent hot air out of the house quickly. If your home has central air, you can also run the system fan to keep air moving up and out.

Do Ceiling Fans Help Cool a Room?

Like venting heated air, ceiling fans are another way to take advantage of the natural convection of lighter hot air in order to cool a room without air conditioning. In the summer months, set the ceiling fans to rotate counterclockwise to help push the air down in a more central column that can maximize the wind-chill effect. Set the ceiling fan to the highest speed on hot days, and run them overnight to help displace the hotter air and move it out of the room.

How to Use Box Fans

Box fans are air movers, and their most important feature is that they are directional. They push air out from behind the blades. They don’t work as well if they’re up against walls or furniture because they don’t have the airflow, so always know the direction of the fan before you use it.

Also called window fans, box fans have a very functional shape that allows them to be placed on the floor in doorways or even on windowsills. During the day, point the fan out an open window to push the hot air from inside the room back outdoors. Or, use the box fan to pull air from the colder areas of the house toward the occupied rooms. At night, point the fan into the interior of the house to help draw cooler air in from windows. 

Pedestal Fans

Because of their variable height, pedestal fans are good to keep in occupied rooms. Position them where the breeze they create will directly cool anyone in the room, or place them in open doorways to help move air from interior areas of the house into the room it’s needed. In addition to being easily mobile, these fans are often oscillating which means the fan breeze can sweep over a larger area. Depending on the height of the fan, they are also useful to create airflow around furniture, such as over tables or across the bed.

Create a Cross Breeze

The obvious trick is to keep air moving with open windows and fans, but when and how you do it can make a difference. 

A good way to keep the cool air in and chase the hot air out is to make a nightly routine of opening the windows at night when it is coolest outdoors. 

• Leave the ceiling fans and air circulators on all night to help move hot air out and bring the cool air in. Pedestal fans can help move air between rooms.
• Create a cross breeze by opening the highest windows on one side of the home and the lowest windows on the other. This could mean box fans on the windowsills or air circulators on the floor to direct the flow of air.
• Close up the house in the early morning while the air is still cool and help block out the heat by closing curtains and blinds.

Even a little bit of cooler outside air exchange can help. Leave the windows open as long as it is safe to do so, and close them before turning in for the night. 

During the day, another option to cool an occupied room is to put a box fan in an open window and aim the fan outside. (Choose a window that is not facing the sun for best results for this trick.) The fan in the window will help pull the hot air out of the room. Across the room or in an interior hallway doorway, place another fan, such as pedestal fans or floor fans, aimed into the room to draw the cooler inside air. 

Angle ceiling mounted fans to help move air from doorways into larger rooms, with other wall mounted fans placed to keep the air circulating. Place table top fans near where people sit so they can benefit from the direct breezes. These can also be used as bedside fans to help keep cool at night, or aim a pedestal fan at the foot of the bed to help move the hot air away from where you sleep.

How to Get the Most Out of Your AC

Installing Energy Star air conditioners does admittedly take a lot of the headaches out of trying to figure out how to keep the house cool in the hotter months. If you have central air in your home and are looking to stay cool without using too much electricity during the hotter months, there are a few tricks you can do to try to minimize your household air conditioning use.

First, do a home insulation check. Some local electrical companies will offer these, or you can do your own. 

• Check that all windows have effective insulation, such as double-pane windows. 
• Update the weatherstripping around windows and doors. 
• Look for areas around the home interior that have a breeze and identify where these air leaks are coming from, and how to most effectively seal them off. 
• Insulate the attic walls.
• Make sure the attic is properly ventilated to allow the hot air to escape.

It may seem like a small thing, but it can make a big difference. Checking the insulation of the home can save as much as 20% on annual energy costs because it helps keep the home cool and helps maximize the effectiveness of the AC unit.

There are less-costly alternatives to air conditioning in homes that are just as effective and comfortable. Consider a window air conditioner, or a portable air conditioner unit. They require window access but can be easily installed and are quite easy to use to help with keeping the house cool in extreme heat.

Another option is to install ductless HVAC units, called mini split air conditioners. Mini split ACs install through the wall and are a quiet, low-humidity cooling option. The much larger, through the wall air conditioners can quickly cool a larger room. All of these air conditioning alternatives draw air from the outdoors to cool and bring inside, using fans to move the cooler air into the home.

Keep in mind that if you have an air conditioner, or are thinking about installing one, the outdoor condenser unit should be located on the side of the house that doesn’t see as much afternoon heat to keep it from overworking on hot days. 

Make sure the outdoors AC unit is kept clear and has plenty of airflow around it. 

• Do not stack anything on or around the condenser. 
• Do not build a fence or cover for it that might prevent or slow air flow.

It’s also important to keep the air conditioning unit filter clear of build up and debris to keep airflow going into the unit inside the house. Never place furniture or decorations in front of the intake vents near your home AC unit. These tips will keep the home cooler, as well as save energy and keep the AC unit working at peak performance longer.