17 Ideas to Keep Your Home Cool This Summer — With or Without AC
Nearly 90% of all homes in the U.S. use air conditioning to keep cool during the summer, according to the US Energy Information Administration1. And while that might stop you from sweating all day long, it does put some pressure on your budget as your electric bill rises with the temperature. When you keep your AC from working too hard, you’re putting a little extra change into your pocket. That spare change can add up to significant savings.
“We can confidently say that your HVAC is the biggest bulk of your utility bill, so making adjustments there would be the biggest bang for your buck so to speak,” said Sally Thelen, former spokeswoman for Duke Energy, which provides power in six states.
Now there’s no reason to sit home and sweat when it’s 95 degrees outside. But if you know how to cool down a room without air conditioning, you’ll be a lot cooler when you see your electric bill.
How to Cool Down a Room Without AC
The Department of Energy, Duke Energy, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, and a few Floridians offered expert advice on how to cool down a room without AC.
1. Add a $20 Screen Door
Screens on the front and back door allow for great cross ventilation in the mornings and evenings, or all day if it’s too hot outside. You can buy a wooden screen door for about $100 and pay to install it if you aren’t handy.
But there are several options starting as low as $12.99. You can install these yourself by mounting them to your door frame with Velcro or a similar process.
2. Make Your Own DIY Air Conditioner
Feeling creative? You can learn how to cool down a room without AC. Bring the temperature down by circulating cooler air through a window, door or fan.
- Fill a mixing bowl or shallow bowl with ice, and place it in front of a fan.
- Hang a wet sheet in front of an open window.
- Roll up a towel dampened with cold water and affix it to the front of a box fan.
3. Push out Hot Air by Placing Box Fans in Windows
Say goodbye to hot air. Get it out of your house by putting box fans facing out of the windows of rooms you’re using. Then turn on a ceiling fan to keep the cooler air moving.
No need to buy several fans, just move them from the family room or kitchen to the bedroom at night.
4. Close Doors to Unused Rooms
A smaller space is easier to cool. Close doors to unused rooms so cool air from a ceiling fan, a cross breeze or the air conditioner only needs to circulate in occupied areas. You can roll up a towel to block the space under the closed door.
5. Close Shades, Blinds and Curtains
You don’t have to sit in the dark all summer, but covering the windows during the hottest part of the day keeps the sun’s rays from heating your house more. Blackout curtains are extra effective at keeping cold air in.
6. Open Windows Morning and Night
If morning and evening temperatures are between 50 and 70 degrees where you live, open the windows to create a cross breeze. Close them when the temps rise and the sun gets brighter.
7. Change the Direction of Ceiling Fans
Ceiling fans should rotate counter-clockwise in the summer to create a breeze that’s going downward.
Hunter, the ceiling fan manufacturer, says you can set your air conditioner thermostat four degrees higher than your desired temperature with fans moving air in the right direction. Eighty degrees will feel like 76 degrees.
There’s a switch on the center module of most ceiling fans that changes the direction it turns.
(In the winter they turn clockwise with the fan speed on low so they recirculate the hot air that rises to the top of a room.)
8. Create a Cross Breeze
To get a good cross breeze of outside air on breezy summer evenings, open windows just a few inches. The less you open them, the more of a draft you’ll create. If your windows open at the top and bottom, open the lower glass on one side of the house and the upper glass on the other.
9. Use All Exhaust Fans
Ventilation from the fan above kitchen ranges and a bathroom exhaust fan improves the effectiveness of airflow through your house and, as a bonus, reduces moisture.
10. Fill in Cracks and Leaks to Maintain Cool Air
Keep cool air in and hot air out by filling all leaks and cracks in your home. Use weatherstripping to seal air leaks around movable things such as doors and windows and caulk for filling in cracks and gaps in walls or stationary frames around doors and windows.
11. Use Cotton Sheets to Stay Cool in Your Sleep
Cotton is one of the most breathable materials, so make sure your sheets are cotton. Or head over to check out these top-rated cooling sheets, perfect for hot sleepers and hot summer nights.
12. Wear Clothes Made of Natural Fibers to Stay Cool by Day
Clothes made from natural fibers such as cotton or linen allow for more airflow and less sweat than synthetics when it’s hot. Make them your summer fashion choice when you are trying to keep cool without AC.
13. Sleep and Socialize In the Basement
Heat rises, so if you have a basement, set up a temporary sleeping area there. Some families have summer lunches and dinners in the basement. And it’s definitely where the kids should play. (Don’t crowd too closely or you’ll experience too much body heat.) If you have a two story house, sleep on the first floor.
14. Turn off Unnecessary Lights
Again, no need for your summer to be all dark. But if you want to know how to cool down a room without AC, always make sure you turn off lights in rooms you aren’t using because the light bulbs emit heat.
15. Use Appliances at Night
Run your dishwasher, washing machine and dryer at night when it’s cooler.
16. Cook in the Morning
Don’t cook in the evening when the sun is still high in the sky and the house has been heating up all day. Cook in the morning and just heat it up in the microwave before dinner. Or serve more cold options such as sandwiches, fruit and salads.
17. Unplug Electronics
Electronics generate heat, so unplug them when they aren’t in use to keep your house cooler. They also draw small amounts of power around the clock, even when not in use. Ever heard the term energy vampire? They could be sneakily adding to your electric bill as well.
How to Conserve Energy When You Use Air Conditioning
Sometimes the summer heat is so intense, ceiling fans won’t cut it and you just have to run the air. Many of the tips above will allow you to keep your thermostat and power bills lower. Here are three more ways to use less air conditioning while keeping your home cool.
1. Keep Air Conditioning on Low, Not Off When You’re Away
Whether to leave the air on or off when nobody’s home is an age old debate. Some say it takes more energy to cool a room after it’s become blazing hot without running the conditioner all day than to cool it down a few degrees from a higher temperature.
“Generally speaking our recommendation is to turn it up, but not off,” said Thelen at Duke Energy. “It will work much harder from zero to cool an entire house. We suggest bumping it up to 78 or higher and then returning to a comfortable level on the thermostat upon return.”
2. Change Air Conditioning Air Filters Regularly
A dirty air filter makes an HVAC system work harder, which uses more energy.
Check out these nine energy-efficient home improvements to reduce your electric bills even more.
3. Close the Damper
Close the fireplace damper. The Department of Energy reminds us to close the damper so precious cooler air doesn’t escape up the chimney and hot air doesn’t enter the house.
We all want to figure out how to cool down the house without AC, or simply use a little less of it. Just make a few of these quick and easy changes to your routine to keep your home cool and comfortable all summer long.
Katherine Snow Smith is a former senior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
1.US Energy Information Administration
