Quick Tips for Keeping Your Home Cool During The Summer Heat

I write this during a heat wave here in Southern Ontario.  Here are three quick tips to help feel cooler you more comfortable during this heat during the night.

Close Your Bedroom Doors:

Hot air rises and the cool air conditioned air flows out of ducts along floors and down stairs.  So one way to help keep a room cool is by trapping that air for a while longer. Keeping the doors closed will do that.

Turn the fan from AUTO to ON:

You may have noticed that the upstairs is hot the main floor okay and the basement cool.  We call that stratification (the layers of temperature in your home)  If you turn it from AUTO to ON the furnace fan will work continuously.  What this will do is help make the temperature of the home more uniform by moving the air around and bringing that cool up stairs.  Normally your thermostat , which controls the furnace fan, only turns on when you need AC (or Heat in the winter).   The actual AC uses a lot more electricity than just the fan.

Close the supply vents on the lower levels:

Cold air will naturally travel to the lowest point.  The furnace also has a harder time push up the cooler air.  To avoid giving the AC an easy out, close the supply vents on the lower levels and make sure they are all open upstairs.

I hope to add more to this post later.  Hope this help a little for now.  Keep hydrated and remember those cold winter nights!

Don’t Cook Indoors

Why spend money on electricity (or gas) to heat up your food (and home) then spend more money to use an air-conditioner to get rid of the heat.  The amount of BTU’s put our by many cook-tops are equivalent to a furnace.  Would you turn your furnace on during a heat wave? On those really hot days, consider BBQ, Delivery, Take Out or better yet, give the AC a break and go out for dinner at a nice Air-Conditioned Restaurant.

Add Insulation to your Roof Space and Keep it Ventilated

This isn’t really a quick tip but I think it is important to say it here.  Manny older homes do not have much insulation in their roof space.  What keeps in your heat in the winter time also keeps out the heat out in the summer time.  Having a proper amount of insulation in roof space will save you money in both the winter time and summer.  Keeping that roof space well ventilated is also important as the temperature inside will usually be much hotter than outside (Think about the inside of a car during a hot sunny day) Like a car, if you leave the windows open, it won’t get as hot inside.