Reduce Heat Generated Within Your Home

The first step to keeping your home cool with a broken AC is to reduce the amount of heat you are producing within your home. While you probably don’t realize it when your AC is working, everyday appliances us a lot of energy and produce a lot of heat when they are using this energy. Of course, you want to try to avoid cooking with heat by not using your stove or oven, but if you must cook with heat try to do so with a microwave, toaster oven, or crock pot.

You should also be careful using other appliances in your home like your dryer and dishwasher, which also produce heat. Finally, minimize the use of technology and electricity in your home by using the fewest lights possible and not watching TV or playing on the computer. For the lights in your home that you must use, try using more energy efficient light bulbs as they will also produce the least amount of heat.

Use Fans Wisely

One of the most obvious things to do when your AC breaks down is to turn on all the fans in your home. But in order for this to actually help keep you cool, you need to understand how fans actually work. Fans do not do anything to keep a room cool, but they do make you feel cooler because of the effect of air moving over your body and evaporation. If you are using a ceiling fan, make sure the blades are moving counter-clockwise to push air downward off the ceiling and create a breeze.

During the day increase the efficiency of the fan by placing a bowl of ice in front of the fan, the fan will pick up the cool air as the ice melts and evaporates creating a cooling mist effect as the fan oscillates air through the room. At night if it is cooler outside you can open a window and put the fan in front of the window to draw in the cool air from outside.

Use Your Freezer (The Right Way)

When we say to use your freezer the right way we definitely do not mean to leave your freezer door open to try to keep the room cool. Unfortunately, we have seen many people try to do this in a last-ditch effort of desperation to keep cool, but not only is it extremely inefficient for your freezer, it could also lead to mechanical problems with your freezer later on. What we do mean is to use your freezer creatively by freezing a couple washcloths or hand towels and maybe even your bedsheets.

You can use the washcloths and hand towels to wrap around cooling points across your body (around your neck, wrists, and feet) which will help keep your body temperature down. And placing your sheets in the freezer before you go to bed will help keep your entire body nice and cool when you do get ready to lay down for the night.

Take A Cold Shower

One of the quickest ways to cool your own body temperature down is to take a nice cold shower. Taking a cold shower will help drop you body temperature immediately. Once you are done with the shower you might not want to completely dry off right away. You can put your clothes on and let them soak up the water, by wearing clothes that are slightly damp your body will be able to maintain a lower body temperature a lot more easily. Keeping your hair wet after the shower and letting it air dry is also a great way to help keep your body temperature done naturally for hours.