Triple digit temperatures are here
Well, you can tell that summer is here in the Rogue Valley! The temperatures are in the triple digits and it is just plain hot! Since I have lived here since I was two years old I am used to the weather. I know that when the time for the Jackson County Fair rolls around in July there will be one of two weather patterns. It will either be abnormally rainy and cold or it will be scorching hot! There never seems to be a happy medium…no high 80’s or low 90’s.
If you aren’t from around heat the heat can catch you by surprise. It is important to remember a few things during these hot days to help you stay cool. Here are a few tips for you to help you during this time:
1 WATER! You need to drink lots of water. Remember to keep hydrated even if you are inside all day. This kind of weather can cause major health issues for folks even if you are in good health. Soda and iced tea do not count as something to keep you hydrated. Caffeine and carbonation both work to dehydrate you.
2 Keeping your house cool. This will obviously be a bit more difficult in this weather. Close all the windows early in the morning (before 8 am) if you open them during the night. Once the sun is up and starts heating the air temperatures again you will have a harder time bringing down the temperature in your home than maintaining it.
3 Close your blinds or drapes. It is helpful to close them especially on the side of the home that has direct sunlight. The hottest time of the day is 4 pm so make it a priority to close up the rooms that get direct sunlight at that time.
4 Shade cloth. This product can be a tremendous help to drop the temperature down a few degrees by diffusing the direct sunlight. If you have a patio cover or an arbor you can hang shade cloth from the edge of it so that it creates a shady space the buffers the hot sunlight from coming directly into your home. If you have an arbor you can stretch the shade cloth across the top of it adding an even deeper shady area. Shade cloth comes in different density so don’t be afraid to double up on the cloth if you have one that doesn’t give you enough shade. You can install it by using a wooden slat along a board of the arbor to hold the cloth in place. It makes it very easy to remove if you want to take it down during the winter months.
5 Fans can really help. In many newer homes the vents for heating and cooling are in the ceiling. It is much harder to find a vent to sit near and get the benefits of your air conditioning if they are in ceiling. For pennies a day you can plug in a fan that helps circulate the air. Getting a better mix of the hot air stale air and the air conditioned air can make it feel much cooler. It seems that 75 degrees of stagnant air feels heavy where 75 degrees of moving air feels refreshing. The fans keep you from going to the thermostat to try to lower the temperature to find some relief.
6 Be aware of what is around you. I spend quite a bit of time in my office. It has three computers and a large copier in it. These machines are going all day long. Although no one machine puts out lots of heat there is definitely a difference in temperature because of these machines. I definitely use fans in this room to keep the air moving. If you have your electronics or TV near a thermostat this can also cause the thermostat to be confused. Be careful to position them away from it.
7 Skylights are great for light and hard on temperature control. If you are considering putting in skylights you might want to look at the roof pitch to determine if the skylight will be bring in lots of heat along with the light. A skylight with the afternoon sun will definitely cause the temperature to rise compared to a north facing skylight. There are ways to mitigate the light/heat issue with blinds or smoke colored glass in the skylight.
8 Ceiling fans can be a life-saver. Along with the other fans, ceilings fans can be used to keep air moving. They can double as a light fixture along with the fan and thereby serve a dual purpose. Many ceiling fans will have a switch on the motor casing that determines the direction the fan blades spin. According to Wikopedia the fan blades should run counter clockwise when you are are looking up at it during the summer for the best air movement.
9 Programmable thermostats. Many people think that they will just not run the air conditioner during the day since they aren’t home. But according to industry experts that is much less efficient than running it all day long while you are gone but at a higher temperature. The efficiency is about the recovery time that it takes the air conditioner to get the house back to the desired temperatuer. Programmable thermostats are available, installed, for a couple hundred dollars. They make great sense.
I hope these tips help you ‘weather’ the weather. FYI, there is usually another hot spell like this in late August. It is a good time to practice these tips now!
About Jan Garcia
