Are you among the 25 percent of Americans without air conditioning in their homes? Or perhaps you have an air conditioner that has broken down, or you just want to find ways to lower your electric bill during the hottest, most uncomfortable months.
In any case, you don’t have to sweat in your room day and night just because you don’t have air conditioning. You have many ways to adapt your living space and habits to cool down.
If you’re wondering how to cool down a room without AC, read on for a list of 11 helpful tricks to try!
1. Check Your Windows
Do you find that your room gets really hot during the day? Then you should change how you use your windows and window coverings immediately.
If you tend to leave your windows open to get some fresh air, keep in mind that you also let the warmer air in your home. So, if you want to keep your home cool, consider closing the windows when it’s warmest outside and opening them at night to let the cooler air in. Even better, open multiple windows when it’s cool so you can get a nice cross breeze.
And if you leave your curtains and blinds open to let some light in, the heat from the sun is also helping to warm up your room. Shut your blinds and curtains if you want a cooler room. You might even consider getting some blackout curtains or a black film that can help lessen the impact on your room’s temperature.
2. Turn Unnecessary Lights Off
When looking into how to make a room cooler, don’t only consider the sun as a problematic light source that raises your room’s temperature. All of the artificial lights you might have in lamps or ceiling fans add to the problem as well.
Since you probably need at least some light to do activities during the day, you may not find it practical to completely shut off your lamps.
Instead, you can try to use light bulbs that give off less heat such as LED bulbs. You can also cut down the light bulbs used in your room to just one if you currently have a fan that uses multiple bulbs.
3. Get a Dehumidifier
If you’ve ever been outside on a hot, sticky summer day, you know that the humidity can make hot weather more miserable. The same applies when you have high humidity levels in your home.
The best way to cool a room with a humidity issue is to buy a high-quality humidifier that you can fill with water and run during the day. Even better, you can find compact models that fit in a small room and use less energy.
Not only will this help cool your room, but you can gain other benefits for your health. For example, you might notice less irritation from allergies and reduce the chance of mold growing and causing problems in your home.
4. Unplug Unused Gadgets
While you might not think about it, you probably have several electronics in your room that generate heat. This includes things like gaming consoles, computers, televisions, and stereo systems.
If you find that you have these items turned on even when you’re not paying attention to them, just turn them off. You’ll help keep your room cooler and cut your electricity costs too.
5. Use Fans Strategically
When you don’t have an AC to use, you probably rely a lot on fans to circulate the air and help cool down your room. However, you can get the best results if you know how to place and use fans.
Often, you can benefit from using two fans rather than one. For example, you could have a window fan at night that helps bring in the cooler air and another fan that circulates that cooler air throughout your living space.
If you tend to use a ceiling fan, beware that it might not actually help you. Unless you sit in a part of the room where the ceiling fan can blow on you and cool you down, you may be better off with other well-placed fans closer to you.
You can also try the trick of putting a container of ice near one of your fans. Letting the fan blow over the ice can give you a nice rush of cool air, especially if you aim it at yourself as you sleep at night.
6. Stop Cooking Inside Your House
Whenever you turn on your oven to bake some cookies or use your stove to make a delicious meal, you add a lot of heat into your home. Unfortunately, that heat can easily flow to your room and make you uncomfortable.
While cooking outside might not work on a rainy day, try using an outdoor grill whenever possible. You can easily make meals such as steamed veggie dishes, burgers, steaks, pasta, and hot dogs and keep that heat outside your home.
And if you do need to cook a meal in the kitchen, try to do it earlier in the day.
7. Change Your Door Habits
If you keep your room’s door open or shut during the whole day, reconsider that habit if you’re looking into how to cool down a room.
Leaving your door open all day makes it easy for hot air from other parts of the house to flow into your room and make it warmer. This especially happens when you’ve cooked inside.
At the same time, leaving your door closed all the time doesn’t help either. Sure, you might keep some warm air out, but you don’t get any cooler air in later when the temperature lowers.
8. Check Your House’s Sealing
Proper insulation not only helps you stay cool but also will help when you need to keep the house warm in the colder months.
So, inspect your house and room to make sure you have proper sealing around ducts, windows, doors, and other exterior items. If you notice any leaks, you can try applying some caulk.
9. Try Changing Where You Sleep
If you find that you can’t sleep comfortably since it’s just too hot where your bed sits, then you have a few options. While these won’t technically cool down your room, they can make your body at least feel cooler.
First, you could move your mattress to the floor or even sleep in a sleeping bag. The air down near the floor usually will feel cooler as hotter air will rise.
Second, you might find even cooler air if you have a basement to sleep in. You can put your bed down there since it should be the coolest area of your house.
10. Adjust Your Bed
While it won’t help you much if you feel too hot during the day, you can make several changes to your bed so that you can sleep easier.
Start with considering your mattress. If you have an older one that tends to hold heat, try looking into cooling mattresses that have a layer of gel that makes you feel comfortable.
For your pillow, you can find special ones with cooling gel along with some that you can chill in the freezer. Try sticking a satin pillowcase on it for a nice, comfortable place to lay your head.
Also, consider removing any heavy sheets and find some thinner ones if you must use them. You might also find putting some water on the sheet helpful to cool you down.
11. Try Some Tricks to Make Your Body Cooler
Rather than trying to cool down your room or your bed, you can take steps to make yourself feel cooler without adjusting the temperature at all.
Try having a popsicle or some ice cream when you feel really hot. You could also suck on some ice cubes or make a frozen drink you enjoy.
Since your feet’s temperature will have a major impact on how cool you feel, you could put your feet in a cold bucket with some ice when you really need to cool down. You can also try filling a water bottle with ice water or even freezing it so that you can use it as an ice pack.
Now You Know How to Cool Down a Room Without AC
Since you have these strategies in hand, living without an AC doesn’t have to mean suffering through sweaty days and nights. And even if you do get an AC installed or repair your existing one, many of these tips can help you save energy and spend less on cooling your home.
Do you live in an extremely hot climate and can’t cool down your room enough using these methods? Then it might be worth considering getting a cheap AC unit that you can use just in one window. You might just run it a few hours before bedtime to get through the night without paying too much.
If you found our tips on how to cool down a room without AC helpful, be sure to go check out our other home articles.
