When summer hits, we all want to know the same thing: how do I cool down this room? Luckily for us, there are plenty of solutions, from some being simple and inexpensive to others being more involved.
As we continue to serve Los Angeles County, Ventura County, and Orange County, we gather knowledge on the best ways to cool our customers' homes. Aside from installing an HVAC system, there are plenty of ways to beat the heat.
In this article, we'll explore several tips and tricks to cool a room. These methods range from scrappy DIY solutions to those requiring some investment.
Here are 10 tips and tricks that you can use to cool a room in order of complexity to ensure you don't overspend.
Tips and Tricks
- Open your windows
- Keep the blinds and curtains closed
- Fans
- The ice bucket method
- Limit oven use
- Door and window insulation
- Heat-reducing window film
- Switch to LED light bulbs
- Dehumidifier
- Window or room air conditioners
1. Open Your Windows
Sometimes there's beauty in simplicity, and opening your windows to cool a room is as simple as it gets. While it may be an obvious answer, opening your windows is the first step in gauging what level of cooling you need to invest in.
Keeping windows open at night can also reduce the chances of heat getting trapped in your room and help air circulate throughout your home.
If opening your windows doesn't help at all, then it's time to escalate to the next step.
2. Keep Binds and Curtains Closed
Another option is to close your blinds and curtains. Keeping blinds and curtains drawn is an easy way to prevent excess heat from entering your home.
There isn't much else to it, but the trade-off is less natural light during the day. If opening your windows and closing your curtains or blinds doesn't help, it's time to pick up some gear.
3. Fans
If the above solutions do little to help with the heat, grabbing a couple of fans is your next move. While fans don't offer refrigeration cooling, they provide a wind chill factor that can help tone down the heat.
Whether it's a ceiling fan or an oscillating fan, these are some of the best ways to cool a room without air conditioning. But blowing around hot air isn't going to help your cause much.
Instead, you'll need to find a cool spot in your home and position your fan toward a hot spot. For ceiling fans, make sure you have them set to spin counterclockwise. Having ceiling fans spin counterclockwise pushes air down and creates a cooling effect.
Once fans fail, you can try to modify them to create a slightly cooler wind chill.
4. The Ice Bucket Method
While it may seem straight out of a cartoon, placing an ice pack or bucket of ice in front of a fan will help cool a room more than a fan alone. The downside is that your ice will likely melt within the hour if it's hot enough.
If you give this method a shot and it fails you, then it's time to consider solutions that work continuously throughout the day.
5. Limit Oven Use
If you're still having trouble cooling a room, try limiting your oven use. Ovens generate massive amounts of heat that can linger in your home for hours.
Using the oven in the morning rather than at night is a good way to limit the amount of heat introduced into your home. While this isn't ideal for cooking dinner, using alternative cooking appliances can help ease the transition away from relying on the oven.
Appliances that generally contribute less heat include Crockpots, outdoor grills, and Instant Pots.
6. Door and Window Insulation
Although it might stick out a bit visually, weather stripping works continuously throughout the day to keep a room cool. Weatherstripping on gaps underneath doors and windows can reduce the heat entering a room.
A benefit of weather stripping is that you can install it yourself easily. For the most part, you'll be able to stick weather stripping on a surface and forget about it. Like the following method, weather stripping is sold on Amazon or brick-and-mortar stores like Home Depot or Lowe's.
7. Heat-Reducing Window Film
Window film is another solution that works around the clock to cool a room. Applying window film can help keep excessive heat out to help keep interior temperatures cooler.
You can find heat-reducing window film at stores like Lowe's and Home Depot. The process may take time, but it is still very much a DIY job.
The downside to using this method is that window films can reduce the amount of light in your home, depending on the level of tinting.
8. Switch to LED Light Bulbs
Incandescent light bulbs generate heat in the form of heat loss. While this heat might not be noticeable because of the bulb placement, it contributes to the level of warmth in any given room.
For instance, incandescent light bulbs only convert 10% of their required energy into light, while the other 90% of the energy required is lost as heat. This leads us to other high-efficiency bulbs like LEDs.
LED light bulbs boast less heat loss and higher energy efficiency, using 75% less energy and lasting 25% longer than incandescent light bulbs.
9. Dehumidifier
If you live in a humid climate, a dehumidifier will help with the overall feel of a room. Dehumidifiers do not actively cool, but they remove that nasty stickiness that signals the summer months in some regions.
Getting rid of humidity in a room will help lessen the impact of heat. On the upside, dehumidifiers start around $100 but can reach up to about $3,000 for more commercial-oriented options.
10. Window or Room Air Conditioners
Finally, If heat-reducing window film is different from what you're looking for, window and room air conditioners are an ideal next step. While these cooling systems are more expensive than any of the other solutions so far, they yield some of the best results when it comes to cooling a room.
Window and room air conditioners come in different shapes and sizes while offering varying degrees of cooling. You've probably seen window air conditioners hanging out of the windows of homes in your neighborhood.
Room air conditioners can also be rolled around for easy relocation, while window air conditioners are trickier to move on a whim.
Unfortunately, these units aren't exactly cheap, running anywhere from $300 to $1,500. But they do provide an unmatched cooling experience compared to the previous methods.
Now What?
From here, the solutions get more involved, will require professional installation, a greater upfront investment, and go beyond the scope of tips and tricks.
Pricier and more involved cooling systems include ductless mini-splits, whole-house fans, and HVAC systems. If you're fed up with DIY tips and tricks, then these are some solutions to explore.
While the previous tips and tricks can help in a pinch, there's nothing as effective at cooling homes as various forms of air conditioning and whole-house fans.
Ready to Beat the Heat?
So, there you have it, 10 tips and tricks to help cool a room. We've touched on simple options like limiting oven use to making the upfront investment in a window or room air conditioner. We've also gone over each option in ascending order of complexity so that you can troubleshoot your heat issues without overspending.
We understand how important it is to be comfortable in your home. Since our in-person service is geographically limited, we're happy to bring you these tips and tricks wherever you live so that you can take the right steps to cool your home.
Stick with us to learn more about heating and cooling. From maintenance to types of air conditioning and beyond, we'll be right with you as you continue to explore.
If you're looking for a more permanent cooling solution, visit Monkey Wrench Plumbing, Heating & Air's HVAC services page to book a consultation. Check out our breakdown of 10 tips and tricks to heat a room for low-cost solutions that will save you time and money when addressing your heating needs.
