As temperatures soar across Ireland this week, you might have spent the weekend frantically rummaging through your attic in search of a fan.
Hot weather tends to trigger a sense of panic for many of us, with concerns about how to keep cool, avoid restless nights, and stay comfortable while working can feel all consuming.
While maintaining a cool indoor environment can be challenging, here are eight quick hacks to help cool your home without relying on air conditioning.
1. Cover the outside of your windows with sheets or newspapers
“If you have south-facing windows, you might want to consider putting sheets or newspaper on the outside of the windows to stop the sun from touching the window and getting into your house,” suggests Kevin Pennington, owner of Lancashire Air Conditioning, who has partnered with Sharps to share home cooling tips.
“It looks absolutely horrendous, but is massively effective. It can reduce the heat gain by up to 80/90% with the right sheet.”
2. Stop any zombie appliances from creating heat
Make sure that all the plugs are turned off
“Try not to leave anything plugged in that produces a lot of heat, such as phone chargers, laptops and desktop computers that are running and charging even though they’re not being used,” says Pennington.
“In addition, I would try to also avoid using/reduce your use of tumble dryers, washing machines and dishwashers in the really hot weather because they produce a lot of heat.”
3. Open windows early in the morning and late at night
Make sure you are only letting cooler air in
“Get those windows and doors open early in the morning, while it’s still cold, then close them throughout the day and reopen them late at night when the air temperature drops,” recommends Pennington.
“Look at the weather forecast and this will help guide you of the best times to do this. As soon as it’s getting cool outside and is hot inside, get them open.
“I was up at 5am this morning, and it was 24 degrees in my lounge, but 18 outside, so I opened the doors and windows. Within an hour, it dropped two degrees in my lounge, and it created a nice breeze.”
4. Cook outside
Enjoy some alfresco dining
“Using an oven to cook adds a lot of heat to the home which you then need to try and get rid of, so you could try to avoid that by cooking outside by using a barbecue, for example,” suggests Ciaran Murphy, CEO of Dimplex Consumer Products.
Pennington agrees and adds: “Consider having ham, cold cuts and some salad for dinner instead of cooking, as that can be a great way way of avoiding putting the oven, the air fryer or the grill on.”
5. Move your bed
Think about the positioning of your bed
Irish homes are typically built from brick to retain heat in cold weather, and Pennington notes that “if the sun is hitting the wall by your bed all afternoon, the brick absorbs the heat and effectively becomes a large heater”.
“It holds onto that warmth and releases it at night, which causes the room to get significantly hotter than it should be. Therefore, pulling the bed away from the wall should really help.”
6. Point a fan outside
A fan can help pull the cool air inside
“If the temperature outside is lower than it is inside, having a fan at the window pointing outwards will have the effect of pulling cooler air into the home,” says Murphy. “At the same time, you could also have another fan inside pointing at you to cool you directly.”
7. Make a DIY air conditioner
Place a bowl of ice or frozen bottles in front of a standard household fan
“If you have a chest freezer in the garage, you can fill an empty ice cream tub with water and freeze it, and then blow a fan on it in your living space,” says Pennington. “As the air blows towards the ice, the ice absorbs heat from it, and it is noticeably cooler.
“However, this is only effective for a short amount of time because eventually it just turns to warm water as you’re blowing energy at it and warming it up.”
8. Give your curtains an upgrade
Reflective curtain backings are a highly effective way to bounce sunlight and radiant heat back out through the window
“You can get reflective backers on your curtains that will bounce away more of that sunlight to help stop some of it from getting into your home,” says Murphy.