Heat Wave!!!

The Heat is On!  Here are some tips I have learned over the years of trying to conserve on my electric bill. There were some days in the 115 heat in Hemet, CA that I wore a wet T-shirt around the house with fans running and no a/c!

Of course, the biggest saver of all is insulation.  I am lucky that this house has double drywall on the outside walls, a wonderful attic fan, a crawl space that keeps the floors cool, and the vinyl siding which has an additional insulation under it, so my home stays about 74 throughout the day with NO a/c until around 4 to 5 if it is above 84 or so. I still follow these rules, though.

First REMEMBER YOUR PETS!  Water, folks.  They need clean (CLEAN) fresh water.  They need to be brought in during the hot days…smaller dogs especially have a hard time breathing (like pugs and Shitz Tzu's…those with short muzzles).  They can't pant fast enough to cool their little bodies down.

First, bring in the cooler air. Open windows and doors and if you have a fan, position one to bring in air. Some people put them in the door to pull air in, some to push air out. However, my fireman brother let me in on a secret. Heat is high, cool air is low, so if you are using the fan in a doorway, bring the air IN. The warmer higher heat will be forced out at the top of the windows and doorways. Also turn on exhaust fans to draw it away.

Then close your house up. If the house is still warmer than outside turn on the a/c now before it is tooooo hot, and before the hoards begin a brown-out process! Just get the house cooler. Turn all your window blinds so that the front of the blind is down and the back, toward the window side, is up. Heat rises you know! 

Turn on a vent over the stove and keep the exhaust fan in the bathroom on. They both take the upper heat out VERY effectively. You'd be smart to have an attic fan installed, too. All in all, these will help keep your house cooler for 3 to 5 degrees at less than 1/8 the cost of the a/c for the same time period.

Keep all your windows covered to help stem heat transfer, put your ceiling fans on so they are blowing air down…doesn't make a difference in air temp either way, up or down, but down means it is blowing on you and THAT is why it feels cooler. If all your seating and bed areas are against the wall, set it so it flows up to the ceiling and the air then moves down the wall to where you might be sitting. You will find that you won't be using the a/c as long, and may even use at a higher setting and still feel quite comfy! Helps a lot!!

STAY COOL!!

Put your feet in water!!!!!

(for my AZ friends, our heat wave starts at 90! heh, heh! But we are to be in the 100's for a couple of days).