Don’t have AC? These tips can help you keep your home cool.

It’s summer, you’ve just moved into a new place in Vancouver and…there’s no air conditioning.

No surprise — with an average annual temperature of about 10°C, Vancouver doesn’t have a reputation for being a swelteringly hot place, and that’s reflected in the region’s residences. Things are gradually changing, but many homes – even brand new ones – still aren’t equipped with on-demand cooling.

Just installing AC would be great, but not everyone has thousands of dollars to drop on a major home upgrade, and for the metro area’s many renters, that isn’t even an option.

Luckily, there are other ways to keep your home cool — let’s take a look at some of the most effective ones.

Keep the windows open at night

In most places, even tropical countries that are hot year-round, it gets slightly colder at night.

By opening your windows and letting that cooler air in, then closing them before the sun comes up on the following day, you can keep your home cooler not just while you sleep, but for at least a portion of the next day as well.

Why this works:
The first part is simple. Temperatures want to balance out, so when you open your windows at night, the hotter air inside your home will mix with the cooler air outside until it’s the same temperature.

By closing your windows before the sun rises and heats up the air, you’re stopping that process from happening in reverse. In other words, you’re stopping the cooler air in your home from mixing with the warmer air outside, so – while your rooms may warm up eventually – it’ll take a lot longer for that to happen.

One thing to keep in mind though: if you’re closing your windows during the day, you’ll also need to…

Keep the blinds or curtains shut during the day

Closing your windows during the day may keep the hot air out, but – without shutting your blinds or curtain – you’ll still be at the mercy of another temperature-raising factor: sunlight.

Yes, there’s the trade-off of having to spend time in a darker home, but you can always turn on the light. Once the sun’s heat is inside, you can’t just flip a switch to turn it off.

Why this works:
Just think — when you hold your hand out under a ray of sun, it’s warm. On an intense, sunny day, it might not take long before it’s actually uncomfortably warm.

If you close the windows but leave the blinds or curtains open, you’re letting all of that heat energy from the sunlight into your home. Consider the difference between getting into a car that’s been parked out in the sun and one that’s been in a covered parking garage. Blocking out the sun makes a big difference!

Buying heavy curtains or blackout blinds is one of the most affordable ways to keep the sun out. If you own your home, getting better-insulated windows can help as well, although upgrading windows throughout your home can cost as much as installing a heat pump system with air conditioning.

Create a cross-breeze in your home

If you’d prefer to not live like a vampire during the summer with all of your windows closed up and covered, you can – depending on the layout of your living space – open up windows on opposite sides of your home to encourage natural ventilation.

This isn’t ideal for cooling your entire home, but if, say, you have an open-concept living room and kitchen with a screen door at one end and a regular window at the other, keeping them both open can promote airflow directly through the space.

Why this works:
When wind or a breeze blows against your home, it creates differences in air pressure around it.

Just like hot and cold air wanting to balance out, these differences in air pressure also want to equalize. Air in high pressure areas will move towards low pressure areas, creating what’s known as cross-ventilation or a cross-breeze in the space that it’s moving through. Some people even place fans near the windows to assist with pulling high pressure air in and pushing low pressure air out.

It can take a bit of experimentation to figure out how air pressure works around your home and whether this method will really work for you. If it does, though, it can effectively push stale, warm air out of your home while helping you to physically feel cooler.

Cook your meals outside

After all, spring and summer are the seasons for backyard cookouts, right? And yes, you can still manage this even if you don’t have a super powerful BBQ with all the BTUs.

With a little bit of meal planning, it’s very easy (and safe!) to cook up a delicious breakfast, lunch, or dinner using just a basic electric grill, induction cooktop, or camping stove.

Why this works:
Using typical kitchen appliances like ranges, cooktops, and even countertop ovens creates a lot of heat, and that heat ends up being trapped inside of your home long after the meal is over.

Cooking outside won’t directly cool down your home, but it *will* help you avoid adding a huge amount of additional heat and humidity into your kitchen and its connecting rooms. If you live in a smaller apartment, that can make a clear difference to your comfort levels.

Smaller cooking appliances typically use less energy too, so – if you’re running fans all day long indoors – this method can help to offset that extra energy usage.

Run a dehumidifier

Let’s get this out of the way — a dehumidifier can’t actually lower the temperature in your home. What it can do, though, is make you *feel* cooler, especially if you’re facing really hot, muggy weather like we sometimes get here in Vancouver.

Why this works:
High humidity levels make hot weather feel worse. Since there’s already so much moisture in the air, your sweat doesn’t evaporate as quickly, making you feel especially warm and uncomfortable.

That’s why a dehumidifier can be a very effective way of making a room feel cooler, especially when it’s used together with a standing fan or ceiling fan.

Traditional air conditioners naturally pull moisture from the air, which is one of the reasons why they’re so good at quickly making a room feel more comfortable.

Bring down your energy costs with money-saving plumbing and heating equipment

Whether you’re content using these tips to stay cool, or you decide to upgrade to a dedicated cooling system, there’s a good chance you’ll be using more power as our Vancouver summers get hotter.

With the right plumbing equipment for your household, you can cut down on your energy bills throughout the year. That’ll help you feel less of a pinch from regularly running fans and AC during the summer.

If you’re wondering whether you can save money with something like a tankless water heater or a new replacement furnace, just get in touch with us online or by phone!

One of our experts would be happy to visit you and provide you with a free inspection and in-home estimate so that you can start budgeting for a more energy-efficient home.