Freezer wise

With all this heat, I’ve double checked my refrigerator & freezer to make sure the coils are vacuumed, there’s plenty of space for air to circulate in back, and the compartments are full. A full refrigerator / freezer uses less energy (and will stay cold longer if the electricity goes out. Cold things keep cold things cool; more cold things keep cold things cool longer. ) 

So now I am making a concerted effort to make large crockpot or soup batches and freeze labeled and well sealed individual portions, or take-and-share portions.  It will help me avoid cooking on the hottest days, too.

I fill well-rinsed bottles ¾ full with water and then freeze. Plus, this gives me extra “disaster” water, ice water for picnics, and ice blocks for my cooler. If I think they’ll sit, I date the bottle, so I know to change it in a year.

Any old water container works when I need to fill up an empty frig a bit before leaving on a trip.

 

Where’s the breeze?

6:15  a.m. – the house was 79F. The windows were open all night, fans were going, and the house is surrounded by shade trees. I will need to shut it up soon, or the place is gonna cook.

So here’s my cooler home-design wish list:

1. Decent windows that close easily and don’t leak, and can stay that way for 20 years without more effort than caulk and cleaning. This is my second home with “alenco” windows, and I’m not impressed. I’m told aluminum window frames are best in hot places. Wood is ok, but deteriorates fast in heat, making it still more expensive. And vinyl warps too much. Or so I’m told. True?
2. Shade the windows, and shade the AC compressor. Hot places should have windows set in or some sort of awning, at least on the afternoon sun side. Even with dark screens and careful use of blinds, the windows are getting warm.
3. Cross-ventilation. Have a window over the front door that opens, and have other higher level windows that can be (somewhat) safely left open all night in many places, and design the floor plan to allow some straight-through airflow. My first church had a pole with a hook to unlatch and tilt high windows easily.
4. Window fan with built-in pollen filter. You heard it here first. Vornado: Pleasemake a box fan that can put in windows, perhaps anchorable for security, with a strong, quiet motor to handle drawing air through a pollen & mold filter. Our allergies in this new town are getting worse, and I fear I won’t be able to leave the windows open next spring.
5. Exhaust fan for refrigerator cubby. A refrigerator creates heat that the AC must overcome. And the refrigerator runs more if the ambient temperature is high. Seem circular? It seems that homes in warm climates (e.g., 6 months of AC) might benefit from a small exhaust fan on a 24-hr timer behind the frig. It would be similar to a house exhaust fan in well insulated & sealed homes.  The fan would remove hot refrigerator air, leaving less impact on both AC and refrigerator. For sheer perfection, it would have an optional cable link to the frig that allowed both to cycle on and off simultaneously.
6. Attics. I SO want an attic-exhaust fan with a thermostat. Dropping the attic temp 20 or more degrees (130F+ down to 110F or less) on hot days (aka, June, July, August, and some of  September) can only help. I read that it can lower AC use up to 30%. Makes huge sense.
7. Whole-house fan, friend to the attic exhaust. I had this in my other house (in a hot, dry area) and used AC only 5 days one summer, even though outside temps hit >95 every day for 3+ months, and over 105 for ~ 2 weeks. I could close up the house in the day, tilt blinds to deal with sun, and then open everything up at 7 or so & run the fan for a few hours. The house never got over 80, and was always lower than 75 by 10 pm.
   My new town is too humid, with evening temps too high. I found a study (in Houston, I think) that showed the best way to reduce AC use and still address humidity was to run a dehumidifier in a vented closet (addressing noise, so one could certainly skip the closet in an existing house), and locate it near the air return, so dryer air was returned for cooling. It really is true: I’ll take a dry 84 over a humid 74 any day.
   
8. Separate temperature controls for bedrooms. I really want my bedroom below 78 for 8 hours at night.
   As an aside, I have a running moral battle with cooling:  with adequate drinking water and perhaps a damp cloth, we simply will not die from heat. Pre-AC / student days, I would set up a bucket of cool water for my toes. Most of the world does not use AC. And, I chose to live in a warm climate. BUT, it’s just not comfortable, and I have a health issue aggravated by heat (MS).
   SO. I want a cool bedroom. And I’ll compromise with a warmer (78 or 80F) house, except for vigorous housework. Then it has to be 76F or I’m out of commission for the remainder of the day. I’ve sort of made peace with that one.

 Whoops, time flies. I’d better walk the dog now (a Golden), or we’ll both be toast. I’d love to find some engineers who’ve done all these calculations and could give me the real scoop on what would work and what doesn’t.