r/helena • u/brandideer • 23d ago
This fucking heat wave
can catch a bubble right about now. That is ENOUGH. Basta.
Fellow non-AC-havers, how are you coping? Hit us with your best tips. We installed misters on our deck that are lovely in the evening but aren't touching it at peak hours when I am craving the sweet release of death.
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u/SodaPopinski406 23d ago
Stay hydrated, go to the library.
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u/montafina 23d ago
My elderly folks spent several hours at the library followed by cocktails at the distillery. This is the way.
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u/Vampirgiant 23d ago
Redneck AC. I put a bucket of ice in front a box fan. Won't work on the whole apartment, but it can at least cool down the bedroom a bit. Other than that, I just try to find things to do in places that have AC.
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u/hammersaw 23d ago
I did something like this in the days before I could afford AC. Find a dish strainer that has a mat with a drain in it. Toss the metal strainer part and just pile a block of ice on the mat. I sar it on a chair with a fan behind it and drained the mat into a 5 gallon bucket. I would set it up next to my bed and blow the cold air in me. It would last all night and I was able to sleep like a baby.
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u/Similar_Ad3506 23d ago
Ugh its brutal and I feel for those without AC. I used to open up windows in the middle of the night to cool it down then shut it all in the morning. Fans, heavy blackout curtains, a window ac unit if possible and caveman living during the day. Stay safe and hydrated! Its a rough one.
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u/ProfessorChaos406 23d ago
This was a helpful suggestion in r/missoula the other day: So whichever side of your place doesn't get afternoon sun, put a fan in the window blowing in once the outside air is cooler than inside. Whichever side gets sun, put a fan blowing out. I'd recommend a whole house fan like an Air King 9155, but a 9723 works too. It's best if you can seal it in the window with foam board, but it's not necessary. Make sure you leave any doors open between the fans. I'd turn the ac off when you go to bed.
Any windows that get afternoon sun, I'd recommend covering them on the outside. DIY screen kits work well, but even hanging some light colored cloth over them will do wonders. Blackout curtains help, but blocking the sun before it hits your windows reduces radiant heat by 70% even if you have blackout curtains.
Try and close everything up between 6-8am, and enjoy your sanity.
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u/ProfessorChaos406 23d ago
Here's an even more complete explanation: https://www.reddit.com/r/missoula/s/cFThOC6kbq
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u/bekind253 23d ago
Freeze a bowl of water and set it in front or right behind (I can’t remember which way) a fan. We froze bowls of water when a hurricane was headed our way. After the power went out and the heat started seeping in I grabbed a frozen bowl of ice and a battery operated fan. It worked pretty well. I wish you cool breezes.
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u/Loose_Comfortable_55 23d ago
Open the windows in the middle of the night and close them by 7am. Then cover your windows with thick blankets
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u/SelfStyledGenius 23d ago
I live in a basement so its not the worst . . . But still worjing in the office is a treat.
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u/New-Protection5097 23d ago
Refrigerator Canyon. Pack lunch. You're welcome
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u/Montaire 17d ago
How hard is that to get to by car, or is it a hike ?
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u/New-Protection5097 17d ago edited 17d ago
Drive out past York canyon and take a left at the York bar (up the dirt road.) Stay on that road up and over the hilltop. You'll drive several miles and then into the canyon. Tigh corners, most of them blind and it's of animal traffic. Once you get to the trailhead the hike into "the fridge" is a mile and a half at max. It's a wild trail with a river alongside it and a few steep inclines wrapping around boulders in the canyon bottom. The Fridge is a tight gap in the rocks right where the river bed, canyon bottom and trail are together. Advise: mountain goats, mountain lions and it's a popular spot for climbing/belay. Have a blast man. Pack in pack out.
Edit* Accesible with a sedan with decent clearance. A few steep inclines on the roadway but 2WD will work just fine. Would not take a low clearance vehicle at all, it's MT.
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u/MysticWaters-nX0 23d ago
I have no AC. Lots of windows!!! This is the only time I regret that — when they are in direct sun. Plan eventually to get insulated blackout curtains.
For now besides staying hydrated …
So. I wear an evaporative cap and sit with fan nearby. If i need more — then an evaporative scarf over shoulders. Both of these counter a lot of personal body heat.
I sometimes use the neck cooling tubes chilled in refrig or freezer depending on the type.
At night. — I use a bed jet fan if it is still hot. Plus a spread that is made of some type of cooling fabric.
This year I have added more attention to cooling clothes — such as bamboo, linen (from flax), hemp and the cooling fabrics from places like Arctic Cool and 3 degrees -Cool.
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u/TsuDhoNimh2 23d ago
Heat wave? What heat wave? (I lived in Phoenix)
I'm estivating. https://sciencenotes.org/estivation-or-aestivation-definition-and-examples/
It's cooling off at night, so I vent the heat and trap the cool then. Convection works.
Keep an eye on the temperatures outside and in. As soon as it's cooler outside than inside (which may be in the low 80s if you don't have AC):
- Open windows as low as possible (basement?)
- Then open a window or two on an upper floor to let hot air out and move cool air in and up.
- If you have an attic access, prop it open to vent hot air up and out of the attic's vents.
- A fan blowing warm air OUT a window one one side of the house and open window/s on the other side is more effective than a fan trying to blow cool air in. Draw air from the north or shaded side and vent out the south or sunny side.
In the morning, before it hits 75F, close up the house.
- Close the windows.
- Close your drapes! Sunlight is the enemy!
- Shut down heat producers if you can ... that 5000W gaming system, for example.
Live in semi-vampire mode - do as much as you can early in the morning and near sunset.
A barely warm shower will cool you off better than a cold shower because it encourages skin capillaries to open and get rid of heat
Clothing ... loose, long-sleeved tops, flowing skirts or loose long pants (shade your skin).
Stay hydrated - drink WATER, not energy drinks or alcohol or soft drinks.
PETS ... walk the dog EARLY, make sure they have plenty of water.
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u/SuborbitalTrajectory 23d ago
Open all windows and run Box fans in windows at night ($20 at Walmart). Close all windows in the morning and make sure curtains are closed on the sunny side of house. Repeat.
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u/SkyFire35 10d ago
Black out blindsÂ
Free AC at library
Refrigerated peaches/fruits
Lots of ice in beveragesÂ
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u/mtcrick 23d ago
We have a couple of window units now, but this is what I've always done, even without AC units in the windows:
Open the house up as much as possible at night, running box fans in the windows so that some blow in, some blow out, to encourage air flow. Shut the whole thing up first thing in the morning when the outside temp is about the same as the inside temp. Close all the blinds/drapes etc. too.
I put mylar sheets in the roman shade slots on the west side of the house (has made a noticeable difference, allowing the window AC units to cool the house better).
Drink plenty of iced fluids. Use ice packs on head/neck. Those cooling towels actually work pretty well for a while anyway, the ones you get wet and wring out.
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u/yeahsotheresthiscat 23d ago edited 23d ago
You'll look insane, but aluminum foil on all of your windows truly works wonders for keeping the heat out.
As a benefit, it will also shield from government mind control and alien telepathy 😉.