How to cool your room without AC
The best way to cool your room when you don’t have an air conditioner is to use a fan or an evaporative cooler. But there are other options as well! Here are 8 ways to cool your room without AC:
- Evaporative coolers: Evaporative coolers use the process of water evaporation to cool down the air in your home. As water evaporates, it uses up energy in the form of heat. An evaporative cooler blows air over a wet pad to cool it down a little.
- Wet towel over the window: A wet towel over an open window uses the same principle to cool down air as it enters your room. The evaporation from the towel reduces the temperature by a few degrees.
- Use a fan: A fan won’t actually lower the temperature in a room but it will help your body get rid of its excess heat more efficiently. As a result, you’ll feel much cooler.
- Fan and Ice: This variation on using a fan adds a cooling element to the process by putting a bag or block of ice in front of the fan to cool the air. Our favorite version of this is to use large frozen water bottles to minimize mess.
- Use a mister: A mister cools you down by spraying water into the air. When the water lands on your skin, it removes heat from your body as it evaporates.
- Cover your windows: Covering your windows to prevent direct sunlight is a useful way to avoid unnecessarily heating up your space.
- Dehumidify: Dehumidification can help make it feel like a space is cooler than it actually is. Humidity makes it hard for sweat to evaporate and can make us feel hotter than the actual temperature.
- Turn off appliances: Appliances like kettles and stoves generate unnecessary heat. Keep them turned off as much as possible to keep your indoor spaces cold.
Mark is a journalist who has written about home products for two years. He holds a masters degree with distinction from the London School of Economics and an undergraduate degree from the University of Edinburgh.