How to survive without airconditioner in summer

[al77]

When I turn air conditoner on at home, after a while I feel sick Besides it is very loud and eats electricity like crazy...

How do you guys survive without using it?
Any tips?

I tried: a) using a large fan as much as I can - less noise but less effective b) taking a shower helps just for a little while
I heard drinking hot tea (yes, hot) might help: I didn't try it since I completely didn't feel like drinking hot tea when it is hot anyway..

Is there any kind of air conditoners on the market that are using some other principles to cool the air down?

 

[Kcman]

umm , grab some ice , lots of ice , put it in the bath tub , graba couple tables , a tv , mini fridge or whatnot , and just chill out in ur bath tub till the sun goes down ??? , i dunno lol i have central air and its soooo quiet and soooo cold

 

[penkitten]

why does it make you sick?

do you have a dust allergy? i can tell you how to clean it

do you have a leaky one ? is it spreading mold ?

help us out here and tell us why.

 

[aftershock]

Open the window?

 

[al77]

Originally posted by Kcman
umm , grab some ice , lots of ice , put it in the bath tub , graba couple tables , a tv , mini fridge or whatnot , and just chill out in ur bath tub till the sun goes down ??? , i dunno lol i have central air and its soooo quiet and soooo cold

Yes, I heard central air is much better. I am curious if you are
allergic to the air conditioner, how do you survive in summer?

 

[Centaurion]

how can you be allergic to air-con?

the summers down here are HOT, and the place I'm xtaying at dont have air con, so i invested in a fan. just put it next to the window and you get fresh cool air blowing. it's great.

 

[PRMoon]

You can get an air chiller which is basically just a fan that blows air over cold water. It defintely works well for one room, but you have to be sure to clean out the resivour from time to time or it'll start to mildew and smell bad.

There are a number of really high velocity fans you can buy that work very well too. I live in the desert and even using the central air to keep the apt at 80 degrees cost me a fortune. So I got this slick vertical fan that sits in the corner and cover up my windows. It's not the best method for cooling off but 90 degrees inside vs 110+ outside is a good enough trade off for me in my opinion.

If all else fails just become a pool rat and soak your summer away. God bless the man who invented the in pool lounge chair with the built in cooler and cup/bottle holder.

 

[al77]

Originally posted by penkitten
why does it make you sick?

do you have a dust allergy? i can tell you how to clean it

do you have a leaky one ? is it spreading mold ?

I dont think I have a dust allergy.. though the air that is coming from the air conditioner is definitely has a bad effect on me...I am drowsy and feel odd sort of.

The air conditioner most likely is spreading mold...the qulity of the iar is horrible. I was just tired of its uselessness: it is very noisy, and it is literally over my bed - cannot sleep if it is on...
Since I dont have cenral air system, it takes ..forever to feel the cool air in my room - the unit is far from the room.

Don't know if it is leaking though - well, somthing is dripping from it, it is not normal?

 

[Julian]

is it one of those window AC's like in apt.s and hotels?

Yeah those suck. Maybe change the filter or something.

 

[al77]

Originally posted by Centaurion
how can you be allergic to air-con?

Well when I see it I dont get all covered wth red spots...
but if I breathe the air that is coming out of the unit... I feel drowsy, my head is heavy... I have a hay fever, probably it
makes it easier to be allergic to air con.

 

[On_the_Top]

Omg, I grew up in a damn country shack with no A/C in the summer and a gas stove in winter nor did I not have AC in that hot assed ghetto city apartment I use to live in. You'll survive, after a while you become used to the heat and humidity and will start sleeping with quilts and wool conforters.

 

[penkitten]

Originally posted by al77
I dont think I have a dust allergy.. though the air that is coming from the air conditioner is definitely has a bad effect on me...I am drowsy and feel odd sort of.

The air conditioner most likely is spreading mold...the qulity of the iar is horrible. I was just tired of its uselessness: it is very noisy, and it is literally over my bed - cannot sleep if it is on...
Since I dont have cenral air system, it takes ..forever to feel the cool air in my room - the unit is far from the room.

Don't know if it is leaking though - well, somthing is dripping from it, it is not normal?

ok dear, the unit needs cleaning and repairing.

lets start with the leak. there should be a normal amount of dripping from the underneath the unit outside. not inside. this is called condensation and is ok.
if it leaks inside , most likely it is stopped up , which means it needs to be cleaned out.

you need to pull the unit from the window and set it down outside. remove the cover. you can clean it out by a water hose. if you think there is mold building up in it, pour a little bleach on it before you hose it or get some air conditioning cleaner stuff. spray it all out really good. ( do not spray any wires.)
give it time to dry out, like a few hours .
put the cover back on and put it back in the window.


while you are cleaning it, if you see the drain line stopped up , which would cause the leaking that would not be normal, unclog it. they sale ac drain tablets to help with this . i have seen ppl use a coathanger to unclog them too.

now the noise is probally because it is old , but could also be that the belt is wearing out or the compressor.

if you are a renter, solve this easy by calling the landlord and asking if he would repair it or replace it.
any good landlord would try to repair it at least.

i have read that mold causes nausea and drowsiness. i read bleach kills it .


if you own this place and end up needing to repair it
check out gracehill.com and go to where you can post maintenance questions. someone should give you a tip on what else you can do .

 

[al77]

Originally posted by PRMoon
You can get an air chiller which is basically just a fan that blows air over cold water. It defintely works well for one room, but you have to be sure to clean out the resivour from time to time or it'll start to mildew and smell bad.

There are a number of really high velocity fans you can buy that work very well too. I live in the desert and even using the central air to keep the apt at 80 degrees cost me a fortune. So I got this slick vertical fan that sits in the corner and cover up my windows. It's not the best method for cooling off but 90 degrees inside vs 110+ outside is a good enough trade off for me in my opinion.

Your experience is particularly inretersting since 110+ is something I cannot even imagine: we ahev about 85 now which may no sound bad at all... but 85% humidity, no wind make it tough to stay inside.

Dude, you have like 15% percent of humidity...thats so much differen tfrom 85%! Probably then even 120 feels like 70

It is possible to adapt though.. after a couple of month I feel ok in that condition, but well - after a coupel of month summer will be over and I'l have to re-adapt to fall temperatures....

What is the model of that slick vertical fan? Is it any better than others? I went to a store, looked at like 10-15 portable fans they have - the only difference - some are quiet and some are loud..

Shoould I put the fan next to the window? Should it suck air in or out?

Air chiller sounds interesting, do you have one? Is it a cross breed between humidifier and a fan?
It will raise the humidity in the room then, so in some way it will make it harder to bear the temperature??....

 

[penkitten]

Originally posted by al77
Your experience is particularly inretersting since 110+ is something I cannot even imagine: we ahev about 85 now which may no sound bad at all... but 85% humidity, no wind make it tough to stay inside.

It is possible to adapt though.. after a couple of month I feel ok in that condition, but well - after a coupel of month summer will be over and I'l have to re-adapt to fall temperatures....

What is the model of that slick vertical fan? Is it any better than others? I went to a store, looked at like 10-15 portable fans they have - the only difference - some are quiet and some are loud..

Shoould I put the fan next to the window? Should it suck air in or out?

Air chiller sounds interesting, do you have one? Is it a cross breed between humidifier and a fan?
It will raise the humidity in the room then, so in some way it will make it harder to bear the temperature??....

dude , i sure do think cleaning the ac u have is sooo much cheaper and worth a try before you go out spending too much money on a new high tech fan.

really i think yours needs a good cleaning .

 

[al77]

Originally posted by On_the_Top
Omg, I grew up in a damn country shack with no A/C in the summer and a gas stove in winter nor did I not have AC in that hot assed ghetto city apartment I use to live in. You'll survive, after a while you become used to the heat and humidity

I grew up without any kind of AC too, but, where I grew up apartments are not made of cardboardboxes... bricks and concerete as in any multistorey building, and it was quite cool even without any AC.

 

[al77]

Originally posted by penkitten
dude , i sure do think cleaning the ac u have is sooo much cheaper and worth a try before you go out spending too much money on a new high tech fan.
really i think yours needs a good cleaning .

penkitten,

Thanks for the tips! I rent, and taking the AC out just by myself is out of the question. It works, so just because I feel sick due to it seems not a very reasonable complaint to ask people to get me a new one.
Anyway, do you think I can just spray bleach inside the AC without take it out of the wall?

I have a big, not fancy fan...I was just thinking of buying another one and use both of them.

 

[Giovanni Casanova]

Originally posted by al77
penkitten,

Thanks for the tips! I rent, and taking the AC out just by myself is out of the question. It works, so just because I feel sick due to it seems not a very reasonable complaint to ask people to get me a new one.
Anyway, do you think I can just spray bleach inside the AC without take it out of the wall?

I have a big, not fancy fan...I was just thinking of buying another one and use both of them.

If you rent, your landlord should take care of this maintenance issue.

 

[penkitten]

Originally posted by al77
penkitten,

Thanks for the tips! I rent, and taking the AC out just by myself is out of the question. It works, so just because I feel sick due to it seems not a very reasonable complaint to ask people to get me a new one.
Anyway, do you think I can just spray bleach inside the AC without take it out of the wall?

I have a big, not fancy fan...I was just thinking of buying another one and use both of them.

dude it should be maintenanced once a year and that is reasonable.
calling the landlord and saying, the ac needs to be cleaned out for the summer, its leaking a little bit so i think its stopped up, so could you or could you have someone come pull it out and clean it out and unstop it please? and also it has been making a loud sound, im not sure if its a belt or anything but you might wanna check it out, it makes it hard to sleep at nite.
that is totally reasonable. im a landlord to 104 apartment units.

do not pour bleach in it while its in the wall. it wont help unless you are actually cleaning it.

hope this helps.

 

[Jake-inator]

I would just go down to the basement... it's like 60-70 degrees in mine, colder than upstairs w/ AC.

Or you can make one of those refrigarator tents and live inside the fridge all summer.

 

[PRMoon]

Originally posted by al77

Dude, you have like 15% percent of humidity...thats so much differen tfrom 85%! Probably then even 120 feels like 70

It is possible to adapt though.. after a couple of month I feel ok in that condition, but well - after a coupel of month summer will be over and I'l have to re-adapt to fall temperatures....

What is the model of that slick vertical fan? Is it any better than others? I went to a store, looked at like 10-15 portable fans they have - the only difference - some are quiet and some are loud..

Shoould I put the fan next to the window? Should it suck air in or out?

Air chiller sounds interesting, do you have one? Is it a cross breed between humidifier and a fan?
It will raise the humidity in the room then, so in some way it will make it harder to bear the temperature??....

First off lemmie just say that 110 degrees with no humidity is still VERY hot. If I go out to my car in the afternoon and it's not in a shaded area the handle will be HOT to the touch (not enough to burn you but it's not a pleasent experience) when I get into my car sometimes the steering whee (Black) is so hot to the touch that I have trouble driving. Fortuantely I work most of the day so by the time I do get into my car the heat has subsided, then I don't go out till it's time to drink, well after sun down.

The type of fan I have is called the Windchaser tower fan. I like it because it's big and it gives a steady cooling breeze. It has a remote and a shut off timer if I'm using it while i'm going to sleep or something like that. Although I must say I was at the mall yesterday and I saw some really high power commercial grade fans that were damn cool. I'm talking wind tunnel power, but they were way louder then my fan. Still the shopping is your decision not mine.

Portable air coolers or "swamp coolers" as they're also know do not make things hotter in your room. Their soul purpose is to cool the air around you without the power consumption of an AC. They're readily availible just about everywhere in any home appliance store (well at least in this state) and they have an ice tray to make sure it doesn't just put out muggy hot air. You can find any of these products on line as well.

Good luck fightin the heat. I just have to live with it (it's hot by 9:30 out here and the heat last till like 9:30 10 most of the time.)
You'll get over it, just give it some time.