New Tactics for Keepin' Cool

Trying to get cool and stay cool in the summer is quite challenging.  

Last summer, we bought new swamp coolers, hoping to get some more air circulating in the house.

I wrote about getting them on the roof here.

The first summer, Doug had set up the ones on the left (covered in a lighter blue tarp), and then covered them with canopies to keep some of the sun off.  You can see two of the folded up canopies in the background.  

I think I told you about the canopies because one day one of them got dislodged during a strong wind storm and flipped over onto the roof of our neighbor's house, but I can't find the blog post, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

That silver square with the "X" on it in the picture below is where one of the swamp coolers sits when it's connected to the house.  Air blows down a shaft, which is connected to four vents on the way down.  The only way it can bring coolish air is because there is a continual dripping of water running in front of a fan; however, if that water is hot (which it is), the cooling effect is minimal.  It's not the ideal way to cool a house.

(As a side note, we didn't even use a water heater this summer.  The sun heats up the water in our tank on the roof, we save electricity, and we get warm showers every day (if someone wants one).  Most of my family prefers cooler showers in the summer.)

This summer, Doug tried a new tactic for keeping our house cool, and he bought these indoor swamp coolers (below).

They don't bring in dust from the outside, you can fill them with water (or blocks of ice) and it blows much cooler air, you can just run it like a fan without the water, and it provides good circulation, and you can move it around to where you need it (like the kitchen when the oven is on).  We bought 4, and along with fans in each room, it was a great solution for keeping the house cooler.


I know I write often about the heat here, but it's been a learning curve as we try to figure out the best way to get cool and stay cool.  It's basically on our minds daily from May until September.

But we're learning.