Ok, so my AC sucks and its hot... So I'm trying to be cheap and cool at the same time :
Here's a link to my cheapness
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=307192
But basically, my AC costs hundreds of dollars to cool my house each month, so I'm trying ways to cool my house for less.
Swamp coolers (evaporative coolers) are great, but my humidity is already high, so they aren't a viable option.
Some things I am trying and are working are:
Fans...
I have them sucking in on the cool side of the house downstairs, and blowing out the windows upstairs. The fans alone keep the house slightly cooler than the outside air.
I open the windows up and draw cooler night air in and then seal up the house and use fans to circulate air until the air inside reaches the air temp outside (usually later in the day).
This has been working for the 90 degree days we've been having, but after a week or so of heat, my house isn't cooling off as much and it's heating up faster.
I've also made my own version of a swamp cooler that works ok. I took a left over piece of garden fence, and weaved a garden hose through it. It hangs outside over a window and I have a fan in the window drawing air in. I run cold water from the well through the hose and reduce it down to a 1/4 line to restrict the flow. The water is sent to my garden to water the plants. This works ok and actually cools the air a couple degrees, but it's not terribly efficient.
I think if I used a cars radiator instead of the hose, it would be much more efficient.
The cold water in the hose actually helps condense the moisture in the air and helps as well.
There are some idea's I have to cool it more...
I think if I get a small pool for the kids, I can use an old well pump to draw water from the pool, and run it through a hose on my roof to cool the roof, and warm the pool. A couple hundred feet spread out over the roof should do a pretty good job.
I also still have the old well pit from before I installed the new well. It's connected to the house and if I dug out the sleeve I could bury one of those 275g containers and run some PVC underground around the house for some geothermal cooling as well. Tie it into the blower in the basement and it should help cool the air. The problem is, I'd have to install a drain into the sump so I could drain condensed water from the lines.
Solar attic fans sound good to but they're expensive.
Anyone have any ideas? Something you are doing that's working?
Here's a link to my cheapness
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=307192
But basically, my AC costs hundreds of dollars to cool my house each month, so I'm trying ways to cool my house for less.
Swamp coolers (evaporative coolers) are great, but my humidity is already high, so they aren't a viable option.
Some things I am trying and are working are:
Fans...
I have them sucking in on the cool side of the house downstairs, and blowing out the windows upstairs. The fans alone keep the house slightly cooler than the outside air.
I open the windows up and draw cooler night air in and then seal up the house and use fans to circulate air until the air inside reaches the air temp outside (usually later in the day).
This has been working for the 90 degree days we've been having, but after a week or so of heat, my house isn't cooling off as much and it's heating up faster.
I've also made my own version of a swamp cooler that works ok. I took a left over piece of garden fence, and weaved a garden hose through it. It hangs outside over a window and I have a fan in the window drawing air in. I run cold water from the well through the hose and reduce it down to a 1/4 line to restrict the flow. The water is sent to my garden to water the plants. This works ok and actually cools the air a couple degrees, but it's not terribly efficient.
I think if I used a cars radiator instead of the hose, it would be much more efficient.
The cold water in the hose actually helps condense the moisture in the air and helps as well.
There are some idea's I have to cool it more...
I think if I get a small pool for the kids, I can use an old well pump to draw water from the pool, and run it through a hose on my roof to cool the roof, and warm the pool. A couple hundred feet spread out over the roof should do a pretty good job.
I also still have the old well pit from before I installed the new well. It's connected to the house and if I dug out the sleeve I could bury one of those 275g containers and run some PVC underground around the house for some geothermal cooling as well. Tie it into the blower in the basement and it should help cool the air. The problem is, I'd have to install a drain into the sump so I could drain condensed water from the lines.
Solar attic fans sound good to but they're expensive.
Anyone have any ideas? Something you are doing that's working?