- Category:
Energy Efficiency - Published:
June 20, 2022 - Updated:
August 9, 2024
15 Ways to Cool Down a Room Fast
How to cool down a room fast isn’t always about comfort. Room temperature can have a significant effect on the health and well-being of you, your family and pets. If you have air conditioning, these ways to cool down a room can possibly help you trim your electricity bill in the summer. If you are without air conditioning, they can make your home more comfortable through the hottest hours and days of the year.
1. Close and cover windows during the day or add window insulation
Windows let in the heat during the day. They don’t insulate as well as a wall or roof while allowing the burning rays of the sun inside your rooms. Some 40 percent of the heat building up in your home on hot summer days comes in through windows. Choosing energy-efficient windows with the best possible insulation rating could help. You can also pull black-out
drapes over them when the sun is shining. White or reflective lining in drapes increases their ability to block out heat. Reflective coatings on windows themselves can also minimize heat transfer through the glass.
2. Open windows at night
Windows that are a problem in the day could be a benefit overnight. When the sun goes down, the air outside tends to cool. Opening your windows at night to let that air enter your home is a way to keep your house cool without raising your energy bill. Putting in window fans can amplify the flow of cool night air into your house.
3. Create a cross breeze
If you have windows that are in the shade, you might want to consider opening them during the day. If you can open windows on opposite sides of the room or the house, you can create a cross breeze with air flowing in one side and out the other. A cross breeze keeps hot air from building up inside your house, and the moving air feels cool on the skin.
4. Close doors to any unused rooms
If you have rooms in your house that are not being used, don’t waste energy to cool them. Close the vents in those rooms and then close the door. Your air conditioner will only have to work to keep the spaces you are using cool.
5. Ensure your ceiling fans are turning the right way
If you want to cool a room without A/C, get a ceiling fan. The correct ceiling fan direction for summer is counterclockwise. You want to push air down. You will be able to feel a cooling breeze if you are right under the fan. It is one of the best ways to cool a room, and it does not take much energy.
6. Improve ventilation throughout your home
Using attic fans is a way to cool down a hot room or the entire structure. Heat can rise in the attic and stifle your whole house. Running attic ventilation fans will pull cool air up through your house and is one of the ways to keep an attic cool in the summer. Attics that are properly ventilated can be as much as 30°F (16°C) cooler, making your whole house cooler.
7. Switch to energy-efficient lights
Old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs throw off more energy in heat than they do light. That not only wastes energy, but it also makes an uncomfortably hot room even hotter. One way to cool a hot room is to turn off the lights. Or better – replace hot incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient LED bulbs. Light bulbs with this technology emit 90 percent less heat than incandescent bulbs allowing you to enjoy a bright room without heating it up.
8. Use a dehumidifier to help cool down a room
Humidity makes a hot room feel much hotter. Removing excess humidity may help make your rooms more comfortable and healthier. Warmth and humidity create an ideal breeding ground for mold. You can find energy-efficient dehumidifiers that, along with good ventilation, can help lower humidity in your home.
9. Avoid using heat-producing appliances during the day
Appliances like stoves, ovens, dishwashers and washer/dryers can throw off a significant amount of heat. Try not to use them during the hottest parts of the day. Don’t use heated dry
cycles with your dishwasher. Tumble clothes dry without heat in a dryer or hang them out in the sun. If you can, upgrade to energy-efficient appliances that emit less heat and use them at night when outside temperatures are cooler.
10. Shut off and unplug any electronics when not in use
If you put your hand next to the vent on your computer, gaming console, or television, you’ll feel the hot air that the fan is pushing out. That hot air can build up in a room. One of the ways to cool down a room is to turn these heat-producing devices off. You can unplug appliances to save energy while you are at it because many of these devices keep using power even in the off position.
11. Install a small window A/C unit
Another way to cool down a room fast is to add a small window A/C unit. If you have a room that is hard to keep cool with your central air system or if you don’t have air conditioning and want to cool a room you frequently use, like an office or bedroom, a small window A/C can do the trick. Look for an energy-efficient air conditioner, install it in a window that is mostly in the shade and keep the air filter clean.
12. Use exhaust fans for particularly hot areas of your home
Some rooms are hotter and more humid than others. Adding a fan to ventilate your kitchen or bathroom can push that air out of your home. You’ll stay cooler if you don’t have A/C and if you do, your air conditioning system likely won’t have to work so hard.
13. Consider installing a whole-house fan
Installing an energy-efficient whole-house fan is an alternative to an A/C system or can be used along with your existing A/C. Moving hot air out of your home will make you much more comfortable.
14. Add weatherstripping to doors and windows
A well-insulated house will help you keep hot air out and cool air in. One of the biggest culprits for cool air leaks are gaps around windows and doors. You have a choice of types of weatherstripping so that you are using the right product for the right application.
15. Place ice in front of a fan to create a cool breeze
An age-old way to cool down a room is to place a container of ice in front of a fan. The cool air coming from the ice can then be distributed around the room or directly at you, if you position the fan in front of where you’re sitting.
Learn more home energy tips from Constellation
When it comes to ways to cool down a room, you have plenty of energy-efficient options besides an air conditioner. Get more energy-saving tips for summer that will help you and your home stay cool.
