Beat the heat before it beats you
If your home gets too hot in a heatwave, consider how you might adopt some of these strategies either in the short term or when next upgrading the fabric of the building:
- Shade the windows – external shading is best, before the heat and light (which becomes heat) hits the glass. If south facing, add. an awning that you can open out to keep the bright sunshine off the windows. Or plant a deciduous tree (one that loses its leaves in winter., so gives shade without blocking too much light. Silver birch is great for this.
- Upgrade the windows to have external shading – these inward opening glazed units from Internorm are fab, they have Venetian blinds OUTSIDE the triple (or double) glazing with a protective 4th pane outside that. In this south facing room it’s 29deg.C outside and 25 inside, so giving great protection.
- Improve the insulation of the room. Insulation does double duty – it keeps heat in in winter, and keeps it out in summer a retrofit plan for your home will tell you exactly how to sort this out and how much you could save.
- Some people can make their air source heat pump run backwards – cooling not heating. Here’s what Alan Clarke says about this:
- And lastly – if desperate – a cold wet towel – round the neck or over your head works wonders – especially with a fan. Evaporating water consumes energy so that’s your heat problem dealt with for a minute or two!