Summer chillin

[stockdoct]

Illinois can get REALLY hot in the summer, extremely humid, and the sun heats you till 10 pm. Temperatures of 95 degrees with 90% humidity for a month are common. My air conditioner bills in the summer months rival my heating bills for winter.

Any ideas on tips to keep the house cooler, or use less air conditioning without sweating to a hotter room temperature? I've vented my electric dryer outdoors for the summer (we vent it indoors in the winter to reclaim that warm, humid air 12 times a week...) and I've got shades for the southerly and westerly windows to pull down when the sun is burning hot. I've got fans in the house to circulate air and will put smaller fans near common areas.

What things might I look into to keep my house cooler?

 

[Highbeam]

Trees. Plant shade trees outside that will shade your house. Especially on the south side.

 

[DBoon]

If you have an attic, try insulating that to R-50 - run any second layer of insulation perpendicular to the first layer . And make sure you seal the attic hatch up really well, and insulate the hatch too. You want to make sure there is no way for air to move out of the attic into the living space, so seal the hatch well.

Great idea for trees - but could be 15 years to get good shade. American Elms grow pretty fast and love the Illinois climate/soil. You can get disease resistant American Elms through the Elm Research Institute - they sell them in small or quite large sizes. If you plant it near enough to the house, the canopy will nicely shade the roof. Just be prepared to clear leaves off every fall.

Shading the east, south, and west facing walls somehow would help. Again, trees and plantings.

Changing window glass to low E glass (not changing windows, just the glass) IF you have old windows in which the glass can be replaced. Just make sure any new south facing glass has a good solar heat gain coefficient - you don't want to lose the solar gain in the winter. If not architecturally objectionable, add a roof overhang on the south side or awnings over the windows. This could be ugly and/or expensive depending on your house style.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Friends of ours had a huge attic fan and it made a few difference....fan was located in between the 2nd floor and attic.....little loud though

 

[SolarAndWood]

We had a whole house fan in our last house and it was amazing. It was mounted in the ceiling of the second floor and was much more effective than window fans for getting rid of the heat from the day. After the sun goes down, flip it on for a few minutes and you will instantly notice the difference. They are extremely loud and not intended to replace the window fans for continuous use but give them a nice headstart and instantly drop the temperature in the house.

 

[rphurley]

[quote author="stockdoct" date="1236757214"]Illinois can get REALLY hot in the summer, extremely humid, and the sun heats you till 10 pm. Temperatures of 95 degrees with 90% humidity for a month are common. My air conditioner bills in the summer months rival my heating bills for winter.

Sounds like central CT. Makes me wish I was back in Boston again, temperatures and humidity are more moderate.

 

[semipro]

I've used a whole house fan in the 2nd floor ceiling in Texas summers with good results. Not all are that noisy. The larger diameter, belt-drive units are usually the least noisy and some will flow 10K CFM. Just remember to open some windows and hold open the entry doors to rooms with open windows. Its amazing how loudly they close if you don't.

We have larger deciduous trees growing on the south and west sides of our house and I highly recommend that. I estimate that alone lowers our house temps by 10 degrees F.

 

[BrotherBart]

The best thing I ever did in this house for cooling was a powered gable vent fan years ago. Huge difference upstairs when you blow that super heated air out of the attic. The other good move was going to small window units instead of the central air from the heat pump. Downstairs was always freezing while we tried to cool the upstairs. Now two small window units on the back bedroom windows keep it cool up there for pocket change. We are in the 90's all summer and cooling adds thirty to forty dollars a month to my electric bill at the most in a 2,500 sq. ft. house.

When Target was closing out window units this fall I bought three of them for spares for $25 apiece (normally $139). I think that $8,000 heat pump that used $100 a month in electricity to cool the joint is going to stay broken for a few more years.

 

[stockdoct]

Tell me more about the gable fan. Is it one of those monster 6 ft diameter "house fans" or is it small fans in your attic?

I have an A-frame house with a long, rectangular attic. I wonder if I could install 2 small fans --- one to blow outside air into the attic and another to blow it out on the opposite end, with a control switch down in the living area somehow.

 

[d.n.f.]

I have seen solar powered attic fans. Smallish (six inch?) and they only come on when the sun shines. Put em on the gable ends of your roof. Cost around 150 to 200 bucks or they did a few years back.

Excellent for moving hot attic air when there is no wind.

Also no wiring. Ok, there is a wire to the solar panel which you mount on the roof.

 

[newstove]

Try this:

http://www.insulation4less.com/prodex_Ffmf.asp#tech1

installed like so (I am using location #4):

http://www.insulation4less.com/install_attic.asp

I ordered from them (2 48" rolls) and they delivered promptly, and the material looks good (I got the ProDex Total) for the exact reasons you want - to keep the attic cooler in the summer, and keep heat off the roof in the winter to help cut down on any excess melting from underneath.

I won't be able to report on the result until this fall for the cooling effect, and until next spring for the snow melt effect though...

 

[stockdoct]

My house is an A-frame, 35 ft to the peak and I'm not comfortable climbing on the high roof & installing a solar attic fan. But I have looked into them and they're exactly what I'd be looking for to get the ultra-hot air out of my attic. I might have an installer come and do the job, but that would add another $100+ to the cost, I'm sure.

In the meantime, I'm going to try this:
http://www.suncourt.com/Inductors.html

Its a duct-work fan I might be able to slide into the round attic vent from the inside of the house. I also bought:
http://www.suncourt.com/DuctStat.html

So the fan will be off during winter, and I can set the thermostat to turn on whenever the attic temp reaches, say, 100 degrees (the adjustment goes anywhere from 45 - 110 degrees) I'm not sure about the wiring and such, but I'll work on it this week and get back to the board and show if it works. If it doesn't, I'll bring it back to Menards and get my $60 back.

 

[Wet1]

Illinois can get REALLY hot in the summer, extremely humid, and the sun heats you till 10 pm. Temperatures of 95 degrees with 90% humidity for a month are common. My air conditioner bills in the summer months rival my heating bills for winter.

Sounds like central CT. Makes me wish I was back in Boston again, temperatures and humidity are more moderate.

I don't know, I've lived all around in the mid-west and it's down right nasty at times in the summer out there. The air is hot, very moist, and there often doesn't seem to be much in the way of a refreshing breeze. Just breathing can be a chore. Although I'm on the water, CT doesn't seem nearly as bad to me... even inland.

BTW, it would take something pretty damn significant to get me to move back out there :cheese:

 

[Jags]

Use strategically places window shakers. The new ones are surprisingly efficient and pretty quite.

Jeesh, groan when its cold in the winter, groan when its hot in the summer. Sounds like I am at home listening to the GF ;-P