United Kingdom

UK folks I’m here to help, growing up poor in the American south has left me with a specific set of skills and knowledge.

I know a bunch of yalls houses if not most of em don’t have central A/C if even a window unit. I’ve been to your country in the summer and know it’s humid as hell. You’re gonna need a box fan, some ice, a bucket, and a drill with a hole boring drill bit. Bore four holes in the sides of the bucket, dump in the ice and then secure the box fan to the top, we always used duct tape. That’ll cool shit off pretty well until the ice melts at least for the room you’re currently in. Filling up any sinks with ice can help too if there’s no airflow to the bathroom.

It ain’t perfect but it’s better than nothing. Just a tip from your friendly neighborhood hillbilly!

And yet net zero has been pushed back and scaled down repeatedly 🫠

Plenty of water.

Use your windows to create wind tunnels.

Put something up against the windows if there’s no breeze to stop the sun beaming in.

Watermelon is cheap at the mo.

Take cold showers in the middle of the day.

Freeze a few small ziplock bags of water. Wrap a dry flannel around them and put them on the back of your neck, your feet etc.

Just abandon the inland areas of the country at this point. I live by the sea and the expected 30c sounds bad enough.

Ah a nice summer temperature.

Some advice.

Firstly, the night before, get as much of the heat out of your home as you can, for as long as you can. Bricks have a lot of thermal mass. They take a while to cool down, but also to heat back up. If you can, open an upper most window, and a lower window or door. It creates a chimney effect that pulls the hot air up and out.

Once the temperature starts to rise, close up your home! You want to keep the hot air out, and the cool air in.

I would also recommend getting some super foil insulation. It's like a stiff, metallic bubble wrap. Put it in your sun facing windows and it will keep the heat out amazingly. I brought some suction cups with a wing nut on the other side. They make mounting and removing it a lot easier.

Lastly, lower the humidity. The humidity turns warm into brain melting. It stops your sweat from being as effective. Don't use an electric dehumidifier, since they put out heat. The single use ones are more effective. At least for a small room. The lower humidity will make it a lot more comfortable.

For comparison, working in the middle east, I could keep working through a 45°C mid day. In the UK I start to have issues closer to 25°C. The main difference was humidity.

These bits can also help make a portable Aircon unit a LOT more effective. During the 40°C+ heatwave the other year, I needed it for only 1 hour in the afternoon to keep the temperature comfortable for me and my dog.