Staying Cool Without Power: 18 Things That Work

It is difficult to overstate just how critical air conditioning is to Western civilization at this point. Don’t believe me? Just try going without it during summer in Arkansas or Texas!

Oppressive heat will not only make you miserable, but it can actually be dangerous too! Each year, countless people are affected by heat exhaustion and heat stroke, and many of them die.

But life must go on, and it must still go on without air conditioning. Whether you’re dealing with a blackout or living on an off-grid property where air conditioning just isn’t in your energy budget, there are still ways to keep cool during the hottest parts of the year.

Keep reading and I’ll tell you about 18 tried, true and tested tricks to keep your cool…

Seal Up Your Home

This is critical to maximizing whatever cool air you can keep in your home if you don’t have AC. You want to make sure that all of the cracks, gaps and drafts in your home are absolutely dealt with by any means necessary.

As the day starts to heat up, the air temperature outside should rise much quicker than the air in your home.

But, if that hot air can get in at every window and door, your home will be nearly as hot as the outdoors. Grab your weather strips, caulking gun, tape, and anything else you need to shut down those drafts!

Close Windows and Blinds

This one should be obvious, but it bears repeating. You want to keep direct sunlight from warming up the interior of your home. Make sure your windows are shut when the day starts to get hot, and close the blinds or pull the drapes as needed to keep that light out.

Pay particular attention to any windows that are south facing (in the northern hemisphere) or large windows that have a higher value when it concerns how much sunlight they are letting in. If you do need to leave windows uncovered, make sure they are ones that aren’t getting direct sunlight.

Close Off the Hottest Rooms

This tip handily dovetails with the previous one: if you have any room in your house that is notoriously hot, for any reason, you want to seal it up tightly inside your home so that the heat in there does not leak out into the rest of the cooler interior.

Generally, all you’ll need to do is close the door and, if needed, fit a draft stopper to the bottom of the door itself. If the door is not snug in its frame, consider using blankets to block those drafts. You’ll notice a difference, trust me!

Apply Reflective Window Films

One of the single best things you can do if you live in a hot locale or any place that gets a ton of UV is to apply reflective film to the outside of your windows. This is a bit of a project, concerning the prep of the windows and the actual application, but totally doable for even an amateur DIYer.

These reflective films will bounce sunlight off of the windows, preventing it from heating up the interior of your house.

Note that this makes a difference even if you have blinds or drapes because that heat will still heat up the blinds and drapes themselves, slowly radiating that to the interior. These window films are worth their weight in gold if you have little shade and don’t have AC!

Make the Most of Shade

Maximize any shade that you can around your home. Let your trees grow a little fuller. Let bushes get a little taller to help block windows. Position plants inside and outside of your home to provide shade for people and rooms.

Anything you can do on this front, no matter how seemingly minor, will make a difference, and planting trees around your home strategically can pay dividends in the future as they eventually grow tall enough to provide significant shade to your entire house.

Adjust Fans as Needed

Basic floor fans, and other fans, are some of your best weapons for keeping cool when you don’t have AC. But you need to make sure you set them properly to maximize their efficacy during hot weather.

For floor fans, make sure you have them set up to blow cooler air into your home when temperatures are low early in the morning and late in the evening or at night. Adjust your ceiling fans to pull hot air up and away from the floor.

If you’re lucky enough to have a whole house fan, sometimes called a garage fan, turn it on occasionally to purge stifling hot air from the inside of your home.

Remember that when you can pull or blow cool air into your home, you should. When it’s hot outside, close up your house and use your fans to keep air moving over occupants to help cool them.

Maximize Cool Flooring Materials

Remember that cool air sinks, while hot air rises, and also keep in mind that materials with higher thermal density will stay much cooler if they are protected from direct sunlight.

If you have stone, tile, concrete or brick floors they should be noticeably cool compared to other surfaces in your house even as things start to heat up.

Protect these surfaces from sunlight coming in through the windows by any means, and once the sun is passed, remove rugs or any other coverings so that their coolness will help offset heat in the room.

Hang Out in the Coolest Room of Your House

Remember when I mentioned up above that the hottest rooms in your house should be closed off and sealed up? You should do the opposite with the coolest room in your house…

If you have any room that’s noticeably cool, make that the area where you hang out most of the time and you will stay much cooler!

This might be a shaded room on the northern side of a house, or could just be your basement. Whatever it takes, set up the space to make it a little more livable for whatever it is that you do.

This little bit of extra work can make your waking hours in your home a heck of a lot more comfortable.

Shutoff Unneeded Electronics and Appliances

I know a lot of folks that are guilty of this one, and I am certainly the chief offender! Any electronics, no matter what they are should be shut off, unplugged if necessary, if they aren’t being used.

Typical incandescent light bulbs are one of the worst offenders, so turn those lights off when you don’t need them to see.

This is because even on standby power many of our modern devices generate considerable heat:, monitors and TVs, computer towers, power supplies for game consoles, and a lot more. Deprived of power, they won’t radiate any heat into the room at all.

Having several high-consumption devices in the same room can dramatically raise the temperature; unplug these devices and you’ll see!

Hang Damp Sheets or Moisten Curtains

If you’re desperate to cool down a room, or at least for you to feel a little bit colder, consider hanging up a thin sheet that you’ve wetted down and then wrung out so it is still just damp to the touch. You can do the same thing with curtains if you need to.

As air moves over and through the damp cloth, it will be cooled by the water. In conjunction with the moving air from a fan or a cool late evening breeze, this could produce sweet relief for the occupants of your home!

This trick has been used since antiquity by various cultures around the world living in the hottest climates.

Dress Appropriately

Another obvious tip, but one that bears repeating. You want to dress appropriately for the conditions, whether you are in your home or not.

Wear light, breezy, gauzy fabrics made of cotton or linen, and if you aren’t in direct sunlight wear shorts and short sleeves. Light colors are, as always, best because they absorb less heat, especially from direct sunlight.

If you are outdoors, wear a hat to protect your head and neck from direct sunlight and consider wearing longer clothing that is still light in order to spare your skin.

Wear Damp Headbands or Neckerchiefs

A great way to help yourself keep cool whether you are indoors or out during a serious heat wave is to tie a dampened headband around your forehead or around your neck as a neckerchief.

Especially if it can be done with cool water, this will help you feel dramatically better, and will help to rapidly cool your body safely even if you are on the go. It doesn’t need to be dripping wet, but you want it to be noticeably damp and moist.

Wring it out and re-wet it to recharge occasionally and you’ll stay nice and cool.

Stay Hydrated

Another elementary tip and one that is all too easily forgotten under the circumstances: Make sure you are staying hydrated! Most people simply don’t in conditions of high heat, even when they’re hanging out in their own home.

Yes, you might be miserable sitting there but, since you aren’t doing anything, it’s easy to forget how much you are actually perspiring over time.

Eventually, you’ll realize that you are indeed seriously thirsty, and by then it is already too late because you’re significantly dehydrated right then.

You should be drinking plenty of water and other healthy things for hydration throughout the day. Try to avoid alcohol and caffeine because these are diuretics that will make you feel hotter and will only dehydrate you faster.

If you’ve got a favorite smoothie or other icy drink, now’s the time to make it…

Do the Hard Stuff During the Cool Times

Now, it doesn’t matter what happened, chances are there are still things you have got to get done in your life.

Whether it is work around the homestead, cleanup efforts in the aftermath of a disaster or just your daily workout. I understand that, but you definitely don’t want to be doing this stuff during the heat of the day!

Time to change your schedule so that you can take care of the most intense and exhausting tasks either very early in the morning before the day starts to heat up, or very late at night after things have cooled down.

This will spare you a ton of suffering, and you’ll notice you’ll have more energy than you would otherwise. Don’t underestimate how sapped you can feel doing something hard during the hottest part of the day.

Cook Outside if You Can

One of the very worst things you can do if you’re trying to keep your house cool without AC is to keep the oven or stove top blazing away.

It’s hard to estimate just how much heat this is going to pump out in your house, but suffice it to say that it can make all of your other efforts for naught.

If you have to cook, do it outside. Fire up the solar oven, charcoal or gas grill, camp cooker, or even just cast iron over a cooking fire. Just keep it away from your house and you’ll be glad you suffered a little bit outside versus making your entire house miserably hot!

Eat a “Cold Supper”

You don’t have to do all of your meal prep outside during the hot times without AC. If you want to eat inside normally, lean more on eating “cold supper.”

Cold supper is a term that generally refers to a meal comprised of foods that are, you guessed it, cool or cold. This could be sandwiches made with cold cuts from the fridge and nice, cool veggies. Pasta salads, fruit and veggie slices, cold dips, cold drinks, cold everything!

This is a nice one-two punch because not only does it avoid the necessity of cooking inside, but these foods will actually help you feel cooler after you eat them. This is something of a summer tradition for my family even when we have the AC on, and one that we really enjoy…

Take a Cooling Dip in the Pool or Bath

If you’re just unbearably hot, or in need of refreshment, get in the water! A dip in a cool pool, a nice chilled tub, a shady pond or even a cold shower is going to do wonders for how you feel physically and mentally.

Plus, you can pop out feeling at least nominally cleaner, always a great thing when you’re starting to get crusty with salt from your sweat. Keep in mind that your body is much more effective at cooling itself when it is clean, too!

Plan “AC Activities” During the Heat of the Day

When all else fails, cheat! When I say cheat, I mean plan activities and errands that you need to do for the hottest part of the day if you can travel by car and if those errands involve being in air conditioned places.

Trip to the grocery store? Definitely. Taking the kids to see a movie at the theater? 100%, those places are always freezers. That way you can be away from your home which might be stifling and unbearable.