Took this technique I learned in prison to make it bearable during the heatwave:
- Wet the window with a sponge or rag.
- Put aluminium foil up against it. Shiny side out. Cut beforehand on angled windows like that or use the roll on vertical surfaces.
- To cover the overlap, just wet the foil already on there, but be careful not to pull it off at the edge. An overlapping strip will stick to the other ones.
- Use masking tape to cover any overlapping edges that come away, as well as the edges that have a hard time connecting to the windowsill.
This keeps out an incredible amount of heat; you can feel how hot the foil itself gets during the day, while keeping the inside nice and cool.
If it won’t stick. Mix cornstarch and water to make a water soluble glue.
Old farmer’s trick. If you’re out and about and need to cool off fast, pour some water on your left forearm. Keeps your clothes dry (which is important) and you get a lot of bloodflow to your arms so the water there makes a more effective radiator. Left arm because it’s closer to the heart, I’m told works better. If you have plenty of water to spare, wet both forearms.
https://www.ecofoil.com/collections/bubble-foil-insulation
Just one brand, there are more than this, but basically… NASA invented fancy-pants aluminum bubble foil, literally to protect astronauts and equipment from 100% unadulterated sunshine.
https://spinoff.nasa.gov/node/9314
It is stupidly cheap for how well it works.
They basically open sourced the patent, but, the industry that makes insulation stuffing for your attic is extremely not fond of this stuff, as… you basically only need 10% of their product, if you line the inside of your attic with radiantbarrier.
I got like a 10’ x 4’ sheet of it, put it between the two panes of my south facing window. Definitely works, makes the AC’s job significantly easier.
If you look into building codes in North America, you’ll find out that they were almost all decided by industry board rooms with no public engagement. You don’t need a conspiracy to make every cheap and sturdy form of construction illegal, when the people that wrote the regulations were literally owners of Portland Concrete, several timber companies, and several “insulation” companies. You don’t need a conspiracy when a group of rich people just acted in their own self interests.
We should be able to build adobe style homes that require almost nothing in the way of sellable construction materials, along with attached root cellars, and ice cellars. That would bring the cost of the average home down to $10,000-20,000, while eliminating the need for HVAC systems, as well as a refrigerator and freezer. Both of which have to use energy to function less well for food than engineering technologies that are hundreds of years old. A fridge can’t keep an apple or orange at peak freshness for 6 months. A properly packed root cellar can, even in summer months. A freezer will create freezer burn eventually. A proper ice cellar won’t, even during the dead of winter.
And, if you actually do this, you can poke a small hole in the foil and create a camera obscura!
I had Venetian blinds in the windows growing up and every morning at just the right time the light would hit the string holes and make cameras obscura. So it faced eastish.
there is UV absorbant window foil that you stick to the outside of your window and it heats up the inside a couple degrees less
I got “one way” reflective film for the window that gets the most sun exposure and it definitely makes a difference, ones provides privacy during the day while still letting me see outside
Fuck me, that’s such a good solution.
My flat has all windows facing west-southwest, and I live on the top floor under the roof. I’ve had 30 degrees inside when it’s been 24 outside today. Tomorrow’s going to go up to 29. I’m going to boil in here.
The downside is obviously you get zero natural light. And your neighbors might think you’re weird, but they’re roasting while you’re not so fuck em.
You could probably tape the foil to a piece of cardboard cut to size and that would make it easy to remove once the sun isn’t shining straight at your window and put it back before morning. I don’t know if the cardboard would affect it, however.
I’d use a piece of insulation foam board, cut to fit the window. Lighter than something like plywood, way more insulating, and can be easily squished into place once it is cut to size. Just hole the board up to the window, mark where your cuts need to be made, line one side with shiny foil, tape it along the back, and you’re done. Now you have an insulating reflective panel that can easily be popped in during the daytime heat, then pulled out at night.
You might also try a “swamp cooler” to cool down with:
Grab a bucket and a fan, and pour ice water into the bucket. Put the fan on behind the bucket and sit in the cool breeze it makes. It’s like having your own little a/c unit.
The one downside to this is that the evaporating water will eventually make the air humid and make it harder for your sweat to cool you down, but it works great in the short term.
Swamp coolers unfortunately only work in arid places. Where I live, it is often too humid for a swamp cooler to effectively cool anything.
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Ignore me, didn’t see the description until it was too late lol
Bro I gotta ask… You don’t live in Sweden by any chance?
There’s also massive heatwaves in the Netherlands and Germany, there might be more that I don’t know about
e: in France, Italy and Britain also. Not in eastern Europe yet, at least not where I am currently
If they lived in Sweden they’d have AC in prison.
I do not. Wish I did; I like Sweden.
It’s not that great for what it’s worth.
Why do you say it’s not that great?
Like, I get why people say statesia is a bit terrifying, but I love my town. Been working on making it a better place (successfully, we have the best park in the California according to this one park dude I know) (okay it’s me I’m the this one park dude I know but I am really proud of our parks)
Agreed, but you do have cheap bacon and beer. Which makes up for a lot.
Put aluminum foil on the OUTSIDE of Velux windows.
My friend’s parents were velux installers the amount of windows they had to fixed that were burst or cracked because of people putting aluminum foil on the inside instead of the outside is staggering. The heat gets trapped in a very small pocket with the very heat conductive aluminum, the thermal shock can crack it.
Breaking the windows might be a nice little side effect when you are doing time.
Velux windows are a (brand of) type of window installed in a sloped roof. Why would they be different than other windows?
I think these kinds of windows are often called Velux even if they are from other brands, just one of those brandnames that got synonymous with the product itself.
I’ve always been told never to put anything on the inside of multi-pane windows that can cause thermal shock.
I’ve heard “velux” applied generically to windows in a sloped roof, not just to ordinary double glazing.
Yes same. But I’ve heard the advice applied to both.
I’m so confuse. Foil the outside,
velcrohook and loop on the inside?
I imagine this applies to other windows as well, as long as it’s normal glass.
Seems like personal experience from their comment
I got 3 inch foam board from lowes and cut it fit my west facing windows.
I didn’t know lowes sold that sort of thing! ;)
Upside down Lowe’s does not.
But if you want some sweet slacks and dacks, they’ve got you covered… AT LOWES
What about West Texas Lowes?
small trick: put it on the outside.
Most modern window glass heats up as it filters out UV and a few other light bands. My previous flat had windows that would go as high as 95C!
All that heat WILL radiate inwards and through the foil.
if you out the foil outside, you prevent that heat buildup and radiation.
You can also buy cheapo reflective film you can install on your windows permanently, for the same effect.
Would if I could get on the roof!
My boi still in prison 😞
Is it not a “flipable” window? Like, can’t you flip the window for cleaning etc?
Not far enough
I use emegency blankets. They also work and are more robust than aluminum foil. They are also cheap.
Everything reflecting shoud be attached outside the window, since the reflected heat can result in shattering the window glass.
I use emegency blankets. They also work and are more robust than aluminum foil. They are also cheap.
We did that during my military service in the shitty barracks we had. In the summer silverside pointing outwards to reflect the sun, in the winter silver side pointing inside to keep more warmth inside.
True but I found it easier to do it on the inside in this case.
When you have your windows replaced, they will most likely do it from the outside.
“that’s good advice. but work”
The sun is putting out roughly 1kW/m^2, so for every square meter of your roof you cover, you’re keeping out 1kW of heat (obviously not strict math here). You can decide if you are more concerned about looking crazy or suffering in heat. Emergency blankets, space blankets, mylar(they’re actually polyester) blankets, are cheap.
Why is this a shitpost? For lack of anything else, this works.
Post anywhere if it works. People need to know how to survive heatwaves.
Honestly didn"t know where to post and figured this would work well enough.
hey I think it’s fine here. but in the future it could go on one of these:
Diamond in the shit
Go ahead and crosspost
Could also cross post it too for visibility
I use this product on all the windows in the summer and winter. It insulates a bit and also reflects back.
The one thing better than inside is to have something on the outside, but that’s not possible for me, because it gets really windy here.
