How Do You Keep Your House Cool in Summer’s Hottest Months?
We love the weather in Hawai’i! Some might argue it’s the perfect weather! With the proximity to the ocean and the Equator, it’s always between 65 and 90 degrees here, with hot summer months peaking from June-October.
But, our idyllic weather is not to say we don’t need all of the ways to keep us cool. In this blog post, we’re sharing a whole arsenal of tips and tricks to keep your house cool, from little tips you wouldn’t have thought about, to the more costly, but effective ways.
Fast Ways to Cool Your Home in the Summer
Looking for quick tips to cool your home? Here are our top suggestions to take the edge off the heat that won’t break the bank.
Install a Solar Attic Fan
Attic fans are great in Hawai’i because as you know, heat rises and then if you have an attic, that hot air just sits up there. An attic fan pushes the hot air out, protecting your roof shingles, drying out any condensation/moisture, and lowering the temperature of your home.
It’s worth mentioning that cool roofs do last longer because shingles that are constantly overheated can warp so a solar attic fan helps with that too.
Plus, a solar attic fan means you’re not using any additional electricity to run it. It’s just powered by its own solar panel.
Create a Cross Breeze Through the House to Promote Cool Air
Cross ventilation is a natural way to cool your home, and many people in Hawai’i rely on this methods to lower their cooling bills when they can.
In cross ventilation, cool exterior air is pulled into the home through one open window, and warm air in the home is pushed out through another open window.
Obviously, this method only works if the temperature outside is cooler than the temperature inside, so this method is best to use overnight or in the early morning before it starts to get hot.
Change Your Air Filters for Cooler Air
If you do have air conditioning in your home, changing your air filters regularly is key to helping air conditioners run optimally. If you’re not sure when the last time you changed your air filter was, go do it right now!
Smart thermostats are good at reminding you to change your AC filters regularly. But if you don’t have a smart thermostat, just set a reminder on your phone! Changing your AC filters also helps with energy costs and improves air quality.
Make Sure Ceiling Fans are Rotating Counter-Clockwise
Did you know a ceiling fan goes both clockwise and counter-clockwise? In the warmer months—or likely year-round in Hawai’i—make sure your fan is going counter-clockwise to prevent hot air from getting stuck up towards your ceiling. It also helps with air flow.
Tips to Cool Your Home You May Not Have Thought About
These are our tips that are going to be a bit more random, and maybe even on the edge of wives tales. But, if you’re desperate to get cool, they might be worth a try!
Avoid Cooking Inside
If you’re using the oven or even the stovetop, heat from those kitchen appliances makes a difference in the home to be sure. Cooking outside on the grill in the hottest part of the summer can definitely help with the comfort level in the kitchen, and beyond.
Try cooking your meat outside on the grill and stick to meals that don’t require the oven, stove, or microwave like salads, sandwiches, tacos or wraps, and raw recipes.
Make Use of Exhaust Fans to Push Out Hot Air
If you do need to cook inside, make sure to use the exhaust fan on your cooktop. Exhaust fans pull the hot air away from your cooktop and vent it outside so it doesn’t just sit there in your kitchen. Check that your exhaust fan vents to the outside of the home, not to the attic, crawlspace, or another area of the home.
Running bathroom exhaust fans can also help remove hot air from the home and keep the house cool. Since heat rises, especially running upstairs bathroom fans can help vent warm air outside.
Again, just make sure the bathroom fan isn’t venting into the attic. This is something that can sometimes happen if you had incompetent builders (or DIYers that didn’t know better.)
Put a Bucket of Ice in Front of a Fan
Okay, this might sound like a wives tale but reputable sources say it works, so you might want to give it a try. And, it uses the same science as evaporative cooling, so while it definitely wouldn’t be effective for keeping your whole house cool, it might work to keep you cool at your desk or bedside.
All you need to do is place a bucket of ice in front of a fan. As the ice evaporates, the cool air will blow across the room.
Another variation of this trick is to freeze an empty bottle like a liter plastic bottle or a plastic water bottle and then cover it with a damp rag. Place that in front of a fan, and you have another method of evaporative cooling.
This hack could help keep you cool in the summer, especially in a smaller space.
Change Out the Sheets on Your Bed
This can’t cool your whole home but it can make you feel cooler when you crawl in bed at night. Flannel and jersey sheets are cozier which can be so nice, but not if you’re sweating through them. Lightweight sheets that are more breathable are much better for hot sleepers.
If you’re a hot sleeper, or to keep you cool in the summer, make sure you’re using linen, bamboo, or cotton sheets to reduce your body temperature.
Summer House Cooling Tips That Make the Most Difference
These tips are the ones that are going to require the biggest investment, but they’re going to make the most difference. Consider investing in these upgrades over time to keep your house cool, reduce your environmental footprint, and to increase the value of your home too!
Plant Shade Outside Your Home
A lot of the heat that enters your home can be blocked by some strategically placed shade trees. We know this is a long play to be sure, but shade trees around your home provide a protective canopy from the sun’s heat, helping to keep your home stay cool.
Make sure to pick trees that are native to Hawai’i that are going to thrive without a lot of extra support from you. Hawai’i is actually actively trying to get citizens to plant more trees and to increase the urban canopy to help keep the island cooler and reduce greenhouse gases.
Visit https://www.righttreehawaii.com/ to learn which trees will grow to the right height so that they block the sun’s rays. The site is great about letting you know the height and the spread so you can plan accordingly.
Install Solar Panels
If you have an air conditioner, you still might be hesitant to use it, especially if you’ve been anxious about your ever-increasing energy bills. Get rid of any guilt of running the air conditioner by purchasing solar panels.
Yes, solar panels are an invest. But the incredible news is, almost instantly you’ll be saving money compared to your current energy bill. If you end up financing your solar panels, our clients always see that their financing payment is lower than their previous utility.
And, with the incredible Hawai’i solar tax credit of 35% and the federal solar tax credit of 30%, you’ll get 65% of your investment back in a tax credit the following year.
With solar panels, you can run your air conditioner all the time and not think twice about it. Keep your house cool without guilt, knowing that you’re using clean energy.
Solar Air conditioning
If you’re not ready to go all on on solar, you can always consider a solar air conditioner. Instead of installing solar panels for all of your electricity needs, solar air conditioning is a stand alone product that simply powers the air conditioner with solar.
It’s great for homes that do not have solar panels but are looking to reduce their electric bill. Certainly here in Hawai’i, a good portion of your electric bill is coming from cooling your home with AC, so eliminating that line item makes a big difference.
Install Insulation
Insulation is a sometimes overlooked feature of a home that can have a huge impact in keeping a home cool. You might just assume that when your home was built, builders followed best practices for using insulation. But they might not have, or perhaps building code at that time didn’t require it in a way that would be most effective.
What can you do about it now without tearing out your walls?
- Add insulation to your garage or unfinished basements where you can still access the framing. Use the typical fiberglass insulation or opt for rigid foam, spray foam, or cellulose. Don’t forget the garage door too!
- Add insulation to your attic. Use any of the aforementioned methods, depending on your comfort level being up in your attic. Or hire it out!
Install Energy Efficient Windows
Windows are another feature of a home that are expensive to update, but it sure is worth it when you do it. Replacing your windows with energy efficient windows can save anywhere from $100-$600 per year according to the EPA.
While it might take a while to see a full return on investment, you’ll also be able to keep your home cooler for less money and increase the value of your home.
Call Family First Solar for a Free Home Energy Audit
There you have it, the simple, the silly, and the more involved but worth-it ways to cool your home and stay comfortable in the Hawai’i heat.
If you’re wanting to stay comfortable year-round without dealing with buckets of ice or insane energy bills, call Family First Solar for a free energy audit. We will let you know where your vulnerabilities are and how we can help! Give us a call today at (808) 724-4072.
