Forum Topic

Phew, what a scorcher!

The temperature is 34C outside now.JimL.

Jim Linwood ● 20d8 Comments

Your second paragraph is very pertinent!

Nicholas Beard ● 4d

I heard someone on the radio explaining how he had temporarily put white bamboo blinds on the outside of his listed house's windows which still allowed seeing out of the windows but kept the sun off the window glass - and how this had greatly reduced the heat entering the home.

Philippa Bond ● 5d

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2003/aug/06/highereducation.uk1Above is Imperial College's take on how to use sash windows to keep cool.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpw7gp2ky70oAbove is a BBC page on airflow (when you don't have sashes) but many of the same suggestions.Also there is a link to readers tips on the BBC page.Cold hot water bottles are good. I personally can't sleep with hot feet and find fitted carpets and fleecy slippers horribly hot and uncomfortable now and standing for a while on cold tiles and lino a welcome relief!Cooling your wrists and face with cold water helps.

Philippa Bond ● 5d

Although we have been told to keep our windows closed and blinds down/curtains closed to keep the heat out, it is noticeable that many people don't seem to either bother or don't know how to keep their homes and themselves cool without needing to reach for an electric switch.Many more houses in the UK used to have awnings or outside blinds and you will see the boxes for these still on some  houses and a few shops still have awnings.Ideally we need to keep glass cool so that it doesn't heat up and then radiate heat into the rooms.There have also been studies by various universities on how best to use your sash windows - which many of us in Victorian and Georgian homes have.Basically we find that just opening the top and the bottom a very little allows the hot air to flow out of the top and the cool air to flow in at the bottom.https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/flow/article/fluid-mechanics-of-sash-windows/EC7380FD22C9399A3E2679B52E419E8AYes, it would be great if we did still have shutters or awnings!And wearing looser clothing in natural fibres makes a great difference.I also heard a radio presenter wondering if he should change the tog in his duvet - why on earth is he sleeping under a duvet in this weather?  Cool your bedroom before you go to bed and not while in bed!  Windows left safely open with locks if you can and just a sheet if anything can be enough!

Philippa Bond ● 5d

It's definitely getting hotter more frequently. The climate change deniers have a lot to answer for. Our place gets sun all day but we have a/c in 2 bedrooms (great on hot nights) and used fans to transport cool air to our lower living area, which faces South but never went above 28C. Our little grandchildren's school was closed on the worst days and we ended up as a climate change refuge for them and our daughter. One measure that proved very cheap and effective was to hand shiny mylar aluminium-faced sheets inside our S facing windows, just tucked over the top of the top sash. Also great on a glass patio door that gets late afternoon sun.They reflect over 90% of the sun's heat through double glazing straight back. Just look for "emergency foil blankets" - they are incredibly cheap, light and easy to deploy. One friend was considering permanent sunblock sheets inside her windows but I pointed up that for much of the year the heat from the sun is welcome and her flat would get cold or expensive to heat without it.

Eric Baker ● 15d

We should look at other countries who have a lot more warm weather than we do and who also have such things as outside blinds and shutters, which all help to keep a house cool. Much more difficult for people in flats - heat rises and so many have a lot of glass, must be like a greenhouse in some of them.

Vanessa Smith ● 16d

Not sure what it is in my make up, but I really enjoy this heat. I'm a bit alarmed by all these calls for airconditioning to be installed in new buildings. Although it is useful for the handful of days that temperatures get really hot and I appreciate these are likely to happen more often, if it becomes widely used in this country, like elsewhere it will be left on by default, driving up energy usage.I walked along a residential street this morning where the houses were south facing. Only about half had closed shutters, blinds and curtains. We should think first about behavioural change as the way to manage more extreme weather.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 17d

We were in Australia earlier this year when we had temperatures of 43C, yes it was hot - but what we didn't get was the humidity that we have, also everywhere has air conditioning!

Vanessa Smith ● 20d