May 11, 2016 / By: Karen Engel

7 ways to keep your apartment cool on hot summer days

Apartment Tips, Tenant Tips, Apartment Rentals, Rental Properties
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  • Try a heat snorkeling system.

Point a fan into a square of four cups filled with ice water and ice cubes. The cooler air in the cups has nowhere to go but out. Each night, refreeze the cubes and open the windows.

  • Open the windows at night and close them during the day.

Open windows at night so that cooler night air is blowing in throughout your apartment in the evening and night. Leaving all interior doors open for circulation. Close the windows and blinds and curtains as soon as the sunlight hits your suite.

  • Use a combination of fans to create good air circulation.

Blow hot air out by positioning a powerful exhaust fan near a window – but not so close that rain could damage the fan motor. Also, use oscillating fans placed near other windows to blow in fresh, cooler air. Use this fan combo only when outside temperatures are cooler than the inside of your apartment. This tends to be during the night or on overcast days.

  • Make a do-it-yourself air conditioner.

Put a metal bowl of salted ice in front of a fan, and adjust the fan so that the air is blowing over the ice. Or, use one or more 2 liter bottles and fill them mostly full of water (70%) and rock salt (10%). Leave 20% of the volume empty for expansion. The salt lowers the temperature at which the water freezes, allowing you to make the ice super cold. Freeze the liquid in the bottles, then place them in a large bowl (to catch dripping condensation). Position a fan to blow on them. As the salty ice in the bottles melts, the air around them cools and the fan will blow that air at you. The water and salt in the bottles can be refrozen every night and used repeatedly.

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  • Turn off all heat sources and BBQ or eat cold Foods.

Incandescent light bulbs also give off heat. Switch to compact fluorescents or LEDs. Turn off your lamps and your computer when you're not using them. You should also turn off your TV since it gives off a lot of heat and turn the power off of non-essential plug-in power adapters (transformers).

  • Avoid steam.

Don't take a hot shower, wash dishes, wash clothes or cook until after dark. Make sure your pot lids are tight-fitting if you do cook on the stove, and make sure your washer and dishwasher are in good shape and have no breaks or rips in the seals.

  • Put smooth white fabrics over anything in your house that is fuzzy.

For example, you could cover corduroy pillows with white satin pillowcases for summer, put linen slipcovers over wool sofas, or even just throw white sheets over furniture. Light-colored fabric will reflect heat instead of absorbing it, and the smooth texture will give you the look and feel of coolness.

Mainstreet Equity Corp. is a publicly-traded (TSX: MEQ) residential real estate company in Canada. Mainstreet currently owns and operates properties in Surrey, BC; New Westminster, BC; Abbotsford, BC; Calgary, AB; Cochrane, AB; Lethbridge, AB; Edmonton, AB; Fort Saskatchewan, AB; and Saskatoon, SK.

Mainstreet provides affordable, renovated apartment suites to Canadians, and is committed to creating real value without diluting shareholder interests.