Jennifer Sheahan: How to cool your home this summer
A bulky air-conditioning unit would be unsightly in Jennifer's small bedroom. Picture: Nolan Moya Nolan
I am, like the rest of the country, keeping everything crossed for a glorious Irish summer. We’re owed one, and there is truly nowhere better than Ireland on a sunny day. What I am slightly apprehensive about, should my wish come true, are sunny days followed by meltingly hot sleepless nights. My main bedroom is in a dormer extension, and my builder did a great job of insulating my home, so I’m very lucky to be cosy with low heating bills. But on a hot day, it is a sauna.
My bedroom has a large south-west-facing window, which is wonderful for afternoon and evening sun. Too wonderful. I do keep shades closed and have fans going on sunny days, but it’s not always enough.
So I need to find a way to cool it down during those warm nights that are hopefully coming our way. And with summer just around the corner, I need to get this done soon. Ireland is not a nation of air-conditioned homes — cooling ourselves down is not normally something we need to worry about.
The issue I’m facing is infrequent. So I don’t want to invest a lot of money or make drastic design changes to my home to accommodate a bulky, expensive unit that I’ll only use a few times a year. I’ve been exploring options, and here is what I have found in my research so far, which may be helpful for you if you also need to cool your home down this summer. I haven’t made any final decisions yet, so I welcome reader suggestions if you are a home cooling pro!
Starting with the big guns, I could have an air-conditioning unit installed. This would certainly cool my little bedroom — and probably my entire tiny house — right down. The effectiveness is attractive, but there are a few issues for me with going this route. The first is aesthetic. Fixed air conditioning units comprise an indoor unit and an outdoor compressor, which I would have to install somewhere along the side of my dormer external wall.
All of the interior units I have seen are bulky and, frankly, ugly. The exterior units can be noisy, and I’m a considerate neighbour so I don’t fancy going down that road. I would need to duct through the external wall, though luckily I already have an air vent in my bedroom, so this could probably be repurposed. I don’t love the environmental impact of coolants used by air conditioning units, though I have been told there are eco-friendly refrigerants available. Overall, I don’t see myself choosing this option.
Did you know that many heat pumps can also cool your home? Heat pumps transfer heat, usually from the outside (air, water, or ground) to the inside, but newer models can also do the reverse and transfer heat from inside your home to the outside. This is a much more environmentally friendly way of doing things, as no heat is generated and no coolants are required. This is an option I am seriously considering. While my gas bills are generally not too high, having a system that would not only cool me down in summer but also keep me warm for the rest of the year is attractive, with the huge bonus of it being more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.
There are two downsides. The first is cost — having a whole new heating system installed is not going to be cheap, grants or no grants. The second is space. Heat pumps require an outdoor unit approximately the size of a small suitcase, and while that’s not very big, I have no outdoor space available. My cottage and my garden are tiny. I would need a creative installer to find a suitable spot for the unit. Budget and space permitting, this would be my preferred option.
Portable air conditioning units work by drawing in warm air, cooling it with refrigerant, and expelling the hot air through an exhaust hose out a window — no outdoor compressor required. This isn’t a bad option, and several suppliers around Ireland provide these units for rent, which is a great idea for summer days, though be sure to reserve well in advance. These units can be noisy, though I don’t personally mind white noise. However, the environmental impact issue remains.
The main problem for me in my home, though, is the window — my bedroom window is a sliding one, and opening it leaves the house exposed to intruders. I would need to install a window lock to allow me to partly open the window, and then to add a screen to prevent insects from pouring in, and that all just sounds like too much hassle.
This is probably the easiest and best option for me. Evaporative coolers use water to cool the air, making them a more sustainable option than air conditioners. They contain pads that are soaked in water, and they use the principle of evaporation, where water absorbs heat and changes from a liquid to a gas (junior cert science flashbacks) — to take in warm air and give you back cooler air.
This sounds great to me, but I haven’t felt the effects of one in action, so I don’t have a good idea of how effective they are. Evaporative coolers work best in dry climates, and we are not in a dry climate. That said, I’m not sure how dry things need to be for these units to be effective. My bedroom is small, and the heat of a sunny day does cause the air to dry out. The units are not too bulky, and I could store it away somewhere for the rest of the year. I have fairly high hopes that this option might work for me.
