keeping house cool

Arjay, not sure if they are available there in the LOS but in the states they use what is called a whole house fan which mounts in the floor of the attic and is louvre covered , when the fan is activated it causes a suction drawing the night cool air in and in turn forces the hot air from the house proper and attic out through vents in the soffits or roof vents. Obviously the fan is large and high powered but the key is having proper ventilation to allow air flow out of the attic, in turn the windows in the house should only be opened a small ammount causing a virtual low pressure into which the cool air rushes. I used to have this in a home in the states and it worked like magic. Cannot see why it would not also work there if you can find the fan system.

I am presently living in the Philippines which has weather just like Thailand, during the day it starts out cool but by evening the house is a heat trap and it does not cool off until about 5am if that. Also here everything is made of concrete and on a slab and many houses have flat roofs which make it even hottter. Insulation is unheard of basicaly, when asked about it most builders just look at you like your nuts. Also here electricity is quite expensive and not very reliable so even your aircon cannot save you some times. If a lighting storm occurs they turn off the power so they don't suffer transformer damages, always a plus on a hot and rainy evening.

Hi Shortimer. I somehow missed your post. So now I know where you are. I've been giving 7/1 a miss of late, having found somewhere better and classier for my occasional passing through stoppovers. I'll PM you.

I just came across these links on the Internet which include some quite useful ideas in keeping one's house cool. Agreed I think where I am the heat comes through the single skin walls and also through the glass windows.

The first link includes the whole house fan you mention. I have a couple of small ceiling extractors in the upstairs bathrooms. I'll give some thought as to how to enhance that concept.

I already have/use a number of the other ideas, - reflective roof insulation/lining, reflective curtain liners, keep curtains/windows closed when the sun is on them in the heat of the day, plant trees to provide shade, and I am looking at a canopy idea currently.

LINK 1:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Sa ... ooler.aspx

Get the most from your air conditioning

* Open windows and use portable or ceiling fans instead of operating your air conditioner. Even mild air movement of 1 mph can make you feel three or four degrees cooler. Make sure your ceiling fan is turned for summer -- you should feel the air blown downward. If you live in a relatively dry climate, a bowl or tray of ice in front of a box fan can cool you as it evaporates.

* Use a fan with your window air conditioner to spread the cool air through your home.

* Without blocking air flow, shade your outside compressor. Change air filters monthly during the summer.

* Use a programmable thermostat with your air conditioner to adjust the setting at night or when no one is home.

* Don't place lamps or TVs near your air conditioning thermostat. The heat from these appliances will cause the air conditioner to run longer.

* Consider installing a whole house fan or evaporative cooler (a "swamp cooler") if appropriate for your climate. Attics trap fierce amounts of heat; a well-placed and -sized whole-house fan pulls air through open windows on the bottom floors and exhausts it through the roof, lowering the inside temperature and reducing energy use by as much as third compared with an air conditioner. Cost is between $200 and $400 if you install it yourself. An evaporative cooler pulls air over pads soaked in cold water and uses a quarter the energy of refrigerated air, but they're useful only in low-humidity areas. Cost is $200 to $600. (See "Keep cool without pricey AC.")

* Install white window shades, drapes, or blinds to reflect heat away from the house. Close curtains on south- and west-facing windows during the day.

* Install awnings on south-facing windows. Because of the angle of the sun, trees, a trellis, or a fence will best shade west-facing windows. Apply sun-control or other reflective films on south-facing windows.

LINK 2:
http://www.hometips.com/articles/cool_noAC.html

Keep Your House Cool Without Air Conditioning
Fundamentally, the idea behind cooling your house without the aid of air conditioning is to minimize sources of heat and remove built-up heat from inside. Here are some helpful steps:


1) Cut back the transfer of heat through the roof and walls. If the attic isn't already insulated or is under-insulated, insulate your attic NOW. This will give you the greatest change in comfort for the least amount of expense. Before you buy, see the Home Insulation buying guide. Weatherize your home to reduce the loss of conditioned air. Employ caulk and weather stripping to cut back on the transfer of air.
2) Install a foil radiant barrier in the attic. Staple it to the underside of the roof rafters, allowing an air space between the foil and the roof sheathing. Place staples about 3 inches apart. Position seams between sheets of foil centered on the rafters and seal the seams with a bead of caulking compound.

3) Install inexpensive heat-reflecting film on windows that face the sun. This will keep your house cooler and reduce glare and ultraviolet rays that damage furniture and floors. For hot climates, sun-control types are most effective, but be aware that they will reduce the amount of light that comes in through the windows. In climates where cold seasons are also a problem, choose a combination film (but do not apply it to south-facing windows if you want rooms to benefit from the sun's warmth during the winter).

4) Reduce heat gain by pulling drapes or shades, and use shelters to prevent direct sunlight from streaming in through windows on the south and west-facing sides of the house. Overhangs, patio overheads, latticework, awnings--all of these work well.

5) Plant now to provide shade in the future. Trees, large bushes, and vines can provide shade and cooling evaporation--choose deciduous varieties if you want to allow the sunlight to warm the house during the winter. Pay attention to the growth characteristics of any landscaping that you plant be sure it will be appropriate for the need and will not block breezes.

6) Closely monitor the temperature both inside and out with an indoor/outdoor thermometer. When it is cooler outside, open up windows and doors to ventilate. (Be sure your windows and doors have adequate screens to prevent an influx of bugs.) And arrange furniture and drapes so they don't restrict airflow. If you have operable skylights or transom windows high on walls, open them to let out super-heated air and create convection currents.

7) Use portable fans or ceiling fans and the "Fan Only" setting on your heating system's thermostat to keep the air moving. By doing so, you will feel comfortable in a room that is 2 or 3 degrees warmer than a still room. If your home has a whole-house fan, turn it on to extract warm air.

Humidity makes room air feel warmer, so reduce indoor humidity. Minimize mid-day washing and drying of clothes, showering, and cooking. When you must do these things, turn on ventilating fans to help extract warm, moist air, but be sure to turn them off when you're finished so that they don't extract cooled air from the house. See our free Dehumidifiers buying guide.

9) Unless you absolutely need them, turn off incandescent lights and heat-generating appliances. When it's time to cook, opt for the barbecue instead of the range.

Hi.If you have Air Con(AC) installed do not run it and switch on floor,wall or ceiling fans.The bottom vent expels air and the top vent(which you may not see)is the intake.This is where the sensor is.The sensor controls the temperature.If you disrupt the return flow to the sensor with fans the outdoor unit may not cut out.It will definately run longer, increasing costs and shortening compressor lifetime.The compressor is about 85/90% of the running cost and also the most expensive part to replace.Make sure filters are regularly cleaned on indoor and keep condensor clean on outdoor unit.(have technicians do this)Have AC installed by an AC company and not sub-contractors to retailers.Try to keep the outdoor unit positioned away from direct sun-light and if poss(for noise)away from the room it cools. Don`t hang the outdoor unit 3/4metres up a wall for future service/cleaning purposes also.Extract fans are fine,sometimes,i.e top of stairs at high level or in "hot spots"which will exist where the heat rises to.Its not great to extract in a room with AC running though.All AC manufacturers test bench their product and allow for draughts but not fans blowing.If your AC is not cooling get it checked and if it still ain`t cooling enough,is it the right size?Have you extended the room? Door and window "management" is important.Keep them shut when poss (but don`t nag the wife too much about the doors).The less sunlight through windows the better.Insulation is optional but helpful.I`m not sure how long it would take to return "cost" back through less running costs or compressor lifetime.
I hope this helps those who read it and "stay cool"
Brian
Cheers for now

Another thought I had today was the possibility of using some sort of heat/light reflective paint (on the walls). Does anyone know of such paints available locally?

Arjay have you considered insulating the walls ? You can do the outside and cover it with wall cement board it can be expensive because you have to screw in metal studs to the wall and insulate between the studs then screw the cement board to the studs. the plus side is you can do it your self just hire a local
to help you. you can get the boards in Home Mart on ring road they come in various colors it worth looking at you can talk to Mr King he is thai but lived in australia and his english is very good to excellent
good luck

arjay wrote:Another thought I had today was the possibility of using some sort of heat/light reflective paint (on the walls). Does anyone know of such paints available locally?

yes , using it our new house , not really sure how efficient it is because weve taken various other measures in the building process , but every little helps ah. and the temperature was at least 10 degrees cooler than outside yesturday , with no windows yet installed .the paint is made by at least 2 manufacturers 4 seasons is one , slightly more expensive than just paint , but not a lot . i m pretty sure my builder uses the paint store opposite global . the cement board ron mentions is very efficient on concrete block or red brick walls , not so much on k blocks or superblocks . you can however fix it direct to the wall with diamond masonry nails . you will notice a big differance , depending on the wall material .

a previous owner put tinted film on our windows and to me its no use , the glass is hot as are the metal frames. maybe modern tinted film and wood frames would be better. the g/f showed me the reflecting curtain liner in our hotel room, this is new to me but with three windows now getting the sun its worth a try. when falang alley was being demolished you could see they had rock wool and aluminium foil insulation,.my one problem is getting the through draft at night as the g/f wants to lock the back door as soon as possible. maybe there is a fly screen door that can be locked.

Hey you, I was thinking of trying tinted films on the glass, so thanks you've saved me going down that road.

You can get security doors (not solid - a steel frame with bars etc) fitted which incorporate fly screens and then lock those at night, leaving the normal wood doors open. I've seen those in several places and have them myself.

I do have reflective curtain liners on my curtains and they do stop the heat, - they and the windows get very hot though. I also have some Roman blinds, which incorporate sun blocking liners, again very good, - but in effect the heat has already got inside the room/house at that point and therefore they must give up some heat to the room (by convection or re-radiation). Don't get me wrong, they do work, but I'm sure ideally it would be better to try and stop the heat on the outside of the house, before it reaches the walls or windows.

On the Internet I can find many quite effective EXTERNAL sun blinds/screens etc, like an external roller blind, that shade the house walls and windows from the sun. Though I can't find any here locally.

I did note the suggestions about adding another layer to the walls, but that gets a bit complicated, besides the costs, there are factors like, architrave on the external walls, sections of cladding etc, part of the house style and design, and it would mean messing with and spoiling those. Even a reflective paint would mean difficulties in trying to match to the original paint on the rest of the house and the neighbouring houses.

I am still looking at things like an extractor fan in the ceiling of the hottest room upstairs, and external sun shades and blinds, to support the internal ones, along with a canopy. Those, along with thoughtful positioning of trees etc, is the way I am currently looking.

The main challenges in LOS are finding the right products or materials, and finding a tradesman who knows what you are talking about and can do a good job of fitting it (unless you can do it yourself).

I'll try and attach some pictures of what I am thinking of:-

Any fabric utilised outside in this climate will eventually rot or become useless very quickly, the only way to keep the sun out is to install metal sunshades that can be colour co-ordinated with the rest of the house, not too expensive so I understand.
as for any other form of reflective paint or something like not heard of but probably very expensive for the amount it will stop.
Thai house's in the main have small windows I have two windows per bedroom on two different walls both 4 ft high and about 7-8 ft long, all open all night so the air does move around.
I also have many trees as well that helps .

I did also see these external blinds, though they look expensive, and more like security blinds as much as sun blinds. Again most unlikely to be able to get anything like this/these in LOS.

External Blinds:


Some internals as well:

arjay
I'd vote for the first photo option: looks like a thin bamboo slat blind hanging from the porch. I have one on an easterly window.....bought it from the shop that's now across the street from the Charoen Hotel. Cost about 700 baht.......and since it's not exposed to rain, it's lasted 3 years and looks like new. If you can hang it from the porch, it'll have the added benefit of shading a window and part of your walls as the sun rises/sets. They're available in a variety of widths and lengths.

HI Wall thickness,room area,amount of lights,computers,expected amount of people,number of windows and their area,are all heat output which has to be cancelled or extracted by air-conditioning.If all this is taken in to account prior to installation and the correct calculations offer the correct sized unit with BTU`s required,then its problem solved.Switch on and stay cool.Its vital this is done by a reputable company
who know what they are doing.Dont walk into a tescos or Big C with a bit of paper giving room sizes.
Its a hit or a miss thereafter.Trust me on this.I worked in Air-Con and Refrigeration for 30 years.15 as a tecnical engineer and 15 as a service manager invoved in sales of air conditioning which means quotations also.

Air-conditioning doesn`t cool,it extracts heat(put your hand at the back of your fridge and you`ll see what i mean).Therefore you have to know the heat requiring extraction before you do anything.Good management of doors and windows where there is cooling is vital.for example"when driving your car with the AC on, do you open the windows when its +30 outside.Nope.AC is simple if installed correctly.All you should really be thinking about is cleaning, or having cleaned, the indoor filters and condensors on outdoor unit.Always go for an inverter unit

"Air-conditioning doesn`t cool,it extracts heat"

This is true but very importantly it also extracts moisture and the amount of "cold" water produced off sets the energy available to extract heat from the air. One of the major complaints we hear is during humid periods is that folks don't think their unit is working properly. So keep in mind the more cold water made the less cold air can be made. In the past I have posted sights that assist in calculating aircon size, and they are quite good.

Hi I agree with most of what you say.The amount of condensate(cold) water produced is also relative to the amount of cooling required.So when its warmer outside the there will be more water produced.Condensate or cold water relates more to "compressor run time" than anything else.Im not a specialist on high Thai ambients and high Humidity but do they coincide with each other.If units are not cooling during these periods are they the correctly sized. Lets agree to differ on"more cold water made the less cold air can be made".High volume Cold water is only produced during high compressor useage.
No cooling = no condensate(cold) water.I`m popping out soon .If you comment i shall see it later.
Cheers for now and stay cool
Brian

for shades with a more rural kook have a look at the new shade area thats jinjoes have had built . its the thai thatch roof, i was sat under it with the sun full on it and it could not be felt. life of Thatch is only one to two years but bob told me one batton of thatch cost 15 baht, also said during the heavy rain the other night very little rain came through so it will help keep rain from the wall. took the g/f one second to look at it and say no but i like it.