# How Exactly Did People in the 1800s Early 1900s Survive Without Air Conditioning?



## PeachesBackwards

One thing that scares me about trying to survive at TEOTWAWKI is how to survive in Hot Weather without electricity which if its TEOTWAWKI, I don't expect electricity to still exist. I tried thinking of how people survived the Heat in the 1800s and the first half or so of the 1900s without air conditioning and to a lesser extent fans, and I don't have an answer. Any of you have one?


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## Viking

I've worked in a few factories over the years, no AC and often no fans, but in all those years I saw boxes of salt tablets mounted on posts here and there throughout the factories. I've used the salt tabs but you also have to drink plenty of water as well. Salt is a big factor but sweat is made up of many different minerals which are needed as electrolytes and with a balance of the proper minerals a person can do very well without AC. The trouble with most so called "Sport Drinks" is that they usually don't have a proper balance of minerals and they often have sugars added.


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## Wellrounded

I've never had air con, not even in a car. If you've never had it you don't miss it. We have put a evap. cooler (swamp cooler) in one room of the house just recently but don't really use it as it costs too much to run. I've also cooked on a wood stove 365 days a year most of my life, you just put up with it. We work in the cool of the mornings and evenings, sit the hottest part of the day in a cool spot in the shade. One of my houses had a row of micro sprays on the roof for extremely hot days, run off a tank filled by a windmill. I've lived in inland SA, VIC and NSW.


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## bigg777

The Amish here in PA still live without A/C, TV, VCR, AM/FM, iPhone, and virtually every other type of electronic convenience we have become accustomed to in 2015.

The women wear dresses that cover them from neck to ankle 365 days a year and the men wear long black pants, collared shirts and hats 7/365. You become acclimated to heat and/or cold, just like you do conveniences and hardships. I'll certainly miss A/C in the event of a grid down situation, but there are thousands of things ahead of that on my priority list.

*P.S.* - I used to rent a house that had no central A/C, my bedroom was on the 2nd floor with black roofing just below the 2 windows in the room. The 1st Summer I lived there was with no bedroom A/C, on hot, still nights, I'd grab a bath towel and soak it in the bathtub, wring it out and lay it on top of me with a fan running across me. Some nights I'd wake up shivering and have to take the towel off for a while, then put it back on if I got too hot. It worked like a charm, but not so well that I didn't buy a window A/C unit before the next Summer.

With no electricity, a wet t-shirt cut up the sides and laid atop your body should work quite well.


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## Starcreek

I'm 60 years old, and I remember living in Atlanta as a child. My dad would leave the doors open on hot summer nights, with just the screen door latched. Of course, that was back when it was safe to do such a thing.

We have lived off the grid, and basically, we did what Wellrounded said. I got all my work done before 10 in the morning or after 5 at night. In the heat of the day, I napped, read a book, or did some light work in the shade. We went through some 100-degree days like that! Plus, you just learn to appreciate sweat. It's God's way of cooling your body. We are made to sweat in hot weather!


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## tsrwivey

AC is one of my most favorite things, I will sorely miss it when TSHTF. I can work in the heat, except from 2-5PM, but it is sure nice to cool off in the AC with a fan blowing on me. :2thumbs: Evaporative coolers don't work in the humidity so the only thing I've come with is an unheated waterbed mattress. A waterbed mattress feels cool even when the room is over 100 degrees so at least I can be cool when I sleep. Amazon sells a queen size for $50. We have an in ground pool & a pond, I may have to say in there until the weather cools down. . That's the price we pay for two growing seasons, I guess. Until I'm better at gardening, I need the two growing seasons so I'll have to tolerate the heat.


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## Tweto

The History channel and the Discovery channel have had several shows about how AC has changed the way we live. Before AC 85% of the population of the US lived in the Northern states. Very few lived in Florida, Texas, gulf states and the South West states. When AC became common in homes (about the mid 60's) people started to move south because they could always stay in an AC house and not have to fight the cold and snow any more.

I have experienced extended power outages in the winter and in the summer. By far the worst time to have a power outage is in the middle of summer. In the winter it is very easy to stay warm, but in the summer it's impossible to escape all of the heat.

The extended summer power outage that I experienced was unbelievably terrible. No AC, no fans, no ice, no cold drinks, and to make it even worse, we had to sleep inside because the mosquitos were swarming us outside.

I never had AC until I was about 35, before that we would sleep in the screened in porch on hot summer nights and in front of fans. None of my schools had AC and we never had days off because of heat, I worked in a factory the did not have AC and in the middle of summer 120 degrees was not uncommon. Workers were getting sick and I even had heat stroke once. It was 105 degrees and the wind was hot and blowing at 30mph and any sweat you could produce was instantaneously being evaporated. I stopped sweating and became cold and started shaking. All the nurse would do is give me some salt tablets and send me back to work.

If we had an extended power outage now and no one had AC, I think a lot of people would die in the first few weeks. If people thought that the power outage was long term some would start moving back North again. Others would adapt to living in continual heat and without ice and refrigeration. But a lot more would die from food poisoning from unrefrigerated food like they did in the 1800's.


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## biobacon

We lost power for a week, some people were out for longer, back in July 2012. We delt with it. My 1 year old got a lot of cool baths that week. LOL


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## Genevieve

If I remember right, those who could afford it would have both a summer home out in the country or at the seaside and then have their winter homes in the towns and cities.
without all the buildings and people it was cooler out of the towns and cities with clearer air and more breezes.

you'll just have to do work at predawn/dawn to when ever it gets too much in your area and then stop and do lighter work/activities until later in the afternoon/evening/dusk. it will take forward thinking and planning.

same for cooking. we will have to do the most cooking early morning and use solar or even an in ground slow cooker( dig a hole start a fire let it burn down and then set a dutchie on it and cover it) for the evening meals.

to cool drinks use running water like creeks and streams or a deep pond

also people built their homes differently back then too. they had thicker walls, and large walk-thru windows that they could open to catch all the wind/breezes along with deep porches with large roofs. they also had cellars that were cool so they opened the doors to let the cool air up the stairs, they built up off the ground so the wind could cool the floors too in some areas and they didn't strip the lands of the trees like they do now so there was shade to be found, and the homes weren't surrounded by blacktop and concrete like the majority of homes are now.


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## hiwall

The houses were often built slightly different to take advantage of the breezes to fully exchange the air in the houses. Here in Arizona many houses were built out of adobe with a huge mass that helped keep inside temps lower. 
My house is built on a slab and stays relatively cool in the summer months. Yes I have air but its use is very limited. Most nights I sleep with the windows open (but Not in the winter Brrr). I could live without AC but I would like to have a refrigerator so I could have a cold drink although evaporative cooling boxes are easy to make and work down here. Most people are just spoiled and would have to adjust if power was lost for a long period.
There is a reason that in Mexico during the hot part of the day they have a siesta.


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## Grimm

I grew up in Texas near Dallas. The house my parents owned had AC but we hardly used it. I just got off the phone with my mom about this and the reason they didn't use the AC was the cost. My mom was a teacher so she had the summers off like I did. She spent her days in the garage with a fan on because of the cement floors. She'd hose the floor down and work on her stained glass art in there. For me she'd set up the oscillating sprinkler in the yard and give me a popsicle. Or the washtub was in the shade full of cold water. What kid didn't play in the water during summer?!

Now we live in the desert of California. We have a swamp cooler and fans. I try not to use either until the temps hit certain highs. We have AC units in the bedrooms but we use them only during the peak of the heatwave. An above ground pool keeps us from using the fans and swampcooler. Even our dogs and chickens have paddling pools to beat the heat.


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## Justaguy987

Here is an article I recently came across in this very subject. It talks about how houses were built to deal with the heat. It would be hard to adapt most of these things to a modern home, but I think the principals can still be used. http://blog.solarcity.com/how-homes-kept-cool-before-the-age-of-ac http://blog.solarcity.com/how-homes-kept-cool-before-the-age-of-ac


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## Marcus

There's several ways settlers dealt with the heat in Texas.

First and foremost, the design and location of the housing took advantage of anything possible to keep it cooler. This includes having outside kitchens to keep the heat outside, siting housing under or near trees to take advantage of the shade, and siting housing to take advantage of prevalent winds in the summer. Siting housing near water was also done.

There's a very famous house design known as a dog run house that was used quite a bit. It has a breezeway down the middle of the house to keep things cooler.
Up in the Hill Country, the immigrant Germans built stone houses with very thick (12"+) walls to keep things cooler inside. Think adobe except with stone instead of mud bricks.
Later on, Victorian type houses were built throughout the state. These houses had very high ceilings and lots of windows on every side of the house. The high ceilings allowed the heat to rise while the windows allowed winds from any direction to be used for cooling.
Some houses had large screened-in porches where people slept on hot nights.
Any kind of swamp cooler helps too.

In today's world, I'd look at earth-sheltered housing as optimal with rammed-earth or adobe as a second choice. Having some sort of outside cooking area is a good idea too. 

The major thing about heat is acclimation. The more time you spend outside in late Spring and early Summer, the easier the heat will be to handle.


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## SwordsandSaddles

I live in Louisiana, and this is something that has come up a LOT. We had a mild summer this year, with it only breaking over 100 a few days, and the humidity has largely not been "so thick you can see water" as well. I've seen it 120+ degrees with humidity in the 90% range. 

Basically, you just suffer. 

What we do is we go back to wearing clothing from pre-eletricity coming to the area. Kilts and breechclouts don't care if it is 110 degrees or 10 degrees. You wear looser clothing, and you watch a lot of people wearing a lot less clothing than is proper up north, to to ward off over heating. It is actually illegal for the power company to shut off your power in the summer and the winter here, because of how many people die from exposure. 

We also do not get a lot of wind. I you feel wind, a story is blowing in, and the heat and humidity can spike for up to several days before hand. 

Traditionally, down here, homes are made with high, high seelings, with large windows that stretch almost floor to ceiling whenever possible. You also see dog run house, which separates the living quarters and the cooking portion of the house by essentially a covered porch. The Romans/Italians use unglazed tile, that they pour buckets of water on, and use the breeze to make a swamp cooler. You hear of similar being done with dog runs as well. 

Also, if you have a cotton bandanna, if you get it wet, you can snap it through the air, and it will chill for at least a short amount of time.


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## Viking

I've mentioned this a few times before in other posts, when I built our home I didn't install central heating and no AC, all we do is just when things start cooling down toward evening is to open a lot of windows and a sliding glass door in the bedroom, turn on a few small fans and a couple of ceiling fans (only 9.5 watts each on low). At about 8 in the morning we close all the windows and even on a 104 degree day it's never gotten more than 80 inside. It would probably be cooler if I would have built all of the roof as a cold roof, but just having the North roof a cold roof has made a tremendous difference, when I built the addition to the South side I couldn't afford putting a cold roof on, it's also twice the surface area, at least I've got plenty of attic insulation there and I'm sure that helps, as it was I think I was also running up against the rainy season and was pressed to get the roof done, ASAP. Thinking of those old houses, many were built with tall windows that could be opened at the top as well as the bottom, I remember that the elementary and high schools I attended had those kind of windows and no AC, still got hot but it could have been worse without constant air flowing into the rooms because of those kinds of windows.


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## ClemKadiddlehopper

My house was built in the 1800s and has all of the features listed in several of the previous posts. The dude that built this house knew what he was up to.

It is built on a gravel ridge (excellent drainage). Double brick walls (12" thick) on stone foundations that are 18" thick. It was built as one house separated into 3 separate sections and therefore has an extra thick wall between the main living portion and kitchen portion. The upstairs to the first part is completely separate from the upstairs of the second part; two sets of stairs. Big windows with no windows on the north side and doors complete with transoms and ten foot ceilings and doors between each section of house. Tin reflective roof (now steel reflective roof) Third section was built completely of 18" stone walls with a 16 foot high ceiling.

The house is built to block the winter winds from the N but allows the summer winds to blow right through it. The builder obviously took the time to suss out wind direction for both winter and summer before committing.

The only drawback is that without insulation, and only lath and plaster, this sucker was cold in the winter. There is evidence of chimneys in every room up and down. The original air channels with the fancy cast iron grates are still here allowing air flow between the downstairs and upstairs. The grates can be opened and closed as desired.

I have completed the final removal of the lath and plaster and studded the outer walls to hold R22 insulation. The ancient windows are replaced and R50 in the attic.

We hit 32C/90F last week and didn't need so much as a fan. It was warmish but not unbearable. If the temps. went all Texas on us, we would set up cots down in the basement (also insulated from the upstairs), and make buddies with the spiders. The old stone barn is pretty cool as well, but hubby don't much like the idea of sleeping with the cows and chickens.


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## Genevieve

I want to add that we have added awnings over all the windows and doors ( without a porch roof) and they lower the temp in the house by 20 degrees just by themselves. that in turn helps keep the ac to a higher setting and it uses less energy to cool the house. so in the event that theres no electricity we will have those to put up every year. its nothing to us to put them up and then take them down again when it cools off and we want the sun to shine in the windows lol

you can make those out of anything. cloth,metal,wood,large plastic sheets if you have them.


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## weedygarden

*Work it!*

We also had a mild summer. It did not get to 100 degrees once. We have had summers that were much warmer than this one.

I live in a neighborhood with older 2 and 3 story homes. We really cool down at night. I have a swamp cooler that I run when it gets really hot, but what works is just what Viking said. I turn on the fan only on the swamp cooler at night, and turn it off in the morning, keeping everything shut up. I run a window fan in second story windows. They suck out the hot air, while the cooler air is coming in. The house get significantly cooler over night, and after closing it up in the morning, it stays really cool. It is most noticeable how cool it is when I come in from the heat outside.


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## BillS

People are a lot heavier on average than they were 100 years ago. A lot of people today wouldn't survive without air conditioning.

I'm a big guy. I hate the heat. Wisconsin winters are cold but the summers are still hot and humid. I wish we had central air. We have air conditioners in the living room and bedroom. We have air conditioning in our cars. I'm not looking forward to living without it.


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## Country Living

Shade. That's how to survive the heat. Shade trees for the house. Shade trees scattered throughout the yard. 

Even when we were youngsters and didn't live in houses with air conditioning, we'd stay outside during the day and be either under the shade trees or playing in a water sprinkler on extremely hot days. Sometimes we used fans at night; but, as was previously stated, the older homes were built for fluid air flow. Everyone had a covered porch; some people were lucky enough to have wrap-around porches.

You could acclimate to not having AC; however, as Bill said, these last generations are much heavier than we were all those years ago so the acclimation time might take much longer these days.


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## Sentry18

The entire thread is a complete lie. In the 1800's and 1900's the weather was a perfect ranged from 31 degrees in the deep winter to 75 degrees in the summer. It is only hot now because of Global Warming. At least that's what Al Gore told me.


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## tsrwivey

We live in an old Victorian built in 1908. It's built on top of a hill facing north. There are two 60ft+ tall magnolias in the front, it's 10 degrees cooler under a magnolia. There are 25 windows in the downstairs alone, all of which are 9ft tall. There are 13ft ceilings throughout the downstairs. All the doors have transom windows above them. There's a 10ft wide hallway that runs from the front door to the back door, both upstairs & down. Even in the dead heat of August, there's a slight breeze. The attached kitchen is original to the house. The house was built without electricity & has 2 layer thick solid wood walls with rock wool in between.


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## Davarm

I'll throw in my $.02 on the subject.

I was born and raised in North Texas, never had AC the whole time I was at home. I remember it being hot but we knew where every swimming hole, creek and river access was and we used them.

Like it was said before, you work in the mornings and evenings and do as little as possible during the heat of the day. Way back when, homes(again as said before) were built to exploit every possible advantage nature had to offer and some were pretty comfortable even during the mid summer heat. 

The attached picture is of a "Dog-Run" cabin which was typical of settlers of this area, my brother and I played in this one when it was at its original location. It was on a creek, nested in a stand of Burr Oaks and when the temps were 100+ the cabin was cool inside.

Most of us wont be able to run off and live in one of these when TSHTF but thats how it was done before AC or Electricity.

A month or so ago I put a small room AC in my grandparents(98&99yo) sitting room, the first one they ever had and they lived for almost 100 years with out it and survived pretty well. Their house is on a hill, in a grove of oak trees and it gets all the wind that blows.


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## Gians

My grandparents told me they would sleep outside or in the basement when it was real hot in Sacramento, had lots of trees too, still does.


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## Marcus

One of the best things you can do if you live where it gets hot is to buy the reflective window screens for your east, west, and south facing windows. That keeps the windows much cooler which cuts down your solar heat gain.


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## PeachesBackwards

Marcus said:


> One of the best things you can do if you live where it gets hot is to buy the reflective window screens for your east, west, and south facing windows. That keeps the windows much cooler which cuts down your solar heat gain.


Thanks Will follow through on that


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## Davarm

You can always go cheap and ******* on the reflective window screens, use aluminum foil with the shiny side out.

A quick spritz of water on the inside of the window pane and the foil will stick to the glass like you used glue, it's quick and easy to peel off when cool weather sets in.

We do this every summer and it makes a huge difference, its very noticeable on the electric bill also.

Another way to make a big difference is to use LED lights, dramatically cuts the heat load, makes sense for when the SHTF, they only take a fraction of the power if you produce your own electricity.


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## Wellrounded

Hubby and I were discussing this today. Modern homes are all about saving power (yada yada global warming :lalala They are great for keeping the status quo (keep the warm in in winter and the hot out in summer via insulation), older homes were built to take advantage of every local warming/cooling avenue available. 

This is why a blanket building code DOES NOT WORK. If I put floor to ceiling windows on the south side of my house (in the Southern Hemisphere) it counts as exactly the same as a north facing window, when the powers that be decide that you are makin' those green gases you're the lowest of the low, idiots.

I'm going to be much more enviro friendly if I just decide to not have any air con. but that is not how it's done these days. No one will accept that I can ride out the hot days by drinking beer (low mileage home brew of course) by the dam rather than rebuild my home to make sure I never have to sweat on days that get above 80 deg.


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## jeff47041

I didn't have a/c until 2001, when I built my house. A few of my brothers still don't have a/c. They just open the windows and get a breeze. 

I have a fairly big house and do not have a/c in my bedroom or living room. I think it thickens your blood and makes you miserable at work the next day in the heat. I work everyday out in the heat, all day. I'm hot, but the guys I work with are just miserable all summer.

I stop at their houses and its feels like it's about 60 degrees in their houses because if the a/c. I think that's why they are so miserable in the heat. If you work in it all of the time, and sleep in it too, you just get acclimated to it. I don't even use a fan in my bedroom. A breeze blowing across me at night just gives me a cold the next day.


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## TheLazyL

Young pups at work have the A/C in their service trucks running at full blast. Then they complain it's too hot to work outside. A 30 degree difference would be a shock to a person's body.

I'm driving around with the A/C off, windows rolled down, arm hanging out and shaking my head at the young pups.

Middle of winter and the Business Office A/C would be running  Between the building being occupied, well insulated and the ceiling lights, more heat was generated that what was lost. We swapped out the ceiling lights with the highest efficient ones we could find. A/C no longer runs during the winter months.


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## hiwall

Talked to some older folks that lived farther south years ago. They said they often slept up on the roof because the wife was afraid of snakes. It was cool up there as soon as the sun went down and any breeze would be felt. And no snakes!


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## weedygarden

*Showers or baths*

When I was in college, one of the jobs I did was to work in the cafeteria, washing dishes. My sophomore year, I was the person who sprayed the dishes with an industrial sprayer after they had been scraped, stacked and loaded into racks. It was always hot and steamy in that room, and when it was hot out, you pretty much needed to change clothes and take a shower before moving onto whatever was next--class, studying, a different job. I remember a particular day when it was so hot that I had 5 showers.

A former colleague of mine went to Spain for a large part of the summer to work on her Spanish. It was hot, hot, hot! She told me that she had a thin cotton nightgown. When she got ready for bed, she put on her nightgown, got into the shower to get it wet, and went to bed. When she woke up in the night from the heat, she would get into the shower to cool down and go back to bed.

I know when I was a kid, we spent hot summer days at the swimming pool.

Ever stand in line in Southern California at some amusement park, such as Universal Studios? They had/have misters that put out a light spray that would cool you off while waiting for your ride.


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## Marcus

PeachesBackwards said:


> Thanks Will follow through on that


While Davarm's suggestion is not bad either, I put up the expensive reflective window tinting on my Mom's place. The reflective screens are better than the tinting since the screens keep the window itself cooler. This lowers the heat load the window has to deal with in the first place.

Going by my experience with my Mom's windows, the window tinting worked well until late in the afternoon when the windows were in direct sunlight for several hours. That's when the heat became noticeable on the inside by the windows (6-12" away.) With the reflective screens, there is almost no noticeable heat at the same distance. Reflective window tinting and a reflective screen is probably best of all, but it would be very expensive. At that point, you're probably better off going with quality double or triple paned windows.


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## PeachesBackwards

Marcus said:


> While Davarm's suggestion is not bad either, I put up the expensive reflective window tinting on my Mom's place. The reflective screens are better than the tinting since the screens keep the window itself cooler. This lowers the heat load the window has to deal with in the first place.
> 
> Going by my experience with my Mom's windows, the window tinting worked well until late in the afternoon when the windows were in direct sunlight for several hours. That's when the heat became noticeable on the inside by the windows (6-12" away.) With the reflective screens, there is almost no noticeable heat at the same distance. Reflective window tinting and a reflective screen is probably best of all, but it would be very expensive. At that point, you're probably better off going with quality double or triple paned windows.


LOL Yeah thats exactly what happens in my apartment building in Los Angeles late in the Afternoon! It is the worst. To be honest, because of my sinuses, I have the air conditioning running 24 hours a day- yeah my summer electricity bills are very high and I have to adjust the temperature about 3 times a day on the thermostat- central air. Appreciate all the input on this thread as I was just thinking how the hell will I be able to try to survive TEOTWAWKI without air conditioning, assuming there is no more electricity!


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## hiwall

Many people down here put an outdoor fabric on the outside of their south or west windows. It still allows some visibility looking out but shades the whole window. I would think this method might work better as the window is in the shade and the glass would never get as hot.????


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## Grimm

weedygarden said:


> Ever stand in line in Southern California at some amusement park, such as Universal Studios? They had/have misters that put out a light spray that would cool you off while waiting for your ride.


LOL! Most of the lines at Disneyland Resort are shaded so they don't have to use the mister system. I have only seen the misters at the water parks and Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Those misters do work at cooling an area though. I have one in the chicken run to give them a cool spot and the dog run has one as well. Both also have small kiddie pools so they can cool off in the water.

I have been wondering if I can set up some misters on a gravity feed instead of a pressurized hose bib.


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## Marcus

hiwall said:


> Many people down here put an outdoor fabric on the outside of their south or west windows. It still allows some visibility looking out but shades the whole window. I would think this method might work better as the window is in the shade and the glass would never get as hot.????


Yes, it would work better.

I edited out a paragraph on my last post about the foil working better if it was on the outside instead of the inside for the reason you just mentioned.

The reason is air (a mixture of gases) is a poor conductor of heat compared to most solids. That's the reason double or triple paned windows are better than single paned. There's a small gap between the windows that conducts heat poorly. Gases expand when heated which is how they store the extra energy. Solids will also expand slightly when heated, but are able to store much more heat within their denser crystalline structures.

I also recall that when I was young that many older houses had fixed shades outside above windows that received a lot of sun. Or shutters that would close.


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## smaj100

Some extra food for thought, all these window open wide floor plans aren't going to be very attacker friendly.


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## Grimm

PeachesBackwards said:


> LOL Yeah thats exactly what happens in my apartment building in Los Angeles late in the Afternoon! It is the worst. To be honest, because of my sinuses, I have the air conditioning running 24 hours a day- yeah my summer electricity bills are very high and I have to adjust the temperature about 3 times a day on the thermostat- central air. Appreciate all the input on this thread as I was just thinking how the hell will I be able to try to survive TEOTWAWKI without air conditioning, assuming there is no more electricity!


OMG! You are in L.A.!? Get out!

Just be grateful you don't live in SFV. No real breezes or cooling winds coming over the hills. I hated working on location in the valley during the summer. Yuck!


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## Grimm

smaj100 said:


> Some extra food for thought, all these window open wide floor plans aren't going to be very attacker friendly.


Don't you mean they are attacker friendly and not very fortification friendly.


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## PeachesBackwards

Grimm said:


> OMG! You are in L.A.!? Get out!
> 
> Just be grateful you don't live in SFV. No real breezes or cooling winds coming over the hills. I hated working on location in the valley during the summer. Yuck!


LOL I do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## PeachesBackwards

artydance:artydance:artydance:artydance:artydance:artydance:artydance:


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## Grimm

PeachesBackwards said:


> LOL I do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I'm sorry.

We left the L.A. area but K still works in downtown.


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## readytogo

Until 1969 we had no electrical power in our home in the country and in the city we lived in a converted basement without air-condition, just two big doors leading to the patio, the kitchen had open walls totally separated from the house and that was in the tropics the island of Cuba, hot, humid and with 10 hours of sunshine daily. Keep in mind that homes were constructed for this type of weather; my family country home had big tall windows that never close, high open attic and a totally separated kitchen, typical of old style Caribbean homes where the kitchen was always at the back of the house with open walls, people also dress for this type of weather. Since coming to America, an electric jungle, I notice that instead of using Mother Nature to our favor, we fight it; our ancestors build homes of thick adobe walls with many windows high ceilings and homes in the city had extended porches, sometimes all around the house or at least awnings to keep the sun away from coming in, we now built them like boxes with seal attics to hold the heat in and keep the electric bill high. With the technology we have now there is no reason to suffer any, solar power fans and air condition are available even refrigeration but you still be attach to some form of grid and is expensive. My honest subjection, open your house up and cook outside, install awnings, dress loosely, wear more cotton ,lose some weight and forget about EMP`s or STP`s, hell life is hard already .


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## Country Living

Keeping cool in the country is a whole lot different than keeping cool in the city. 

City living is the developers seeing how many houses they can put in the smallest possible footprint so there's no chance of a breeze finding its way between the houses or you being able to plant enough trees to shade your house. Then there's all that reflective heating - concrete and asphalt. Don't forget the exhaust from the cars. It all adds to degrees on the thermometer. 

It's a lot different in the country. We can sit in a lawn chair under a shade tree and enjoy a cooling breeze even on the hottest of days. We have grass instead of concrete which aids in cooling. A lot of us, on this side of Texas, have easy access to ponds, creeks, and lakes so a quick dip or a good cooling foot soaking is easy to do. 

Some of you may not understand this next comment.... for us, living in the country is less stressful than city living. I think that lack of chronic stress, that lack of anxiety, is in itself calm and cooling even if only psychological.

Don't get me wrong, I would miss air conditioning; but we have a better chance of getting by without it where we live.


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## murphyc1

I am from Ireland and went to Sacremento for a month in Sept 1985. I will never forget how uncomfortably cold it was with A/C everywhere. I have never experienced such cold and was unwell for about 2 years after. I would prefer the heat and humidity which I experienced in Kenya, Philippines, India and Sri Lanka.


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## Viking

Country Living said:


> Keeping cool in the country is a whole lot different than keeping cool in the city.
> 
> City living is the developers seeing how many houses they can put in the smallest possible footprint so there's no chance of a breeze finding its way between the houses or you being able to plant enough trees to shade your house. Then there's all that reflective heating - concrete and asphalt. Don't forget the exhaust from the cars. It all adds to degrees on the thermometer.
> 
> It's a lot different in the country. We can sit in a lawn chair under a shade tree and enjoy a cooling breeze even on the hottest of days. We have grass instead of concrete which aids in cooling. A lot of us, on this side of Texas, have easy access to ponds, creeks, and lakes so a quick dip or a good cooling foot soaking is easy to do.
> 
> Some of you may not understand this next comment.... for us, living in the country is less stressful than city living. I think that lack of chronic stress, that lack of anxiety, is in itself calm and cooling even if only psychological.
> 
> Don't get me wrong, I would miss air conditioning; but we have a better chance of getting by without it where we live.


There are huge heat storage areas in cities, paved streets and parking lots, buildings that store up heat in their mass, windows that reflect heat to the sidewalks and streets, sometimes with enough energy to start a fire. Then there are the vehicles, exhaust was mentioned but the heat coming off of radiators is tremendous especially adding the AC condenser heat. Even the small town of around 1,500 population, which we live four miles from, it's amazing just how much heat is generated there, in the winter when we have snow it can be on the roads until about a 1/4 mile from town where it's melted from there through town.


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## kinda

after a year of shtf, and nearly everyone is dead, you'll be able to run around in a diesel vehicle, getting a diesel tank trailer from a farm or a military base, along with a generator. you'll again have AC if you want it. but what makes more sense is move to the southern rockies, on the coast for winter, up near snowmass for summer.


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## kinda

You won't be staying in LA if shtf, unless you're dead. It will be a hellhole, like any heavily populated area.


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## recon-1

I work out side so the heat gets to me. I had heat exhaustion when I was a kid and ever since then I have issues with it. I need AC and usually stay in side some times when it gets above 90+ degrees out. Just can't take those hot and humid days.


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## Marcus

Viking said:


> There are huge heat storage areas in cities, paved streets and parking lots, buildings that store up heat in their mass, windows that reflect heat to the sidewalks and streets, sometimes with enough energy to start a fire. Then there are the vehicles, exhaust was mentioned but the heat coming off of radiators is tremendous especially adding the AC condenser heat. Even the small town of around 1,500 population, which we live four miles from, it's amazing just how much heat is generated there, in the winter when we have snow it can be on the roads until about a 1/4 mile from town where it's melted from there through town.


There's even a name for it. It's called the Heat Island Effect.


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## kinda

yeah, maybe, but it aint enough heat to save you if you're homeless and don't have proper gear, I can tell you that from experience. if you're saying that being out in the open is 10F cooler in hot weather, that I agree with, but if it's over 80F, at night, it's still too damned hot for decent sleeping. Which is one of the reasons that the homeless are often drunks and/or dopers. It helps them sleep in nasty conditions.


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## ###

shade doesn't always work. i still get hot sometimes in the shade


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