Room Cooling Desi Jugad: How can a hostel or PG room be kept cool without an AC-cooler? Which cheap home remedies can reduce the room temperature instantly in the scorching heat of 45°C-47°C? How effective are table fan hacks and cross-ventilation tricks really?
Summer Room Cooling Hacks: There is such torture of heat going on in North and Central India that the mercury is touching 45°C to 47°C. Those who are at home are somehow passing their time in the AC-cooler, but the real trouble has come on those school-college students and job persons who live in small rooms of hostels or PGs. Many hostels have neither cooler nor AC. At night the room becomes as hot as a concrete furnace and it becomes impossible to sleep. If you too are boiling in this scorching heat in your room without AC-cooler, then do not worry. Today we will tell you 5 such cheap and indigenous solutions, by adopting which you can reduce the temperature of your room considerably.
1. Understand the correct timing of windows and cross-ventilation
Most of the students keep the windows open throughout the day in summer, which is the biggest mistake. The heat outside in the afternoon makes your room even hotter. Before 8 am in the morning, completely close the windows and doors of your room and draw heavy curtains. Direct sunlight should not come into the room. After 6:30 in the evening, when the sun goes down and there is a light breeze outside, open the window. If your room has two windows or a door and window, open both so that there is ‘cross ventilation’ and the hot air trapped throughout the day can come out.
2. Make the air of table fan cool-cool
If you don’t have a cooler and just have a small table fan or ceiling fan, a hack will convert your fan into a mini-AC. Before sleeping at night, fill a large bowl or wide vessel with lots of ice cubes. Now place this vessel at a little height just in front of your table fan. When the air from the fan hits that snow and comes to you, it will be absolutely cool and pleasant. Due to this, the temperature of the room immediately drops by 2 to 3 degrees and you will be able to sleep comfortably.
3. Spraying water on floors and curtains
Concrete walls and floors absorb heat from sunlight throughout the day and release it at night, thereby heating the room. Therefore, in the evening, sprinkle cold water on the floor of your room and clean it with a mop. Apart from this, wet the cotton curtains on the window by sprinkling some water from a spray bottle. Due to this, when the outside air gets filtered through these wet curtains and comes inside the room, it will become completely cool. This is called ‘evaporative cooling’, which keeps your room cool naturally without electricity.
4. Change your sleeping pattern and bed
The mattress or bedsheet on which we sleep during summer also absorbs our body heat and makes us feel hotter. If you are sleeping on a thick synthetic or polyester mattress, remove it. Spread only a light sheet of 100% pure cotton on the bed. If the room is too hot, sleep by spreading a mat or thin cotton sheet on the floor instead of the bed. The ground is much cooler than the bed because hot air always rises upward and cold air remains below.
5. Keep yourself cool from within
Along with keeping the room cool, it is very important for your body to remain hydrated in this 45-47 degree heat. Instead of drinking expensive cold drinks, keep pot water, ORS solution or Sattu sherbet prepared in your room. Avoid going out in the afternoon and take care of your health.