Cooling down a room

[dissolute ocelot]

Simply make a silicone mould of the blades of a desk fan, and replace the blades with frozen ones.

Then enjoy the locked room mystery after you're killed by one of them flying off!

[Zero Gravitas]

That said I'm not really any good when it comes to DIY, so if anyone knows how to do such a thing really simply it'd be enormously appreciated.

Its my understanding that by design those vents walk a fine line between a hermetically sealed house full of mould and failing energy efficiency standards assesments.

So I'd naively think attempting to duct a air-conditioner's worth of humid air out of them would be pushing them past their limits.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Its my understanding that by design those vents walk a fine line between a hermetically sealed house full of mould and failing energy efficiency standards assesments.

So I'd naively think attempting to duct a air-conditioner's worth of humid air out of them would be pushing them past their limits.

Ah. that's a shame, I guess I'll just have to go down the cooler road again, but try and find ones which are a bit sturdier and get about five of them.

[Ambient Sheep]

I'm sorry to hear that my recommended gadgets broke. :-(  Never happened to ours.  Maybe you just got a bad batch.

Hope you get something better sorted out soon.

[Dr Rock]

How do you cool a room with a fan?

    Use a second fan, placed inwards, to circulate cool air into the room. Place a bucket or bowl of ice in front of your fan to create a homemade air conditioning unit. As the air passes over the ice, it will circulate chilled, refreshingly cold air around the room.

Chill out without a fan

If your budget doesn't stretch to a fan, these classic cooling tricks will help chill you out on hot days.

    Switch to 100% breathable cotton bedsheets and wear cotton pyjamas.
    Fill your hot water bottle with ice cold water.
    Avoid too much caffeine and alcohol (sorry!).
    Hang a wet sheet in front of an open window so that the trapped breeze brings down the room temperature.
    Bathe your feet and wrists with cold water.
    Spritz yourself with a plant mister.
    Rub a menthol stick on your forehead.
    Use a fridge-cooled flannel or icepack to help you cool down!

[touchingcloth]

The enthalpy of evaporation is the reason why sweating works to cool you down, so to coo yourself down significantly you could simply try having a MASSIVE WANK

[Small Man Big Horse]

I'm sorry to hear that my recommended gadgets broke. :-(  Never happened to ours.  Maybe you just got a bad batch.

Hope you get something better sorted out soon.

Well it saved my sanity last year so I don't mind too much, and like you say must have just got a bad batch. I see they have a couple of other similar-ish products, so might give one of them a go.

How do you cool a room with a fan?

    Use a second fan, placed inwards, to circulate cool air into the room. Place a bucket or bowl of ice in front of your fan to create a homemade air conditioning unit. As the air passes over the ice, it will circulate chilled, refreshingly cold air around the room.

Chill out without a fan

If your budget doesn't stretch to a fan, these classic cooling tricks will help chill you out on hot days.

    Switch to 100% breathable cotton bedsheets and wear cotton pyjamas.
    Fill your hot water bottle with ice cold water.
    Avoid too much caffeine and alcohol (sorry!).
    Hang a wet sheet in front of an open window so that the trapped breeze brings down the room temperature.
    Bathe your feet and wrists with cold water.
    Spritz yourself with a plant mister.
    Rub a menthol stick on your forehead.
    Use a fridge-cooled flannel or icepack to help you cool down!

Thanks for the above too, I'd heard of the ice in front of a fan suggestion and really need to give that a shot.

[touchingcloth]

If you can't find a plant mister, I've found you can also get good results by misting yourself with a plant spritzer.

[Zero Gravitas]

Ah. that's a shame, I guess I'll just have to go down the cooler road again, but try and find ones which are a bit sturdier and get about five of them.

"window jam air conditioning duct"

There are plenty of baffles and converters that allow you to convert a window-jam into an escape for the air, I just don't think going through the trickle vents is the one to go for.

Personally I'm all still about that big fan life.

[imitationleather]

Get a dead body in there. They soak in the heat. Why else did Des Nilsen fill his place with them?

[Dr Rock]

Can't you have a kitchen window open? You shouldn't be paying rent to have a room that is unbearable to exist in.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

I'd move tbh. It sounds rubbish.

[thenoise]

2nded. You need to be as casual about your living spaces as you are with your women. Your living space is treating you badly and you deserve better! It's not short notice any more so research it properly and find somewhere really nice.

[thenoise]

SERIOUS ANSWER:
Pop a few ice cubes up your botty-hole and eat baked beans for dinner.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Can't you have a kitchen window open?

I can but it's often pretty noisy in there (it's sort of half kitchen and half lounge, a huge room with a tv, sofa and two armchairs by my window, and then a large dining room table and three big fridge freezers, etc, etc) and the people here work a lot of different shifts, I tried having the window open the first summer I was here but was woken up multiple times during the night.

You shouldn't be paying rent to have a room that is unbearable to exist in.

Yeah, I found out last year that it's illegal to have a room without a window which gives access to outside air, and theoretically I could get 10 months worth of rent back. But that would also mean I almost certainly wouldn't get a reference from them, and I don't know how to go about the legal side of things.

I'd move tbh. It sounds rubbish.

I am trying to, but it's proving to be exhausting, there's so many adverts where the maximum age is 40 or 45 (and I'm 49 in a couple of months) and sometimes even as low as 28 or 30, and then there's the ones which I am age appropriate for, and it sounds perfect, only to read the final words of the ad which states they only wish to rent to a female (which I completely understand, but so wish they'd put it at the top of the page). I've lost count of the emails sent and the answer phone messages I've left as well, and so so far only received two responses saying sorry, but they've found someone now.

[Dr Rock]

I can but it's often pretty noisy in there (it's sort of half kitchen and half lounge, a huge room with a tv, sofa and two armchairs by my window, and then a large dining room table and three big fridge freezers, etc, etc) and the people here work a lot of different shifts, I tried having the window open the first summer I was here but was woken up multiple times during the night.

What about really good earplugs?

[Huxleys Babkins]

Get a Meaco 1056 fan. We got one last summer and it was a fucking godsend. Expensive for a fan (£110!), but it has timers, a remote control, but most importantly the amount of air it moves is ridiculous and it's so quiet compared to anything else on the market.



Forget Gouty, that's the fucking king, right there.

[Small Man Big Horse]

"window jam air conditioning duct"

There are plenty of baffles and converters that allow you to convert a window-jam into an escape for the air, I just don't think going through the trickle vents is the one to go for.

Personally I'm all still about that big fan life.

My window is one which opens outwards, so it'd have to be a huge bastard of a window jam, at a guess it's two foot by three foot, and I couldn't find one that size when I did an admittedly brief search just now.

What about really good earplugs?

I used some about 15 years ago when living in Queen's Park when I had a noisy shit of a neighbour and they did really help, but unfortunately I now have pretty unpleasant tinnitus, so when I tried them a couple of years ago I couldn't sleep with ear plugs in. And I know, I'm a very irritating human being and am getting pretty fucking tired of how difficult this stupidity is, and really wish I'd chosen more wisely when moving last time. And I do appreciate the suggestions you (and everyone else in the thread) as made, it's extremely kind and thoughtful of you all.

Get a Meaco 1056 fan. We got one last summer and it was a fucking godsend. Expensive for a fan (£110!), but it has timers, a remote control, but most importantly the amount of air it moves is ridiculous and it's so quiet compared to anything else on the market.



Forget Gouty, that's the fucking king, right there.

I think that plus a couple of cheap(ish) air coolers might be the way to go, hopefully combined with the fans I already have (and putting one near a bucket of ice will make the room bearable.

[flotemysost]

I am trying to, but it's proving to be exhausting, there's so many adverts where the maximum age is 40 or 45 (and I'm 49 in a couple of months) and sometimes even as low as 28 or 30, and then there's the ones which I am age appropriate for, and it sounds perfect, only to read the final words of the ad which states they only wish to rent to a female (which I completely understand, but so wish they'd put it at the top of the page). I've lost count of the emails sent and the answer phone messages I've left as well, and so so far only received two responses saying sorry, but they've found someone now.

Having recently had to go through the rigmarole of finding a new flatmate, I'd far rather there were more people in their 40s on SpareRoom than the bewildering number of -25 year olds who gladly declare their depressingly huge salaries and seem to be looking for a CENTRAL LONDON PARTY FLAT!!! Mate I'm basically exhausted all the time these days, I don't think this is the place for you. (Found someone via a mutual friend in the end, so that's nice.)

All the best and hope something comes of it soon for you SMBH, as you say it can often be a tiring and demoralising process, not helped by the current insanity around rent hikes, estate agents instigating bidding wars, etc.

I really wish people who don't live in flatshares would stop acting like flat sharing with strangers as adults is without exception this wonderful experience where you're always hanging out with your bestie buds - I mean I've been very very fortunate in my situations, have met people who've remained really good friends and I currently live with someone great, but let's not pretend that (for many people) it's not a symptom of how fucked our housing situation is.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Having recently had to go through the rigmarole of finding a new flatmate, I'd far rather there were more people in their 40s on SpareRoom than the bewildering number of -25 year olds who gladly declare their depressingly huge salaries and seem to be looking for a CENTRAL LONDON PARTY FLAT!!! Mate I'm basically exhausted all the time these days, I don't think this is the place for you. (Found someone via a mutual friend in the end, so that's nice.)

All the best and hope something comes of it soon for you SMBH, as you say it can often be a tiring and demoralising process, not helped by the current insanity around rent hikes, estate agents instigating bidding wars, etc.

I really wish people who don't live in flatshares would stop acting like flat sharing with strangers as adults is without exception this wonderful experience where you're always hanging out with your bestie buds - I mean I've been very very fortunate in my situations, have met people who've remained really good friends and I currently live with someone great, but let's not pretend that (for many people) it's not a symptom of how fucked our housing situation is.

Thank you for that, and I'm 100% in agreement with what you've said there, where I live currently is the first time I've been on friendly terms with the people I live with (and even been out to a couple of comedy nights with one of them), but in previous houses I've suffered from the various nightmarish scenarios which seem all too common when sharing a house (housemates playing music until 4am, slamming doors repeatedly, and having screaming arguments with their partners for what seems like hours, etc, etc, etc,) which is why I was hoping I could resolve this issue without moving.

I think I'm going to just fill my room up with fans and coolers and still look for somewhere new, but doing it this way will hopefully mean the moving side of things will be less stressful and that I can stay in the area, as I've become oddly fond of Walthamstow...

[Small Man Big Horse]

Get a Meaco 1056 fan. We got one last summer and it was a fucking godsend. Expensive for a fan (£110!), but it has timers, a remote control, but most importantly the amount of air it moves is ridiculous and it's so quiet compared to anything else on the market.



Forget Gouty, that's the fucking king, right there.

I just wanted to say thank you for the above recommendation, I received mine on Monday and it's made a big difference. I'm not using it during the day right now as a normal fan is doing the job, but I put it on about half an hour before bed and it's definitely helped a lot, and I've been sleeping a lot more comfortably this week, and for longer, too. I reckon come the summer I'll need a couple of air coolers as well, but with that combined it'll mean I can take my time looking for somewhere else to live instead of doing so in a desperate manner.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Glad that's made life a bit more bearable for you.

MEACO = THE ABSOLUTE BOYS

[Small Man Big Horse]

Glad that's made life a bit more bearable for you.

MEACO = THE ABSOLUTE BOYS

Plus if anyone ever breaks in I'm pretty sure I could smash theie head off with just one swipe, ensuring they never commit another crime again.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Take the guard off and then mince fuck out of their face.