Cool the person not the space: methods of doing it

    So I watched Wheaton on permaculture voices last night and then his 72 bricks video for like the fifth time, which is one of my favorites. I always liked the heat the person not the room idea and have applied that to my bedroom/work area. however I am in central california right outside of Sacramento in a town called Roseville, where the winter temps might get below freezing for  a few days a year, but the summer temps will stay at or above 95 for to two months. (we just had four of the last seven days get above 100 and its not the classic hot period quite yet).

       So I have been brainstorming and cant think of too many ways that one can cool a person and not a space. All I have is; jumping in a pool (not a fan of getting the carpet and my desk and chair wet), Using a fan (obvious and useful, but I have sensitive sinuses and this often causes a lot of pressure) and using a soaked buff ( which is like a light scarf that can go around the neck or head, this is my favorite currently).
   My more zany ideas were a cooling seat, maybe something like these ice water pumping units that are used in sports rehabs, or sometype of concrete chair that would suck the heat out of ones body.
   I was hoping to avoid lots of convection ( fans or moving air) as this would increase drying which is another major issue in this heat, and use less direct moisture as these applications wouldnt fair well in a majority of office settings and could lead to minor damage ( wet furniture, documents, clothing, creating mold and fungal issues). I know its a tough and precise request, but i know there are tons of creative and intelligent individuals on these boards, any and all input is welcome.

Cool vests:  http://www.coolvest.com/view-products/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

I was thinking of this in relation to food refrigeration.  

problems:
* if you cool the stuff, by having it in direct contact with the cooling coil, part of it freezes, part doesn't--nastiness
* putting bottled water in the fridge to fill in all the empty space essentially is already an application of this principle to a large extent...?

pluses:
* you are cooling a bunch of air with standard fridges, there should be real savings in bypassing the "middleman"

interesting points:
* it's all moot if you have an ice cave or wofati freezer perhaps or just a really cool root cellar (that's a really cool root cellar, man!), but as a transitional thing it might prove useful
* maybe there is somewhere else this principle could be applied
* maybe the principles of creating a frost pocket could be turned to good instead of evil  (Frost Pocket TM--a tasty snack for a hot summer day)

Something else to consider.  Many things (besides humans) benefit from cooling.  Electronic equipment (computers, wifi routers, etc.) will last MUCH longer if you keep them in a cool environment.  Something that might reasonably be expected to last 5-10 years at 'normal' room temperature (~70 deg F) might only last a few months at 90 deg F.

Many glues will soften at around 90 deg, batteries discharge faster (AA, etc.), texitiles (cotton cloth, paper, etc.) deteriorate faster, etc.

So when considering the savings from only cooling yourself, don't neglect to add in the extra costs for replacing some items that will fail sooner.

Tyler: That is a pretty cool product

Joshua: I definitely agree that thermal mass will help to a large extent, maybe having 5gal buckets of cool water in a room or to use as a seat will be effective.
I have thought recently about a fridge that opens from the top to alleviate some of the lost cold air whenever we open it ( 10+ times a day)
I guess using the air under your house as the intake for a fridge or A/C for that matter would decrease the load of those machines

Peter: I actually just put my laptop battery that i rarely use in the fridge as per my software engineer friends advice, and was then in the attic looking at all the things that are butted up against the uninsulated roof that get torched every summer and have no doubt degraded from that.

This is no theoretical question for me. As I write this I am draped in a wet sheet, trying to cool of enough to go to sleep after a long day of 102 degrees. My family and I have no a/c, no swamp cooler, but we do run our 12 volt fans nearly 24/7.

Over the next month or so the temperature will get over 115, as humidity rises steadily toward the rainy season that starts in June.

Most days it's an accomplishment that my family and I can still smile at each other at the end of the day. Sometimes we can't.

We cool the body through evaporation. When I work I tie a wet turban around my head and feel invincible. We shower 3 or 4 times a day. When we sleep, we lay wet clothes on our bare bodies with a 12 volt fan blowing on them. That works really well.

For bumming around a "frog cloth" around the shoulders or over the head works well.

Fundamentally though, this is about Molisson's  "niche in space and time". How do you fit in the niche of very hot weather? Office work certainly doesn't fit at all. To thrive in heat you have to reduce consumption--another nod to Molisson--in this case, consumption of your own energy. You have to dramatically reduce expectations of your own productivity.

That's got to be frustrating.  I can't imagine how you even think straight in that situation!

Not sure if you were looking for suggestions, but maybe cooler heads can think straighter...if you can dig down in the ground a meter or two you can get cooler.  I once walked into an ice cave in the middle of July--icicles.  So I know that the wofati freezer idea is not far-fetched.

Niche or not, you need to obtain a yield for yourself.

I think it was Mollison who talked about a village that had built in a solar air conditioning system by the arrangement of the houses.

For your own house, for the immediate, can you make something hot (black color) to draw air up and out of the house, creating a slight breeze?

This will be very drying, which is hard on the body, but at least will be temporary relief, and not worse than the fans.

Then you can dig, maybe at night...maybe wait for the cooler season?

Would this work?

Nathanael Szobody wrote:This is no theoretical question for me. As I write this I am draped in a wet sheet, trying to cool of enough to go to sleep after a long day of 102 degrees. My family and I have no a/c, no swamp cooler, but we do run our 12 volt fans nearly 24/7.

Over the next month or so the temperature will get over 115, as humidity rises steadily toward the rainy season that starts in June.

Most days it's an accomplishment that my family and I can still smile at each other at the end of the day. Sometimes we can't.

We cool the body through evaporation. When I work I tie a wet turban around my head and feel invincible. We shower 3 or 4 times a day. When we sleep, we lay wet clothes on our bare bodies with a 12 volt fan blowing on them. That works really well.

For bumming around a "frog cloth" around the shoulders or over the head works well.

Fundamentally though, this is about Molisson's  "niche in space and time". How do you fit in the niche of very hot weather? Office work certainly doesn't fit at all. To thrive in heat you have to reduce consumption--another nod to Molisson--in this case, consumption of your own energy. You have to dramatically reduce expectations of your own productivity.

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:

Not sure if you were looking for suggestions, but maybe cooler heads can think straighter.

That's a great idea! Thanks for plying the intellect.

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:if you can dig down in the ground a meter or two you can get cooler.  I once walked into an ice cave in the middle of July--icicles.  So I know that the wofati freezer idea is not far-fetched.

Yes, but that's in a climate with a cold winter. I dug down two meters to do just that. Cooler? Yes, but still plenty warm.

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote: I think it was Mollison who talked about a village that had built in a solar air conditioning system by the arrangement of the houses.

I think air conditioning may be an exaggeration. I also built my two house close together with overhanging roofs and shade arbors, in a configuration to help funnel the breeze. You can mitigate some of the intensity of the heat during the day, and that's nice, but if you don't have a positive mechanism for removing heat (evaporation, for instance) then you're not going to change more than 5 degrees.

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote: For your own house, for the immediate, can you make something hot (black color) to draw air up and out of the house, creating a slight breeze?

A solar chimney would create a breeze through the house--a real hot one! Our current strategy is to keep the house shut up tight during the day to preserve as much night time temperature as possible. And of course, a solar chimney wouldn't work at night. ..

My roof actually works as a solar chimney of sorts. The attic is a low pocket, and the roof is vented along the whole ridge and all around the sides. So air is moving through the attic all day, and that keeps the house from heating directly from the sun. Currently I'm working on surrounding the house with a thick hedge to get some serious evaporation going.

Meanwhile, we still focus on cooling the person with wet turbans and lots of showers.

Please keep the ideas coming! Cuz it's hot.

A weird idea that I have not tested yet, but might be worth trying if you have the option:
I am in a lot of pain, and I use muscle rub a lot. It's a mint based product, and it makes me SO COLD to put it on. I'm wondering  if a mint tea type infusion with water sprayed or wiped on would be cooler than just the water evaporation. I'm planning to try it soon.

Something I have always done for heat is another weird one: anything that thins the blood and increases circulation. Most cultures that are in hot areas eat a lot of chile of some sort, which has curcumin, which thins the blood so your body can lose heat easier. I take niacin pills in the summer, the "flush" that you get from it is the capillaries opening up and the blood flowing easier. Garlic (probably any alliums,) fish oil, ginger and walnuts are other foods I know right off. Worth looking up if you are interested. BE CAREFUL IF YOU ARE ON MEDICATION!! Thinning your blood changes the dose of meds your body is using, and can overdose you if you do it too fast and don't adjust meds dosages at the same time. I'd highly recommend a good naturopath if you are taking meds, to help you not over do it.

Pearl Sutton wrote:A weird idea that I have not tested yet, but might be worth trying if you have the option:
I am in a lot of pain, and I use muscle rub a lot. It's a mint based product, and it makes me SO COLD to put it on. I'm wondering  if a mint tea type infusion with water sprayed or wiped on would be cooler than just the water evaporation. I'm planning to try it soon.

Something I have always done for heat is another weird one: anything that thins the blood and increases circulation. Most cultures that are in hot areas eat a lot of chile of some sort, which has curcumin, which thins the blood so your body can lose heat easier. I take niacin pills in the summer, the "flush" that you get from it is the capillaries opening up and the blood flowing easier. Garlic (probably any alliums,) fish oil, ginger and walnuts are other foods I know right off. Worth looking up if you are interested. BE CAREFUL IF YOU ARE ON MEDICATION!! Thinning your blood changes the dose of meds your body is using, and can overdose you if you do it too fast and don't adjust meds dosages at the same time. I'd highly recommend a good naturopath if you are taking meds, to help you not over do it.

I think the mint idea is brilliant.  The cooling foods are mints, melons, cucumbers, and I'm sure others.  Anyone else have more to add?  

My experience has been that one of the best ways to keep cool is make sure I'm not carrying around extra body weight. When I'm overweight, I'm miserable in the heat, but when I'm at a healthy weight, my surface area-to-mass ratio improves, and I can dissipate heat better. Since I eat a high-fruit & vedge diet when I'm maintaining a healthy weight, the extra water and phytonutrients also help reduce inflammation, which in turn helps with staying cool.

I realize that excess weight isn't necessarily an issue for everyone on this thread.

Does mint actually provide cooling properties, or is it just a sensation? Similar to how a ghost pepper can't physically light you on fire even though you feel like you are on fire. I guess you could get some temperature sensors and try applying a few things to see what actually affects temperature. Water works to cool by evaporation; the water absorbs heat and then that heated water evaporates in to the air carrying away the heat. It could be that volatile compounds in mint oil evaporates off in a similar manner. I would just be very concerned with having the sensation of feeling cool while not actually lowering your body temperature. I keeled over with heat stroke last summer and trust me, you do not want to ignore the signals your body sends when it absolutely needs to cool down. I was always really good at hydrating and keeping my body cool, except for about 6-8 minutes last summer when I ignored symptoms thinking I would get out before anything bad happened. I got out and promptly smashed my head into a door as I went down. I survived, but I can't say the same for my glasses.

I have thought about this a lot, particularly using thermal mass for cooling instead of heating. My case may be different than others as I have a very long wet season throughout the summer and fall, and it still tends to be occasionally rainy during our so-called 'dry' winter season. Lots of rain plus lots of sun equals high evaporation to the point that the air gets saturated with humidity. Having lots of cold surfaces means condensation in an already wet environment, and all of the problems associated with mold and other life forms growing where you may not want them. Perhaps having a permeable surface, or using the ground to pre-chill (and dehumidify) fresh air intakes would be useful.

Protecting your shelter from the sun is vital if you are going to cool a person. You can try to cool someone all you want, but if the house bakes in the sun all day and radiates that heat back in to the living space all night, you are fighting an uphill battle. Nearly all houses I see built in the US have roofs designed like solar ovens. Clear out all of the shade trees and now you have a very efficient solar oven. That might be a good design for a cold climate, but a lot of energy gets burned needlessly trying to fight the sun with an air conditioner instead of with shade and good design.

I envision a design where part or all of the structure is either underground or surrounded by berms like a wofati. The entire structure well shaded from the sun as to not absorb any direct radiant heat from the sun if possible. I also really like the idea of doing something similar to a large irrigation cistern, and using that mass pumped through a radiator/heat exchanger to cool and dehumidify air before being ducted indoors. With the large amount of rainfall in my location, I could make use of that resource to condition air to reduce issues with condensation and mold. This idea could also be used to cool a bench or other thermal mass where a person sits. I'd imagine very arid regions would have much fewer problems with condensation, but may not be able to have a large amount of water stored all year long.

Another idea along those lines that could be used in some circumstances might be something similar to this:
12-feet-under-1000-square-feet-geothermal-pc-cooling_overclock.net
Except instead of cooling a computer, you could cool a chair or something. Or you could cool a computer to stop it from heating up your house. Or double the size of it and do both. If you are already planning earthworks then it could be easier to include plans for geothermal instead of digging exclusively for this kind of project.

I just really like the idea of using physical tons of mass to resist temperature changes. Massive benches, massive pillars, large water cisterns, lots of big masonry or recycled metal furniture. The current systems I see people using where they cool air, and the house soaks up heat all day is absurd. Especially at this time of year when it can get cooler outside at night than what people set their thermostat to, yet the AC runs all night because the mass of the house is saturated with heat, and people don't want to open windows and let all of the humidity inside. If they put efficiency ratings on houses the way they do on cars, it would make people think twice and save way more energy than squeezing out 1MPG extra from a car.

Wow, this is a fascinating conversation!

If there's a way to super-cool some liquid (dig down REALLY deep to get 50 degrees) and then drink that...that's going to cool your core temperature.

There's a way of making a hand-powered percussion drill that can be operated by a group of people (say 5 or so adults needed, maybe ten kids can do it if you have gaggles of kids around).  You can go down 300 feet with it if you have long enough rope--you basically just pull up a mass with a sharpish blade on the bottom and drop it, over and over and over.  You then can get a well not for your main waters supply but simply for cooling you.

Maybe we need a bit more background on what your current set up is?  I'm picturing a house dug into the ground with trees shading it, but only a little because they haven't grown over horizontally yet, and the sun is really vertical, is that accurate?

Could you get a plain old mirror, and put that on the top of your roof? or just make another layer of shade between sun and roof?

It's tricky, we in cold climate don't know what it's like to have all heat all the time, and you in your hot climate are so hot I worry you won't be able to think straight...but maybe it's not that bad now as you haven't gotten to the 115 degree days yet...I just get uncomfortable even thinking about it!  

So, can you give a brief sketch of the whole situation, either in words or in a line drawing, so we are starting on the right page?  thanks and good luck!

My house (at 2300 elevation, N.C. mountains) is always cool, especially in winter, when I need the heat!  Summers are nice though, as I never need AC.  In fact, I have to keep a light sweater by the door for when I come INTO the house.  It might get up to 90 outside and still 68 indoors.  Usually it is much cooler than that inside.  Bottom floor is a walk out basement, so earth bermed on two sides.  However, high humidity here makes mold grow, if you don't keep a dehumidifier constantly running and I don't like the electric use with that.  

The body heats up when you eat carbs, including sugars.  Eat sparingly in summer, enough to fill your nutritional needs, high on the fruits, veggies, and the body will stay cooler.  

If you are in a low humidity,  high heat enviroment, and you have plenty of water, evaporative cooling is the way to go.
If it wasn't so humid here I would cool my roof with grey water.

If you have lots and lots of water,  a radiator and fan combination can heat water and cool air at the same time.
The Build ItSolar website has great alternative cooling ideas,with good documentation.

Ive often thought decoupling the water and sun resistant qualities of a building skin from the insulative/thermal mass/air infiltration qualities would be a good idea.

I imagine a flat roofed ranch style building,with a water proof awning that covered the roof, plus  10 feet on every side.
Forget the water proofing  and find something that is just a sun shield for these purposes.

Something else  I've been thinking about is the earth tube.
Notorious for developing mold and mildew when atmospheric water vapor condenses on the smooth , sealed pipes,  there is another way to build them.
Season Heat Storage Greenhouses use corragated, perforated, black drain pipe.
The condensation is adsorbed into the soil and the soul life prevents the formatuon of mold or mildew.
Not suitable for  radon prone areas, it is useful otherwise.

I don't have the land for it, but I am noodling about a "thermal battery" built on similar lines.

An upward spiral of sealed pipe inside a watertank might work.
A consistent downward path for condensed water vapor would be key.
Fighting the buoyancy might be a pain.
A network of perforated  pipes in a IBC tote full of sand might work.

As to cooling the person,   I've worked a lot of outdoor jobs,and I've found true that you cannot work at the same pace as during cooler times,lest you die.
I be also found that a bag full of ice on the crotch is effective if your driving a forklift on an open dock, appearances  be damned.
Ice water inside good,  but on the neck, temple,pits, even better.

If you have a way to cool ice then that's great...do you have that?

but if not, do you have a super-cheap air conditioner?  an AC against your skin could give "conductive cooling" rather than convective......or maybe cool some water (be careful not to electrocute yourself!) that you keep your feet in...core temperature.  

I recall when I was in Burkina Faso one person on our trip drank hot tea, saying that Chinese medicine insists you need to drink warm liquids even when it's hot out (it was the winter but still about 100 F each day, I htink that's about 40 C).  So be careful about this...trust your body...but i would think that at 115 F you need any cooling you can get in any form possible.  balance is tantamount.  Chinese medicine is all about balance, as I understand it.  

Pissing more helps heat leave your body if the air temperature is less than 98.6 F...if it's above that, then you're losing "cool" (relatively) liquid from yourself. . .so, you might actually benefit from drinking your urine, if that's something you're comfortable with (I am aware the US Army Field Manual says never to do this even when no other water is accessible...opinions vary)

air conditioners and fridges work by a compressor and condensor, and need a coolant that changes phase from liquid to gas at a low temperature (much lower than the boiling point of water, anyway...) I'm wondering if there's a way to power the compressor with heat instead of electricity and the condensor too, cutting out the "middle man" of electricity.  need to learn how the compressor actually works next...if it worked, you could take a broken AC that hasnt' leaked out its coolant gas but whose compressor is broken and use that.

What kind of materials do you have access to? electricity? budget?

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:
Pissing more helps heat leave your body if the air temperature is less than 98.6 F...if it's above that, then you're losing "cool" (relatively) liquid from yourself. . .so, you might actually benefit from drinking your urine, if that's something you're comfortable with (I am aware the US Army Field Manual says never to do this even when no other water is accessible...opinions vary)

Foe the record, do not ever do that. Your body knows what is doing in getting rid of that stuff.

A/C runs on an electric motor--but now we're back to cooling the space...

The main thing is to drink lots of liquids and take it easy.

I am thinking of hooking up A/C, but it's going to take a very expensive solar system.

Nathanael Szobody wrote:I am thinking of hooking up A/C, but it's going to take a very expensive solar system.

Depends. It doesn't require a very powerful AC to chill a micro office bedroom space engineered to be a cool room to retreat into during intense heat.

I know I could get by fine on 3 feet by 7 feet by 7 feet if the room is well designed. (Larger if it's for a family of course.)

Nathanael Szobody wrote:

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:
Pissing more helps heat leave your body if the air temperature is less than 98.6 F...if it's above that, then you're losing "cool" (relatively) liquid from yourself. . .so, you might actually benefit from drinking your urine, if that's something you're comfortable with (I am aware the US Army Field Manual says never to do this even when no other water is accessible...opinions vary)

A/C runs on an electric motor--but now we're back to cooling the space...



The main thing is to drink lots of liquids and take it easy.

I am thinking of hooking up A/C, but it's going to take a very expensive solar system.

OK, but not cooling the space--put the cooling element right up against your body.  Or cool your drink with it.  Rig a fridge half-ass fridge with it to make cool drinks or at least cool liquid you can pour over your head and dip your feet in.

Drinking liquids won't help you if you have no way to cool them...they will be at 115 F, the ambient temperature...not helping.  Do you have a fridge?? need more context to be able to give helpful answers here.

Please write to Paul if you don't get a satisfactory answer (been more than 48 hours from your asking your question...) Though again we need a picture of your whole setup...have you ever posted that before so we could just look at it and get up to speed? or if you have a camera take a picture?  thanks.

One last thought, Alexandrian inhibition can help you feel more comfortable and also use a little less muscular activation, thus lowering your body's temperature contribution to the situation.  It's a challenge to teach this over text, but if you can get a copy of Frank Pierce Jones's Freedom to Change (also published as Body Awareness in Action) that will give clarity.  Have a friend help you with hands-on feedback, or find a tree that has some branches at head height and stand so that it touches the back of your head and gives you a point of reference for inhibiting unnecessary muscular patterns in the activity of standing.  This gives you a sense of what's possible, what you can carry into other activities.  The main benefit is really that it allows you to cease nearly universal habitual uncomfortable kinesthetic reactions to the stimulus of being overheated, so you will still be overheated but won't be adding unnecessary frustration to it.

Alexander's discoveries are very much like permaculture principles applied to the self (body-mind).  Zones negative one through negative seven or so, depending how you count them.  I've certainly noticed the change when I inhibit my reaction to cold, haven't paid as much attention to heat but it's not as much of an issue in New England.  

Oh, also that reminds me, the Wim Hoff thing, a way of building up tolerance for cold...could it work backwards, to build up a tolerance for heat?  by applying hot water to the back of your neck and getting used to that...

Kyrt Ryder wrote:

Nathanael Szobody wrote:I am thinking of hooking up A/C, but it's going to take a very expensive solar system.

Depends. It doesn't require a very powerful AC to chill a micro office bedroom space engineered to be a cool room to retreat into during intense heat.

I know I could get by fine on 3 feet by 7 feet by 7 feet if the room is well designed. (Larger if it's for a family of course.)

Yeah, I'm only going to cool one room, but the smallest A/C in country is slightly under 1000 watts. And the smallest I've ever seen is 800 watts. Running constantly, that's suit a decent amount of power.

I do have a solar powered freezer, so thankfully we have cold water to drink. It works real hard to keep up though; it's really more of a fridge in this season.

We also float bottles of water in a pottery jar, and that is decent drinking temperature.

If we're up on it, we put bottles in the jar over night, and then switch them to the freezer in the morning so it doesn't have to work as hard.

Daniel Schmidt wrote:Does mint actually provide cooling properties, or is it just a sensation?

I don't know.

Thinking on it, my theory is it probably opens up the capillaries in the area, which is why it helps with pain and inflammation, and that would actually allow excess heat to dissipate. Can't prove it. I know though, that when I'm hurting bad and do muscle rub all over, I get so cold I shake, even in a warm bed or warm clothes.

I am planning to experiment with the tea idea very soon, it's warming up here, finally, after my baby berry bushes got snowed on two days after I planted them on a 75 degree day....  I'll keep y'all up on what I learn.

OK, getting my head wrapped around this a little more.  When it's over 100 F, breathe less.  Same answer as for keeping warm when it's cold...because it maintains your core temperature (which we hope is 98F).  Every breath you take is heat-exchanging with the 115F outside you...

Shading, digging a well, putting frozen things directly on your body vs. cooling the air, all of this should add up and help...

Are any of the ideas we've thrown out there working for you? which ones are best?  
Good luck!

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:OK, getting my head wrapped around this a little more.  When it's over 100 F, breathe less.  Same answer as for keeping warm when it's cold...because it maintains your core temperature (which we hope is 98F).  Every breath you take is heat-exchanging with the 115F outside you...

As comical as that might sound to some, that is basically what I was suggesting when I said that you have to dramatically reduce expectations of productivity. You learn to work efficiently, work on only what's necessary, don't worry about the messy kitchen,  etc.

Well, with that said, I'm off to dig a swale

Some cool-the-person-not-the-space tricks I've used in the past...

For cooling overnight while sleeping...

Gather an old/used styrofoam cooler, large enough to hold a gallon jug with a bit of extra space, an empty gallon (or half gallon) milk jug, a small  aquarium air pump, about 10 feet of air line, an air diffuser stone and a small towel.

Fill the gallon jug with water, leave about an inch of airspace at the top, squeeze it so that there is no air space and cap it.  Place it in the freezer.
Cut a small hole or notch in the side of the cooler, near the top edge; in such a manner that the cooler top can still be put onto the cooler.  The hole needs to be just large enough for the air line and the air pump's power cord to fit through with the top on.
Once gallon jug is frozen, place it inside the cooler, with the air pump beside it on the bottom. (Cold air falls, we need the jug to cool the air, and then the air pump to suck up that chilled air)
Run the air line (with air stone installed) under the summer sheet near the foot of your bed, with the airstone located near where your feet would be.  Wrap the airstone in the towel. (Some condensation will occur)  It is necessary that the summer sheet remain tucked into the mattress at the foot of the bed and along the sides.  We want the chilled air to pass, slowly, from your feet, up past your body, and out the sheet near your neck.  The air won't really feel "cold", in part because the air is partially reheated as it passes through the air pump & the air line, but it will feel cool because it will be very dry, so your body's own cooling method (evaporation) works very effectively.  In the morning, there will be some amount of condensate water in the bottom of the cooler, so either choose an air pump that can take it, or lift it up an inch or two somehow.

I've never tried this using a plastic sheet over top of the summer sheet, which might improve the ability to contain the airflow.

If you live in a very dry climate, you might be able to skip the frozen jug by bubbling intake air through a small water jug, (thus acting as a swamp-cooler) but this would require you to build a small water bubblier jug with sealed input and output air ports.  This technique would be viable for off-grid living using a battery powered air pump.  I live in a humid area, so I've never tried it this way.  The

For keeping cool during daytime....

You could use the above technique to cool a small room, about the size of a closet, but I don't know how effective it would be.

Most of the time I use a small spray bottle, from Walmart for $1, and keep myself misted up.  I have a genetic disorder that prevents me from sweating in any normal fashion; so this is necessary for me to avoid heat injury.

A small mister and mist pump would work for outdoor work areas under shade.

Also, don't work in the heat of the day.  Take a long break during lunch, perhaps a nap; like the Europeans near the Med would do prior to air conditioning.  If you can do work after dark, by artificial lighting or whatever, plan to work a few hours after sundown in the cool; or better yet, set your alarm and get up extra early in the cool of the morning.

Early to bed, early to rise?

I hate being too hot.  (I also hate being too cold, and my optimal temperature range is about 68-72 degrees.  Life is hard. )  I also used to like going to Burning Man.  These things have worked for me, in a hot arid environment:

--Cool Vests really are awesome - pair them with the bandanna and wristlets for optimum usage.  Buy at least 2 sets so one can be sitting in the bucket soaking up water while you're wearing the other.  They will give you 1 minute of "OMG dying of cold", 30 minutes of "this is quite nicely cool" and another hour or so of "ok, moderately more comfortable than not wearing them."
--They also sell the powder that's inside the vests, so you can make your own garments.  I made a cute Victorian bodice filled with the stuff and a bustle out of my water pack.  Bonus:  I got to carry around a parasol, which also helps.
--Lightweight but covering clothes.  Long robes, head coverings, the like, out of cotton/silk/linen.  This isn't for modesty, this is to block the sun.  Hats help too.
--Shade.  "Hard" shade is thrown by buildings, cars, mountains,... and is 1000% better than "soft" shade, like from trees or awnings.  Trees and awnings are still worth it, though.
--Water.  As cold as you can get it, as much as you can drink.  With electrolytes/coffee/fruit at least some of the time so you don't get water poisoning.
--Spray bottles.  You and your stuff will be annoyingly sodden all the time.  Worth it.  Reapply your sunscreen.
--Sunscreen.  Sunburned skin cannot regulate temperature - you will be miserable in the heat AND in the cold when the sun goes down.  And sunburn hurts.
--Siesta.  Just accept that X hours during the day you can't do anything but try desperately to rest in whatever shade you can find.  Maybe you can make it up after dark.

Here's what we've been doing to fight this heatwave (104F/40C in the pacific northwest, with tomorrow being 5 degrees hotter. Our previous high was 101F).

To keep the heat out

- wool blankets hung in all the windows --I just drape them over the existing curtain rode

- wool blankets or other blankets draped on top of the curtain rod itself so the heat can't escape up. One of our rooms had a wooden thing on top of the curtain (can't remember the name for that), and it works rather well.

- literally stuck an old door in front of our only western window (the kitchen window) to shade it. This has helped a TON. The heat used to pour in through that window.

- plant shade vines/trees to shade the windows and side of the house. A shady porch or large overhand would help, too (sadly, neither of these would likely work with our short manufactured home)

- turn off all unnecessary appliances. Don't use the TV, turn off extra computers, don't use the toaster or oven or incandecent lights or dryer or stove. Cook outside or eat cold food. Don't pay to both heat AND cool the house.

- if possible, save showers/dishwasher usage until after the worst of the heat. You don't want the extra heat and humidity from a hot shower, especially if you're in a humid area. Wipe down with a wet cloth, or take cold showers/baths. Don't add humidity if you are in a humid area.

To cool the house/self:

- open all the windows at night once it's cooler outside than inside. If there's no natural breeze, use fans to blow air from one side of the house to the other. Close windows and fans once it's hotter outside than inside. Close and curtain any windows that the sun is hitting.

- if necessary, make one room the "cold room." The normal measures we take work when it only gets to 85 or 90 F, but can't combat over 100F temps. So we stuck an AC unit in our kids' room to have one cold room for them to stay safe and cool in.

- save shopping trips for hot days, and leave the house during the hot part of the day to use the AC at the mall, supermarket, etc. Return home once it's cooled down enough outside.

- wear cool clothes--shorts, T-shirt/tanktop, summer dresses, etc. Don't let your kids run around in his favorite sweater and sweatpants.

- drink cool beverages and cold food.

- blow a fan at yourself, especially in humid/hot areas

- wear wide-brimmed hats outside!

- give yourself time to cool down before going back out in the heat or into the hotter parts of the house.

- keep everyone calm. This especially applies to kids/babies. Once they start crying/fussing, they can really over heat. So read them stories, show them videos/games on low-energy devices like Ipads, play board games they like, give them toys they haven't seen in a while, etc.

I think that's everything, but my kids are hot and keep needing me, so I gotta go (gotta keep them cool and calm!)

I do not like being hot, but when I work or hike in the heat, my main tactic is to wet anywhere blood flow is close to the skin (scalp, face, ears, neck, joints feet and hands). This makes a huge difference. Our corotid is so close to the surface despite the danger that entails primarily for cooling blood to the brain. The garb of hot weather cultures like turbans make a lot of sense. A white shirt also keeps one much cooler than bare skin. Ironically, as much as cold water feels better to drink, body temperature water hydrates us he most effectively. Just like how warm drinks don’t actually significantly warm us due to the mass of our bodies being so much more than what we drink/eat( it would be the calories therein doing the real warming) , cold drinks don’t have a noticeable effect on our body temperature. Of course I still prefer it cold.

I tried the wet cloth trick, putting a giant, thin white damp blanket on top of my hat while outside (it's an old swaddling cloth blanket). This felt nice when it was low-humidity outside, but most of the day was super humid, and feeling wet just made me feel hotter. I wish we had dry heat! (I'm sure my garden is grateful for the 40-70% humidity out there, but I'm not!)

I feel for everyone with extreme heat these days. We are in a hot spell ourselves but that actually only means temps around 30 degrees Celsius (high 80s).
However, the last years have been increasingly hot so keeping cool is more and more important, especially for the old and sick.

Our houses stay mostly comfortably if we air in the morning. Normal family homes are made of bricks here (bricks with holes in them for better insulation), and basically all houses have a basement below the surface. So if you feel very hot (and our bedroom in the attic can get very hot) you could sleep downstairs or even in the basement. No ACs used here.

As I have mentioned before, I lived part of my youth in the Middle East in the Tropics (temps over 45 degrees C). Before relocating, the Tropical Institute had to "check" us if our health was appropiate. We also got the advice to take sodium tablets against heat strike.
So as someone mentioned, drinking alone does not do the trick if you don't replace the minerals. There are many recipes for isotonic drinks out there so make sure you have one on hand.
And in all arab countries hot tea is served to combat the heat. Your body needs energy (thus creating heat) if it has to cool down the drink to reach body temperature (although personally would also drink cold drinks on a hot day).
Or eat plenty of gazpacho (cold vegetable soup) as the Spaniards do, you get lots of minerals, vitamins, plus some carbs and protein, depending on the garnish.
I can also agree on the right garments. Light both in colour and texture and flowy. I don't like shorts in heat (and they don't protect against sun or bugs).

One word on ACs: Please don't take this as arrogant or US bashing, but I suspect that many people (not necessarily those on Permies) are too pampered regarding heat tolerance. In the Middle East, the biggest Expat population was US. Malls and restaurants were cooled to an extreme so that we always had to take cardigans and shawls. Not amusing at all.
I guess I already told the anecdote when we got an US CEO for our Munich office and the first thing he wanted was AC for the office and a Coke vending machine (none of these were implemented).
Of course now with the extreme heat an AC is a blessing, but if people accepted a somewhat warmer home it would not only save huge amounts of energy but also be easier to adapt to summer heat.

I would have posted a caricature of a typical German sweating at his desk with his feet in a bucket of cold water and probably a knotted damp handkerchief on his head but haven't found one.
So take this one : Heat + Work is shit²

Regarding mint, I know bee balm / wild bergamot (in the mint family) is traditionally used for its cooling effect in my little corner of the world, as a drink or by chewing the fresh leaves. Whether it actually cools or just makes one feel cooler, I don't know or really care, since there is relief either way. Mint is also cooling when applied topically - my kids liked to be spritzed with minty water on hot days, when they were younger (from a spray bottle).

My great-grandmother taught me to run cold water over my wrists (or dunk my hands and lower arms in cold water) to help cool off.  It does work, but you have to keep doing it -- hard to work that way!  But the siesta is a good, and traditional, means of coping with hot afternoons.

To make it easier to get to sleep, I often take a cool shower right before going to bed.  I also have a fan blowing on my bed (we don't have AC).  Ceiling fans help a lot, and the circulating air helps prevent some of the mold we get in the humidity here.

Lots of good ideas here. I don't want to repeat what has already been said. We do several of the things that have been mentioned already, so I just want to throw out a couple of things we do that I haven't seen mentioned yet. First we have a 2 story home plus a walk out basement. The ac went out upstairs but the basement stays around 68 even in this heat.

So First we set up the office where my husband spends most of his time in the basement. The other thing we do at night so we can sleep (bedrooms are all upstairs), is we have a laundry shoot from the upstairs to the basement (when the house was built 40 years ago I guess they did the laundry down there),so I open the door to the laundry shoot upstairs and put a fan in front of it the pull the cool air out of the basement.

I appreciate everything that has been posted, some of the things we do and some things I'm definitely going to try. Stay cool

Another long term method I’ve used is to train the body to be able to handle stress better. Changing breathing patterns completely modifies the way our bodies react to extreme heat.

I try to do this at least 3 times a day:



In time I’ve conditioned myself, specially when I’m outdoors working in the farm, to switch the way I breath to constantly match something closer to the WHM and in my experience it helps a lot.

Thanks for all those tips, awesome thread!

I think the most effective wet cloth is a wet bandana tied around the neck or wrist- lots of blood vessels near the surface for heat transfer. You can keep cloths in a bowl of water in the fridge and swap them out.

There are also bandanas available or that you can make that are like a tube filled with a water-holding gel. Those can help keep you cool for much longer before recharging.

Nicole, I think the wooden thing over the top of your windows is called a pelmet. Used to be fairly common in older houses. My parents  had them in their house that was built in 1914.  Useful for trapping summer heat on the outside if paired with heavy curtains.

I'm kinda surprised henna hasn't been mentioned yet, the original purpose of henna tattooing was to cool the body off! My wife swears by painting the bottom of the feet to get cool quick!

This morning while out watering livestock and potted tree nursery, I upgraded my heat wave ensemble with a wet tea towel over the head. Was easier to take this off to re wet with the hose than spraying myself in the face to re wet a bandana.

I have been walking around the house and comparing temperatures inside and outside doors and windows with the digital meat thermometer to decide what to open or close and whether to pull air in with the fan or vent it out.

I also have two hot water bottles partly filled with water in the freezer. Gave my daughter one at bedtime last night. Sitting with one now after coming in from watering and chores, for a quick cooling off.

There's a pot of sun tea brewing out on the deck. Might as well put all that thermal energy to use.

The lemon tree is putting on dozens of new leaves. At least someone is enjoying this weather.

Whoa! Do you know why it works? Is it the henna itself? Been reading about the art of henna and how much the mixture and designs matter into the healing and mastery of it. It is super cool that it is cooling!