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I am in the same room as the air conditioner, it's right behind me. It's blowing cold air. I'm on the second floor of an apartment building, the outside is brick and the roof is a fresh flat rubber roof. My apartment in particular sees 100% of the day's sunlight. It has been 90F and sunny for the last 2 days. The air conditioner kept it at 73F most of the day, but when the sun goes down it only gets hotter in here. You see, the bricks absorb the heat all day, then discharge it inward at night. It doesn't dissipate outward, only inward it seems. My outside walls are warm.

I'm sitting still, in basketball shorts and a tshirt with the sleeves cut off, and I am sweating.

We have a second portable air conditioner, but the compressor stopped running at the end of last summer. Now the fucker doesn't even power on. It's well out of warranty.

Fuck me, I'm getting desperate.
I am in the same room as the air conditioner, it's right behind me. It's blowing cold air. I'm on the second floor of an apartment building, the outside is brick and the roof is a fresh flat rubber roof. My apartment in particular sees 100% of the day's sunlight. It has been 90F and sunny for the last 2 days. The air conditioner kept it at 73F most of the day, but when the sun goes down it only gets hotter in here. You see, the bricks absorb the heat all day, then discharge it inward at night. It doesn't dissipate outward, only inward it seems. My outside walls are warm. I'm sitting still, in basketball shorts and a tshirt with the sleeves cut off, and I am sweating. We have a second portable air conditioner, but the compressor stopped running at the end of last summer. Now the fucker doesn't even power on. It's well out of warranty. Fuck me, I'm getting desperate.

28 comments

[–] Boukert 6 points (+6|-0)

Sooo how hot is that in grown up degrees?
[–] jidlaph 0 points (+0|-0)

25.5C

Stayed around 22C almost all day.

It has been 32C outside.
[–] Hitchens 2 points (+2|-0)

Keep your feet cool. No other advice to give you but to go soak your feet in a cold tub for a minute.

Is this your first summer in this apartment?

[–] E-werd [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

No, this is my... ninth? I'll have been here 8 years end of June (2010), so including that summer.

This is about par, but at least the last 2 years we had 2 air conditioners--1 in the living room, 1 in our bedroom. When it gets this hot AND sunny, then we have this problem.
[–] TheUnwantedMan 2 points (+2|-0)

For what it's worth here's my Top 10 suggestion on how to get control of the heat.

  1. Get an Infrared Thermometer and check your walls ceilings to find where exactly the heat is coming from.
  2. Get a Digital Humidity meter and determine what the relative humidity is in your apt. The more moisture in the air the more you will "feel" the heat.
  3. Replace your light bulbs with LEDs to reduce heat generated from incandescent bulbs.
  4. A bowl of ice placed in front of a fan is a cheap DIY 'Swamp Cooler'
  5. Install blackout curtains to reflect heat during the day.
  6. Check all exterior doors/windows for leakage. You want to seal in as much cool air as possible.
  7. Turn off all electronics that are unnecessary. Everything that is powered on is dissipating heat.
  8. If you have a ceiling fan set it to run counter clockwise. This will pull the heat up and off of you spreading it across the ceiling and back down the walls.
  9. Pick up the clutter. Piles of clothing and other kinds of clutter absorb heat and keep it trapped in the room. The less clutter you have in the room, the more available space there is for the heat to disperse and the faster it will cool down.
  10. Position a box fan in an open window, facing out. The fan will pull hot air out of the room and transfer it outside.
[–] E-werd [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

Wow, man, nice comprehensive comment.

Replace your light bulbs with LEDs to reduce heat generated from incandescent bulbs.

I was going to start doing this when I realized the LED bulbs I was going to use to replace my existing CFL bulbs actually require a few more watts. I assume higher wattage means more heat, so I just held off on that. The color temperature and lumen rating aren't equivalent and I'm happy with what I've got. My wife was able to get some free kit with a bunch of bulbs in it, so it's not like I ordered them--maybe I could do slightly better if I got direct equivalents.

Install blackout curtains to reflect heat during the day.

I've got these in the living room where my AC is. They only seem to help a little, mostly they trap that warm air between the curtain and the window. I guess that sort of helps.

Check all exterior doors/windows for leakage. You want to seal in as much cool air as possible.

That's going to be an issue, I've certainly tried to in the past. I end up only succeeding at making the door harder to close. This door has a past--apparently a previous tenant had a drug deal go south and this door got kicked in. The landlord basically glued it back together.

Pick up the clutter.

This is definitely a big issue, I've noticed before that it helps. I'll have to get on my wife and daughter to help me accomplish that goal.

Position a box fan in an open window, facing out. The fan will pull hot air out of the room and transfer it outside.

Hm, I should try that and see if it actually helps in the bedroom, the furthest spot from the AC unit.
[–] TheUnwantedMan 1 points (+1|-0)

One other thing I thought of is if you have a water heater instead of a basement boiler. If you have a water heater in your apt, get a water heater blanket this should keep the heat in and reduce the amount of heat it puts out to keep your water hot.
[–] smallpond 1 points (+1|-0)

I found soaking the upper half of my t-shirt in water, giving it a light wring, then putting it on would help.
[–] unabashed_centrist 1 points (+1|-0) Edited

Wow...that's crazy. What's the square footage of the room you're in, and how many BTUs is that AC rated at? Those two things can make a world of difference, even if you're basically sitting in a brick oven.

If it's cooler outside than in, flip it to fan only and try to pull some of that cool air inside the room.
[–] E-werd [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

12,000 BTU, casement windows so it has to be special or portable.

This room is about a normal size for a living room, maybe 16 by 12 or so? The kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and hallway to another bedroom and laundry room all intersect at the far corner of the room. We can usually at least keep this room cool and the others tolerable, but when it gets like this outside... it just doesn't.

Outside still isn't cooler than inside--not by much, but still warmer and more humid outside.
[–] unabashed_centrist 1 points (+1|-0)

There is no reason for that...you should be making an igloo in there.

It sounds like you know your shit, so I hesitate to mention things like cleaning the filter or checking the coolant (depending on the unit you have, it might not even be an option). If it's blowing cool air at you, you might try hanging a blanket in the doorway at the far side of the room - it'll make a difference pretty quickly, but only in that room.

Other than that, I am not sure what to say. I'd trade with you right now - I just had to turn my space heater on. It's 58°F in here.

[–] E-werd [OP] 2 points (+2|-0) Edited

Yeah, filter is clean and there's no way to check the refrigerant (without special equipment that I don't have access to) as far as I can tell.

I'd trade with you right now - I just had to turn my space heater on. It's 58°F in here.

I'd take the deal in a heartbeat. You can always warm up with more clothing and blankets, but you can only take so much clothing off.
[–] Astfgl 1 points (+1|-0)

Get some metallic silver spray paint and paint the inside of your windows. It'll make 'em into mirrors and reflect the sunlight away.
[–] E-werd [OP] 1 points (+1|-0) Edited

I suspect my landlord wouldn't appreciate that too much--what about aluminum foil? It's more reflective anyhow.
[–] Astfgl 0 points (+0|-0)

Foil would work fine. You can help it stick on with hairspray. Shiny side out ofc!
[–] Adhdferret 0 points (+0|-0)

Lol people would really see that as ghetto. That what you want?

[–] [Deleted] 1 points (+1|-0)

a dehumidifier might cure what ails you. or you can go the fluf way and ditch those basketball shorts and broshirt for short shorts for running and a super light running shirt. it feels like im wearing nothing at all (imagine flanders here, too lazy to google).
[–] [Deleted] 0 points (+0|-0)

This a good idea. Then the AC won't have to work as hard. But Idk if that would make sense to buy one over another AC unit.

[–] X175B247 0 points (+0|-0)

Run your forearms under a cold tap for a few minutes. They have a huge concentration of blood vessels and will cool you quickly.

Other than that I guess try to enjoy the heat. It's better than freezing in the winter. Ever get hypothermia before? Just think of that and be thankful.
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