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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

[–] 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.
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