Subj : Heating Up Again
To   : All
From : n2qfd
Date : Sun Jun 30 2024 10:59:55

 So with the weather heating up again in the Northern Hemisphere I was just putting up my passive shields and I thought I'd share.

 I live in a 1930's construction home where central air was not a thing. Then and now we use a hot water boiler system and large cast iron registers for the winter months and in the summer we sweat... 
 I had more mature trees around the house that were the ideal situation but with that maturation came some significant risk as a 3 stories high maple on the west side that was lovely was dying out. It was shedding log sized branches, and when one just missed my neighbors and took out a telephone line I thought it was time to cut it down and start again. There won't be a tree like that out front again for over 100 years. Sooooo in the meantime... 
 We were new home owners and quality, insulating black out window blinds for a half dozen windows were too much. I thought about it and went to the hardware store and got some .5" thick foam insulation board, the sort for foundations but the blue board but the white stuff with the silver coating on one side. We get 4x8 sheets here in the states so 48x96 inches and with windows that are about 29" wide (for a blinds) I got 3 sheets of about 30"x48" that I then duct tapes edges for dressing and could just put in the windows when it was going to be obscenely hot and sunny to limit the amount of passive solar energy coming into the house. This worked pretty well and I can keep the house 15-20 degrees cooler than outside even when it's in the 90F here. 
 I often turned the silver side out but when I want to look like a grown up the white side looks like white blinds from the outside of the house and work about as well. It's just a matter of putting them in before the sun really starts on that side of the house and taking them out again in the evening. I was thinking that temp range reduction from passive could be a life and death line for the elderly or anyone who's struggling with cooling as energy prices are high. 
 It's not much, but I thought I'd post it here in case someone is looking for anything to try to help with the heat.  
 https://n2qfd.tumblr.com/post/657093209059704832/living-in-a-house-built-in-the
-1930s-in-the

  N2QFD

N2QFD{Queen City BBS}:// "Does this need to be said? Does this need to be said
by me? Does this need to be said by me right now?" - Craig Ferguson 

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