How I Cool The House

Now that the political screaming about European AC has died down, I can quietly weigh in on what I think is a good way to cool the house during the hot LA summers. I recommend using several tools:

1) Outdoor shade

This has taken us time, but we've grown some trees and large bushes in the backyard to better shade the house and backyard areas that get the most sun. I highly recommend using landscaping if you can plan it out and take the time. One of the best natural ways to cool your property and house. Just remember not to plant or buy a house with a gigantic tree that could fall on the house during a windstorm. PS - I see this after all the big winds,

2) Indoor shades

During the hot days, I keep these closed. The house cools down at night, and my efforts are to "trap" the coolness inside for as long as possible. Often this can result in the house feeling cool until about noon-1pm without ever using the AC. And this is on the hot days like 90+.

3) Screen doors and windows

At night when the outside temp drops below the inside temp (around 8-9pm), I open up as many screen doors and windows as possible. This brings all the cool air inside, and I'll even leave some open at night, however, not wide enough for a psycho killer to come inside (this is how the Nightstalker killed people, during hot nights he looked for open screen doors in LA, just saying...). Note for the wise: turn off the AC during this time as you don't want the outdoor AC running and the exhaust coming inside.

I'm not sure what other places are like, but LA gets reliably cooler at night. Maybe this is a perk of a desert landscape versus more humid places; I don't know. What I find is that the heat from the day often gets trapped in the house and the inside becomes warmer than outside for a bit of time. Opening the doors and windows really helps with this. In fact, there is a time period around right now where the house actually heats up...despite the outside temp dropping. Something about the heat getting trapped in the house during the day...but the opposite also happens at night, the coolness gets trapped in the house and it can stay cool most of the morning.

4) AC

I keep the temp pretty high, my only area of agreement I have with Mandami. 78-79. At night, sometimes I will turn it cooler if it simply feels too hot to sleep. Almost never below 75.  Even if my kids are hot, I say throw some water in your hair. It works. I survived Inland Empire Augusts with no AC, just a fan for soccer training. One can find a way to survive the heat. The old owner of my house only had a wall unit. Still, this plan can keep the AC running for hours on end in the afternoon, and this is pretty costly both in money and for the environment.

5) Mini Split

I have a new addition to the house where we added a mini split. I plan to use this separate AC in one of two ways - on hot days, only cool one portion of the house - the main house or the addition and spend the hot hours in that section. 

6) Down the road

I will explore solar panels to power this entire system although I'm a tad worried about how solar panels impact your roof and structural design of the house. In my particular situation, I might look into solar panels on a smaller workshop.