It’s officially 43 C in Melbourne, and my air conditioner died yesterday, yet the inside of the house is a relatively comfortable 26 C :

My office is a fair bit warmer because it’s a small room, and the desktop computer puts out quite a lot of heat [AMD processor], but it’s still bearable.
Magic? No, fire resistant shutters.
I wrote about my fire resistant shutters back in this post. They’ve never been tested in a bushfire situation, but by god they keep ordinary heat out!
The following pics were all taken from inside the house to show the shutters at work:




Almost every door, verandah and window in my house has been fitted with these fire resistant shutters. They weren’t cheap, but every winter since then, they’ve kept the warmth in, saving me money in heating costs. And in summer they keep the heat out, with or without the air conditioner. π
Much as I love my shutters, however, I have to say that on their own they would not have been enough. Part of the reason they work as well as they do is that I insisted on having an insulating foam applied behind the door and window frames. The foam fills up all the gaps in construction conveniently hidden by the frames. A small thing, perhaps, but the foam has stopped those elusive draughts from leaching the heat from the house.
Apart from the shutters and the foam, two more things helped keep us from melting today. The first was the weather overnight. The temperature dropped to 14 C which allowed the cross ventilation in the house to cool everything down before the heat climbed again. If it had been hot overnight, we would have been in trouble.
The second thing is that orange towel shown in the last picture. And no, it’s not my washing. :p
That humble towel is wet, and it’s hanging in front of an oscillating fan. As the water in the towel evaporates, it cools the air. The fan then circulates that cooler air around the small family room and into the kitchen.
My jerry-rigged evaporative cooling is probably good enough for some light cooking but…bugger it, we’re having take away! Ahem. I deserve it.
If you’re an Aussie, I hope you stayed cool and safe today. If you’re from the northern climes, I hope you stayed warm and toasty.
-hugs-
Meeks
December 26th, 2019 at 6:51 pm
The wet towel in front of the fan bought back memories of when my children were small and trying to keep them cool in the hot Aussie summers. No aircon in those days!
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December 27th, 2019 at 7:44 am
Yes! High Five. π
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December 22nd, 2019 at 7:02 am
Yikes. So glad you’ve got some relief! We’ve been having epic rainfall here, after hardly any through our normally wettest months of Nov and Dec.
Have a spectacular holiday and the best New Years!
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December 22nd, 2019 at 9:58 am
Meh…the weather pattern seem to be changing in both hemispheres. You finally get rain, too much in one hit. We’ve had hardly any. Interesting times. π¦
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December 22nd, 2019 at 2:51 am
You clever girl! I’ll have to remember that towel trick in the summer, if our heat/cooling pump goes out! Happy holidays to you and yours. β€
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December 22nd, 2019 at 10:01 am
lol – I hope you never have to use it! Happy holidays to your lovely family as well, Marian. Hugs especially to Tipper and Chickie. π
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December 21st, 2019 at 2:22 pm
I hope I remember the wet towel + fan trick next time we get a heat wave (maybe 6 or 7 months from now). In the meantime, I wish we could send you guys some rain! Happy Holidays, in any case.
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December 21st, 2019 at 3:16 pm
lol – thanks Audrey. Your good wishes must have worked because today is wonderfully cool. Long may it last. Happy holidays to you too!
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December 21st, 2019 at 7:51 am
Wonderful idea, Meeks! Sharing…
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December 21st, 2019 at 9:58 am
Thanks, Bette. π Btw, I just realised that there’s only three days to go before Christmas Eve! We do the European thing and have the main celebration on the 24th…and I’ve done nothing! Eek.
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December 21st, 2019 at 7:48 am
The shutters are a good idea. I’m pleased they keep out heat too… makes sense. And cold, oh I’m so looking forward to winter. I hope you never have to find out but hopefully they and the insulating foam keep smoke out too… which has been our lingering issue despite the immediate bushfire threat being diminished.
It’s a funny thing, I grew up without aircon, worked and lived without it for much of my life to date, but after a dozen or more years of aircon office environment, and four years of it in our inner city apartment, I have very little tolerance for heat. And I’ve never had tolerance for smoke, so ours is on for at least part of the day on recycle. And cooling, despite our very good passive insulation, if the temps get very hot come afternoon, as once this old fibro house heats up, it’s not easy to cool down.
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December 21st, 2019 at 10:11 am
I was really dreading yesterday, but we survived better than I expected. Mind you, the cool change still hadn’t arrived by the time I crashed at 11pm. I was so tired I slept right through the heat, the change and the dawn, despite having east facing windows. Still feel kind of ‘hung over’, but that’s probably a combination of heat, mild dehydration and the smoke. We only got the smoke for one day, but it was very unpleasant. Can’t imagine how you guys are living with it for /weeks/. π¦
Yes, I grew up without aircon too, but looking at the temperature charts, that was during a cool period that lasted for decades. Now? How on earth do people without aircon survive the worst of the heat? They can’t camp out in shopping centres at night. And the elderly who are stuck at home?
Climate change is only going to get worse. We need to have a two pronged attack – one to reduce greenhouse gases asap, and one to mitigate the changes that are already with us, and likely to stay for decades to come. Instead, polies on both sides seem to be incapable of walking and chewing gum at the same time.
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December 21st, 2019 at 5:57 am
Thanks for keeping us updated. Be safe over there *big hugs*
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December 21st, 2019 at 10:12 am
Thanks, Chris. I’m going to grab this opportunity to wish you and your family a wonderful, cold Christmas! Just send us some of the snow, ok? -hugs-
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December 21st, 2019 at 2:46 am
Oh my! And NYC is sooooooooo cold right now.
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December 21st, 2019 at 10:13 am
I know! It’s so unfair. Send us some, please. π
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December 21st, 2019 at 1:35 am
Good grief, that’s too hot!!
I see temperature maps of Australia and worry the entire country might ignite.
Those shutters look very much like hurricane shutters. I have seen some similar to yours in the US desert Southwest and wondered if they made a big difference. Good to know they do.
I wish you rain.
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December 21st, 2019 at 10:18 am
Yeah, the weather maps are very scary. We’ve always had bushfires, but these are ‘unprecedented’. That word has been used a lot this spring. π¦
Hurricane shutters? Now that’s interesting. I didn’t go into much detail in the post but these ones have some kind of insulating foam sandwiched between the aluminium ‘slats’. When necessary, you can keep winding the shutters until the small gaps between the slats are shut tight. Does that sound right?
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December 20th, 2019 at 11:39 pm
Be safe, “keep cool”. Oz seems to be melting down or burning up. The Sydney fires situation looks terrifying. Meanwhile, the UK recently suffered flooding and arctic weather is forecast for Xmas. It’s a crazy world.
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December 21st, 2019 at 10:21 am
Hi Andy. Thanks for the well wishes. I think we’re all finally being shown the writing on the wall. The future is looking rather bleak.
Stay warm over xmas and have a good one. -waves from the Antipodes-
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December 20th, 2019 at 10:13 pm
I hope you can get your AC fixed soon.
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December 20th, 2019 at 11:37 pm
lol – me too!
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December 21st, 2019 at 1:52 am
Have you considered those fans with an ice compartment? We might get one for next summer.
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December 21st, 2019 at 10:15 am
???? I’ve never even heard of them, Pinky. More info. please! I actually bought a bag of ice and it’s still in my fridge…”in case the power goes out”. I’d love to have a fan with ice.
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December 21st, 2019 at 8:24 pm
I was first introduced to this version which is used with very very cold water and works very well: https://www.amazon.fr/DynaSun-N%C3%A9buliseur-Ventilateur-oscillante-t%C3%A9l%C3%A9commande/dp/B07TZ4V3Q7/ref=asc_df_B07TZ4V3Q7/?tag=googshopfr-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=358308347683&hvpos=1o13&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5646011422428142082&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9056319&hvtargid=pla-783251991539&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=73782277338&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=358308347683&hvpos=1o13&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5646011422428142082&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9056319&hvtargid=pla-783251991539
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December 22nd, 2019 at 10:59 am
This is great, Pinky. Thank you! I’ve been checking local Amazon and aussie retailers for similar products. I’ll let you know what I find. -hugs-
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December 20th, 2019 at 9:04 pm
I always said you were a Cool Dude……without being a dude of course.
Hugs
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December 20th, 2019 at 11:37 pm
-grin- I’ll take that as a compliment. π
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