Like I said I have high ceilings. It can be in the 50's outside and 85 inside. I have a few ceiling fans but they just don't cut it. The windows are too low / the gap is too big between the ceiling and the windows to help much. It's a new house, but I want to sell and move so I'm not wanting to add a whole house fan. Any suggestions? Has anyone tried one of those circulator fans? I'm stuck here for the summer, and I have a few pets that I can't just let suffer even if I am willing to.
High ceilings. AC is way too pricey in CA to run. Looking for ideas.
byu/Dear-Ad-3614 inFrugal
Posted by Dear-Ad-3614
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Just get a couple of big free standing fans to draw cooler air in. Figure out the best placements and experiment.
has anyone tried ceiling fan in a high ceiling house?
What about a swamp cooler? It works better if your local humidity is low.
Edited for typos.
What is heating the interior up to 35° over the outside temperature that seems unusual. I don’t know how many square feet you have but a small AC wall unit may actually use less power than a bunch of fans. If you’re in the dry part of California, you could hang damp towels over the windows and when the blow air blows in through them you’ll get a phase transition and cooling effect. It’s basically a swamp cooler.
You can buy a room air conditioner for a couple of hundred dollars. It vents out the windows. I have one in each bedroom and they can keep the rooms about 68 degrees when it is 90 outside.
If it’s in the 50’s outside, you can get good results by setting up fans coming in some windows AND fans going out other windows. It’s not just about getting the cool air in it’s also important to get the hot air out.
I lived without working AC for an entire summer, in a city where it’s 100F during the day and 60-65F at night. Having fans pointed in AND OUT made an 8-10F difference in my room, vs. only having a fan facing in.
If it’s 50 outside, box fans in front of windows work really well.
Portable AC for the room(s) you stay in.