http://permaculture.org.au/2008/08/11/a-refrigerator-that-runs-without-electricity/#more-540

A short quote:
“From a family of pot-makers, Mohammed has made ingeniously simple use of the laws of thermodynamics to create the pot-in-pot refrigerator, called a Zeer in Arabic….

“To give an idea of its performance, spinach that would normally wilt within hours in the African heat will last around twelve days in the pot, and items like tomatoes and peppers that normally struggle to survive a few days, now last three weeks. Aubergines (eggplants) get a life extension from just a few days to almost a month.”

This method does rely on an ample source of water, but where I live, temperatures often reach 100+ for a few weeks at a time. Rolling blackouts were frequent a few years back. This pot refrigerator strikes me as a good back-up measure and a nice way of keeping an overabundant harvest for a time before processing.

With 100 degrees today, our buttoned up house stayed at 75 all day. It leaped up to 85 when we got home and were in and out gardening, etc., but now it’s 10 pm and the attic fan has got some traction. By morning we will be back to 65 and will close everything up again.

There is one room that has a slab floor and counts as a basement (it was once the garage). If we had 100 for a whole week, our scheme would give out but then we would move into the slab room while waiting for the weather to break. It is always cool there.

The vinegar trick was used by medieval reapers; it was their electrolyte, so to speak. I’m learning to make and drink switchel and, yep, it works. Try it with mint solar tea and a little molasses.

I had forgotten about wet cotton sheets! So many good ideas show up here! It’s like the Mother Earth News Archives, or Carla Emery, or something. Empowering… Thanks, all!!

risa b

If you don’t have a wool mattress, amass a stack of wool blankets and put them under a 100% cotton sheet (or even better, linen) and sleep in comfort. It sounds counterintuitive, but it works because wool has such a capacity for absorbing moisture, leaving you much more comfortable throughout the night. So much better than the polyester batted/covered mattresses. (Never use any sheets with polyester in them: it doesn’t breathe.)

However, it is important to pull back the covers during the day to let the mattress breathe, and we air ours in the sun on a dry day at least once a year. It’s an annual ritual that has elements of the comedic, considering our bedroom is on the second floor…

Earlier I forgot to add one important consideration when sleeping outdoors in hot weather: mosquitos. Make sure you are protected from them or you could get sick as well as bitten. This was the purpose of the screened porches that use to be ubiquitous in Southern homes: a place to sleep outside where it was cooler and also safe from mosquitos.

I still keep my windows open but have learned how to minimize entry from outside. This only works on double hung windows by the way. If you have wooden double hung windows, Stanley Hardware makes a lock that you mount on the upper window so that the lower sash cannot be opened higher than the locking mechanism. They are pretty cheap and you can put two on each window (one per side) if you want more protection. Mount them so that the lower sash can only be opened to about 3 inches. This isn’t great ventilation but it is much better than the alternative. You will need a screwdriver and a gimlet to start the pilot holes.

If you have vinyl or aluminum double hung windows, you will need a pair of 1/2 inch diameter oak dowels for each window. Cut the dowel to 3 inches; this goes on the window sill with the lower sash resting on it. Cut the remaining dowel so it fits snugly (felt shims on the ends help with fit)between the top of the lower sash and the top of the upper window frame. This makes it very difficult to open the window from outside, enough to discourage casual burglary. The same dowels perform double duty as they hold up the sash all the way: my windows don’t stay up on their own. The only tool needed for this method is a small saw to cut the dowels.

A large, territorial dog helps too.

We found that about every hour or so, the temperature would seem to become unbearable, but this was solved by going outside and dowsing everybody with the water hose.

I also like to put one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a quart of water. This somehow makes the water seem more refreshing in hot water. My grandmother told me that they used to do that when they were working in the fields in the heat all the time.

I am dubious about hanging laundry inside in a humid climate during the summer. It would probably work great in a dry climate, but in a humid climate it would add to the discomfort, since there are no passive measures to deal with humidity. That’s why evaporative AC doesn’t work if the humidity is above 60% or so.

My father lives in the New Mexico desert, and I usually go for loose, lightweight coverage and a hat when I’m out there. In the desert, you want to trap some of your body’s moisture inside your clothes while leaving room for the breezes to get underneath and cool you. If your sweat evaporates too fast (like it does with fewer clothes), your skin bakes dry and you don’t cool as efficiently.

I hope my experiences help someone!

On really hot nights, the best way to cool down is a cool/cold shower, a wet facecloth, or a spray bottle of water - dampen your skin, and lay under a fan - naked or almost. make sure you have a sheet to pull over you if it gets too cool. sarongs are good to sleep in or under - open the up - spread them over you like a sheet - if you have to get up in the night they are easy to tie around you like a dress, or skirt if you need to be boobs free to breast feed…

We invested (huge $$$, but cheaper than AC) in ‘crim-safe’ a tough metal form of flyscreen for all windows - which means we can leave them open 24 hours.This made a huge differerence to internal temp of the house, especially during the day - go out for a few hours and lock up the house - come back and it was stifling! - im not sure I agree with your open house at night, close up in day - it may work in some areas, but id prefer the fresh air through the house the whole day. we do spend more time outside (under cover) in summer - we have a backyard ‘kitchen’ homemade pizza oven, bbq and table and chairs, no screens though, so flies and mozzies are an issue.

another point about staying cool is the food you eat/prepare - in summer we eat a lot more Asian style food - Vietnamese salads, bbq meats, raw food, cool food, and food with chillis which help keep you cool. (i think)

We have (and I know most don’t have this luxury) designed out house to be as passive solar as we could, north facing, wide verandahs, open plan, no windows on western wall, insulation on western wall and roof, large windows etc, many trees. No a/c, but we have installed ceiling fans for summer.. makes it cold in winter though - so we just pile on the clothes and quilts.

my last point - is about clothes (and I dont practise what I preach here) i think the long flowing loose clothes are probably best - alone with the heat issues is the issue of skin cancer cause by exposure to sun. We are told here to slip, slop, slap - slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slapl on a hat - whenever we go out in the sun (and to try to avoid going out in the sun at all during the middle of the day) being scantily clad may seem like a cooller option (in both ways) than wearing a muu muu but skin cancer isnt pretty.

I don’t have a basement right now, dang it, but the house is built on a poured slab, and in the entryway there are ceramic tiles on that slab. During hot flashes I lie down on those tiles, and it’s wonderful.

We did set up a summer kitchen out back, and I picked up a screen house at a garage sale for sleeping in those nights when thunderstorms knock over trees and thus take out our power.