Cooling Down A Condo Building

[Daradon]

The big reason bringing in a breeze doesn't work the best for me is because all the windows are on the same face of the building. If I had one of the corner units I'm sure I could get a better flow through when I wanted it.

It's really a bad situation all around.

[Northendzone]

one other thing to consider, is go and buy something soon, before it gets warm and everyone wants to buy something to help cool it off.

[photon]

Turning off the pilot light and making sure lights are off (or replacing with CFL/LED) are big things, I was amazed at how much heat the pilot light actually gave off.

We lived in a north facing condo, and even with all the windows open there was zero breeze. so that didn't help much.

We bought one of those stand up AC units that vets out the window and it was the best thing, we didn't try to cool the whole condo with it, just our bedroom, and a good night's comfortable sleep is well worth the cost IMO.

[Ashartus]

I used to use a ceiling fan combined with opening windows at night and closing windows/blinds in the day - it wasn't perfect but it helped. In some cases a window AC unit or window fan may be against condo bylaws (it was where I lived) - check on that before you invest in anything.

[Bertuzzied]

South facing condos ftw! haha i told my brother this when he bought his place but he didn't want to pay the extra $3k. sucker! facing west blows.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by troutman

My two story condo is uncomfortable upstairs on warm days. We have two sky-lights up there. A floor fan works okay. Having windows open does not seem to help much. Downstairs is cooler with the window open (but I can't leave it open all night - ground level).

Will ceiling fans upstairs help?AC?

I had a ceiling fan on the top floor of my condo too, it did the square root of f&%k all.

For the price they are these days, a room sized AC unit is the only way to go. I don't mind a hot house, that's fine. As long as the bedroom is a cool/dry escape to sleep in I find myself not worrying about the heat anywhere else. Just turn it on maybe a half hour before you go to bed and your fine. You should also be able to set it to run for x number or hours if you don't want in running all night.

I really don't think ours has had much of an impact on the power bill so running it all night is fine too as the AC part should kick on only when your room goes over a pre-determined temperature. The rest of the time it's only the fan that's running.

Because you're in a condo, there are likely by-laws that prevent you from using an "in window" variety. You would want to pick up the type that I have that can sit near the window and the heat that is drawn out is vented through a dryer like pipe and straight out your window.

[troutman]

^^^^

Saw your message too late - I just bought ceiling fans. I'll give them a try, but I think you are right, in that I will need AC units for the bedrooms.

[GoinAllTheWay]

I promise you, you wouldn't be dissapointed with the results. Putting up a ceiling fan will be a pain in the butt and you have to make sure the electrical box you are attaching them to can support the weight of the fan.

Unless you planned on putting them up anyways, save yourself the hassle and return them and get AC. Bought mine at Rona, they have a decent selection.

[Hockeyguy15]

I haven't had an issue with my ceiling fan, and it did help.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by photon

Turning off the pilot light and making sure lights are off (or replacing with CFL/LED) are big things, I was amazed at how much heat the pilot light actually gave off.

This - make sure you turn off (or better yet replace) any incandescent or particularly Halogen bulbs you may have. Pretty to look at but they kick out a ton of heat.

[sun]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

Step 1: Obtain bag of frozen peas.
Step 2: Place said bag of frozen peas on groin.
Step 3: Watch re-runs of The Big Bang Theory in complete comfort.

Not sure if possible. Probably not worth trying.

[Sr. Mints]

I, for one, couldn't live without a ceiling fan. I live in a condo, and it gets to about 25 degrees when I have the thermostat to zero. A ceiling fan moves the air around and creates a breeze, which makes it perfectly livable to me. And I don't do heat well.

The building I'm in (finished bulding in 2010, nine stories, concrete foundation) has air conditioning on the top three floors. I'm told this is because they found the other buildings, which were built between 2004-2010, were way too hot on the top floors.

Now, they are all only four stories and wood frame, but the building I am in was the last phase of the project to be build, and air conditioning was put in for that reason.

[Flames_Gimp]

[shane_c]

When we first moved to Calgary we were living in the Pointe of View apartments/condos out in Applewood. With only one window and a sliding door (both on the same wall) we could get not air coming into the place. Not once did we have to turn on the heat. In the winter when it was -30 we'd have to keep the windows open to try and get some air and even then it was +25 in our unit. The summer was unbearable and the thermostat was pegged over as far as it could go, I'm surprised the needle didn't break off and that we didn't die of heat exhaustion.

[killer_carlson]

Originally Posted by shane_c

When we first moved to Calgary we were living in the Pointe of View apartments/condos out in Applewood. With only one window and a sliding door (both on the same wall) we could get not air coming into the place. Not once did we have to turn on the heat. In the winter when it was -30 we'd have to keep the windows open to try and get some air and even then it was +25 in our unit. The summer was unbearable and the thermostat was pegged over as far as it could go, I'm surprised the needle didn't break off and that we didn't die of heat exhaustion.

Sounds like zone valves, especially the winter part.

[bizaro86]

I had a condo neighbour once whose thermostat was installed backwards. So the direction (left) that was marked as a lower temperature was "full bore heat all the time." They were always too hot, and always had it on that setting with the windows open. The condo board replaced the zone valve, and their heat was still on full bore, until they figured out the wires in the thermostat were backwards.

Might be worth checking if your heat is actually on right now.

[shane_c]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

Sounds like zone valves, especially the winter part.

There wasn't any heat coming out of the radiator so I'm not sure what the source of it was. There was absolutely no air circulation in the unit except for the warm/smoke filled air that would blow in from under the door. We'd have to keep a towel pushed up against it to keep the stench out. Nasty!

[username]

My condo is ridiculously hot (thank goodness I move into my house in 3 weeks) but I do this to keep cool at night and it does help a little.

Make a DIY air conditioner. Put a metal bowl of ice in front of a fan, and adjust the fan so that the air is blowing over the ice. Or, use one or more 2 liter bottles and fill them mostly full of water, freeze them, then place them in a large bowl (to catch dripping water). Position a fan to blow on them. As the ice in the bottles melts, the air cools around them. The fan will blow that air at you. The water in the bottles can be frozen overnight and used again repeatedly.

You can also turn on your stove fan (on the ventilator hood). This will draw hot air out of the house and pull cooler evening air into the house - hey every little bit helps right?

[fleuryisgod]

Thanks for all of the ideas so far.

Does anyone have any experience hooking up a portable AC unit to the style of window that opens out instead of up? It seems most of the ones I can find are designed to be compatible with the up style of windows. My biggest issue is that my screen covers the full length of my window so I would need to completely remove it to fit in a fan or AC vent.

Currently I'm leaning towards the DIY air conditioner...I'm not a classy guy anyways and have no issues at all have a couple of 2L containers hanging up in my room.

[photon]

Yeah you'd probably have to get a large piece of plastic (like those corrugated plastic signs maybe) and cut a hole for the AC vent.