Our house is so hot without any heating or heat source - any ideas what the cause is?
Question:We live in a 1970's concrete block/brick/pvc cladding house in UK - our health has been poor since living here and I couldn't work out why. After 6 years of struggling I was given a thermometer and our house is about 26/27 degree all the time without anything on at all. Today it's 19 degree outside but 27 indoors - I have since bought another couple of thermometers in case the first one was faulty but they all read the same. I know a lot of my double glazed windows need replacing as the seal has suddenly gone. Any ideas would be appreciated as I'm sick of feeling so tired and rundown which I assume has something to do with the constant heat - the kids have trouble sleeping as it's about the same temperature during the night. Originally the house had hot-air heating but I've even covered over the only vent I've found - we've got central heating but never put it on. We all now suffer from asthma and allergic rhinitis. It's social housing and they say there's nothing they can do!
Answers:
I live in a block of flats made from brick, our flats are well insulated in the Summer months our flat is much hotter inside then it is outside. (much worse if cooking indoors like in the oven)
We run portable fans in most of the rooms to help circulate the air and we keep the windows open (when not raining and at home) even though we both have horrible allergies as it is too hot not to have the windows open.
We live on the top floor and have neighbours to the left and below us - the neighbour below never opens his windows so the heat in his flat makes our flat just that much hotter. Thats because heat rises.
In one room in our flat, a very small box room we made into a little office we have set up a portable air conditioner as long as we keep the door closed in that room it stays cool.
Social houseing - will not install Air conditioning even for the elderly who are more subseptable (sorry about spelling) to heat stroke and other heat related ailments.
I talked to my housing official and they told me if I wanted to have air conditioning installed that I would have to get permission from the "council" . The Council said that as England is mostly cold and rainy except for a few weeks during the year they would not approve this for our block of flats. but if we wanted to we could get portable air conditioners for every room (which is really expensive) and we could have the vent pipe hang out the window. When I questioned why the housing office which is located in our block of flats could have the vent pipe in attached to the window and not hanging out so that the window remained closed they said well that is different its our office.
Anyway before I go on about this more than I should... Perhaps your Council or social housing officer would approve you to get Air conditioning even if it is portable or perhaps based on health reasons they might help you to have central air conditioning installed (cost of about £1200-£1500) Air conditioning installers also have allergy filters for the air vents they will install in your home.
The summer heat is lasting longer and getting hotter and I do believe the the council should help it's tenents.
People with allergies can't often keep their windows open due to the pollen in the air.
Perhaps if your doctor can prove that air conditioning will help you with your ailments then perhaps the council will do something to help -
Also to help keep you cool if you place a cool damp cloth on the back of your neck it will help
You can also get sun screens for your windows (shades) that will still allow air to circulate and reflect the sun away from your windows
Portable air conditioners can be costly - the one I have is 9000 btu and only really cools off the room the size of 4 feet by 3 feet and only with the door shut and will bring the temp in the room to 19-20 degrees
There are larger models and some are split (which means they have a vent that needs to be placed outside or in the loft (attic) our council wouldn't approve the split one for us but you might have better luck.
The split models are a bit more powerful and will cool a larger area.
make sure that if you get a portable air conditioner it is NOT an evaporative cooler/airconditioner (that you add water to and it circulates) as with the Humidity (and as the humidity rises) it will not cool but make it even more humid in your house.
The block sounds like it has been very well insulated. When you live in a block other people's heating can seep through into your dwelling. The only way I can think of is to keep windows open all the time. But I assume you've tried that already. Go to the doctors about it and explain the situation. The doctor can then write to the necessary people explaining the situation, that you are all suffering from the effects of the problem and this could possibly prompt the authority into doing something. Make sure you let the doctor know that it has become unbearable and that the children (who are the most important in this kind of situation) are suffering badly, with their sleeping, their school life and their health. Hopefully, this can spur someone into action. Good luck!!
Yes we have the same problem so we had ceiling fans installed / fitted a screen doors with a catch lock on the front and back doors so that air can circulate and then if it still get hot get a portable fan get a bowl of ice water and let the fan blow onto it the place will be nice and cool trust me we lived in a very hot country and it work I hope this could help you good luck.
IF YOU WISH TO COOL YOUR HOUSE DOWN YOU COULD TAKE OUT THE LOFT INSULATION AS THIS IS WHERE MOST OF THE HEAT IS SAVED IN THE HOUSE AND SHOULD MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE,ALSO YOU DONT SAY IF YOUR HOUSE IS DETACHED OR NOT IT COULD BE THE NEIGHBOURS HEATING ON BOTH SIDES KEEPING YOUR HOUSE WARM IN THE MIDDLE,YOU COULD LEAVE YOUR LOFT DOOR OPEN THAT WAY AS HEAT RISES IT WOULD HAVE AN ESCAPE,I WOULD ALSO GET YOUR HOT WATER BOILER CHECKED IN CASE ITS NOT CUTTING OUT AT THE CORRECT TIME,AND ALSO BECAUSE YOU SAY YOU FEEL TIRED ALL THE TIME AND RUNDOWN THESE ARE SIGNS OF POSSIBLE CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING
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