My apartment temperature is too HIGH!!!

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jinkds_IHB

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<p>Hi everyone... I'm a patiently waiting Irvine renter.</p>

<p>First of all, I'd like to thank you guys for sharing valuable infos here. I'm always learning something new here...</p>

<p>To my topic... I'm renting at Quail Ridge Apt. it's on a second floor built above garages and there is aother floor above mine. The temperature of my apartment gets SO HIGH everyday!! In the morning it's about 80 degrees inside and it keeps rising through the day and at night it reaches up to 85 degrees!!! and doesn't cool down until 2-3AM!!! Outside temperature can be pretty breezy and cool but as soon as I step inside I feel like I'm in an oven!!! Anyone in here having the same problem livng on second floors??? My only speculation is that the temp gets built up in the garages and the heat creeps up the my apartment all day and all night long... </p>

<p>One more thing...my brother is moving into Woodbury Court next month, I'm a bit concerned because his unit is also above garages but with woodfloors... Anyone in here living at Woodbury Court??</p>

<p> </p>
 
Yes, the building is basically U-shape and my unit is located inside the U. and blacktop parking spaces in the U as well.
 
You are fundamentally living in an attic. I don't know if you've ever crawled into a house attic, but they are usually 10-25+ hotter than the house. The roof is insulated to keep weather primarily water out. No heat can escape up. What to do...





It's the ultimate so cal summer quandry. You could go with blackout shades for the sun, but it's hard to find attractive ones. You could crank up the a/c, but that costs a lot of money. You could open the windows and turn on the fan by night and close them by day, but that allows noise in when you sleep. Some other suggestions...





1) buy a window unit a/c. It can cool a specific room that you want to be in when you first get in for the night. It automatically "opens "and "closes" the window when the temperature is balanced. Possible problems - aesthetics, noisy, manager may have rules against.





2) visit someplace else during the winter. what?! we have awesome weather in so cal, but we trade off 3 months to have 9 other great months. most other places, we forget, have some truly crappy weather. Possible problems - This gives you great satisfaction, but doesn't help the quantity of sweat





3)Use a swamp cooler. <a href="http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/%7Egmilburn/ac/geoff_ac.html">Here is a homemade version for $30</a>





4) Here's a list of <a href="http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/gallery/0%2C21863%2C1630362%2C00.html?cid=rsstip">23 tips</a> that might help
 
That seems to be an excellent homemade swamp cooler--especially if you don't have an automatic irrigation system for your yard. The only problem is that many homes in Irvine have a HOA which might complain about tubing that comes out of windows.
 
<p>Swamp coolers work best in dry air. Not sure if the air is dry enough in Irvine. I imagine in Irvine condensation would form on the tubes and be blown across the room by the fan making things wet.</p>

<p>To cool down your room at night, I suggest inducing outside air into your apartment. Close all windows/doors except for 2. Place a square-shaped fan in a window sill and have it facing outwards. Seal the fan in place so that when it blows, it will suck in air from only the other open window/door (and not the window in which it is situated). Your place will get cool air quickly, if done properly.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>
 
<p>The homemade swamp cooler would rank pretty low on the cost/benefits scale. Real coolers work because the water is allowed to evaporate. The transition from liquid to gas pulls energy out of the air, thus cooling it. The homemade one relies on a change in temp of the water only.</p>

<p>For the same amount of BTUs it is cheaper and more efficient to just run an AC than to make a bunch of ice in a freezer, cool a bucket of water, and siphon the water past a fan through copper tubing. What's worse would be if the freezer used to make the ice was in the same room with the cooler. Guess why it's so hot in there! </p>

<p>A fan in the window is the best idea, short of getting an AC. </p>
 
I was reading something today that suggested a two fan window fan, so that you can blow out the hot air with one fan and bring in the cooler air with the other. Something like <a href="http://www.shop.com/0-p42610561-k36-g1-s.shtml">this</a>.





As for blackout curtains, I solved that problem in a prior home by getting blackout liners and hanging them behind the regular curtains. I did it to block out light, but it worked well, and was less expensive than going the blackout curtain route.





Someone else around here had a similar problem. You might wish to use the search button and look for "hot"
 
<p>Move Downstairs. I too live at Quail Ridge. Downstairs is perfect except for the noise from above.</p>

<p>Since my unit is almost below ground. Temp never above 80. A/C on just a small amount and its a chilly 75. </p>
 
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