@McTag,
Sure. That's what makes adobe construction so popular in the Southwest. What really makes them work though is a big cottonwood on the southwest corner of the house.
I am also weary to heat index and wind chill factors. I've know people to hear it's 40 degrees with a wind chill factor of 30, and they expect something to start freezing.
@patiodog,
Our dehumidifier has been working overtime, even now that the temperatures have dropped. The mumidittity remains very high . . .
@McTag,
There is no need for such a thing. A couple of good fans, coupled with a cool to cold bath, as needed, is all that is required.
@JTT,
Mind you don't drop your fan into the bath.
My pal sleeps in his cellar during the hottest days of our summer.
But that's not as hot nor as humid as your'n.
Another reason a cellar wouldn't be as effective here is the cumulative effect of the heat. After several consecutive days of 100+ temperatures and 90%+ humimiddity, it doesn't cool off at night. Early in the heat wave, i would open the front door and back door storm doors (slide up the bottom panel of glass so that the screened portion was open), and that would cool off the house. After a week, the outdoor air is not longer cooler than the interior of the hosue at 4:00 a.m. The pavement and concrete sucks up heat all day, and slowly it builds up so that it's still warm at 4:00 a.m. Ponds and lakes, streams and rivers are no longer able to give off overnight all the heat they build up in the day time.
The only saving grace here is the big lake--Lake Ontario. With an average depth of almost 300 feet, that water is cold even at the end of July in the middle of a heat wave. I don't mean cool, it's cold. At the end of June, i waded into the lake with the little girl dog who likes to bathe. In just a few minutes, my feet were numb from the cold. It's always cooler, noticeably cooler down at the lake. Sadly, they won't let you sleep there. Some of the high rise office buildings in downtown t.o. pump water in from one of the near by deep spots of the lake to the roof, and run it through the HVAC system to cool the buildings. The cost of the pumping system is a good deal less than running AC for a tall building.
@Setanta,
If they're running lake water over the hot side of an air conditioning system, they'll find out what cost means when they discover the mineral buildup.
@roger,
I have no idea how they addressed that problem, but i believe that the cooling is achieved by running the water down through the towers, which greatly reduces the need for the AC. I suppose i could investigate that, but damn, i'm so lazy.
OK, i'm not that lazy.
Apparently, they use a segregated system, in which the lake water is used to cool the water which is subsequently distibuted to the buildings.
Quote:How the system works
Enwave's three intake pipes draw water (4 degrees Celsius) from 5 kilometres off the shore of Lake Ontario at a depth of 83 metres below the surface. Naturally cold water makes its way to the City's John Street Pumping Station. There, heat exchangers facilitate the energy transfer between the icy cold lake water and the Enwave closed chilled water supply loop.
The water drawn from the lake continues on its regular route through the John Street Pumping Station for normal distribution into the City water supply. Enwave uses only the coldness from the lake water, not the actual water, to provide the alternative to conventional air-conditioning.
(Actually, i am really lazy, but i typed "lake water cooling" into the search window and "deep lake water cooling system project" popped up at the top of the list for suggested searches--i knew i had stuck gold.)
@Setanta,
Hey, that's cool - so to speak.
@roger,
SWEET SUMMAH RAIN!! We are getting aice gentke rain thats been going on for about 3 hours so far. We were pretty much in a basd dry spell for about 2 weeks. The corn is really high and is setting cobs. So this will really help a lot.
Today I knew it would rain cause we had these low dumulo stratus with an easterly. The AMish were running to get their third cutting of alfalfa. The hay is beautiful, sweet , mid greem , amd loaded with fat leaves and little thin stems.
Went to the State Fair today. Goddamn.
