No matter what the Almanac says about weather or what we can expect from Mother Nature in terms of sun, rain, and everything in between, it is still pretty difficult to know weather or not 74° is cool enough for windows and maybe a box fan or if it is warm enough to turn on a little air conditioning.
Most American homes are designed for a median temperature of 72 degrees. For those who are looking to cut back their carbon footprint and their monthly electricity bill the thermostat hovers around 78. Beyond that though many of us find the air to be thick and the room to be uncomfortable. Interesting considering electrical air conditioning wasn’t introduced until 1902 when Willis Carrier of Syracuse, New York designed a system that controlled not only temperature but also humidity. Later Carrier’s technology was applied to increase productivity in the workplace, and The Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America was formed to meet rising demand. Over time air conditioning came to be used to improve comfort in homes and automobiles. Residential sales didn’t become commonplace until the mid-1950s.
But with tiny houses we aren’t talking about standard residential sales nor are we talking about square footage that requires even a half ton central heat/air unit. In fact, it is rare to find tiny house plans that incorporate a cooling system at all. The climate preferences of tiny house dwellers are so varied and with the square footage of a tiny house being so low, it’s easy to simply install a window A/C unit, which is powerful enough to cool the whole house. Let’s say you did want to install central heat/air in your tiny house. You would be adding thousands of dollars to your construction costs, and it would also make the house more difficult to transport (the original point behind a tiny house on a trailer) because part of the central air system needs to be installed outdoors.
The two most popular ways we have found to cool a tiny house are to install a compact or “low profile” air conditioning unit in one of the windows, or to simply use a portable air conditioner that has casters on the bottom for ease of moving. And while a window unit may do an excellent job in cooling the house, it has two main drawbacks.
- I can’t sleep soundly with the A/C blasting
- Because we have no TV and use our Macbook Pro to watch the occasional iTune movie we often can’t hear over the A/C when we do use it
And did I mention the weight of a window unit? And in a build where every ounce costs a window unit can’t always make much sense.
A pretty cool alternative to the window A/C unit is the portable air conditioner on wheels. With most reliable units costing double the price of a typical compact window unit, a portable has the obvious advantages of easy portability, higher BTU output, and less noise. And even though they weigh about the same as a compact window unit, the portable air conditioner has casters, so it can be moved about the house almost effortlessly. A good thing in a home that won’t exceed 7.5′ across.
As for us? We aren’t sure what we are going to do quite yet. We love the idea of a wall mounted A/C unit like this one by Sanyo. While they are a permanent installation they don’t take up precious window light, they don’t require ductwork or venting, and they have an optional heat pump. The downside is that it would be an energy suck and as we prepare to go “off grid” we want to keep down the use of electricity; not add to it!
If none of the above solutions appeal to you though, there are alternative solutions for cooling your tiny house. One is to make sure that the house has windows on at least two sides in a symmetrical fashion so that you can take advantage of cross-ventilation. Another option is to use a fan, although that just blows the warm air around. Fans are most effective at cooling when you have the windows open. When the air outside is fairly cool, such as in the evening, a window fan or box fan or even ceiling fan (if you have room for it) is great for cooling the interior of a house that has been baking in the sun all day.
It is an increasingly large issue and with summer coming on it has us thinking what we will do to combat severe summertime heat. We are fortunate to have our tiny house site in 90% shade with a great deal of surrounding breeze. What do you think? What would you do in our position? What about budget? Are we end for a larger investment than we think? As always, if you enjoyed reading this post please share it on Facebook or tweet the link out to your followers!
Drew, decisions, decisions, decisions. When I grew up we didn’t have airconditioning. We just had a big window fan that blew the air out of the house. Then other windows would be left open to draw in the cooler outside air. It wasn’t until I actually moved away from home and had a family of my own that the first window airconditioner was purchased. We thought we were living the ritzy life for sure. Of course, life would be much easier when the baby comes if it could be cool inside the house on those hot days. Any decision for cooling air will use more energy than you would like. The heat pump wall unit would be the most efficient for energy and house space in my humble opinion.
I really don’t want air conditioning. Growing up we had one window unit for the whole house. We adjusted just fine. The more we allow for false temperature control the less our natural bodies are able to deal with natures temperature. It is a fine predicament we have gotten ourselves into, for sure. Luckily for us Dave our land has a wall of tall trees around it (you can see a pics or two on Facebook). This allows for a sort of wind tunnel effect and I have a feeling that cross-breezes and natural shade are going to really serve us well.
I agree with you about creating an artificially cool environment. We do have ac, but we keep it much warmer in our home than the average person. We are very comfortable in the 80 – 85 degree range. It helps when I want to be outside in the summer months when I can handle the heat while everyone else is wilting. The flip side, is I can’t stand to be cold. 🙂 Thankfully, NC has mild winters for the most part.
Were you here last winter? Mild. HAHAHA. Not mild to me. HAHAHAHa
So BEFORE A/C, and here in Europe where we don’t often have it in homes (almost never, I’ve never seen it here!), this is what happened…
During the day when it’s hot, windows are kept closed, with shutters or curtains closed to keep the hot air out. When it gets dark and cools, all the windows are thrown open to air the house and enable comfortable sleep (with or without mosquito nets, depending on location and sensitivity).
Easy.
OK, so I have never lived in a hot, humid area like some places in the world, But this old-fashioned system also works in southern Europe. And they have babies, too.
How humid is it? If it is dry you could just use a swamp
cooler and lower the temp via evaporative cooling while adding humidity at the
same time. On the other hand if it is humid and you go with AC the unit needs
to be sized to fit the house and the insulation. If it is too big it will short
cycle and will not remove enough humidity. Water has a higher heat capacity
than air so humid air will hold more heat than dry air. This means it will
transfer more heat to your body and make it that much tougher to cool your body
via evaporation causing you to turn the AC lower and consuming more energy than
you otherwise would.
If you are in a dry part of CA, I would try a swamp cooler first
because it doesn’t use much electricity. It’s really not much more than a fan,
a filter, and a water pump in a housing.
We are in eastern Carolina where the humidity is often 100% from early June to late September. A swamp cooler simply is not the answer for a domestic situation with a baby, as well. The temperature has to be very regulated for sinus conditions and mold conditions. We more than likely will not go with a window unit due to power needs as well as noise factors.
Install an exhaust vent at the highest point of the roof to let hot air out; make sure it’s closable for cold weather, when you want to keep heat in. Make sure you have plenty of cross ventilation. Shade your windows with awnings, green awnings (trellises with vines on them, such as beans, Malibar spinach, or morning glories…Also the swamp cooler Dan talks about is easy: Cloth pockets velcro to fan for air to blow over, bucket catches drips. Or use those blue things in place of ice.I live in the Carribean (Bahamas), and have an AC unit that is seldom used. Can’t stand it! Air flow is the key, along with keeping sun OUT of the house. Also makes sure we have NO mold problem.
Hi I hope you will be growing your vegetables using home made sub-irregated planters.Thanks thevegrev
No, we don’t need to. We have ample garden space and pretty much have nothing in planters. I enjoyed your site though and thank you for commenting in this space.
If I had the where-with-all, I’d be building an earth-bermed tiny house. Cool in the summer, warm in the winter. 🙂
Sounds awesome…if you have the berm of earth to build in. HAHAHA. We are coastal Carolina. It is flat, flat, flat and sandy here.