Things You Can Do To Help Keep Cool Without Your Air Conditioner Working

trane rep talking to homeowners in their kitchenThe first thing to do in a cooling emergency is call MD Air Conditioning and Heating at (210) 569-0928! When your central air conditioning isn’t working like it should, we want to help you get it going again just as soon as we can…and we will.

Before we arrive, here are techniques you can use to help keep your family cool:

  • Turn off any un-necessary sources of heat within your home, such as lights, TVs, or other appliances…all these contribute heat to your home’s interior air. If you have a microwave oven, use it to prepare meals rather than your stove-top or regular oven.
  • If you have ceiling fans, turn each on to its highest speed in whatever rooms your family is occupying – rapid air movement will help you feel about 10° cooler than the actual air temperature.
  • If you don’t have ceiling fans, but you do have portable fans, place them so each blows constantly on each family member. Be sure to keep each out of the reach of any small children in your home.
  • If fans alone do not seem to keep you comfortably cool, then in addition to the fans, drape your head with a damp washcloth, or place a wet washcloth on the back of your neck, or sprinkle water on your shirt. As much as you can, let the fans blow across these wet cloths. Even though our air usually contains quite a bit of moisture, the evaporative cooling effect of air across wet will add some additional cooling.
  • Crack some ice cubes and let every family member suck on the pieces…this will help cool you from the inside out. Also, be sure everyone is drinking cool water at least every 15 minutes.
  • If you still feel uncomfortably hot, or if anyone in your family seems to be getting red-faced, drowsy, or short of breath, take a cool-water shower or soak in a bath with tepid water. Cool water will draw a substantial amount of heat from your body.
  • If it’s going to be more than a few hours before our service technician is scheduled to arrive, you may want to consider taking your family to an air conditioned public space such as a shopping mall, especially if the outside air temperatures are above 95 degrees.

These are just a few ideas to help you stay comfortable until your system’s normal cooling can be restored. You may have other ideas yourself. The important idea is to keep you and your family safe from heat-related illness until your air conditioning system can be brought back to life.

We look forward to helping you keep your cool! Please give us a call at (210) 569-0928 today!