Hot weather survival

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Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
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Exmoor
With horribly high temperatures predicted for most of the country this week, I thought I'd share a few tips on keeping your home as cool as possible without having to use expensive electric fans.
First, close all windows and curtains on the south or sunward side of your house.
Put up a door curtain if you have one too if you have glass in your doors.
Silver car windsreen Sheild's are very cheap, and you can use these on your house windows to reflect heat out of the room as you would with a car.
Open the loft hatch to allow warm air to rise into the loft, and keep the house cooler.
Open windows at night if it's cooler to allow cool air in, but if you have a house cooler than the outside temperature, this won't work unless there is a good breeze.
Wet sheets hung over the window will cool any breezes that are about even more.
Open an upstairs window and leaving doors open, a downstairs window on opposite sides of the house to create a through draught at night.
Have a jug of water by your bed at night to take a few sips if you start to dehydrate.
If you are using a fan, put a dish of water in front of it at fan level, say on a few books, to evaporate into the atmosphere.
A cool bath, or shower before bed and allow yourself to dry naturaly will cool you down nicely.

Let's use the free energy.

Use the sun to cook with a home made solar cooker..plenty of yt DIY vids, using cardboard, pizza boxes and tinfoil, or old satellite dishes. Great home Ed fun with the kids,
Solar drying of herbs and veg, fruit. perfect weather right now, put away the dehydrator and use the trays to dry things in the sun. I rest the trays on a couple of bricks to allow air flow. Or use cake racks on a baking tray, and a muslin cloth to keep pests off.
Solar shower bags, heat water for washing up, washing yourself etc saving you having to put the hot water on, saving cash..
Charge your phones etc with that Solar charger you only use camping!
Drink water! It's nice to sit with a bottle or two in the cooler evenings, but don't drink during the day. Alcohol dehydrates the body, and you may not notice how dehydrated you actualy are untill it's a problem.
I don't need to tell about hats sunglasses and sunscreen.
Or hang your hammock in some nice cool woodland, and chill out.
Have fun in the sun, and stay safe.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,665
McBride, BC
Drink lots of water and fruit juices for the added electrolytes.
If and when it hits 30C at head height in my kitchen, I know that my west side house grape vines are providing as much shade as they can. It's still just 20C on the floor = that's where a little fan goes. Any hotter and I'll live on cushions on the floor. Won't be the first time.
 
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Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
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Exmoor
It's also a good idea to have some rehydration sachets from the chemist that you might use if you have the runs, for quick rehydration if someone is feeling the heat badly.
Know the signs!
I can recommend blackcurrant ones, or you can make your own.
In my fak I keep a special double ended spoon that came with instructions and you can measure out salt and sugar and make up your own dioralite, using squash as flavouring.
Remember to keep an eye on the colour of little ones (and bigger ones) wee, if it goes dark or brown looking, rehydrate ASAP. children do not realise they are dehydrated if they are engrossed in playing, and you may not notice they are not drinking. Offer them regular drinks every hour or so.
Heatstroke kills, so keep an eye on elder neighbours too. Worth popping round to check and make sure they are not too hot and put in place any measures you can to keep them cooler. Overheating in older people can be a problem as much as cold
I've had heatstroke once, and it's awful. I was lucky as I'd collapsed and someone found me, and not waiting for an ambulance took me straight to hospital. I was young and stupid, being a sun lover. Now I take more care
Any other tried and tested tips welcome.
 
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Laurentius

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 13, 2009
2,428
619
Knowhere
Well since the theme of this forum is bushcraft I wonder what Ray Mears has to say on the topic. I think taking a tip from those cultures who are exposed to this heat on a regular basis is the way to go, and I don't mean the residents of Phoenix Arizona with their air conditioning.

Baggy cotton clothes and linen if you can afford it. I am wearing a baggy white T shirt, white cotton pajama bottoms and a foreign legion style cap to go out at the moment. I don't care what I look like.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,977
4,624
S. Lanarkshire
Get up and be quietly busy when it's cool. It's lovely at 5am just now :D and beautiful after 7.30pm.

In the heat of the day, find someplace shady, spritz yourself with water and just chill out.
Hair, face, forearms and shins are the natural cooling off areas.
If you get too hot, run your wrists (or sit with them in a basin/bucket) under cold water. Same with your feet and ankles.
The blood runs closest to the skin there and it really does help you cool down.
If you have to be busy then soak a shemagh, a pillow slip or a hand towel in cold water and wring it out and lay it around your neck. Refresh often.
 

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
8,064
7,856
Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
Having spent some of my childhood in North Africa, my body sort of automates a slow-down. Don't rush anything; takes things slow if you have to move at all. As Toddy said, steal a few hours in the morning then plan a break (siesta) for a few hours in the hottest part of the day. Then plan on a nice cold beer as the temperature drops in the evening :) Having said that, this is not hot yet TBH. We logged near 50C on one of our desert trips :)

We live in a converted clover threshing barn. It's positioned so the sides face East-West to get maximum air flow from the westerlies. If we open a door/window on the East at one end, and another on the West at the other end, we can be almost certain of getting some kind of breeze through the house.
 

SaraR

Full Member
Mar 25, 2017
1,638
1,187
Ceredigion
Be careful if you're driving. When you're not physically active it's easy to forget how hot you actually are and that it can affect your driving ability. And of course even more so if your actually feeling uncomfortablly hot while driving. The same goes for other drivers on the road, so expect some erratic behaviour.
 

knowledge=gain

Sent off- not allowed to play
Jun 25, 2022
544
75
england
wet towels with cold water and place on your calf or thigh muscles

find a shady water course and dip your feet in or if deep enough your whole body or as much of you as you can
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,977
4,624
S. Lanarkshire
I've been putting big plant saucers out and making sure there's water in them all the time.
Amazing numbers of little birds visit them. So do the squirrels, and the cats :rolleyes:
I made sure they were sited where the birds had a chance if the cat was nearby.
Pretty sure the fox was at the pond last night too.

M
 
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Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,977
4,624
S. Lanarkshire
@Herman30
I use one of those too :) It is perfect for the job. Very refreshing and it doesn't 'soak' my clothing either. Pretty sure I paid a pound for mine. They are sold for ironing too.
 

stevec

Full Member
Oct 30, 2003
548
144
Sheffield
I bought a couple of hot water bottles they are now frozen. Heat especially dry heat in the day I can manage but hot at night is not so fun. Was watching celeb Gogglebox the other night and rylan Clarke's mum had her feet in a mop bucket of cold water, I bet that was quite refreshing
 
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Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
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Exmoor
I'm just in from the garden. Himself's laughing at me because I want a kiddie's paddling pool. I'm going to fill it with water and put it underneath the garden table so I can sit with my feet in it :)

I have a tin bath with water in and sit in it, iin the garden when it gets hot. It's lovely! Umbrella for shade, and I'm happy.
The kiddy pool is a great idea, but doesn't work well on my ski slope lawn. I did try it, but the water is all lop sided., deep one end, dry as a bone the other!
 
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swyn

Life Member
Nov 24, 2004
1,159
227
Eastwards!
My wife has strategically placed water places all round our yard. We have a couple of old Belfast sinks as reptileariums for the newts frogs and toads that we know are around plus a number of plastic dustbin lids for the birds and mammals.
They are filled daily.
The pond is dry much to the wild ducks disgust and so are the ditches and there is quite a grassland fire risk too.
We have wire stock net over the troughs and butts to stop the owls drowning in them. The ponies push this down to drink and the ball valve keeps the water at a constant level.
S
 
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Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,977
4,624
S. Lanarkshire
I have three (small) ponds in the garden, and we have newts and toads and frogs.
It's a great excuse not to cut the grass :)
I think gardens need watery bits. I grow reedmace in one of my ponds, the bigger one has watercress and waterlilies, while the other one has caddis fly larvae crawling along the bottom in their little gravel tubes.

Always something interesting to see with water around.

M
 
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henchy3rd

Settler
Apr 16, 2012
611
423
Derby
I just get on with it as I love the heat.
Drink lots of water & just enjoy it in the shade.
I’ve taken my windows out of the boat & it’s a nice balmy 32 degrees inside with a pleasant breeze.
However, I think the fish are struggling as there’s hundreds at the surface?(perch, carp & some pike)
 

nigelp

Native
Jul 4, 2006
1,417
1,024
New Forest
newforestnavigation.co.uk
I just get on with it as I love the heat.
Drink lots of water & just enjoy it in the shade.
I’ve taken my windows out of the boat & it’s a nice balmy 32 degrees inside with a pleasant breeze.
However, I think the fish are struggling as there’s hundreds at the surface?(perch, carp & some pike)
Me too. I drink plenty of fluids and keep covered up in the hotter parts of the day.
 

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