Idea for heatwaves: a pair of thermometers, linked, to go outdoors and indoors.
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@DamonHD same here thanks to @homeassistant
my outside sensor lives on the south facing balcony and seems to give somewhat higher readings than expected, often the air outside feels cooler than inside even though the sensor reading is a bit higher
@unchartedworlds@DamonHD often I just monitor the gradient, e.g. if I have open windows and the temperature is still dropping inside then I leave the windows open. I close them again when the inside temperature stops dropping.
@homeassistant @unchartedworlds -
@unchartedworlds I was just thinking similar with a traffic light system. I've not seen one but it wouldn't be difficult to invent.
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@unchartedworlds I have electric Velux windows on a very high ceiling. They came with a touchscreen controller but I bought a simple physical button controller and hooked it to a Raspberry Pi to control the buttons. Code on the Pi made it appear as an Alexa device. Only supported on and off so we had to say "Alexa turn on the fresh air." I use past tense as sadly it stopped working a couple of years ago. Been thinking I should build another and link it to indoor temperature.
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Trap the cool air in.
Shut up at coolest time overnight. 6am??Keep heat from coming in.
Sealing cracks, door and window gaps etc. Shut off rooms you won't go into. Towels to stop air leak under doors.Close curtains. Outside shade on windows. Temporary cover or reflective film on windows. Windscreen shade. Aluminium foil. Bubble wrap.
Try to keep sun from making in inside.
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Probably.
But a better solution is to have sunshades for the windows.That's a different variable - even if you _have_ sunshades, there's still a difference between "windows open is cooling the house" and "windows open is warming the house".
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@unchartedworlds I have live temperature sensors inside and out, graphed, and watch that graph like a hawk at critical moments. No bleeping though (I could!).
At risk of mansplaining my own experience...
Sometimes it seems to me to a bit more complicated than that, eg breeze and fresher air may be worth a slightly higher temperature, especially on the down-slope in the evening, like last night...
Yes, I agree the reopening is a bit more subtle, because of adding breeze. In the morning on a day like this, I don't want to risk that trade-off and add that bit more total heat, because I might be sorry later
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Yes, I agree the reopening is a bit more subtle, because of adding breeze. In the morning on a day like this, I don't want to risk that trade-off and add that bit more total heat, because I might be sorry later
@unchartedworlds Right now I am on the cusp of that dilemma and have shut most windows and doors, though with a teen still catatonic in his room, with window open I think... (4o is outside in our east-facing porch.)
https://www.earth.org.uk/out/hourly/16WWmultisensortempL.png
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Trap the cool air in.
Shut up at coolest time overnight. 6am??Keep heat from coming in.
Sealing cracks, door and window gaps etc. Shut off rooms you won't go into. Towels to stop air leak under doors.Close curtains. Outside shade on windows. Temporary cover or reflective film on windows. Windscreen shade. Aluminium foil. Bubble wrap.
Try to keep sun from making in inside.
But is "shut up at coolest time overnight" actually correct if, at that time, the house is still part way through cooling from yesterday's heat, and the outside is still cooler than the inside? I feel like not. Might as well get that extra bit of cooling first.
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@unchartedworlds Not sure you should always close the windows, though - at least in my flat, just the circulation of air still brings a modicum of coolness, even as the outside temp soars above the inside (currently it's 30C outside in the shade vs. 25C inside, with the balcony doors wide open)...
I frequently have this argument with my wife who equates a breeze from outside as being cool and refreshing.
All it does is cause evaporation on your skin which makes you feel cooler. Leave the room and what you have is warmer outside air entering the room making it warm up faster than if the doors and windows were closed.
You’re better off to use a fan in the room to give you the cooling effect of evaporation.
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@unchartedworlds here's a few things that I have been told about thermometers over the years that for some reason were not obvious to me:
To get the best indication of air temperature, the thermometer must be in the shade.
Breeze has no effect on the temperature of objects (like thermometers) that are not self heating.
The thermometer shows the temperature of the thermometer rather than anything else.
I hope this is of help.
I know almost nothing else about thermometers. -
I frequently have this argument with my wife who equates a breeze from outside as being cool and refreshing.
All it does is cause evaporation on your skin which makes you feel cooler. Leave the room and what you have is warmer outside air entering the room making it warm up faster than if the doors and windows were closed.
You’re better off to use a fan in the room to give you the cooling effect of evaporation.
@Sanderde @unchartedworlds Well, your experience is different from mine - like I said there's a measurably lower temperature in my apartment with the doors & windows open to a much warmer outside
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@Sanderde @unchartedworlds Well, your experience is different from mine - like I said there's a measurably lower temperature in my apartment with the doors & windows open to a much warmer outside
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@Sanderde @unchartedworlds I wouldn't quite go there just yet
but remember, the inside of the structure was not heated by the sun, so even though the air may be hot when it enters, there's a lot of surfaces in here which are much cooler than any surface outside in the sun & can cool the air - but it requires that the air moves around. Also, I have windows of both sides of the building & the air outside isn't still either; lots of possibilities other than breaking the laws of physics 
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@DamonHD same here thanks to @homeassistant
my outside sensor lives on the south facing balcony and seems to give somewhat higher readings than expected, often the air outside feels cooler than inside even though the sensor reading is a bit higher
@unchartedworlds@patrislav @DamonHD @homeassistant @unchartedworlds
Classically, it should live in a Stevenson screen.
For a couple of seasons I'd like a fan to move air one way or the other between kitchen and heat trap, but I've not made it yet. -
@unchartedworlds Not sure you should always close the windows, though - at least in my flat, just the circulation of air still brings a modicum of coolness, even as the outside temp soars above the inside (currently it's 30C outside in the shade vs. 25C inside, with the balcony doors wide open)...
@jwcph @unchartedworlds
Circulate the 25°C air with a fan inside.
Close the windows on the 30°C -
@jwcph @unchartedworlds
Circulate the 25°C air with a fan inside.
Close the windows on the 30°C@Photo55 @unchartedworlds Also an option
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@unchartedworlds Right now I am on the cusp of that dilemma and have shut most windows and doors, though with a teen still catatonic in his room, with window open I think... (4o is outside in our east-facing porch.)
https://www.earth.org.uk/out/hourly/16WWmultisensortempL.png
