GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — With temperatures soaring into the 90s in West Michigan, you might be struggling to keep your cool. What works? What doesn’t?
Here are four myths for beating the heat:
Running a fan will keep an empty room cool.
The air conditioning will work with that, for sure, but a fan, not so much. Fans are designed to keep cool people, not rooms. So shut it off when you aren’t nearby.
Window coverings only block out the sun, not the heat.
Actually, they’re pretty effective at blocking out the heat. When to shut them depends on the time of the day. Cover east-facing windows before bed, to block out the morning sun. Cover south-facing windows during the day. And cover west-facing windows in the late afternoon and evening.
Keeping windows open on hot days will improve air flow in your home.
When it’s really hot out you’ll want to keep them closed. At night, though, feel free to crack open a windows once temperatures have dropped.
Cranking the air conditioning will cool things down faster.
The fact is most air conditioning units have a single-fan speed. So they’ll cool at the same rate no matter how high it’s turned up.
And there you have it, some myths for beating the heat. Now, just remember to keep your cool.
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