Hot Heat 2026

[Woodbloke]

Well, I guess that's ok, but there is a dress code round here, y'know!

On 'dress codes', I recently posted a pic of a woodwork book on my current build thread. One of the authors was Jack 'Stroppy' Maynard at Shoreditch who in the 1970's would send students back to their room to dress in a collar and tie if they foolishly turned up in his workshop one morning in the statuary grubby student T shirt! I kid you not, collar and tie in his workshop at all times - Rob

 

[Steve Maskery]

Also the garden is enclosed and not remotely overlooked so I am just in my underpants

Wimp.
S

 

[Steve Maskery]

And nobody, but nobody, has complimented Steve for his accurate recreation of Emperor Palpatine . Nice one, Steve.

I had to look him up. I think I should go on that radio show "I've never seen Star Wars".
S

 

[Lurker]

I DID put an old t shirt on this morning while I was using the angle grinder

 

[RogerM]

And nobody, but nobody, has complimented Steve for his accurate recreation of Emperor Palpatine . Nice one, Steve.

I was thinking more in terms of ET.

 

[Lons]

I DID put an old t shirt on this morning while I was using the angle grinder

If you do a lot of grinding in a T shirt it can end up looking like a string vest. A vision of Rab C Nesbit comes to mind.

 

[RogerS]

Warm here again today.
I’ve been getting up at 5.30 all week so have a few hours to move my various tasks along.
Our rear garden is such that there is always shade somewhere, chairs are strategically placed. Also the garden is enclosed and not remotely overlooked so I am just in my underpants

Wimp

 

[RogerS]

On 'dress codes', I recently posted a pic of a woodwork book on my current build thread. One of the authors was Jack 'Stroppy' Maynard at Shoreditch who in the 1970's would send students back to their room to dress in a collar and tie if they foolishly turned up in his workshop one morning in the statuary grubby student T shirt! I kid you not, collar and tie in his workshop at all times - Rob

doesn’t a tie contravene HS and E.?

 

[Woodbloke]

doesn’t a tie contravene HS and E.?

This was the mid seventies Rog and I suspect that elf n'safety rules n'regs were yet to be invented - Rob

 

[Accipiter]

31° in the house, up stairs, at 10.20

Well over 30° in the garden - thermometer isn't registering as it doesn't have more than 30° on the gauge... having to entertain the grandson... paddling pool, parasol over... neck fan going, doing nought but a bit of (BIT) breeze

 

[AndyP]

30°c in the bedroom last night at midnight when over 2 hours of thunderstorms started, just what I needed for a 6am start.
Normal route from home to ferry port, 15 mins in car, goes over Pegasus Bridge ( a bascule bridge) which has been closed now since Monday due to the heat. Secondary route closed due to major road resurfacing, tertiary route more than 30min detour.
At least I should get off the ferry quickly

 

[Accipiter]

Just a thought... with the government pushing for everyone to increase the amount of insulation in their properties... is this going to increase the heat inside them when we get such weather conditions in the future - as predicted with the global warming

Mine has around 6" at present... 1796 build (according to an insurance company) with so called solid wall construction - approximately 24" thick...

 

[RogerM]

What a difference a day makes. After several days with outside temps around 33C in South Devon, today it's 19.5C. The house has absorbed a lot of heat though, and inside temps are still around 26C even with doors and windows open. At the start of the heatwave it was a comfy 23C indoors, but interesting to see how the interior temps have built despite doing "the right thing" by opening windows at night and closing them and drawing curtains during the day.

 

[Lons]

I seem to remember spending 2 weeks in Cornwall right in the middle of a heatwave in 1976

 

[RogerS]

What a difference a day makes. After several days with outside temps around 33C in South Devon, today it's 19.5C. The house has absorbed a lot of heat though, and inside temps are still around 26C even with doors and windows open. At the start of the heatwave it was a comfy 23C indoors, but interesting to see how the interior temps have built despite doing "the right thing" by opening windows at night and closing them and drawing curtains during the day.

It's surprising how a few tweaks can make all the difference. Our kitchen extension has three large skylights and double doors out into the conservatory...with mega glass windows and WIP insulation in the roof. I used to open all the doors to try and get some (usually non-existent) breeze through. This never worked and the kitchen got very hot.

So last few days I've been going up on the roof and covering the skylights early. Keeping the back door shut and also the double doors to the conservatory. Massive improvement...some 10 degrees C lower and stayed that way.

Someone needs to tell Camden Council that opening windows in very hot weather, as they have been telling people, is a very dumb thing to do.

 

[AndyP]

External shutters are far better at keeping the heat out of the house than curtains. Difficult to retro fit in the uk of course due to outward opening windows which are fitted flush to the outside wall rather than on the inside of the reveal as happens here. A lesson for future house design perhaps?

 

[RogerM]

It's surprising how a few tweaks can make all the difference. Our kitchen extension has three large skylights and double doors out into the conservatory...with mega glass windows and WIP insulation in the roof. I used to open all the doors to try and get some (usually non-existent) breeze through. This never worked and the kitchen got very hot.

So last few days I've been going up on the roof and covering the skylights early. Keeping the back door shut and also the double doors to the conservatory. Massive improvement...some 10 degrees C lower and stayed that way.

Someone needs to tell Camden Council that opening windows in very hot weather, as they have been telling people, is a very dumb thing to do.

We have a pair of south facing Velux roof lights in our kitchen. Normally we love the extra light flooding into the kitchen but they have been a bit of a liability in this weather. In particular, the dark granite island worktop heats up and becomes a night storage heater! I have a pair of these external Heat Blinds on order which are advertised as cutting heat by 78% whilst still allowing some ambient light through. They are solar powered and are advertised as giving 600 operations (300 complete cycles) on a single charge. I'll report back on their efficacy.

 

[Woodbloke]

External shutters are far better at keeping the heat out of the house than curtains. Difficult to retro fit in the uk of course due to outward opening windows which are fitted flush to the outside wall rather than on the inside of the reveal as happens here. A lesson for future house design perhaps?

I've seen the kitchen windows in your maison Andy that open inwards, directly over the work surfaces - Rob

Edit - we have and a roller blind + curtains in the South facing lounge window as well as a pair of roller blinds in the South facing kitchen windows

 

[Mike]

My house was built in 2008 using 15cm thick insulation panels on the outside of the cast in place concrete walls. I don't know what the R value is of the material, but the interior of the house is noticeably cooler during the day with the external shutters (Rolladen) closed. For the past few nights, we took advantage of a portable 12kBTU air conditioner in our bedroom. It was a gift a few years ago from a co-worker returning to the U.S. and he used it for one season before leaving. During most of the short hot periods, the bedroom ceiling fan and cross breeze from open windows was adequate. When needed, a second floor fan in the corner provided additional breeze.

Last year, I decided to use the AC unit and made a window panel using 8mm board that has melamine on both sides. It slides into the east-facing window frame after removing the screen panel. The flexible plastic AC exhaust hose connects to the vent. This setup does a good job of removing most of the heat generated by the compressor and condenser coils, but the hose also acts as a radiator and dumps some of the heat back into the room. The condensation drains into a plastic tub near the AC unit and must be emptied twice a day.



I cobbled up a box using the last of my 18mm and 12mm plywood offcuts so the exhaust port was level with the vent in the window. The center panel in the box is loose and held in place by two rows of 4mm Dominos. At the end of the season, the center panel is removed, the box is turned so it is vertical, and the AC unit slid into it for storage. Later this year, I'll seal and paint the box (the plywood is not furniture grade) and add a door. There is room in the box for the accessories and the window panel slides under the bed.

I drilled an 18mm hole in the window panel for the condensation drain. The plastic exhaust hose is now much shorter and the AC vents directly outside. The rolladen can still be closed during the day when the AC is not used.





Although these types of AC units are very inefficient, the running cost for us is nothing. At the beginning of this month, we had a Fronius 12kWh photovoltaic system installed. There are 28 PV panels on the south-facing roof of the house and garage as well as 12.6kWh battery storage in the garage. The system provides complete backup in case of a power outage and is pre-wired for an EV wall box if we ever decide to replace one of the current vehicles.

By the time the PV panels start generating power in the morning, the battery reserve is still at about 45 to 50 percent. By 0800, the PV panels are providing all of the energy and the battery starts recharging. By 1000 or 1100, the battery is fully charged. I don't know how much this will change as the weather changes because we have had mostly clear and sunny skies during the day this month.