Cooling Your Home – Windows Open Or Closed?

Summer is coming and the air will be getting warmer. How to stay cool is always a question. Throw open those windows, say some. Clamp them shut and crank the AC say others. Well, while the debate rages on, we’ll share some truths about warm and cool air.

Fans

We all love fans. Hand fans for a hot church social or outdoor event. Box fans to shove in a window (facing in or out) and ceiling fans reminiscent of the movie “Casablanca”. But here is a little known, or understood fact about fans. Left to their own devices in a closed room, a fan will only raise the temperature in that room. Moving air molecules causes friction and warming and the heat of the fan motor alone can raise the temp in the room by 1-2 degrees.

Why? Fans only work if they are blowing directly on you and only if you are perspiring. Evaporation causes cooling and if the fan is moving air over your skin, it will speed up that evaporation, making you feel cooler. Evaporation is why a damp paper towel on your neck feels cool. So, don’t leave a fan running in an unoccupied room.

Air Conditioning

A good AC cools a room two ways. By “conditioning” the air, taking the moisture out and reducing the humidity in the room. It also runs the air over a condenser that has been cooled by evaporation (see Fans above) and circulates that cooled, dry air into your room. Opening a window, or even not having very good seals around your windows will cause your AC unit to run much harder to keep up.

Windows

The only time an open window will cool a room, is if the air outside is cooler than the air inside. If that is the case, a box fan in the window, facing in, can draw cooler air in. Likewise, if a room is hot and the air outside is cooler, you can force some of the warm air out by reversing or turning the fan around.

At American Made Windows, we will only sell you what you need, we will always give you the best advice, and remember that no matter what type of windows you need, American Made Windows has a solution that fits your budget. We pride ourselves on providing jobs right here in America and supplying an American-Made product to you.

To find out more about our products, or to schedule a window inspection and estimate, contact us at 228-818-6136, or you can leave a message on our contact page. We provide window products and service for homeowners in the entire Gulf Coast region.