How to cool down a hot apartment: the problems with opening windows

You might wonder how to cool down a hot apartment as the temperature rises outside.

If you’re like any of the thousands of London apartment owners, you’re probably suffering and sweltering in the summer heat.

That’s why our managing director, Savva, explains how to cool down a hot apartment and the problems with opening windows for cool air.

Why do apartments get so hot?

Modern apartments are notoriously difficult to keep cool these days. UK summers are becoming hotter every year. With that comes the problem of how to keep your living space cool.

This is due, in part, to efficient building insulation. This insulation is economical, saves energy in winter, and helps keep you warm during the cooler months. However, it doesn’t help in the summer.

Combine efficient insulation with large amounts of glass—a staple for many London apartments—and your apartment can quickly become an oven.

The problems with windows

Massive panoramic windows give tenants or homeowners beautiful views. However, they also tend to turn the apartment into a greenhouse, increasing heat and humidity.

Moreover, most tall blocks of flats and apartments don’t have anything to shade them from exposure to the sun. This causes them to heat up quickly in warm weather, especially if they are south-facing.

So, how do you cool down your hot apartment? The obvious and most simple solution would be to open a window, but there are a few reasons why this is actually problematic in most apartment buildings.

Windows won’t fully open

Many high-rise apartments don’t have open windows, which is often a safety feature to prevent falls.

Flats and apartments with open windows often don’t allow the windows to open very far, making it challenging to get any significant amount of air into the home.

Also, because many modern apartments only have windows that open at one side of the living area, there really is no way to get a good cross-breeze moving through your space. Unless air can flow through the entire apartment, it doesn’t provide any sort of cooling effect.

However, even when windows do open wide and provide cross-through ventilation, there are still the following problems to consider.

Sound pollution

One of the big attractions of modern London apartments is the ability to live near the workplace or close to transport links.

This includes blocks of flats right by busy main roads with lots of traffic and railway stations that can often be busy 24 hours a day.

This is great for convenience and saving time on the day-to-day commute. Who doesn’t want all the offers of the high street right outside their door?

However, it’s less appealing when you consider how noisy these places can be.

Double-glazed windows are great at keeping most noise out, so as long as the temperature remains moderate, so sound shouldn’t be an issue.

However, once it starts to heat up, windows are opened, and suddenly, your peaceful home is filled with the busy sounds of London.  

This can be a real problem for those trying to relax and unwind, particularly those working from home or with small children who need to sleep during the day.

Air pollution

If you are one of those people who doesn’t mind the sounds of city life, opening the window might not seem like too much of a problem.

But it’s not just sound pollution that’s a concern – there’s a very real problem with air pollution too. Recent news reports indicate that air pollution in Central London will not fall to safe levels before 2025.

This means that every time you open your window, you risk filling your beautiful, clean living space with invisible and harmful particles.

This is particularly bad news for anyone who suffers from asthma or allergies, as particles from air pollution can trigger illness.

Also, allergy sufferers want pollen to stay outside the home during the summer months. This means keeping windows shut pretty much all of the time to stay in tip-top health.

Security

Leaving a window open all day or night is a security risk, particularly in urban and built-up areas or if you live on the ground or first floor.

It can be unbearable to sleep on hot summer nights without some cool air flowing through. Because of this, it’s very tempting to leave a window ajar, but this is one of the things that opportunistic intruders count on.

Around a third of all burglars enter the home through an open or unlocked window or door.

To avoid break-ins and burglaries, windows and doors must be shut tight whenever you are out of the home or sleeping.

But this, of course, does not help if you want to cool down in a hot apartment.

Safety

Families with pets and children are often concerned about how to cool down a hot apartment. Adults can stand the heat and sometimes even enjoy it, but little ones can get upset, cranky and even sick if they get too hot.

The same can be said about pets. Animals need to regulate their temperature and can also become very distressed if they don’t get a chance to cool down regularly.

If your dog is panting and drinking water constantly, the chances are that your apartment is too hot.

Opening a window is simply an unsafe solution when you live in an apartment with small children or animals.

On the ground floor, there is always the risk that an animal could escape and become lost or, worse, injured.

This is a particular concern for inner-city apartments near traffic. Anything above the ground floor means that the dangers become greater due to the risk of falls.

So, really, opening windows to cool down a hot apartment isn’t ideal for most London apartment owners.

How to cool down a hot apartment with Cool You

If all of this has made you worry about how to cool down a hot apartment, we can help. The situation is not as impossible as it seems.

The only way forward is to air condition your apartment. But that doesn’t mean you have to go through huge, invasive changes by installing a traditional or conventional air conditioning unit.

Our completely internal air conditioning solutions are perfect for apartment owners. They are sleek, and quiet and can typically be retrofit-installed in just one day.

The best part is that they do not require an external condenser. Instead, everything is kept fully inside your property.

Our solutions will give you full air conditioning without compromising on performance, and we’ll make sure that you get the unit that’s just right for your space, no matter how large or small.

If you want further information, please call us today at 0207 0432275 or fill out the form below.