RE: How to handle a heatwave.

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Oh man 40c ???? That's cool weather, we will get 2-3 week stretches here in the southwest that will run 114-118F (45-48c). I always tease the wife that it really doesn't get hot until we hit 106F (about 42c), at 113F we go from hot to hell! Fortunately, all our homes here have had swimming pools so that is great for keeping cool but yes sunstroke is a very real concern so we have large shade umbrellas over our sitting areas and even one on the side of the pool.

Many of our restaurants here that have outdoor seating have water misters under their awnings, the mist is super fine and evaporates just before it reaches you but it lowers the temperature drastically. You can sit out under a shaded awning and have a meal and not even break a sweat. I considered installing one on my own patio overhang but haven't got to it yet. Great thing is that they are powered simply by your water pressure, no electric pumps. You can buy kits on Amazon.com for a reasonable price. (Do you have amazon in South Africa? Maybe under a different name there?)

Swamp coolers work very well if the humidity isn't high. We had some large portable ones at a cabinet shop I worked in when I first moved here 20 years ago. You just hooked a garden hose up to them and plugged them in, kept the shop at about 35c when it was about 42c outside.

Fortunately, our summer is only 3-4 months long and the super hot heat seems to come in waves of 2-3 week highs 43c + temps then we get some cooler temps of around 40c for a week or two in between. The heat here is dryer most of the time but we do get a month of monsoon weather during July-August where the humidity gets to about 60-70% then it's just miserable.

Your squirrels are far luckier than you, at least they can cool off in the birdbath! 🤣🤣🤣

Great photos buy the way!!!

ecency
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Oh yeah, that is indeed hot and I am glad that you know what I am talking about.
I edited the post today with news in that some areas in Australia have equaled a 62 year old record with 52,7C temperatures. So yes, hot is hot and one just have to survive.

Thank you for the advice and we have the misters here at some restaurants, but I think that they will be too expensive for us. It's not a thing that we can see at people's homes here. I will have a look at the prices.

Swamp coolers are new to me and no idea, but I will ask Mrs. Google as it sounds interesting and I have to keep our PC'S cool in the study. We have a little fan, but it only circulates hot air.

Our summer was at about 4 moths, but lately it has stayed hot into 6 months. We are situated with the Atlantic ocean at the west and the Indian ocean at the right and that's why we are known worldwide as "The Cape of Storms". This place is the graveyard of many ships along our coastlines. We are also known to have all 4 seasons in one day.
So yes it's a tricky, but beautiful place to live.

Yes thank you and you are right and the squirrels like to tease us.

Cheers and !BEER

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I forgot about these spiffy little fan kits, more economic for outdoor cooling, don't want to use misters around electronics.

Mister kit for large fans.

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Thank you for the link and it looks as if I can make a plan with these my friend.
You are correct about mist and electronics, as it will not do.

!BEER
!PIZZA

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