Working Nights and Energy Costs. Solutions?

[Shelsi]

Dh works 3 months days then 3 months nights throughout the year. He's just about to switch to nights in mid April. It's starting to warm up here and obviously we'll be into "full" summer here before long.

Dh will get home around 6:30 in the morning and goes to bed around 10 a.m. He sleeps until 4 pm or so and then he eats dinner and goes to work. Our bedroom gets super hot without the a/c on. Usually if he wasn't sleeping we'd have the windows open but they let too much light in for him to sleep. We also live in a brand new construction house and they're still working on the other houses so there's lots of construction noise. Windows open are a definite no-go. However I don't want to have to run my a/c all day either! I really only need to be cool at night when I'm sleeping so when he's working days we have the a/c off all day and then run it at night.

Any ideas or solutions? I want him to be comfortable. It's bad enough he has to work 14 hrs at night. But certainly there's some way we can cool down the room but not spend loads of money with the a/c on all summer long?

[BetsyS]

No good solution here, but just comisseration. The years that I worked nights, I absolutely had to have AC in order to sleep. In one house, we didn't have AC in the house at all, but I got a window unit that we just used for day sleeping. It made a big difference.

Maybe just a window unit? I honestly don't know about the energy usage versus using central AC, though.

[Denvergirlie]

I'm thinking a window AC unit, no need to cool the whole house if you can manage without it, but understand that sleeping when it's hot (and loud) outside can be a challenge.
I would think the noise of the window unit maybe paired with a fan in that room, would block out the other noise from the rest of the household/ construction.

Is that not an option?

[velochic]

How about one of the portable A/C towers for just the one room? You have to empty the condensation bucket every day, but they do a good job of cooling a single room. They're a little more expensive than the window units, but, then again, you can easily move them from room to room.

[Shelsi]

Dh doesn't want to do a window unit. No clue why, he just doesn't. I'll look into one of those towers though.

They just gave him a small raise today - maybe the extra will just end up paying the higher electric bill, at least we wouldn't be out any extra money based on the current budget I guess.

I would just sleep without the a/c at night, I don't mind a fan, but the kids' windows are on the front of the house on the ground floor. I don't feel safe with their windows open like that so they would be roasting at night.

[eirual]

If you can open the house at night to let in the cool air, then close it up at first light (draw the curtains, close the windows, upstairs and down) it can make a big difference on inside temperatures (as long as it actually cools down at night).

Growing up without AC, I remember on nights we were desperate a cool cloth with a fan going, or a bowl of ice in front of a fan did the trick, at least until we fell asleep.

Any chance of sleeping in the basement or lower level room?

[Shelsi]

We're actually just all on one level, it's a ranch style house. We've got black out/thermal curtains on the windows so theoretically that should help keep it cooler. Our bedroom faces south though which doesn't help at all.

Dh is now insisting he'll take a box fan and just point it directly at his face and that will keep him cool enough and block out any noise. We'll try it but I don't think he really realizes how warm that room is going to get with the windows closed, the door closed, etc.

[Denvergirlie]

I see you are in NM, can you do a swamp cooler? uses way less energy than an AC unit, but still very cooling.

We have a large whole house window mount one, but also a stand alone room sized one as well. Makes a HUGE difference in the dead of summer. Granted we are more north of you, but it's still very low humidity in CO, that a swamp cooler is totally do-able.

[pbjmama]

Can he sleep in a different room that will not get as hot?

[Tammy in Germany]

Growing up with parents who were shift workers they always had a box fan and kept it on high. That drowned out the noise and kept it cooler in the room.

[SleeplessMommy]

Check your attic insulation levels.
http://www.ornl.gov/~roofs/Zip/ZipHome.html
If you need to upgrade insulation, start with a complaint to the builder (code has a certain minimum requirement) then go with blown in cellulose.

Next, look at strategic planting of a deciduous tree or two. A little shade can do wonders!

You can also consider outside window shades or reflective white roof paint on parts of the roof not visible from the street.. (snowcoat)