# How to cool a mobile home with no A/C



## ajharris (Jan 26, 2006)

How do I cool a mobile home with no A/C? I have 2 box fans, and the windows are open, but it is terrible in here. I am thinking of blocking off the majority of the house, and start sleeping in the living room with the kids because it is so hot. Any help would be appreciated. 

Amanda


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## deaconjim (Oct 31, 2005)

I used to have a sprinkler hose (the flat type with holes punched in it) running the full length of the roof. I'm sure it won't do much for the lifespan of the roof, but it did wonders for the inside temperature.


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## CGUARDSMAN (Dec 28, 2006)

Always draw air through the house from the shaded side. when i was a kid we used to put the fan in the window on the sunny side of the house blowing out. the other thing is close it in the morning after a cool night to keep the cool in longer. hope this helps!


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## AnnieOakley (Aug 28, 2006)

Is it possible to get a small window unit? That would take the edge off.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Anything you can do to shade the mh will help. You'd be amazed the difference if you could move the mobile home under a big tree. I know that isnt probably possible but you could for example make a arbor/trellis over the mobile home and get some vine to cover it or suppose you could put some kind of ag shade material over the arbor instead. Even cheap tarps would work but dont allow for ventilation.


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## Jolly (Jan 8, 2004)

Shade is your best bet, as others have said. But...I did buy a 5000 btu window unit last week for $70. One of those in a bedroom lets everybody in the room sleep in comfort, and you can turn it off during the day.

There's a reason the old folks down here built houses that had rooms with 10 foot ceilings, painted white exteriors, and considered shade as one of the most important factors when choosing a homesite.


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## ajharris (Jan 26, 2006)

Well the only tree of any size I have on my land is a willow in the ditch. I am planning on transplanting some plums and peaches soon. I will see what I can do about shading it. I am planning on borrowing a A/C unit that is not in use from my mom. I figure that will keep the living room cool enough for all of us.


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## Rowdy (Jul 9, 2004)

Use your water hose to spray water underneath the trailer. Then sleep underneath it in the cool, wet dirt.

LOL.

Sorry, been there, and it really hurts in this part of the country to live in a trailer house with no A/C, or at least unable to run it much for fear of the bill.
There have been some good suggestions though!
All the trailers I have lived in have ran east to west. When it was hot, I'd try to sleep/stay in the east end of the house, as that it cooled off the first. I now live in a 14x40ft trailer house that has a patio door on the south side, and a bay window on the west... That room is hot! Awnings, shade cloth, anything to can do on the outside of the house to keep the sun out is good. While curtains on the inside do help some, it still allows the heat into the house. (just like it makes more sense to put the sun shade on the outside of the windshield of your car instead of the inside.)


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## Topaz Farm (Jan 27, 2005)

I read this in a magazine somewhere, it will be a longer term solution. 

An arbor about 2-3 feet from the house. I don't think it matters what kind of vines you plant, something fast growing. The plants keep the air between the house and arbor cooler, or something on that order. Another plus would be the shade.


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## Country Lady (Oct 2, 2003)

ajharris said:


> Well the only tree of any size I have on my land is a willow in the ditch. I am planning on transplanting some plums and peaches soon. I will see what I can do about shading it. I am planning on borrowing a A/C unit that is not in use from my mom. I figure that will keep the living room cool enough for all of us.


In the hot southern climate, it's next to impossible to survive without air conditioning. Even if you can only cool a portion of it with a small A/C, you can close off some doors and that's better than nothing. I hope you can borrow the one from you mom and get it hooked up.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

Water on the roof will work some but causes mud can cause mold and cost money. Shade is the only thing that will take some of the edge off the heat. If you are desperate and handy you can take some scrap wood and build a frame to sit on your roof then cover each side with tarps. Leave a space open down the ridge line and as the air under the tarp heats it will flow out the top and pull cooler air in. Doing the same thing to the sunniest side of the trailer will also help. BUT!!!!!!!!!! Make sure the frame(s) is(are) anchored to the ground and not the trailer so if the wind gets a hold of them the trailer won't get damaged.

I used to hang tarps on the side of our old house and it made a REAL difference in the heat coming into the house. The wife won't let me do this here because it looks so 'hillbilly'


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## Sabrina67 (Mar 24, 2008)

Window shades and curtains help. Especially of there isn't any wind you will b eblocking. I have been there too . We lived in a mobile home overlooking a gravel pit. WHEW. We were so hot
We had to have AC ,but money was tight, so we closed off most rooms. Watcher has a good idea too, the cooler the air you have coming in the better. Good luck


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## soulsurvivor (Jul 4, 2004)

We lived in a 12x50 for almost ten years, and had to eventually put an A/C unit in the living room AND the bedroom. It was unbearable without it. We had two maple trees, one at the front of the trailer and one at the back. Trailers are actually like Easy Bake Ovens. . . don't take much to heat em until it gets cold outside.


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## ann in tn (Nov 25, 2007)

There is also a roof coating for mobile homes that is white - it helps reflect the heat off of the roof. My FIL put it on his renters roof and the renter said that it helped.

I also put aluminum foil on the top halves of our windows. It is darker in the summer but it does help keep it cooler.


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## gerald77 (Aug 2, 2007)

i feel your pain. you can also plant shrubs around the outside in front of the skirting to keep the air a bit cooler under the house. i read that somewhere and we're gonna give it a try. even with central a/c the living room is still bloody hot but i think the a/c needs work. we only have one tree that shades the bedroom and it is amazing the temp difference at that end of the place. i'm glad you started this thread cause i was wondering the other day what we could do to cool this oven off.


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Go to Walmart, K-mart or some sporting good store.
At walmart in the camping section for about $2 is a silver foiled space blanket.
One blanket cut in half will cover two windows and hold the cool of the night in, and reflect the sun out. You can buy solar curtains, but they are basically this, with a place to run a curtain rod thru.
This will allow you to see outside some when in the daylight, but will have a shady blue interior lighting. At night it will be reverse, and if regular curtains are open then people will be able to see in slightly.

My next door neighbor and I used this last summer and have it up for this summer, it does help.

Angie


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

I've been thinking about cooling through shading, for my future house... There aren't going to be any trees for many years. I've thought about building some frames (4x4's bolted to the exterior of the home) extending up into the air, crisscrossed with stainless steel cables, and have some of those camouflage cover type tarps the military uses for hiding tanks, on top of the cables... The material is perforated, to simulate leaves... so a rainstorm wouldn't hold water...

My current home stays 20 to 25 degrees cooler inside than outside, in the summertime. I've got huge oak trees shading my house from the sun... makes quite a bit of difference.


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## ldc (Oct 11, 2006)

I use WHITE exterior house paint on my steep roof, here in LA, with no AC, and it cools down 5 degrees every time I paint it (annually). I have used "Silver Dollar" with is metallic and very expensive, but it washed off in our heavy rains. Now I use a mix of any/all ext. white paint that I mostly find or am given during the year. Doesn't sound like much but helps enormously. Others I know have built frames over their trailers and either used reflective tarps or wood/metal and painted those as reflective as possible. I've also used water on the roof in the hottest weather; here, that's usually up at 98 or more. our humidity is so high, this only helps when it's up around 100. I also have ceiling and box fans to pull in the cooler air from the cooler side of the house. ldc


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## Old Vet (Oct 15, 2006)

The cheapest thing you can do is to buy a large fan and have it blowing out and draw the colder air from the outside.You can use this even if you don't have shade. Put it in so that all the air will blow out and not just a little of it blowing out. For about 40 dollars yu can get a large fan that will blow out and have it fixed in a windoe and sealed tight so it omly blows out and crack a few windows on the other side of the MH. This will have a brese and cool the MH more that just a box fan.


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## Horselover (Mar 22, 2006)

Go buy yourself an a/c for your comfort and your family. I lived in a mobile home and when I would come home from work it would be hotter than hot!

Putting an A line roof up might help, but that is an expense that I am not sure will cool your home that much.

I feel for you! I remember those awful, unbearable nights. No one knows better than me. 

Save up your money (hard thing to do in this day and time) and make plans for a nice small home. You will never regret it.

Joyce


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## PyroDon (Jul 30, 2006)

if you own the mobile home go half way down the hall and cut a hole in the ceeling and the roof then install the largest roof ventialtion fan possible .
the larger the cfm the better . 
this will draw air from the entire trailer .
to add extra cooling water the grass under the windows in the evening . 

you might also consider coating the roof with white elstomere to help reflect solar gain


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

Another hillbilly solution... 

Put a box fan in the window.
Hang a wet sheet over the window with the sheet just barely reaching the bottom of the fan.
Turn the fan on high and enjoy the cool air.

Keep a bottle of water close by to spray the sheet often. The secret is to keep the sheet wet.

Look for an old fashioned water cooler. They cool better than a A/C and for a lot less money.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

I spent several years in Alabama living in an unairconditioned mobile home. The summer I was pregnant I spent the hottest part of the day lying on the living room floor with a box fan blowing on me. Between me and the box fan was a big bowl of ice water.


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## DW (May 10, 2002)

Misting your body will help. I've also heard of a large pan of ice in front of a box fan. The fastest growing shade tree in Colorado is a cottonwood...not sure what it would be there.


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## MoBackwoods (Mar 13, 2008)

deaconjim said:


> I used to have a sprinkler hose (the flat type with holes punched in it) running the full length of the roof. I'm sure it won't do much for the lifespan of the roof, but it did wonders for the inside temperature.


This works, used an oscillating sprinkler set midway on the roof and let it oscillate from one end of the MH to the other. This was back in the 80's with 10 straight days of 100 degrees plus. The sprinkler dropped the temp inside by 10 degrees.


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## cjg24 (Jul 31, 2005)

I am in Arizona and humidity is not a big problem here. I don't know about where you live. But you can buy Evaporative Coolers here and they cool by blowing moisture into the air with a big fan. They work great if it is low humidity. You can buy one to piggyback on the houses duct work, or one that you roll from room to room in the house. They are much cheaper to buy and to run than an airconditioner. 

In the old days in Arizona, they built a frame about 8x8 and hung wet blankets on the frame and slept in the center. When electricity came to the area, they would hang wet towels up and blow a fan thru the wet towel.


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## uyk7 (Dec 1, 2002)

Put some styrofoam over your windows or if you can't do that, put aluminum foil over the window.


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

An $80 A/C unit from walmart in one end of the mobile home and a box fan in a window on the other end blowing out as an exhaust fan works best.

Thats how I cooled my 14 by 60 mobile home at the lake for 2 summers and the 5000 btu A/C cost almost $150 then. The price has gone down greatly in the last 10 years.


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## soulsurvivor (Jul 4, 2004)

Consider contacting your local Community Action Agency. Through the Weatherization and LIHEAP funding, you may qualify for help with your air conditioning needs. 

http://www.okacaa.org/info/listings.html


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## ro2935 (Aug 23, 2007)

DW said:


> Misting your body will help. I've also heard of a large pan of ice in front of a box fan. The fastest growing shade tree in Colorado is a cottonwood...not sure what it would be there.


Allowing the air from a fan to blow over a large bowl of ice works, dampening your pillow before you go to sleep also helps plus sleeping under a damp sheet. Seen all 3 methods done many times when I was nursing and needed to bring a patients temp down. 
I also use the ice method to cool the upstairs of my home, it brings the room temp down nicely.
I have a solar blind [it looks like a normal blind but is silver backed, when it is closed it also works as a black out blind keeping light out]in daughters bedroom which works reasonably well, south facing room sun hits it from 11am onwards.
Someone else has mention putting up the emergency foil blankets on the windows, I'm doing this for the first time, I have friends that say they have had good results.
Though should also point out I live in the UK not Texas, and dont get the high temps.


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## wogglebug (May 22, 2004)

You've had some great suggestions here. My experience is:

1: Put a trellis a little distance from the sunward side of the house. Grow a vine on it (kiwifruit is good, but anything). In the meantime, put shadecloth over it. Shade with air circulation is good, that plus water transpiration (i.e. plants) is best. Shadecloth over an exterior open space (say pergola or veranda) makes an amazing difference.

2. White or silver paint on roof.

3: Built a second roof over the whole thing. Like a carport, but with a few inches between the roof of your home, and this roof. Far enough that radiated heat from the top roof to your home roof won't be significant, and so that you can easily clear out bird's nests in there. This roof should be white or silver. If you can actually make it a carport, then even better - more shaded ventilated space is better. Use that trellis on the sunward side of it.
Shadecloth is pretty-well insect-proof. Allow some overlap where it... uhm, overlaps. You'll want weight (e.g. boards, or heavy dowels) on the bottom to keep them in place, then tie those to to the support poles. You can use this space for an evening barbecue meal, or even outdoor sleeping, if you need to.


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## MarleneS (Aug 21, 2003)

Others think we are mad for no longer running an air conditioner, and I do admit that there are some July and August nights where I have little doubts about my insanity concerning this. The difference between with air conditioning and without air conditioning on the electric bill was close to $200/month. I thought - people lived for thousands of years without air condtioning - so it really isn't a health issue. Also, think of all that fuel saved if we would all give up air conditioning.

I know, I know, that's like people being asked to use less gasoline in their cars -- people just don't give up something they are in the habit of using until offer a better (never lessor) alternative.

Anyway, the suggestion Old Vet made along with shade over the trailer are the best. Only thing I wanted to add is something I do when the heat keeps me awake (not as often as you would think after your body readjust to not being kept cold all summer) is to simply get up stand under a cold shower for a minute and go back to bed damp.

Think of it as a challenge to be met and not as something you are being deprived of also helps.

Hugs,
Marlene


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## ajharris (Jan 26, 2006)

MarleneS said:


> Others think we are mad for no longer running an air conditioner, and I do admit that there are some July and August nights where I have little doubts about my insanity concerning this. The difference between with air conditioning and without air conditioning on the electric bill was close to $200/month. I thought - people lived for thousands of years without air condtioning - so it really isn't a health issue. Also, think of all that fuel saved if we would all give up air conditioning.
> 
> I know, I know, that's like people being asked to use less gasoline in their cars -- people just doing give up something they are in the habit of using until offer a better (never lessor) alternative.
> 
> ...


Marlene, 
It doesn't bother me to bad, but the 6 month old baby is miserable. Last night after he woke up 3 times drenched in sweat, I took him down the road to my mama's so he could stay cool. At 11 pm last night it was still 85* and the humidity was 75%, so it was HOT.


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## Hip_Shot_Hanna (Apr 2, 2005)

An evaporative cooler is only good on dry days. On a humid one, it just adds more water to the air. Considering that the past few days here it has felt like you could grab an armful of air and wring a glass of water out of it, evaporative cooling isn't an option all the time. (We do have one, but don't use it on humid days.)

PyroDon's suggestion for an attic fan is good, of course when it's 100 degrees outside it's not really cooling as much, but can be wonderful at night.

We also live in a mobile home. It's a doublewide, and we liked it because the entire west side of the house (runs north to south, so the long sides face east and west) was entirely shaded by mature oak trees. However, the front yard was virtually bereft of trees, except for one small live oak. We've been busy planting trees for the future.

What we have done is buy the vinyl slatted roll up shades at Wal-Mart, and install them on the outside over the windows. They allow air circulation but keep most of the sun out of the house. They will last about two summer seasons here, and of course we take them down at the end of autumn. They aren't terribly expensive, plus they don't completely darken a room and you can still see out through them, though admittedly they do obscure the view.

Right now Texas has a tax free shopping weekend on energy star appliances only, for Memorial Day. We went out yesterday and purchased a window unit. The timing was good for us. I don't know if Oklahoma is doing the same or not.

It may also help when you have time sitting down, to place your feet in a pan of cool water, and of course fans and cold water to drink or a glass of ice to munch on.


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## amwitched (Feb 14, 2004)

My neighbor does not run her A/C in her MH by choice and lack of money. She has built awing frames over all of her windows and has stapled shade cloth to the top of each frame. She also bought some "shade screen" and stapled that to the outside of each window. She then framed the windows with cedar slats (or fence board that people had thrown away) to hold the screen in place. She also has a swimming pool. If she can't take the heat any longer, she just jumps in the pool.

Our A/C went out Friday morning (blower motor or capacitor). So we are down to window units. It's only 97 degrees here today, with a good wind, but I just now had to turn the window units on because I couldn't take it any more. 

Good Luck!!!


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## clamjane (Sep 5, 2005)

Ravenlost said:


> I spent several years in Alabama living in an unairconditioned mobile home. The summer I was pregnant I spent the hottest part of the day lying on the living room floor with a box fan blowing on me. Between me and the box fan was a big bowl of ice water.


I have always wondered if that would work. My thoughts were to put a block of ice in a wash tub with a fan blowing across it.


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## sgl42 (Jan 20, 2004)

replace any heat generating incandescent bulbs with compact florescents, which generate minimal heat.
--sgl


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Pergola construction is a aestetic way to make trellaces for climing vegetation also.


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## Frank_P (Apr 2, 2003)

Get some 4" diameter pvc pipe...and some elbows. Bury the pipe 3-4' under the ground...running for 15-20'...withthe far end up sucking in fresh, hot air (might cover this to prevent additional humidity from entering the pipes)...and the other end coming up into the corner of your floorspace somewhere. Place a box fan at the entrance and it will pull and distribute earth cooled air into the home. (since at this depth the ground maintains a constant temperature year round...somewhere between 55-65 degrees)

If you ran a large enough complex of pipes underground...this might actually be a decent alternative to air conditioning....though I would then use some sort of ducted blower in order to increase the efficiency of the process.

This along with some of the shading suggestions may serve you well.


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## Ninn (Oct 28, 2006)

There a lot of great suggestions on here, but one basic idea that I haven't seen yet. Is your furnace switched over to the summer setting? Check your manual and switch it over. This will run just the fan, circulating the air throughout the house. It draws in the cool air from under the trailer, and adds it to the house. Also, a dehumidifier in the largest room might help. Humid air is always warmer, that's why we add moisture to the air in the winter time. 

If you can't find the switch for this, call and ask any heating repair man. Ours is a little white button. Pushed in, it runs just the fan. Pulled out, it will run the burner too. 

Hope this helps.


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## Jenn (Nov 9, 2004)

I put bamboo roll up shades over all my western windows (outside) and kept them down all summer, and wanted to but felt the neighbors might object or might be too expensive make a frame and hang shadecloth over the whole house. Also put opaque curtains (cotton woven blankets with white woven fabric backing- ie the white facing out the window) inside the house.

BTW I DID make a frame and hang shadecloth over my GARDEN.


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## ajharris (Jan 26, 2006)

Thanks all for the ideas. I think I have my problem solved. My mother is gonna buy a window unit that will cool 900 square foot. If I close all the doors to the bedrooms and bath, it should cool the house nicely. I will pay her back for it. I also want to build another roof over the top of the MH when money permits. I will also put foil on the windows and put up trellises.


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## prairiedog (Jan 18, 2007)

I'm planning a screened sleeping porch


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## ajharris (Jan 26, 2006)

prairiedog, I would love to have a screened in porch. I will have one before it is all said and done.


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## DayBird (Jul 26, 2004)

I've been following this thread and it's wonderful. This morning, before the sun came up, we covered all the West facing windows with the silver emergency blankets. While at Wal-mart, we also bought a gallon of the white mobile home roof paint. We've just finished painting over the big leaking skylight in the master bathroom. We're about to string up some twine and plant loofa and birdhouse gourd vines to grow up the West side of the house. We can already tell a huge difference just in the temps inside today versus yesterday.

Now we need a really good suggestion for a really quick growing shade tree that will mature into a strong tree that won't easily crack apart and/or blow over in a windstorm. Please?


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## Steely (Sep 13, 2007)

prairiedog said:


> I'm planning a screened sleeping porch


I dream of a sleeping porch.We have a screened in porch but it faces the road and the road is dirt.Everybody blows by doing 50mph.Clouds of dirt billow onto the porch:Bawling:


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## Grandmotherbear (May 15, 2002)

Dayybird- quick growing vegetation for the South- takes abuse, drought, and doesn't know what to do with rich soil prefers sand- TITHONYS!! Also known variously as mexican, peruvian, or african sunflower. We bought some knee high bushes and they were 30 feet tall in 9 months. We cut them back to collarbone high in March and they are 15 feet high again. I bought seeds at KMart for a friend of mine. Also we saved the canes after I trimmed them. GFB stripped the branches and leaves off them and we let them dry for TWO MONTHS to use as bean poles (they don't get thick, just sorta like bamboo thickness) Now my bean poles are putting out leaves and roots! 
They bloom they most beautiful huge yellow daisy like flowers, too. Unless you water them. They usually bllom here from autumn till the rainy season begins next summer. So, invest in some tithonys. (of course water them when getting starting. Once you know what they look like you can see them in the background of Meerkat Manor, the animal planet show filmed in the Kalahari Desert)


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

ajharris said:


> How do I cool a mobile home with no A/C? I have 2 box fans, and the windows are open, but it is terrible in here. I am thinking of blocking off the majority of the house, and start sleeping in the living room with the kids because it is so hot. Any help would be appreciated.
> 
> Amanda


...........Went to w.mt. Sunday and bought one of those Stanley , plastic squirrel cage fans . Weighs about 3 pounds or so and throws a column of air about 15 feet . Cost 39 plus tax ; this little fan can put out more air than those 2'x2' square standup floor fans . It's got a handle and a very long cord and you can move it around , plus its got two extra plugins in case you use it in a shop type environment . , fordy


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## chris30523 (Jun 11, 2005)

The AC unit in the house will work if you can keep the heat from building in the house.I use the energy setting on mine so it keeps a constant temperature.The foil blankets should keep the sun out to help. Good luck!


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## Simpler Times (Nov 4, 2002)

The window fan and wet sheet idea Spinner suggested is in effect a "swamp cooler". Google "swamp cooler" for more ideas. You could even hang the bottom of the sheet into a pan of water and it would wick it up to keep it damp. Another idea is a tub of ice for each person with a wash cloth inside that they could use to wipe themselves down with. I agree though, buy an AC if at all possible.


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## Jan Doling (May 21, 2004)

I can't afford to screen in the porch, but do have an old tent that has a screened roof if I leave the rain fly off, so will pitch it on the porch and ta-da...a sleeping porch is born...of sorts. It is so much cooler out there than inside the house, but the kids are scared of the wild life that comes around at night, so I may move a few of the cattle pannels from the unused kennel to the porch corner.


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## Tracy Rimmer (May 9, 2002)

In parts of India, people hang wet sheets of fabric in doorways and in open windows. Keep them wet, and the air moving through them seems to cool down.


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

> I thought - people lived for thousands of years without air condtioning - so it really isn't a health issue. Also, think of all that fuel saved if we would all give up air conditioning.


Very true Marlene. But something to remember is that in the days before A/C (and in places where it's still not common) people built appropriately. High ceilings, windows and roof vents to move air, roof/awning overhangs, etc. 

Amanda's trailer house in Oklahoma is not going to be designed this way...


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## chris30523 (Jun 11, 2005)

With high humidity the swamp cooler does't work so well.The water has to evaporate to cool you off.


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

I'm sorry, I don't have any suggestions, but I can tell you a swamp cooler in Oklahoma is a horrible thing, lol. The humidity is already so high here that it just makes you even more miserable.

I had always heard that building another roof over the top would really make a difference, but there's one over this mobile home I just moved into in January, including a huge carport on the south side big enough to park a Winnebago under, and it's white. If it's helping any, I sure can't tell it. It's only the end of May and temps have been unseasonably cool so far, but we had some 90 temps this past week, and it was just miserable in here. 

I've already noticed that I'm having to run the air at much lower outside temps than I ever have before, but then I've never lived in a mobile before so have nothing to compare it to. If they're normally worse than this, then I don't know how people pay their bills. My electric has already jumped $35 this month and, like I said, it's been way cooler than normal here. I can hardly wait for the 100+ weather for weeks on end...NOT.

So I don't know if building that roof/carport would be worth the money spent on it. After living here for five months, I certainly wouldn't recommend it, but look into some of the other alternatives mentioned here. Just my two cents.


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

Is Oklahoma like the rest of us prairie states, though? 

Nebraska, SD, ND, and Kansas are all pretty humid in the east. But pretty dry once you cross the 100 meridian or so, in the middle of each state...


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## Vic (Oct 8, 2002)

I grew up in SE Okla. and we had no air. All I know is that there were times when it was just too hot to sleep. A couple of years after my wife and I got married we lived in Antlers and had a MH with no air and also no shade, our oldest daughter was 2 1/2 when we moved out of it. All I can say is that you need to cool the house down as much as possible at night then when you get up each morning close all the windows and shades, the heavier the drapes or curtins the better. The darker you can keep it the better. If you can afford a small window unit that would really help. If you have the old crank windows that came in MHs for years then it can be a trick installing one. 

Without AC you can't keep it very cool but you can help. I hope you are able to stay cool this summer.


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## Cornhusker (Mar 20, 2003)

I knew a guy who cooled his shop with an old radiator.
He had it mounted in a hole in the wall (window would work) and trickled cold water through it.
The runoff water went to his garden.
He mounted a big box fan in front of it to pull the cool air off the radiator into the shop.
You could freeze to death in front of that thing on the hottest day.
Of course, we live in a dry climate here.


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

ErinP said:


> Is Oklahoma like the rest of us prairie states, though?
> 
> Nebraska, SD, ND, and Kansas are all pretty humid in the east. But pretty dry once you cross the 100 meridian or so, in the middle of each state...


oops! Upon further review, I see almost all of OK is east of the 100th. lol 
(I tend to forget that the west edge of KS and OK don't line up with those of Neb, SD & ND. I always picture them in a straight line...)


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## jlxian (Feb 14, 2005)

Last summer I used to drive by a house (not a mobile home) that had shaded its west facing patio doors with what looked like landscape cloth. It looked as though it was not attached to the house, but maybe stretched between two poles. And it was angled at maybe a 45 degree angle. 

My aunt used to line her west facing windows with aluminum foil to reflect the sun back and not allow it and the heat into the house. Anything you can do to block the sun. 

Castor bean plants grow big and fast , maybe you can plant those around your home for some shade. Also any kind of vines grown on a trellis over your windows.


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

ErinP said:


> oops! Upon further review, I see almost all of OK is east of the 100th. lol
> (I tend to forget that the west edge of KS and OK don't line up with those of Neb, SD & ND. I always picture them in a straight line...)


Glad you figured that out Erin, because I had no clue, lol. I'm not all that familiar with southern and far western Oklahoma, but the rest of it has very high humidity year-round, but especially in the summer. I think it's because of all the trees, grass and other greenery. 

I used to live in Colorado, and the difference is just unbelievable. They don't have all the greenery like we have here, and the humidity is very low. Nothing grows if you don't water on a regular basis, not even weeds, lol. I didn't realize how much better I could breathe up there until I moved back, and I feel like I'm swimming in water all the time, and I don't even have asthma! My sister does, and her health has improved tremendously since she moved to Colorado.

Oops, sorry for the thread drift AJ!


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## ajharris (Jan 26, 2006)

calliemoonbeam said:


> Glad you figured that out Erin, because I had no clue, lol. I'm not all that familiar with southern and far western Oklahoma, but the rest of it has very high humidity year-round, but especially in the summer. I think it's because of all the trees, grass and other greenery.
> 
> I used to live in Colorado, and the difference is just unbelievable. They don't have all the greenery like we have here, and the humidity is very low. Nothing grows if you don't water on a regular basis, not even weeds, lol. I didn't realize how much better I could breathe up there until I moved back, and I feel like I'm swimming in water all the time, and I don't even have asthma! My sister does, and her health has improved tremendously since she moved to Colorado.
> 
> Oops, sorry for the thread drift AJ!


No problem. I agree with you about the humidity. I also lived in Colorado for a while. It is like a whole different world down here!


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## Wildwood Flower (Aug 26, 2006)

Amanda,
I really feel for you. I didn't have AC the first year here in OK. It was absolutely awful! The heat in Oklahoma never lets up, not even at night. We finally got a small window unit, like you're getting. Made a world of difference! We now have 3 of them.

With a baby, and living in a MH...you gotta have it. That's it.


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## ajharris (Jan 26, 2006)

That is for sure Wildwood.


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

I agree completely about the humidity. 

I grew up in eastern Nebraska, about 30 miles from the Missouri and the humidity could be stifling. But I moved out to the north western corner for college, almost to Wyoming and loved how dry it was! (My room mate, on the other hand, was from the Big Horns in WY and would complain about how muggy it was. lol)

I now live in the SW corner, almost in Colorado and I _hate_ going the the folks' in the midst of summer... lol


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## Queen Bee (Apr 7, 2004)

Can you shade the windows on the sunny side but leave them open. If you need something to cover them with make easy trellis and plant wide honeysuckle on them. It grows fast, it smells great and you can even dig them out of the woods.. I agree -about if you own the mh have a whole house exhaust fan installed in the center.


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## bluesky65 (Jan 1, 2008)

I live in a house, but during canning season it gets over a hundred. You really have to keep cool so you don't get dehydrated. Drink lots of water, to keep cool...take a dish towl and soak it, ring it out and drape it over your head and one around your neck. This will really keep you cool. You could also use a bandana around your head that is wet. Keeping your head and feet cool will keep the rest of your body cool. When you are taking a rest between chores soak your feet it cool ice water while you read or on the internet.


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## fantasymaker (Aug 28, 2005)

First reduce the heat entering the house as much as posable . I like to white wash (lime paint) my roof each summer . Then open all the windows on the shady END of the house,usually thats just one room then put window fans faceing OUT in the sunny end of the trailer. be sure to seal around the fan in the window , I even use a round cutout insidethe fan to help seal even more. be sure all the windows without a fan are closed and well sealed.
The idea is to pull cool air all the way thru the trailer.
The earth cooling pipes are a good idea too .I used corragated plastic drainage pipe its cheep and available in a lot of sizes BURY IT DEEP! Ground temps vary as deep as 15 feet so you want to be as cool as you can get. I insulate the upcoming siode about 4 feet down. its ok to use a fan forcing airinto these pipes becuse the heat from the fan will be cooled out in the ground. it takes about 24 feet at the coolest depth to get the most cooling affect so I make mine as a sorta squared loop from 100 foot rools and gwet 3 pipes out of each roll.


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## Hip_Shot_Hanna (Apr 2, 2005)

DayBird said:


> Now we need a really good suggestion for a really quick growing shade tree that will mature into a strong tree that won't easily crack apart and/or blow over in a windstorm. Please?


Try a Chinese Pistache. They are highly recommended, drought tolerant once established. As a young tree they are not very pretty but are nice once more mature. Think ugly duckly turns into swan. They are also fairly disease and insect resistant, and they grow fast. One of ours grew over three feet last year and has put on a further eighteen inches this year already. The other one didn't grow quite as fast last year, but it now trying to catch up. 

Hybrid poplars are good for fast growth, but I think they may be more brittle, so better for planting further away.


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## wogglebug (May 22, 2004)

jlxian said:


> Castor bean plants grow big and fast , maybe you can plant those around your home for some shade.


*NOT RECOMMENDED!* They are deadly poisonous. One seed will kill a toddler, two or three a more-grown child, and the seeds look like jelly-beans.


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

Having lived in Phoenix for too many years before moving to the White Mtns, I can assure you that evaporative coolers only work with low humidity. 

Don't allow the heat to enter your house. Anything covering the inside of the windows has already let some heat into the house & will not work as well as covering them outside. 

**As for your little one, a light dusting with corn starch or baby powder seemed to keep mine cooler. Also wearing the lightest weight t-shirt seemed to wick the moisture away from their body so they'd get less heat rash.

I used to open all the windows at night & close up early in the AM until it got stifling. Then opened the windows on the shaded side. Still do. 

THere's a lot of good suggestions here for long term. Good luck!


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## bjba (Feb 18, 2003)

Trees shading a home reduce the temperature 15-25 degrees, A cover over the mobile home would provide shade during the hottest part of the day. Shade cloth window screens on the sunny side will help. Ceiling fans move air and make it feel 10-15 degrees cooler. Ceiling fans cost little to operate unlike AC. Sadly everything that helps costs money.
I spent half a Texas summer in a mobile home and found a tent cooler.
tips on installing ceiling fans from 
http://www.mobilehomedoctor.com/ceiling.htm


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## Guest (May 31, 2008)

We livedin a MH without and AC and it was HOT. 

We put a blanket up on the hallway that led to the back bedrooms. They were on the west side of the house. We kept the living room/kitchen for our living area. Put a fan on the sunny side of the house to draw air out and open the windows on the shaded side of the house to draw cooler air in. 

Don't be afraid to run around in a minimal amount of clothing....only if you have good curtains! 

We would put aluminum foil up on the windows to reflect the light off the house. Yes, the house was dark, but that was OK. 

At night we'd take a water bottle and spritz the sheets before we got in bed. They'd be slightly damp and SO COOL! By the time they were dry we were asleep. If you want a lovely experience put a few drops of lavendar essential oil in with the water.


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## Bruce L (Feb 8, 2019)

Any one try circulating outside air through pipe behind the insulated skirt and bring it up into the trailer?


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Bruce L said:


> Any one try circulating outside air through pipe behind the insulated skirt and bring it up into the trailer?


That wouldn't make a difference.
You'd need to bury many feet of pipe deep enough to get any cooling effect.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

If they had planted some trees or tall growing shrubs on the south and west sides of the MH they would have some decent shade from them by now. After all it's been 10 years.


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## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

I have 2 window AC units, and it cools almost all of my 28 X 72 house IFD I leave them on constantly. It takes a day and a night before I wake up to a really cool house.


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

Someone Dug Up A 11 year Old Thread!!


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## Analogue (Nov 10, 2018)

deaconjim said:


> I used to have a sprinkler hose (the flat type with holes punched in it) running the full length of the roof. I'm sure it won't do much for the lifespan of the roof, but it did wonders for the inside temperature.


Believe it or not DeaconJim, sprinklers on roofs is an extremely good way of cooling interior of homes. I actually read a study on this, it was part of a research project on evaporative cooling. Sprinklers, or misters, on the roof is one idea, and a portable evap. cooler in the house BUT! and that's a very big "but"  it better be dry in her part of OK, if you run an evap cooler in humid climes it won't perform as well, obviously. Water has immene power in absorbing heat. Mr Watt, of steam engine fame knew the physics of water and "latent heat" which led to his famous discovery. 
Even if our OP won't use an interior evap cooler, the roof-cooling idea is "A-1" & a brilliant tip. 

The thing about mobile homes is, if they're sheeted in metal, metal being a conductor they're going to be hotboxes. If the homeowner can add some sort of insulation either outside or inside, that may help also. If there is any chance of moving the home to a shadier spot, do that too. If it's going to be a permanent location get some fast growing trees. I don't know what'll happen to the home being close to trees if they're in tornado-land, however, that's something to think about.


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## Analogue (Nov 10, 2018)

FarmboyBill said:


> I have 2 window AC units, and it cools almost all of my 28 X 72 house IFD I leave them on constantly. It takes a day and a night before I wake up to a really cool house.


The window units create more heat than they do cooling. This is no casual remark, it's a fact. A lot of the heat they produce from the "exhaust" finds it's way back into the house. Those window jobs are almost useless.


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## lmrose (Sep 24, 2009)

We just moved into our mobile home last June 2018.We are in a moderate climate but last summer was hotter than usual. I have drapes over the windows and during the hot part of the day I kept them closed. Which ever way the wind was blowing from we kept windows open and created a cross draft when we could. When we bought this place it needed a new roof so shingles were chosen in a light grey/green color to better reflect heat. Now it is winter windows have caulking and when it is very cold I keep drapes closed. If we get sun periodically the drapes are open to take advantage of the heat. Who knows what this coming summer will be like as nothing is the way it used to be. That is climate change I guess.


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