In a heat wave, most of us if we are able, retreat indoors to soak up the AC. But what if your air conditioner breaks down just when you need it most, in the middle of the worst heat wave in living knowledge? For sure, you should be careful and take the situation seriously. Heat can kill, especially the vulnerable old, young, or those who have medical conditions making them susceptible to high heat levels. Remember to check on those most at risk, including the elderly and those living alone. There are some steps you can take to survive. Remember to take them slowly and keep as cool as you can.
If your air conditioning seems to have failed, the first thing to do is to check and see if there is any thing you can do to save the day yourself. Without endangering yourself by poking into any bare wires or moving parts, check the breakers and any reset buttons or switches. Maybe you can get it restarted that way. Also check the settings, to be sure somebody has not bumped the thermostat while pursuing a daddy long-legs with the broom and turned the AC off or accidentally set it to 112 degrees.
If your air conditioner really is not working, perhaps the first thing to do would be to call your local air conditioning expert and arrange an emergency visit. As there may be lots of this going on in a heat wave, it would be best to take steps to keep your cool until help arrives. Here are some good ideas.
As far as your personal self, keep your clothing to a minimum of cool cotton, and tie your hair back if it is long. Remember that lots of water will be required. The medics tell us that plain cool water is best, as the special sport drinks are not needed for low-level activity indoors, and ice-cold water could cause stomach cramps. Light eating is preferred, with all the things you think of as summer dishes, like salads and cold soups being exactly the right things to have. Heavy high calorie foods only make it worse. Spicy hot foods, like salsas, may bring out a healthy sweat and cool you some, especially if you have the privilege of sitting in front of the fan.
Cover any windows that the sun strikes. You can use some kind of reflective covering, like aluminum foil, or even cardboard or heavy paper. Anything that keeps the sun from shining in will help. If you have more than one level to your home, it will be best to keep to the lower levels, as heat rises and the elegant upstairs master bedroom may now become a furnace.
Back in the day, before we all had air conditioning, we used to use big fans with a pan of water in front of them, to blow cool moist air into the room. You can revive that tradition, being careful to keep the electric cord and the pan of water well separated. Actually, with a fan and a few odds and ends, you could build a simple evaporative cooling system, or swamp cooler, that just might save the day.
Considering that heat happens in the summer, and that they say it will only get worse, we would be well advised to maintain our AC systems carefully, and keep in close touch with our local HVAC professionals. For the future, we would be wise to improve the efficiency of our cooling systems and the insulation integrity of our homes as well. We can keep our collective cool by being informed and prepared. It would not be a bad idea to keep the air conditioning company's card stuck to the fridge as well. If the air conditioner goes down during a heat wave, you are going to want to find that number fast and get the AC techs on the way.