DIYbanter - View Single Post - Insane House Cool-Down Scheme

(Puddin' Man) wrote:
Insane House Cool-Down Scheme

'allo,

I belong to little brick bungalow in a midwest city,
built in 1954. Shingled roof.

It gets hot as hell here in the summertime (it's already
here). Sun pounds down on little house unmercifully.

Outa work for years, I gotta budget so tight it makes
the proverbial cat's arse ('scuse my French) look
like the Grand Canyon.

I just put my last 3 lbs of R-22 in my 21-year-old
condensing unit (which is about to roll over and die
a horrible, horrible death).

They don't meter the water supply here.

What (aside from sanity, which I do not possess) would
keep po' me from somehow mounting a sprinkler or 2
on the roof, running them with a garden hose, say,
from 11 AM to 7 PM (to cool the house, which retains
heat like crazy)??

I've seen horse stables here (Idaho) cooled with a similar system. Works OK,
although our humidity is a lot lower than the Chicago area.

My *guess* would be that you might cause the roof to fail prematurely -- asphalt
paths that are watered (sprinkler) on a daily basis wear out a lot faster than
paths that are kept dry most of the time. Of course, keeping the roof cooler
may more than make up for keeping it wet all the time.