03 July, 2006

Tips for keeping cool - Official Heatwave Level 2 Alert

Heatwave level 2
Okay, the Met Office issued an official "Heatwave Level 2 Alert" this morning for the Midlands and the South East of England according to the Department of Health website...the BBC have a list of official tips for keeping cool here (most notably - Don't wait until you are thirsty to drink water, by then you are already dehydrated)...

On BBC Breakfast they had an astonishingly good speaker (albeit briefly) - Dr Rosemary Leonard, who listed a few really good suggestions that the beeb failed to post on their site for some reason, so I will list them for you here -

  1. Open your loft hatch - heat RISES
  2. If it is hotter outside the house than inside, keep the windows and doors CLOSED
  3. Freeze a bottle of water and place it in front of your fan for extra cooling
  4. Heatwaves are NOT the time to sunbathe - stay in the SHADE

All very sensible... ;) I have a couple of my own too -

  1. Turn off any PCs you aren't using (and any other electrical equipment for that matter)
  2. Close any curtains that have a white backing material
  3. Turn off any lights that aren't flourescent or cold cathode in nature


Update - We are up to a level 3, which I am reliably informed is the highest level!! Last time this happened was in 2004, and 65 people died...(most likely all of them on the Thameslink ;)*pant* >;P

Update update - I was wrong, there is a level 4!!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Good tips mate, I've taken those steps already partly because of the £500 + leccy bill. My babies are in hibernation mode most of the time now. I do have the air-con machine which is brill at the moment

Unknown said...

Crikey, the PCs shouldn't use *that* much power, as long as you aren't playing games on them they should idle at about a lightbulb cost, it's just the heat from the processor during the hot weather we need to avoid...wonder what is using up all your power? Might be the aircon! ;)

Dubled said...

Here is what I did. http://keep-your-cool.blogspot.com/ Turned out pretty cool. I have a steady supply of 60-68 degree air.

Unknown said...

Wow, homebrew aircon unit! ;)