Hot Mumbai overheats during summer again!

Burn up the energy this summer, but don’t buy a cooler.

It is summer time again and Mumbai started to get heated up. Sun has not been among the kind to have treated us this way, unfortunately. I remember writing an article way back in 2009 about hot summer that year. And it is a post that has got more hits during summers every year.

Last Sunday, the heat reached at it’s peak this summer, with night being hot as well. It did came as a surprise since the nights have been colder comparatively. As 90% of the working class these days works in Air conditioned offices, it is but obvious that you will be relaxed during the day. With the addition of recently announced A/C train on the Central line, it would make the travel cozy as well.

Beat the summer heat

However I still get a lot of queries on my old post, where people ask me if they should buy a cooler. In my previous post, I did mention that I will be buying a cooler. A Kenstar Desert cooler is what I ended up with.

The plan did work for the initial few days, but then failed miserably. I had to change the water regularly, and buy ICE (it was a big cooler) and keep it up all the time. Still, I would end up being sweaty all day long.

It was a revelation. I learned that coolers do not work that great in humid conditions. In essence, the cooler is throwing water into the air as it sucks in the air via the water grill (Honeycomb or Hay-based). This adds up to the humidity that is already present in the air. In dry places (away from large water bodies), this works great as humidity in the air is far less. But Mumbai is surrounded by water bodies all around.

Work around

So the question is – what is the work around? There are a few things that you can do upfront, before settling for an A/C.

1. Water the terrace (works great if you have the top floor flat) enough so that it stays for a couple of hours. Doing it during the noon will not help and you may end up being sweaty still.
2. Wet Curtains: This is something that we used to do. Wet the curtains inside so that it absorbs some heat. It does have a side-effect though, as this adds up to the humidity inside.
3. Floor tiles: If you have used vitrified tiles, it may not be the right fit for summers. The typical red tiles that we used to have during 90’s works great in absorbing heat. They also have the ability to absorb water and hold it longer, thus helping further in absorbing the heat, and in turn to cool the floor. It is costly to change your floor for the summer, but if you are re-doing your interiors, be sure to pay attention to what type of flooring you are doing. A wooden floor will help great deal too, and will have a similar effect though it is more costlier of the two.

Conclusion

Here is my latest post on why you should avoid buying a cooler, if you live in Mumbai.

The best way to beat the heat is installing an Air Conditioner, at least in Mumbai. These days, there are a lot of offers due to cut-throat competition and you should be able to land a good deal.

You can however rely on other sources of cooling tech to help you with the heat as well. I have listed down ones that I know, if you have more ways we can manage the heat please comment below – I am happy to include them.