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We just painted our gym roof last week. And cut out 3 new windows too. And added a 36 inch air circulator to our roster of 12 fans. The fans are positioned to create strategic cones of breeze across the entire 2800 square foot floor. They are all DC fans. And thanks to Canfan Private Limited, they have stainless steel grills to improve their shelf life. The air literally ate our old Almonards over 4 years.
And it’s much more bearable.
We used a paint from a company called LuminX. It reflects the component of sunlight that would cause our roof to heat up and pass that heat into the space below. The paint cuts that out to a degree. It’s a game changer.
We are adding a foam/foil combo (XLPE) to the ceiling now to wick away more heat before it reaches lower heights.
I think a shade net above our roof would have been even more effective. But we couldn’t put up an effective enough frame structure for it. And come October, strong winds would have disrupted a net. A storm would do worse. But it’s an idea for the future!
Exhaust fans on the windows to wick away warm air was another idea. But I think between the large windows, ample fans, reflective paint and foam ceiling, we have a handle on it.
I looked at much more technical solutions such as evaporative cooling. Madras is not suitable for traditional evaporative cooling solutions since the large droplet size just adds to the humidity and makes it worse. But companies do make devices that spray very very small droplets that can evaporate quickly without affecting the humidity.
In a place like Madras, even removing humidity can improve the comfort of a space. There are dehumidifiers and devices that can convert water vapour into potable water.
There’s a lot one can do without ever having to use air conditioning to cool a large space.