If, unfortunately, your car is without AC, trying to keep cool this summer can be a real hassle. Especially in hot climates, having no air conditioning in your car can cause a lot more than just feeling a little bit too hot. When you become overheated, you can feel tired to the point of heat exhaustion, and this can quickly go from heat cramp to heat stroke before you even realize it.
Unfortunately, having AC repair work done can be expensive! So what can you do to keep cool when you have no air conditioning in your car?
There’s actually quite a few ways of beating the heat, and in this article we’re going to share with 10 solutions for how to keep your car cool this summer without AC!
#1 – What to Avoid
There are three key things to avoid if you want to keep your car and yourself cool. First, avoid parking in the sun. Even if you have to park a bit further away from your destination, find some surrounding trees or buildings that provide a lot of shade, and don’t underestimate how much parking in shade helps.
Next, avoid driving in hot times of the day. It can help tremendously if you can limit yourself to driving at the cooler parts of the day where the sun is rising or setting instead of when it is directly above you.
Finally, avoid driving in traffic. Even if it takes a little longer to get to your destination by taking a different route, driving in traffic restricts airflow to your car’s interior which hinders the ability to keep you and your car cool.
#2 – Keeping Windows Open
To avoid returning to a car that feels like a burning sauna, keep your windows open while you’re away from your car to keep the air flowing. If you are in a safe area, keep your windows open about a half an inch, and when you park in a private garage, keep your windows all the way down.
#3 – Hot Air Escape Trick
If you can’t keep your windows open while you’re away from your car, here’s the trick to forcing the hot air to escape your car in the least amount of time. Turn on your car, roll down your windows, open only the floor vents, and blast the air on full power. Heat rises, and the air flow will push all the hot air starting from the floor up and out your windows. After a minute you can then also open your dash vents.
#4 – Window Tinting
If window tinting is legal where you live, you should highly consider tinting your windows. This is because tinted windows can make your car 10 degrees cooler. This is why window tinting has less restrictions and regulations in states where temperatures are hotter than normal. The darker the tint, the cooler your car will be.
#5 – Windshield Sunshades
Window tinting is great at reducing the ambient air temperature, but it’s the windshield and window sunshades that are the critical factor in making your dash and other interior surfaces remain cooler.
People always ask: “do car sun shades work?“. Well – yes, they do! While you are away from your car, setting up a reflective windshield sunshade and even a couple side window sunshades can reduce the temperature of your interior surfaces by up to 30 degrees. And this is only one of the many benefits of windshield sun shades!
For full window coverage, consider getting a universal UV reflector package that includes sunshades for every window of your car.
#6 – Frozen Cloth Vent Trick
If your car gets too hot while you’re driving, you might want to consider this frozen cloth vent trick. Freeze a handful of damp cloths and keep them in a cooler inside your car. Use one frozen cloth at a time, and clip these to your dash vents and crank up the air. This turns your basic air into an evaporative air cooler. The air that passes through these cloths will send cold air at your face and will essentially cool your car in the process. When your cloth goes from frozen to damp to dry, get out your next frozen cloth from your cooler and repeat the process all the way to your destination.
#7 – Electric Dash Fans
If the airflow in your car isn’t as powerful as you’d like, you should highly consider using a proven electric dash fan to keep the air flowing. Some cars just don’t have the high-powered fan motors that we need. In these cases, you can use one of two types of dash fans (or both). One gets plugged into your 12-volt cigarette lighter socket, and the other works as a fully functional solar powered fan. Either way, you will be increasing the air flow onto yourself and in your car while also allowing the hot air to escape quicker. Check out this 12V Rotatable Dual Dash Fan on Amazon if you have a 12-volt socket. For cars without a 12-volt socket, your solution is getting this USB rechargeable battery powered fan and either recharging the battery at home, or using a USB solar charger power bank to keep your fan running at all times. This solar power bank also comes with dual USB ports so you can charge your phone at the same time!
#8 – Keeping Your Body Cool with Ice and Damp Cloths
Before you take a trip in your car, stay cool by planning ahead. Freeze some water bottles or damp cloths to apply to specific areas of your body to keep yourself cool. You will want to apply ice or cold cloths directly to your wrists and the back of your neck. These are called “pulse points,” and cooling these areas of your body before others will reduce your body temperature the fastest. You can also apply ice and damp cloths to your forehead which will reduce headaches and heat cramps. This one tip is a great way to reduce the risk of heat cramps and heat stroke.
#9 – Icy Spray and Mist
Similar to applying ice and damp or frozen cloths to your neck, wrists and forehead, using a spray bottle or mister is another essential solution to keeping yourself cool in a car with no AC. Either freeze water in a spray bottle or keep it almost frozen, and keep one or two spray bottles or misters in a cooler in your car. Use this icy spray in the same way you use the ice packs and ice cloths by applying it to your pulse points and your face to keep yourself cool.
#10 – Car Seat Covers for Leather Seats
If you have a car with leather seats, you’ve probably experienced the feeling of having your skin stick to hot leather. Even if you haven’t experienced this sensation, a leather surface will become hotter than a cloth surface, so consider installing some cooling seat covers over your seats. Even if you use a cloth seat cover for just the driver’s seat, this will lower your temperature tremendously, and will avoid that hot feeling when you sit on a leather seat that’s been sitting in the heat. There are lots of different seat covers for specific sizes of cars, but if you just want to focus on yourself in the driver seat, consider this cooling seat cover to avoid the stickiness and keep yourself cool.
Conclusion
The more of these solutions you use, the cooler your car will be and the better you will feel. Heat stroke is no joke, and it’s important to plan ahead for your next trip if you know you will be driving without AC.
Even using just a handful of these tips will tremendously help keep your car interior cooler, so don’t take this advice lightly and try some of these hacks today. I hope you enjoyed this article. Thanks for reading!