- 1 week ago
A fan in the window may be doing far less than you think, and the fix is surprisingly simple: turn it around, pull it back about 2 feet, and let the whole house breathe. Elias shares old Lancaster County wisdom for cooling a hot house without AC, showing how a window fan should blow air out, how cross breezes move air better than a single inward blast, and why shade, night air, and early-morning cooling matter just as much.
He explains the practical setup for summer ventilation: open windows on opposite sides of the house, use a plain steady fan instead of an oscillating one for moving air through a window, and let hot air rise out through high openings while cool air enters low. The video also covers the old rhythm of opening the house at night, shutting it tight in the morning, and keeping sunlight off the windows to hold the night’s cool longer.
This is a homestead-style home cooling guide, a practical summer airflow tutorial, and a calm off-grid living lesson rooted in traditional methods. It is useful for anyone looking for no AC cooling tips, window fan placement advice, natural ventilation ideas, and simple ways to lower cooling costs.
SEO: Best way to cool a hot house, window fan placement, blow fan out not in, cross breeze cooling, natural home ventilation, no AC cooling tips, off-grid summer cooling, old-fashioned house cooling, and practical ways to keep a house cool in hot weather.
He explains the practical setup for summer ventilation: open windows on opposite sides of the house, use a plain steady fan instead of an oscillating one for moving air through a window, and let hot air rise out through high openings while cool air enters low. The video also covers the old rhythm of opening the house at night, shutting it tight in the morning, and keeping sunlight off the windows to hold the night’s cool longer.
This is a homestead-style home cooling guide, a practical summer airflow tutorial, and a calm off-grid living lesson rooted in traditional methods. It is useful for anyone looking for no AC cooling tips, window fan placement advice, natural ventilation ideas, and simple ways to lower cooling costs.
SEO: Best way to cool a hot house, window fan placement, blow fan out not in, cross breeze cooling, natural home ventilation, no AC cooling tips, off-grid summer cooling, old-fashioned house cooling, and practical ways to keep a house cool in hot weather.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00It is a hot summer evening. The house is stuffy and close, and you have a fan running in the
00:06window trying to cool the place down.
00:08But here is the thing. That fan is very likely doing far less than you think,
00:14because most folks set a fan up in exactly the wrong way, and the air barely moves through the house
00:21at all.
00:22There is a right way and a wrong way to place a fan to move air through your home,
00:27and the right way will surprise you, for it is the opposite of what most folks do.
00:33Today I am going to show you how to truly move the air through your house and cool it down,
00:39with a fan and without one,
00:42the way folks did long before there was a humming air conditioner in every window.
00:47I am Elias, and I keep up this Lancaster County place the old way, with no tie to the Public
00:53Power Company,
00:54so I have spent my whole life keeping a house cool through the summer heat without the grid air conditioning
01:01that the English run all season.
01:04We use the windows, the night air, the shade, the way the house itself breathes,
01:10and yes, a modest fan or two run off the sun, off my own solar batteries, to help the air
01:17along.
01:17And over the years I have learned, and folks who have measured these things carefully have proven,
01:23that there are some plain surprising truths about how to move air through a house that near everybody gets wrong.
01:31So let me give them to you.
01:33Let me tell you about summers in my grandfather's house, for it is where I learned all this.
01:38That old house had no machine to cool it, of course, and yet it stayed bearable through the worst July
01:44heat,
01:45cooler inside than out, and as a boy I never thought to wonder how.
01:50It was my grandfather working the house, though I did not see it then.
01:55Of an evening he would throw open every window and door to the cooling night.
02:00And early in the morning, before I was hardly up, he had already gone round and shut the house up
02:06tight against the coming heat,
02:08and pulled the shades on the sunny side.
02:11The house held the cool of the night right through the hot afternoon that way.
02:16He had a feel for the air, for where it moved and how,
02:20which window to open to bring a breeze clear through the house on a still day.
02:25He never measured a thing, nor read it in a book, he just knew it, handed down, the way a
02:32man knows his own land.
02:34Most of what I am about to tell you is his knowing,
02:37proven out since by folks who measured it careful with their instruments,
02:41and found the old man was right all along.
02:45Quick word before I go further.
02:47The old methods my family uses.
02:49There is more of it than fits in any one video.
02:52I gathered the whole of it into a book at EliasYoder.com.
02:57The book is the long version.
02:59If you want it, it is there.
03:01I will not mention it again.
03:04Here is the first truth, and it is the big one,
03:07the one that turns what most folks do right on its head.
03:10When you put a fan in a window to cool the house,
03:13you should set it to blow the air out the window, not in.
03:17Blow out, not in.
03:19Now that sounds backwards, I know.
03:22For most folks, point the fan inward to blow that nice outside air onto themselves.
03:27But here is why blowing out is better.
03:30A house is a closed box with the air in it,
03:33and to cool it, you want to move that whole body of air through and out,
03:37and pull fresh air in to replace it.
03:40When you set a fan in one window, blowing the stale, warm inside air out,
03:45it draws fresh, cooler air in through your other open windows and doors to take its place,
03:51and so you move the air through the whole house,
03:54a real current flowing through every room.
03:57The fan blowing out is the engine that pulls the fresh air through the entire house.
04:02Whereas a fan blowing in just pushes air at the one spot in front of it and stirs the room,
04:09but does far less to move the whole body of air through.
04:12So if you have a fan in a window, turn it around and blow the hot air out,
04:17and let the house draw its fresh air in through the far windows.
04:22That one change moves more air through your house than anything.
04:26And here is the practical way to do it rightly.
04:29You want the fan blowing out in the window on the hot side,
04:32or the downwind side,
04:35the side the air would naturally want to leave by,
04:38and your other windows open on the far and cooler and shadier side of the house,
04:44so the fresh, cool air is drawn in from the shade,
04:49and the warm, stale air pushed out.
04:52Think of the fan not as a thing that blows cool air on you,
04:56but as a pump that pulls the whole house's air through and out.
05:02Set it to pull.
05:04Give the fresh air a clear way in on the other side,
05:08and the whole house breathes.
05:11Here is the second truth, and it is just as surprising.
05:16You should not jam the fan right up tight against the window screen.
05:21Pull it back, a foot or two back from the window, about two feet,
05:26and it actually moves more air, not less.
05:31Now that makes no sense at first.
05:33You would think the closer to the window, the better.
05:37But here is the reason, and it is clever once you see it.
05:41A fan does not only blow air forward out its front.
05:45Around its edges, it is pulling air in from the front sides, too.
05:51So when you shove a fan right up against the window screen, blowing out,
05:56it is at the very same time sucking some of that outside air back in around its edges,
06:03working against itself,
06:05pulling back in some of what it just blew out.
06:09Pull the fan back a couple feet from the window,
06:12and it draws its air cleanly from the room behind it,
06:16and pushes it all out the window, no longer fighting itself.
06:22Folks who measured this carefully found the air flow climbs as you pull the fan back from the window,
06:29up to about two feet,
06:30and past that, it makes little difference.
06:34So, set your window fan blowing out,
06:37but back it off about two feet from the window.
06:41There is no need to go further than that couple of feet, mind,
06:45for past about two feet, it makes little more difference.
06:49So, two feet back is the sweet spot.
06:53Far enough that it is not fighting itself,
06:55no further needed.
06:58Two simple changes.
07:00Turn it to blow out,
07:02and pull it back two feet,
07:04and you have likely doubled the air moving through your house,
07:08with the very same fan you already had,
07:12set the very same place,
07:14just turned around and backed off.
07:18That is the whole beauty of it.
07:20It costs you nothing,
07:22not a cent,
07:23just knowing.
07:26And here is the third truth,
07:28which follows from the first two,
07:30and will save you money besides.
07:33It is not the size of the fan that matters most.
07:37It is where you put it.
07:40Folks think they need a great big box fan to move air,
07:44and they jam it in the window.
07:46But a small, ordinary fan,
07:49set back the right couple of feet,
07:51and blowing out,
07:52will move as much air through your house
07:56as a great big box fan
07:58shoved up against the window.
08:00The big fan jammed in the window
08:02is fighting itself,
08:04sucking back its own air around the edges,
08:08while the little fan,
08:09placed right,
08:11does its job clean.
08:13So you do not need to go by the biggest fan,
08:17nor run a great power-hungry thing.
08:20A modest fan,
08:22well-placed,
08:23does the work,
08:25which means less money spent,
08:27and less power drawn,
08:29whether you run it off the grid,
08:31or, as I do,
08:33off the sun.
08:35Now there is one kind of fan
08:37I will warn you about
08:39for this particular job,
08:41and that is
08:42the oscillating fan,
08:44the kind that turns its head back and forth,
08:47sweeping the room.
08:49That kind is poor
08:50at pulling air through a window.
08:53The reason is
08:54that such a fan draws its air in
08:57from all sides at once,
08:59all around it,
09:00rather than pulling it
09:01from any one direction.
09:03So it is no good
09:04at drawing the air specifically
09:06from behind it
09:08and out the window.
09:10For sweeping a breeze
09:11across a room where you sit,
09:13the oscillating fan
09:15is fine and pleasant.
09:17But for the job of moving
09:19the whole body of air
09:20through the house
09:21and out a window,
09:23you want a plain fan
09:25that pushes steady
09:26in one direction,
09:28set back from the window,
09:30blowing out.
09:32Use the right fan
09:34for the job.
09:36But now,
09:37here is the truth
09:38that matters most of all,
09:40and it is the one
09:41dearest to my heart,
09:43for it costs nothing
09:45and needs no fan at all.
09:48If there is even
09:49a light breeze
09:50blowing outside,
09:51you are far better off
09:52to simply open
09:53all your windows
09:55and let that breeze
09:56blow through
09:57than to run
09:58any fan at all.
09:59For the free wind
10:01that the Lord sends
10:02moving across your house
10:04will move more air,
10:06cooler air,
10:07than any fan
10:08you could buy or run.
10:10A fan moves a little air
10:12in one room.
10:13A cross breeze
10:14through an open house
10:16moves the whole air
10:17of the place,
10:18freely, silently,
10:20for nothing.
10:21So before you ever
10:23reach for the fan,
10:24open up your house
10:25and feel for the breeze.
10:27Open windows
10:28on opposite sides
10:29of the house
10:30so the breeze blows
10:31in one side
10:32and out the other,
10:34a cross draft
10:35straight through
10:36and you will cool
10:37the place better
10:38than any machine.
10:39And there is a knack
10:41to it that doubles
10:41its effect.
10:43The breeze comes
10:44in the windows
10:45on the side
10:45the wind blows from
10:47and leaves
10:48by the windows
10:49on the far side.
10:50Now here is the trick.
10:52If you open
10:53a big, wide window
10:54on the side
10:55the breeze enters
10:56but only a smaller
10:58opening on the side
10:59it leaves
11:00the air must squeeze
11:02to get out
11:03and squeezing it
11:04speeds it up
11:05so it rushes through
11:06faster and cools you
11:08better
11:09the way a river
11:10runs fast
11:11where its bed narrows.
11:13So a wide way in
11:15and a narrower way out
11:16makes a brisk
11:18cooling draft.
11:19And open the inside
11:21doors between the rooms
11:22so the breeze
11:23can run clear
11:24through the whole house
11:25and not be stopped
11:27at one room.
11:28A house thrown open
11:30right to a good
11:31cross breeze
11:31is the coolest
11:33and pleasantest
11:34thing there is
11:35on a summer day
11:35and it costs
11:37not a penny.
11:38And that brings me
11:39to the older wisdom
11:41still.
11:41The way the old people
11:43cooled a house
11:44through a hot summer
11:45with no fan
11:46and no power
11:47at all
11:47just by knowing
11:49how air moves.
11:50For air has its ways
11:52and if you understand
11:54them
11:54you can work them.
11:56Hot air rises
11:57always
11:58and cool air
11:59sinks and settles low.
12:01So on a hot
12:02still day
12:03if you open
12:04a low window
12:05down at the bottom
12:06of the house
12:07and a high window
12:08up at the top
12:09a window upstairs
12:11or up high
12:12the hot air rises
12:14and flows out
12:15the high window
12:16and that draws
12:17cool air
12:18in the low window
12:19to replace it
12:20a natural current
12:21flowing up
12:22through the house
12:23with no fan
12:24at all
12:25just the natural
12:26rising of the warm air
12:28pulling the cool
12:29up after it.
12:30The old tall houses
12:32with their high windows
12:34and their cupolas
12:34knew this
12:35drawing the heat
12:37up and out the top
12:38all on its own.
12:40The old barns
12:41are built
12:41on the very same notion
12:43with their high vents
12:44up in the peak
12:45that let the hot air
12:47rise up
12:48out of the haymow
12:49and draw cool air
12:50in below
12:51keeping the barn
12:52and the stock
12:53cooler
12:54with no power
12:55at all
12:56just the natural
12:57rising of the warm air.
12:59You can work the same
13:01in your own house
13:02opening a high window
13:03or an attic vent
13:04up top
13:05and a low window
13:06down below
13:07and let the heat
13:09chimney its way
13:10up and out
13:10pulling the cool
13:12up after it.
13:13The taller the distance
13:14between your low opening
13:16and your high one
13:17the stronger
13:18that natural draft pulls
13:20so an upstairs window
13:22paired with a downstairs one
13:24works better
13:25than two
13:25on the same floor.
13:27And here is the heart
13:28of the old way
13:29of cooling a house
13:30the rhythm of the day
13:32that the old people
13:33lived by
13:34opening and closing
13:35the house
13:36to the cool
13:37and the heat.
13:38Through the night
13:39when the outside air
13:40is cool
13:41you open the house
13:42up wide
13:43all the windows
13:44and let that cool
13:46night air
13:47pour in
13:48and fill the house
13:49and soak
13:50into the very
13:51walls and floors
13:52cooling the whole
13:53house down
13:54through the night.
13:55Then
13:56and this is the part
13:57folks forget
13:58in the morning
13:59before the day
14:00heats up
14:01you close the house
14:02up tight
14:03shut the windows
14:04and draw the shades
14:06trapping all
14:07that cool
14:08night air
14:08inside
14:09and shutting
14:10the hot day
14:11out.
14:12A house
14:13closed up
14:13against the day's
14:14heat
14:14full of the cool
14:16of the night
14:16stays cool
14:18and shaded
14:18right through
14:19the hot afternoon
14:20while the world
14:21bakes outside.
14:23Then at evening
14:24when it cools
14:25again outside
14:26you open it
14:27all back up.
14:29Cool it by night
14:30close it by day.
14:32That simple rhythm
14:33kept houses
14:34bearable
14:35through the worst
14:36heat
14:36for generations
14:37before there was
14:39any other way
14:39and it still works
14:41and it costs
14:42nothing.
14:43The reason it
14:44works so well
14:45is that a house
14:46is not just
14:47the air in it
14:48but the very
14:48walls and floors
14:50and furniture
14:51all of which
14:52hold the cool
14:53or the heat
14:54like a stone
14:55holds it.
14:56Fill the house
14:57with cool night air
14:58long enough
14:59and that coolness
15:00soaks into the walls
15:02and the floors
15:03themselves
15:03the heavy mass
15:05of the house
15:06and then
15:07through the hot day
15:08those cooled
15:09walls and floors
15:11give their coolness
15:12back into the rooms
15:13keeping the place
15:15cool for hours
15:16after you have
15:17shut the windows.
15:18That is why
15:19a thick walled
15:21old stone house
15:22or a deep cellar
15:23stays so cool.
15:25The heavy mass
15:26holds the cool.
15:28So the longer
15:29and wider
15:30you open
15:31to the cool night
15:32the deeper
15:33that cool
15:33soaks in
15:34and the longer
15:35your closed house
15:36stays cool
15:37the next day.
15:39And it is the cool
15:40of the deep night
15:41and the early morning
15:43just before dawn
15:44that is coolest
15:45of all.
15:46So do not
15:47close up too early.
15:49Let that coolest air
15:50of the small hours
15:52fill the house
15:53right up to morning
15:54before you shut it.
15:56And do not forget
15:58the shade
15:58and the sun
15:59for a house
16:00heats most
16:01through its windows
16:02where the sun
16:03pours in.
16:04So you shade
16:06the windows
16:06the sun strikes
16:07with shades
16:09or curtains drawn
16:10or better still
16:11with an awning
16:12or a tree
16:13or a vine
16:14outside the window
16:15that stops the sun
16:17before it ever
16:18reaches the glass.
16:20The old people
16:21planted a shade tree
16:22on the hot side
16:23of the house
16:24the west
16:25and the south
16:25knowing it would
16:27shade the house
16:28from the worst
16:28of the afternoon sun
16:30for a hundred years.
16:32Keep the sun
16:33off your windows
16:34and you keep
16:35a great deal
16:36of heat
16:36out of your house
16:37before it ever
16:38gets in.
16:39It is far easier
16:41to keep the heat
16:42out
16:42than to chase it
16:44back out
16:44once it is in.
16:45So the shade
16:46is worth more
16:47than any amount
16:48of fanning
16:49after.
16:50A vine grown up
16:52over a sunny
16:53porch or window
16:54the old
16:55climbing things
16:56that leaf out
16:57thick in summer
16:58and drop
16:59their leaves
16:59in winter
17:00is the cleverest
17:01of all
17:02for it shades
17:03you in the heat
17:04and then lets
17:05the sun back
17:06through in the cold
17:07when you want it.
17:08The old people
17:10planted with that
17:11in mind
17:11a leafy shade
17:13for summer
17:13that bared itself
17:15for winter's sun.
17:17Now let me say
17:19the small
17:19honest word
17:20about who profits
17:22from your not
17:23knowing these
17:24plain things
17:25about moving air.
17:27Not to rile you up
17:29just so you see
17:30the shape of it.
17:32There is a great
17:33deal of money
17:34in keeping folks
17:35cool
17:36in the air
17:37conditioners
17:37and the power
17:38to run them
17:39all summer long.
17:41A power bill
17:42that climbs
17:42and climbs
17:43through the hot
17:44months.
17:45And there is
17:46no money at all
17:48in a man
17:48knowing how to
17:49place a fan
17:50right
17:51or open his
17:52windows to the
17:53night breeze
17:53or shade his
17:55house
17:55or work
17:56the natural
17:57rising of the
17:58air
17:58all of which
17:59cool a house
18:01for little
18:01or nothing.
18:03So nobody
18:04advertises
18:05the free ways.
18:06No business
18:07is built
18:08on teaching you
18:09to open
18:09your windows
18:10rightly.
18:11And these
18:12plain old ways
18:13of keeping
18:14cool
18:14simply fell
18:15out of the
18:16common knowing
18:17while the
18:18humming machines
18:19got all
18:19the telling.
18:21I am not
18:22saying a man
18:23schemed this.
18:24No one
18:25had to.
18:26It is worse
18:27than a
18:27conspiracy
18:28because it
18:29is a system
18:30nobody had
18:31to coordinate.
18:32It simply
18:33pays to sell
18:34the machine
18:35and the power
18:36to run it
18:36and pays
18:37nothing to
18:38teach a body
18:39to cool his
18:40house with
18:41the night air
18:41and a well-placed
18:43fan.
18:43And so the
18:45old free ways
18:46went quietly
18:47untaught.
18:49The old
18:50people cooled
18:51their houses
18:52through brutal
18:53summers with
18:53none of it
18:54because they
18:55had to
18:56and they
18:56knew how
18:57air moves.
18:59So there
19:00is the
19:00whole of it.
19:01If you
19:02must use a
19:03fan in a
19:03window,
19:04blow the
19:05air out,
19:06not in,
19:07to pull the
19:07fresh air
19:08through the
19:09whole house.
19:10Pull that
19:11fan back
19:12about two
19:12feet from
19:13the window,
19:14not jammed
19:15against it,
19:15for it
19:16moves more
19:17air backed
19:18off.
19:19Know that
19:20placement beats
19:21size.
19:22A small
19:23fan placed
19:24right beats
19:25a big one
19:26jammed in
19:26the window.
19:28Use a
19:29plain,
19:29steady
19:30fan,
19:30not the
19:31oscillating
19:32kind,
19:32for moving
19:33air through
19:34a window.
19:35But best
19:36of all,
19:37when any
19:37breeze blows,
19:39forget the
19:39fan and
19:40open your
19:41house to
19:41the cross
19:42draft for
19:43free and
19:44cool your
19:44house the
19:45old way
19:45besides,
19:46opening to
19:47the cool
19:47night and
19:48closing against
19:49the hot
19:49day,
19:50working the
19:51rising of
19:51the warm
19:52air and
19:53shading your
19:54windows from
19:54the sun.
19:55Do those
19:56things and
19:57you will keep
19:57a house cool
19:58through the
19:59summer for a
20:00fraction of
20:00what the
20:00machine costs
20:01or for
20:02nothing at
20:03all.
20:04Now I want
20:05to hear from
20:05you, and I
20:07ask honest
20:07because I
20:08learned the
20:09whole country
20:09from these
20:10comments.
20:11Tell me in
20:12the comments
20:12below, how
20:13do you keep
20:14your house
20:15cool in
20:15the summer?
20:16And will
20:16you try
20:17turning that
20:18window fan
20:18around to
20:19blow out?
20:20And tell me
20:21your county
20:22and your
20:22climate, because
20:23the heat and
20:24the night
20:24cooling differ
20:25greatly across
20:26the country.
20:27The dry
20:28places cooling
20:29off hard at
20:30night and the
20:31humid places
20:32staying warm, and
20:33I like to
20:34map it by
20:34where you all
20:35write from.
20:36I read
20:37every one.
20:38Next time, I
20:39want to show
20:40you more of
20:41the old ways
20:41to cut your
20:42cooling and
20:43your power
20:43bills down
20:44through the
20:45summer, the
20:45plain cheap
20:46things the
20:47old people did
20:48to keep cool
20:49and keep their
20:50costs near
20:50nothing, for
20:52there is a
20:52great deal a
20:53body can do
20:54to live cool
20:54and cheap if
20:56he knows the
20:56old ways.
20:57The old people
20:59kept their
20:59houses bearable
21:00through the
21:00hottest summers
21:01with no
21:02machine and
21:03no power
21:04bill, just
21:05by knowing how
21:06the air moves
21:07and how to
21:07work the cool
21:08of the night
21:09and the shade
21:10of a tree, plain
21:11knowing that
21:12cost them
21:12nothing.
21:13There is a
21:14quiet freedom
21:15in being able
21:16to cool your
21:16own house with
21:17the wind and
21:18the night and
21:19your own two
21:20hands, rather
21:21than a humming
21:22machine and
21:23a climbing
21:23bill.
21:24The house
21:25cooled by the
21:26night breeze
21:26and a knowing
21:27hand is the
21:28house that
21:29remembers how
21:30the old
21:30people kept
21:31cool.
21:31The people
21:32who built
21:33this country
21:33with their
21:34hands knew
21:34that, and
21:35we are only
21:36just starting
21:37to remember
21:37it.
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