The heat in Paris for hamsters

[Socks' Mum]

I am so glad things have cooled for you. I also had to evacuate an upstairs bedroom for a couple of days and am back in it now. However I think this experience means we should prepare for the same thing occurring again perhaps? I am not sure about France, but the 10 day weather forecast here suggests the heat wave will return in about 10 days time. So that gives us time to be fully prepared. Can I ask, do you live in an apartment? It can be harder to cool things down than a house sometimes. Could it be worth investing in a portable air conditioning unit?

Yes, I have been watching the weather nervously. The days are getting shorter again so hopefully we will be past the risk of 40C or even 35C soon

 

[microbe]

Je suis ravie que la situation se soit améliorée pour vous. J'ai moi aussi dû évacuer une chambre à l'étage pendant quelques jours et j'y suis de nouveau. Cependant, je pense que cette expérience nous incite à nous préparer à une éventuelle nouvelle vague de chaleur. Je ne suis pas certaine pour la France, mais les prévisions météo à 10 jours indiquent ici le retour de la canicule d'ici une dizaine de jours. Cela nous laisse donc le temps de nous organiser. Puis-je vous demander si vous vivez en appartement ? Il est parfois plus difficile d'y faire baisser la température que dans une maison. Investir dans un climatiseur portable serait-il judicieux ?

Bonjour oui je vis en appartement séjour et chambre 50 m2 orientée Nord Est.
C'est un immeuble en béton. Nous avons fait des travaux d'isolation thermique il y a 3 ans mais ça protège plus du froid que du chaud.
J'ai acheté un climatiseur portable mais ça ne fait pas baisser la température de la pièce, ça souffle de l'air frais et c'est déjà bien.
Le prix des maisons près de Paris je n'y pense même pas !
Je pense que les maisons anciennes avec de gros murs sont plus fraîches.
Bon courage à vous, je ne veux pas savoir si ça va recommencer ici, pour le moment je respire

 

[Maz]

Bonjour oui je vis en appartement séjour et chambre 50 m2 orientée Nord Est.
C'est un immeuble en béton. Nous avons fait des travaux d'isolation thermique il y a 3 ans mais ça protège plus du froid que du chaud.
J'ai acheté un climatiseur portable mais ça ne fait pas baisser la température de la pièce, ça souffle de l'air frais et c'est déjà bien.
Le prix des maisons près de Paris je n'y pense même pas !
Je pense que les maisons anciennes avec de gros murs sont plus fraîches.
Bon courage à vous, je ne veux pas savoir si ça va recommencer ici, pour le moment je respire

Translation:
Hi there. Yes, I live in an apartment—a living room and bedroom totaling 50 m²—facing northeast.
It’s a concrete building. We had thermal insulation work done three years ago, but it protects better against the cold than the heat.
I bought a portable air conditioner, but it doesn't actually lower the room temperature; it just blows cool air, which is still something, at least.
The price of houses near Paris... I don't even want to think about it!
I imagine older houses with thick walls stay cooler.
Good luck to you—I dread the thought of it starting up again here; for now, I can finally breathe.

 

[Socks' Mum]

Frightening indeed

 

[Maz]

Translation:
Hi there. Yes, I live in an apartment—a living room and bedroom totaling 50 m²—facing northeast.
It’s a concrete building. We had thermal insulation work done three years ago, but it protects better against the cold than the heat.
I bought a portable air conditioner, but it doesn't actually lower the room temperature; it just blows cool air, which is still something, at least.
The price of houses near Paris... I don't even want to think about it!
I imagine older houses with thick walls stay cooler.
Good luck to you—I dread the thought of it starting up again here; for now, I can finally breathe.

Well as I have discovered, they stay cooler at first, but the walls are gradually warming up, and when it gets cooler outside at night the walls act like a storage heater and chuck out the heat they retained inside the house! It was mainly only a problem upstairs though - maybe roof insultation - so it is better downstairs yes. Plus we don't have large windows. The north side of the house was ok - the south side got very hot inside until we realised we should draw the curtains during the day.

I just posted elsewhere that the Uk met office think it may be hotter than usual between 11th and 25th July again - not sure if that will be the same in France but probably! So it gives time to prepare. I'm thinking of getting a hepa air purifier rather than an air conditioning unit. It will act as a bit of a fan and also clean dust and pollen and pollutants out of the air when it's humid, so it should help the air be a bit fresher, but in your situation it does sound like air conditioning is needed. I'm sorry the unit wasn't helping much.

Did you try my trick of opening the fridge door?! That worked really well for us once when we had one main room that was a living room and kitchen area and our first hamster was struggling with the heat. I opened the fridge door for a while and let him run around on the floor in front of it! Obviously had to be careful he didn't try and climb inside the fridge! But he wasn't silly enough to do that. It also cooled the room down. So I think buying a second/second-hand fridge might be more effective than a portable air conditioning unit! Apparently the fixed air conditioning works in the same way as a fridge. Instant blast of cold permanently with the door open. Ideally one with a small freezer compartment inside rather than a larder fridge - they get colder at the top.

 

[Socks' Mum]

That is a very interesting idea The air purifiers are great at removing particles and smells and are very quiet. I've got two. They don't create as much air flow as a fan but that means you can use them all year round.