Survive EXTREME HEAT without massive electricity bills $$$ in Cambodia & Southeast Asia! #forriel

Survive EXTREME HEAT without massive electricity bills $$$ in Cambodia & Southeast Asia! #forriel

hello my name is Claire and this is for Real there is one thing every expat in cm reef is talking about right now and it’s the heat people are saying it’s hotter than they recall it ever being in the past and it’s certainly hotter than we have experienced in our let’s say around 3 years in Cambodia there are a lot of experts who’ve lived in um Cambodia for longer than us and for them to be saying that it’s the hottest it’s been really is telling us something so what do we mean by hot well from mid February the temperatures were up in the high 30s so it was 38 39° daily maximums and that has continued since then so for more than 2 months already in the last 3 weeks or so though things have stepped up a notch and it is consistently 40 or 41° maximum temperatures it is brutally hot that’s one thing looking at the actual temperature but when you consider the feels like indicator it gives you a better sense of what it’s actually like to live in these temperatures so those feels like temperatures can be up in the 50s it’s absolutely horrific right now uh I don’t think I’m exaggerating if I say that um because it really is incredibly hot it can be quite uncomfortable living in this heat particularly if you’re not used to it a lot of expats find themselves using their air conditioners a lot more than they anticipated and this leads to some pretty big electricity bills electricity is build monthly here and it’s possible to run up a bill of around $300 no lie if you aren’t careful it can really mess up your budget if you’re living on um a restricted income and we don’t want that to happen so it’s important to know what you can do to keep costs down while keeping as cool as possible at the same time in this video I’m going to talk about how you can keep cool without breaking the bank the first part of the video deals with things to look for when you’re renting a house or apartment here in cm reap in terms of living with the heat in the second part of the video I’ll give you some tips you can Implement to keep your electricity bill down once you’re in your house or apartment before we get started on what to look for when renting though I’ll give you an important piece of advice if you’re moving to CM reap time your arrival so you’re not getting here in the hottest part of the Year give yourself as much time as possible to get used to the generally high temperatures before taking on your first hot season it’s no fun being dependent on air conditioning if you can get your body used to operating at a higher temperature even if it’s just a few degrees more than what you used to your life will be much easier and cheaper as well it’s also a good idea to stay indoors over the hottest part of the day cover your skin if you do go out and add some Royal D to your shopping basket Royal D is a local electrolyte supplement and it replenishes the um minerals and salts that you lose when you sweat because living in this heat you will sweat constantly water alone is not always adequate when you’re sweating as much as you do here in the hot season so make sure you include something like that I’ll save my biggest hot season hack for the end of this video so keep watching if you want to see that okay let’s take a look at things you should be looking out for when inspecting a house or an apartment to rent in Cambodia first thing before you even set foot inside the house or apartment you should be asking about the rate that is going to be charged for electricity apartments are a standard one 1,000 real per kilowatt hour or 25 cents that’s USD everything is in USD that I’m talking about today so if you see an apartment advertised with electricity rates higher than this say 1,250 reel or 30 cents do not consider the apartment and not just because of the 5cent difference it says a lot about the people that are running it um and I would steer clear of somewhere that charges above what is normal for electricity if you rent a house your electricity should be cheaper because it will be charged at the Government rate so as per the bill you’re going to pay a lower rate than what people in apartments pay and that’s fair enough because Apartments have common areas that need to be lit and um the landlord has to kind of split up the bills and do all of that stuff so I think um that little extra amount is quite fair and uh something just to just to be aware of uh the difference between houses and apartments anyway depending on usage the price if you’re renting a house ranges es from 610 reel per kwatt hour to 730 reel so that’s between 15 and 18 cents um so you do get a discount if you um if your usage remains on the lower tier which is a good thing ask about the cost of electricity early on and save yourself some time don’t bother viewing properties that are build with a rate that’s too high next thing orientation which direction does the property face properties that face East or West will have some very hot rooms and you’ll probably want to put the airon in these rooms if you want to use them when they’re in the direct sun so just um bear that in mind think about not only which direction it faces but which rooms are going to be copping the brunt of that sun in the morning and the afternoon a house is more likely than an apartment to have rooms configured so it’s easier to get away from the Sun at different times during the day in apartments orientation is much more important because you might only have Windows on one side so if you’re facing west and all your windows on the west then you’re pretty well screwed so think about that and be careful if you’re considering a place that faces East or West think of the rooms on those sides an east facing bedroom will get a lot of Morning Sun a west facing living room will be very hot until the sun sets glass lets in a lot of heat as well so take note of window size as well sometimes you go into a place and it has these beautiful floor to ceiling windows and while it lets in a lot of light and it looks lovely and the Outlook might be really nice bear in mind that the heat is going to be blasting in through that glass considering these things can help you make a good apartment choice that will keep your cooling cost down next thing roof insulation along similar lines as orientation I guess if there’s one part of a house or apartment that gets more Sun than anywhere else obviously it’s the roof be wary of apartments on the top floor as the heat transfer from the roof outside to your ceiling inside can be very choose the floor below the top floor and your air con will work from a lower base temperature and that will save you money sometimes you will find houses or apartments with rooms that have no ceilings and by this I mean you can see the external roof material when you’re inside the property this is not good because it means there’s no insulation means that the um the surface that the sun is hitting on the outside is the same surface that’s reflecting the heat down to you when you’re inside and that is not good they may look nice they may look rustic but not a good idea next thing think very carefully about studio apartments I love the idea of studio apartments particularly for single people they make a lot of sense having everything in one big open space seems like a practical and cozy way to live but what it means in a very hot climate is that if you want to use the air conditioner you have to cool the entire space and not just the small part that you’re using so if you’re just l lying in bed or if you’re just sitting at your table using a computer you still have to cool the entire space to feel the benefit of that air conditioning I would advise people to look for a small one-bedroom apartment rather than a larger studio apartment look for a place that has a small living area and a small separate bedroom so that your aircon use can be separated according to where you’re actually using the space this is much more efficient than cooling a larger studio apartment we lived in an apartment like this and I made a video of that one it had two very compact rooms I’ll leave a link to that at the end of this video so you can see the kind of space that I’m talking about and how um the rooms are not much bigger than the furniture they hold and that can make it much more um cost effective in terms of air conditioning next thing is room size after studio apartments the next thing you need to look out for is big bedrooms the bigger the room the more it’s going to cost you to keep it cool in an effort to be frugal and live with the heat a lot of people restrict their airon use to when they are sleeping this is a great approach but cooling a room that is four times the size of your bed is going to cost you a lot of money have a look at these enormous bedrooms in um online ads that I found for properties in cm reap just crazy how big those rooms are you’re never going to use that space and you’re just cooling it down and wasting money pretty much take your frugality to the next level and get a place with a small bedroom embrace the small another bonus of this is how quickly you can cool the space down if you have a big space it takes a long time for the air conditioner to work so get a small place is going to cost you less and it’ll be cooler quicker next up ceiling fans be on the lookout for places with ceiling fans they are extremely cheap to run and very effective in moving air around more on why this is important is coming up later look for apartments with ceiling fans or standing fans that are included as part of the Furnishings ceiling fans are particularly good cuz they don’t take up flooor space like standing fans do but if your only option is a standing fan it’s absolutely better than nothing if using a fan can make you less reliant on airon they’re well worth using the price of a fan ranges from about 10 to 50 us but they are ridiculously cheap to run some other things to look out for check to see how thick the bedroom curtains or blinds are better quality fabric will keep out more heat and assist with more efficient use of airon keeping your bill down also check for insect screens if you don’t have these you might need to shut your windows and doors at dusk to avoid mosquitoes coming inside the downside of this is that you’ll miss out on the cooler air and potential Breeze that comes through at that time in the day if you’ve got insect screens no need to close and the breeze will be yours think very carefully before you move into a traditional wooden house I know it’s tempting I know they are very seductive with their lovely looks but be careful of that these houses can sometimes have roofs that have no insulation and there’s lots of gaps in the walls and Floors do look for an apartment with a pool in the complex though this will make your life much more pleasant when inspecting Apartments have a look at the AC units do they look old if they have the word inverter written on them so you’ll see that on the um on the header that’s inside the rooms look for that word this is a good thing as it means that electricity is used much more efficiently and effectively inverters control the speed of the compressor motor to match the required output so once the room is cool and it’s reached the temperature that you’ve set the remote to an inverter air conditioner will lower the speed of the motor to save energy and just maintain the desired temperature whereas if you have one of the older ones it will just keep cranking out the cool air um uh without any regard for what the temperature is inside the room okay now that all of that is out of the way let’s move on you’re already in your house or apartment and you want to find ways to keep your bill down without sacrificing Comfort a recent Australian study broke down the usage of household energy and this is what they found I found this article and thought it was too interesting to not share with you so heating or cooling takes up 40% or accounts for 40% of electricity bills in most cases hot water accounts for 25% Electronics account for 14% fridges and freezers for 8% so heating or cooling we’re looking looking at 40% and fridges and freezers let’s look at those two things no surprises there how can we reduce that 40% that people spend on cooling first up obviously use a fan instead of ac they cost just over one cent per hour to run one cent that is nothing if you choose to run your AC keep it as high as possible keep it between 23 and 26° why each degree below this can increase your electricity bill by as much as 15% so think of that when you go to turn it down that is a huge amount of increase in your electricity bill just for a few degrees cooler here’s a hack for you though combine your air conditioner with a fan instead of having the AC on a lower temperature set it a little bit higher few degrees and move the air around with a fan this could save you a whopping 70% of your electricity usage according to research by olle J Who’s a professor of heat and health at the University of Sydney in Australia if you move air more in an indoor environment the temperature at which you feel like you’re too hot is higher Professor J says so you feel the same at 23° with still air as you will at 27° with air moving because we’re cooling the body instead of cooling the air it’s isn’t that interesting and it’s really about how how hot you actually feel not how hot the temperature might be so really really important and useful information there I think you can also change the setting on your AC so that it’s running on dry this will remove some of the humidity from the air and you will feel cooler as a result of that as well another thing you should do is check for gaps where the airon can leak out that’s pretty much your money just going out under the door find something to block those gaps and keep the cool air in you can buy those really skinny um snake likee foam cylinders for about a dollar so um one that’s wide enough to cover um underneath the door and that will save you a lot of money $1 is a pretty good investment if it’s going to keep your cool air inside for longer also clean your air cons filter regularly so that it runs as efficiently as possible now let’s look at fridges and freezers you can save money here as well check the temperature adjust your fridge so that it’s running at about 3° C and the freezer should be about -8 for the best balance between coolness food safety and Energy Efficiency check the placement of your fridge fridges placed in warm areas use more energy to stay cool especially in Cambodia where the insulation inside a fridge is probably a lot less than what we used to in the west that’s why they’re so light make sure it’s in a well ventilated space and that there are sufficient gaps around the unit this is key fridges in Cambodia don’t tend to have much insulation and their exteriors can get very hot if you put your hand on the side of the fridge it’s often very very hot make sure yours is in a place where air can circulate easily around it the compressor won’t have to work as hard and your bill will be lower as a result step two is to check the seals step three is to buy as much beer and ice cream as you can why well a full fridge is a happy fridge the thermal mass of its contents will help to maintain the temperature and this will reduce running costs think of it like this if you open the fridge and it’s empty a lot of the cold air will escape really quickly and the fridge will have to cool the new Air from room temperature again if it’s full the items inside the fridge will retain a lot of the coolness and when you shut the fridge door again those items will help cool the smaller volume of new air that has entered that’s what we mean by the thermal Mass okay now it’s time for my big hack for surviving the hot season in Cambodia and it’s to actually not survive the hot season in Cambodia if you plan to travel at all whether it’s for work for tourism to visit family whatever it might be in your home country do it in April or May we have planned our travel back to Australia to visit family at this time because it just makes sense so I’m sitting here in Australia right now and it is a cool and comfortable 25° I am not sweating and I can tell you it is a very welcome relief absolutely wonderful just um we really needed a break from that heat it really becomes oppressive after a while don’t underestimate how hot it is so there you have it those are my tips for surviving in the hot season and keeping your electricity bills somewhat reasonable if you have other tips that I haven’t mentioned please absolutely leave them in the comments so that everyone can benefit from your knowledge in all of this though just one last word it is important to remember that we are living in a developing country and we’re living there by choice outside of the main cities many people live in very basic structures with no electricity or maybe just enough through a solar panel to power light the majority of schools do not have air conditioning and many don’t even have fans so keep a bit of perspective on things and remember that we are very fortunate to be living in Cambodia with the means that we have okay I hope you found that useful and leave a comment below I’d love to hear what you think stay tuned and we’ll see you in the next video bye

Read this: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501478750/asia-heatwave-ministry-says-cambodia-temperatures-could-reach-42-c-as-at-least-30-die-in-thailand-from-heat/

Ok, there is one thing every expat in Siem Reap is talking about right now, and it’s the heat. People are saying it’s hotter than they recall it ever being in the past. It’s certainly the hottest we have experienced, but there are a lot of expats who have lived here for longer than us.

So what do we mean by hot? Well, from mid February, the temperatures were up in the high 30’s, so 38 or 39 degree daily maximums. And that has continued since, so more than two months already. In the last three weeks, though, things have stepped up a notch and it is consistently 40 or 41 degrees. It’s brutally hot, and the ‘feels like’ indicator gives a better sense of what it is actually like to live in these temperatures.

In this video, I’m going to talk about how you can keep cool without breaking the bank. The first part of the video deals with things to look for when you are renting a house or apartment here in Siem Reap in terms of living with the heat. In the second part of the video, I’ll give you some tips you can implement to keep your electricity bill down once you are in your house or apartment.

We donate 100% of our earnings from this channel to charities in Cambodia. You help us to earn this money simply by watching our videos.

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★ Marc’s Mildly Interesting
https://www.youtube.com/c/MarcsMildlyInteresting
★ Itchy Feet on the Cheap
https://www.youtube.com/user/itchyfeetonthecheap
★ Dave Does Cambodia
https://www.youtube.com/c/DaveDoesCambodia
★ Autumn in Asia
https://www.youtube.com/c/AutumninAsia
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★ Julia Haw
https://www.youtube.com/@juliahaw
★ Out Your Shell
https://www.youtube.com/@OutYourShell
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https://www.youtube.com/@TomTripsOut
★ This Life Cambodia
https://www.youtube.com/@thislifecambo

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★ Andrew Taylor (Malaysia)
https://www.youtube.com/@andrewtaylor4558
★ Now in Lao
https://www.youtube.com/c/NowtoLao
★ Jorma the Explora (Bangkok)
https://www.youtube.com/@jormatheexplora
★ Riding with the Ranas
https://www.youtube.com/c/RidingwiththeRanas/
★ Side Trip Life
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