Feeling the heat? Whether you’re working from home or trying to get a restful night’s sleep, a cooling fan is a go-to during hot weather. A good quality fan combined with some easy tricks (as simple as using a bucket of ice) can help to cool your room even more. Here are three expert-approved fan tricks to try…
How to cool down a room
1. Create a crosswind
The first expert tip combines the use of a fan with natural ventilation: all you have to do is create a crosswind to essentially get the hot air out and the cool air in.
‘First, keep your windows, doors and blinds shut during the day to avoid hot sun beating down into your house. Then, during the evening, open your windows and place one fan facing out of your window, so it pushes the heat out,’ advise the experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute (GHI). ‘Use a second fan, placed inwards, to circulate cool air into the room.’
2. Use a bucket of ice
According to the GHI, placing a bucket of ice in front of a fan as a homemade AC unit is just as effective. ‘As the air passes over the ice it will be chilled and will circulate refreshingly cold air around the room,’ they explain.
3. Freeze bottles
This method is particularly ‘favoured’ by the GHI. All you have to do is freeze an empty one litre plastic bottle, place it on a tray and cover it with a damp cloth, then position this in front of your fan. As the air passes over the bottle and cloth, it will circulate a chilled breeze and your room will benefit from the cooler temperature.
More ways to beat the heat
The best quiet fans
Houseplants to keep your home cool
The best tower fans
Sleeping during a heatwave
When it comes to getting some kip, bedrooms should ideally be around 16-18°C (60-65°F), explains sleep advisor Lisa Artis from The British Sleep Charity, but if the outside temperature remains higher at night time, or your bedroom has retained the heat from the day, it can be difficult to keep cool.
If you find that your cooling fan isn’t as effective as it should be, there are other tricks you can use that doesn’t involve a fan at all in hot or humid weather. For example, switch to 100 per cent cotton bedsheets (try John Lewis, Soak & Sleep and Dusk), avoid consuming too much caffeine, alcohol or a big meal before bedtime, and fill your hot water bottle with ice cold water.
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Olivia Heath is the Daily Editor at House Beautiful. Heading up all things digital, Olivia loves nothing more than uncovering tomorrow’s biggest design trends and sharing the best decorating tips, small space living solutions, and houseplant care and gardening advice. Week by week Olivia compiles the most stylish high street homeware buys to help you get the look for less, and showcases the best makeovers, as well as the hottest and most unique properties on the market. She also loves covering some of the biggest events in the calendar, including all the action from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Colour of the Year forecasts from Pantone to Dulux, and exclusive previews of all the new Christmas collections before it hits the shops.
Olivia has been writing about homes and interiors for the past seven years, and her work has also been published on Elle Decor US, Country Living, Good Housekeeping, Red, Prima, Elle Japan, Modern Living and Micasa Revista.
Prior to joining House Beautiful, Olivia worked at Reveal magazine, where she reported on celebrity and entertainment news by day, and attended showbiz parties and red carpet events by night! Olivia has an MA in Journalism with an NCTJ qualification, as well as a BA in Journalism and Media & Cultural Studies.
