Why using a fan in the heatwave could actually be making you hotter

14 July 2022, 12:45

By Alice Dear

With temperatures soaring to across the UK, any relief from the heat is a joy – but did you know your fan might be causing more problems than it is fixing?

The heatwave is still going strong across the UK, and while we love the sunshine, the heat can become very intense, especially when you're trying to sleep or get things done in the house.

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And with temperatures hitting up to 30 degrees, it's no surprise how many people are flocking to the shops to purchase a fan – if they didn't already have one, of course.

While clicking that fan on can give you some short-term relief from the temperatures, did you know that your fan could be making you feel hotter?

I know, it sounds like madness, but there has been research carried out on this theory and the results are pretty telling.

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A study carried out in 2019 by the University of Sydney in Australia recruited 12 healthy men who were put into a number of 'uncomfortable' situations.

They sat in a room for two hours at a time, experiencing four different 'types' of heat.

The study found that the electric fan made the participants more uncomfortable in the hot and dry room.

It did, however, generally make them more comfortable in the hot and humid room, which means that the usefulness of a fan could be down to the type of heat were having.

There are ways to make your fan more effective for heat relief, reports The Sun.

Apparently, setting your fan's rotation to anti-clockwise can seriously improve the levels of cooling.

This is according to Delmar Fans, who claim that this anti-clockwise motion pushes the air to the floor, which will cause sweat to be evaporated and create a wind chill effect.