5 mistakes you might be making with your electric fan

Summer weather is wonderful when you're on holiday, or enjoying a cool drink in a pub garden. But it's a different story if you're stuck in a warm, stuffy home or office.

A good fan can work wonders by relieving heat and wicking sweat from your body. But you need to be strategic about how, when and where you use it.

So here are our top five mistakes to avoid if you want to get the most from your fan.

Jump straight to our fan reviews to discover the best. For the hottest bargains on the coolest fans, see Best portable air conditioner and electric fan deals

1. Not thinking about where you place your fan

You may not have thought of placing your fan next to a window to draw in colder air from the outside. Or of using two fans at once to create a crosswind. But both these things can work well, if you get them right.

If the air is cooler outside than inside, usually in the evenings, you can place your fan next to an open window, facing into the room, and it will draw cool air into your home.

If you have another window open at the same time, a fan facing that window will push the hot air out.

This isn't worth doing if it's hotter outside than in, as you'll just be drawing more hot air into your home.

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2. Pre-cooling your room ready for sleep, or running your fan overnight

Running a fan in your bedroom to cool your room before bedtime may seem like a good idea, but you're just wasting energy. Fans don't cool a room: they move air around, which helps cool your body. If you're not in the room, there's no benefit to leaving the fan on.

Nor is it recommended from a safety perspective. The organisation Electrical Safety First says that you shouldn't leave your fan running overnight or while you're out (which, again, is pointless if there's no one in the house to benefit).

Some people also find that running a fan in their bedroom overnight dries their skin, mouth and nasal passages. Others say the noise keeps them awake.

If necessary, choose a fan with a timer and set it to turn itself off after a short period.

Find out more about sleeping better, including the pros and cons of tracking your sleep with a fitness tracker.

3. Forgetting to clean the room before setting up your fan

It's wise to dust and vacuum before you set up your fan for summer.

This is because a fan circulates air around a room, so any dust or pollen that's in the air will be circulated, too – not what you want if you suffer from allergies.

When not in use, a fan itself can gather dust, which will get blown around the room when you switch it on.

If you're using your fan for the first time in a while, give it a quick clean. Instructions will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer but will normally involve using a soft, dry cloth to wipe over the surfaces. 

You may need to unscrew the back of the fan to clean the blades. Make sure you don't accidentally bend the blades or get liquid in the motor. Some fans can't be opened up for cleaning, which isn't ideal for allergy sufferers.

To save time and work, store your fan in its box or bag to protect it from dust in autumn and winter.

Many of the best fans can be cleaned without too much effort.

4. Not putting ice or cold water in front of your fan

Some Which? members have told us they put a bucket of ice or cold water in front of their fan. We tried this out and found that it does work – but it's not a long-term solution unless you have bags and bags of ice to hand.

You're basically getting your fan to work a bit like an air conditioner, where the ice absorbs heat from the air. If you're going to try it, fill your bowl up to the top with ice and position the fan so that the breeze is flowing directly onto it.

This won't work as well as an air conditioner, but it's both cheaper and friendlier to the environment.

See all our air conditioner reviews.

5. Choosing the wrong type of fan

There are two main types of fan: desk and tower or pedestal fans. We test both types (but not ceiling fans, as they're rare in UK homes).

Desk fans are designed to be placed on a desk or table. A desk fan will cool you down if you're right next to it, but won't create a strong breeze, otherwise it would blow all your papers about.

A pedestal or tower fan stands on the ground, and is designed to cover a whole room.

A few fans can be extended into a pedestal fan or collapsed into a desk fan, but not many. 

Finally, make sure you buy the right type of fan for your living situation. For instance, if there are two of you working from home at separate desks in the same room, you may need two desk fans, or a tower or pedestal fan. 

No one wants to spend the summer fighting over who gets the desk fan.

Read our full fan reviews to find out how well they all performed in our rigorous tests.