BRITS will be struggling to keep cool in the September heatwave, but a fan could be the perfect answer to sleeping soundly at night.
The country is set to be hotter than Athens this week as temperatures soar to a scorching 30C.
However, the temperature is set to plummet on Thursday, with showers incoming.
Nothing is worse than sleeping in a hot and stuffy room over night, so many will leave an electric fan on whilst they go to bed.
But how much does a fan cost to run? Leaving fans on for a long time will eat into a significant chunk of your energy bill.
So it's worth making yourself aware of how expensive your fan will be to run especially as the hot and muggy weather doesn't look like it's going away anytime soon.
How much energy does a fan use up?
To work this out you need to find out how much electricity your fan uses. Finding out the "wattage" of a fan will give you the answer and tell you the amount of power it's using.
Then you need to find the total output you will have to turn that wattage into kilowatt hours.
There's a bit of maths involved as first you divide the kilowatt hours by 1,000.
This will give you how much output is used in one hour.
So if your fan is 70 watts output on its high setting and you always use this, divide 70 by 1000 = 0.07.
Then times this number by the number of hours you've used the fan. For example, if you're using it for 12 hours per night then 0.07kW x 12 hours will mean 0.84kW output.
How much does it cost to leave a fan on overnight?
Now that you know your kilowatt output, you need to times it by the amount you pay for 1 kW of electricity.
Find this amount on your energy bill. For example, if a kW costs 15p on your bill the sum will be: 0.84kW x 15 = 12.6p.
The equation is: Cost = power (kilowatt) × time (hour) × cost of 1 kWh (pence).
Octopus energy told The Sun that a flat rate tariff with a unit rate of 18p would amount to less than 9p per night.
That’s for a fan rated at 45 Watts therefore using 0.045kW in an hour.
If you were to get a nice 10-hours sleep, that would mean the fan uses 0.450kW in total.
Of course, costs will vary depending on the type of fan you have, how long you're using it for and how much your energy costs. Plus it will depend on the cost of your tariff.
Just be aware that those with allergies and asthma have been warned that fans could be making their symptoms worse.
The difference betweenKilowatts and Watts
IF you’re trying to calculate energy usage the terms can be confusing, according to OVO Energy
kW stands for kilowatt. A kilowatt is simply 1,000 watts, which is a measure of power.
A kilowatt hour (kWh) is a measure of energy.
So a 1,000 watt drill needs 1,000 watts (1 kW) of power to make it work, and uses 1 kWh of energy in an hour.
That’s why, if you leave a TV or computer on standby, it is still using power and creating a kWh cost on your energy bill
Do fans make a room cooler?
Although fans can't make a room cooler, they can make you feel cooler.
The air moving over your skin can lower your body temperature but won't do much about the heat inside a room.
So if you don't plan on being in the room there's no point of leaving the fan on as it won't do anything to the heat inside the room itself.
How else can I keep cool in the heat?
Relying on just a fan to keep you cool could be a very expensive way to tackle the heatwave this year, but there are other options you could try.
Family handyman has come up with ideas that include spraying a sheet with cold water covering a window opening.
With this hack, the breeze will hit the sheet and pass through the cool, damp fabric, which can help bring the temperature down in your home.
The site also suggest trying insulated window films that you can buy to stick on your window.
The cheap to purchase alternative can help cut energy costs as well as offer privacy while you can still enjoy the view and light from outside.
They are also designed to provide up to 98% infrared heat reduction compared to unprotected windows, and reduce the temperature coming in.
They're only about £14.59 to buy from places like Amazon as well.
Where still has fans in stock?
As the UK tries to remain cool during the heatwave, fans and air con units are selling out everywhere. Here's where you can still purchase them:
Not sure which model to purchase? Here are our roundups of the best:
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