There is a little known trick to keeping your house cool which needs only a £1.20 roll of tin foil – such as that sold in Asda as well as other supermarkets like Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Aldi.
The UK is basking in a heatwave this week, with temperatures soaring as high as 33C in London. The Met Office predicts the hot weather will persist throughout the week, with temperatures ranging from 28C to 31C from Wednesday to Friday, before cooling slightly over the weekend to a still balmy 26-27C.
This scorching weather has many of us scrambling for ways to keep our homes cool without breaking the bank. While fans and air conditioning units can offer some relief, they don’t actually lower the temperature in your rooms and can be costly to run.
As such, people are on the hunt for affordable and effective solutions to beat the heat. In other news, Brits are told to never put one banned item in garden bins as you could face punishment.
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Unfortunately, most UK homes are designed to retain heat due to our typically moderate climate, which doesn’t help matters. However, there’s a little-known trick that could help keep your house cool, and all you need is a £1.20 roll of tin foil or kitchen foil – available at supermarkets like Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Aldi.
Heat-stricken Brits have been sharing this tip online, suggesting that you roll out kitchen tin foil and place it in your windows, particularly those that receive direct sunlight, reports the Express. Under normal circumstances, when direct sunlight streams through a window, it intensifies the sun’s heat, making your house even hotter – much like how greenhouses work to keep plants warm inside. However, tin foil can help by reflecting the sun’s rays off the window, directing them back outside instead.
Other alternatives include leaving your windows ajar but drawing your curtains, which blocks direct sunlight from entering. However, this will still slightly warm your room through the curtains, whereas foil reflects the sun more effectively. You might recall that foil’s heat-reflecting properties are also beneficial in winter, following advice to hang strips of tin foil behind radiators to enhance their heat reflection into the room.
Additional benefits of tin foil or ‘aluminium foil’ include its non-toxicity and its high melting point of 660C, meaning it can withstand a heatwave with hundreds of degrees to spare without melting in the sun.
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Other ways to keep your house cool during a heatwave
Only open windows and doors in the evenings to allow cooler air to circulate throughout the house, but close any windows and curtains facing direct sunlight during the day.
Place bowls of water in various rooms throughout the house, which will evaporate and help maintain a cool air temperature. House plants also contribute to a cooler home environment. They act as natural air conditioners, regulating a room’s temperature by releasing moisture into the air through a process known as transpiration.
Turn off appliances that aren’t in use. Every appliance, whether it’s an oven, toaster, laptop or PlayStation, generates small amounts of heat even on standby, all contributing to the overall heat level of a house. Charging your phone at night could also help to warm a room slightly due to the small amount of heat generated.
Switching to energy-saving LED lightbulbs can also help to cool your house. Traditional lightbulbs, such as Halogen, produce a significant amount of heat when lighting a room and several Halogen lights or spotlights can quickly warm a room up at night.
Consider swapping to energy-saving LEDs and keep lights off as much as possible – this will not only help to keep your home cooler but also save you money.