May 9th, 2018 by Chris Chapman

Don’t Sweat It, Just Read on for Our Guide to Keeping Cool

Whether you’re at home or at work, there’s really nothing more uncomfortable than a hot, sticky heat. Being too hot can stop you relaxing at home and from being productive at work. Luckily, there are a number of ways you can cool yourself off in a heatwave. You’ve probably heard all about air coolers, air conditioners and fans before, but what you may not know is that there are some big differences between the three. To find out more about these products work differently, read our simple guide that breaks down the differences between all three. This begs the question; which one is right for you? If you want to stay cool in a stifling heatwave, you need to make sure you get the right product for you. Keeping cool in a giant warehouse requires a very different approach than keeping cool in a small bedroom, so before you make your mind up, read our simple guide below to match the right cooling solution to your specific requirements!

Which One is Best for You?

Now that we’ve laid out the basics of each unit, you might have an idea about which one you want to look at already. If you’re still not sure, keep reading. No matter how specific your requirements are, there’s a solution for you.

Best Way to Keep Cool in a Small Space, Like a Desk or Cubicle

Office cubicles might only need a small fan to keep cool If space is at a premium, or if you just want to keep yourself cool without chilling other people, a fan is the obvious choice. Fans aren’t expensive and all you need to set it up is to plug it in! Generally, if the fan is right next to you, it should keep you cool even on the hottest days, provided the room is reasonably well ventilated.

HSD Recommends: Mylek Cyclops Tower Fan

  The Mylek Cyclops As this is the fan that’s currently keeping us cool right now as we write this, it’s only fair we give the Cyclops the appreciation it deserves! It’s a tower fan, which means it doesn’t take up much floor space and you don’t have to worry about spinning blades. On lower settings, the Cyclops is perfect for parking next to you and gently wafting you with a cool breeze. If you want to crank it up to keep a couple of other people chilled out, you can – simply use the remote to increase the speed and set the fan to oscillate (rotate from side to side) to keep multiple people cool and circulate the air around any small room!  

Best Way to Keep Cool in a Bedroom

  An air cooler will give you a peaceful night's sleep in the summer heat Bedrooms are designed to be relaxing. However, it can be really hard to chill out in your bedroom if you’re baking in the heat! Depending on which way your bedroom faces (south facing rooms tend to get the strongest sunlight) and the size of the room, bedrooms across the nation often become unbearable in summer. If your bedroom is one of them, then it sounds like you need an air cooler! Air coolers offer a balance between the air circulation of a fan and the air cooling power of an air con unit. As most bedrooms have a door and a window, they’re ideal for getting the most out of air coolers; just open your window and pop the air cooler down near it to get a cooling, relaxing air flow.  

HSD Recommends: MYLEK Air Cooler

Another quality product from MYLEK, this air cooler gives you that natural breeze that’s the trademark of the air cooler alongside a number of convenient quality-of-life features. It has a 4-litre water tank and 2 ice packs, so it can chill the air for longer without you needing to replace the water. What really makes this air cooler ideal for bedrooms, though, is its remote control and timer function. This means you can control the air cooler while you’re set in bed and set a timer so that you can happily fall asleep without worrying about leaving it on all night.

Best Way to Keep Cool Quietly While Watching TV

If you've got a serious home cinema setup, you don't want it overpowered by the noise of an air conditioner Noise is always a tricky topic. What’s loud and what’s quiet is always subjective, and as no air cooling solution is ever completely silent, it’s important to manage your expectations a bit when it comes to noise. This can be a pain when you’re trying to keep the chill in a Netflix and chill, particularly if you’ve spent a lot of time building up your home cinema setup. You’re always going to have to make the best of the trade-off between cooling power and noise, so with that in mind, we’d recommend an air cooler to help you chill out when you’re watching TV. They offer the best balance between low noise and cooling power, and as they’re best placed near a doorway or window, you won’t need to place it right next to you to get the most out of it.

HSD Recommends: MYLEK Air Cooler

    Yes, we’ve already recommended it once, but if you want to keep cool and keep quiet, then this air cooler is your best bet once again. Not only does it provide the best balance between cooling and noise that we’ve found, but the remote control means you can turn it up or down from the comfort of your sofa. Exactly how quiet the unit is depends on what speed setting you have it on, but compared to portable air con units (which need an open window to stick the exhaust out of), this model will offer you a little more quiet at the cost of a little less – but still pretty chilled – cooling effect.  

Best Way to Keep Everyone Cool in a Large Office

Large offices can become unbearably hot in the summer months, especially if they have a lot of windows. Not only do you have the cumulative body heat of several people, but you also have to contend with the heat kicked out from their PCs, laptops, phones, and every other appliance! This can add up to create a stuffy, sticky workplace. What you need to help solve this is to help increase air circulation, without cluttering up the floor space with even more appliances and cables. That’s why the best way to cool a large office is unquestionably a ceiling fan! Ceiling fans will require a bit of professional installation to mount over your light fittings, but once that’s done you’ll have a quiet but effective way of keeping cool, that looks pretty stylish to boot!

HSD Recommends: 56 Inch Ceiling Fan

56 Inch Ceiling Fan Simple, effective and very affordable, this ceiling fan is a sleek, no-nonsense design that’ll fit into virtually any office. Once installed, it can be paired with a wall-mounted control dial to give you complete control over the air flow in the office with a range of speed settings. If you have a very large office, the price point of this model is so low you can look at ordering multiple fans to ensure the fresh, cool airflow covers the entire workplace. The best part about ceiling fans is that their usefulness doesn’t stop once summer is over; if you reverse the direction of the fan, it’ll actually push warm air down to ground level, making it easier to stay warm in winter as well!

Best Way to Keep Customers Cool in a Shop or Restaurant

If you run a customer-facing business, there’s an extra layer of complication when trying to keep cool. Not only does your cooling solution need to be powerful, it also needs to look great and be subtle so it doesn’t clutter up your floor. This is where air conditioners really shine! Air con units can be fitted into your walls or ceiling to keep your customers and staff cool, meaning they won’t take up any valuable floor space at all. Also, there’s nothing more satisfying as a customer than walking off a baking hot street into a cool, air-conditioned shop floor – trust us!

HSD Recommends: Midea Compact Round Flow Air Conditioning Cassette

  Midea Compact Round Air Flow Cassette This air con unit fits into your ceiling, meaning it’ll keep you and your customers cool without them ever even noticing it! Ceiling-mounted air con units have so many advantages for shop or restaurant owners, but chief among them is that it’s easy to feed the exhaust through and out of your roof (or anywhere else) to get rid of warm air easily. It’ll also mean that your ceiling muffles the sound of the air con unit, giving your customers a bit of peace and quiet while they’re on your premises.  

Best Way to Keep Cool in a Warehouse

Warehouses need powerful fans to circulate a lot of air Warehouses can be a nightmare to keep cool in summer. Not only is there a large area to keep cool, but you’ve also got people and machinery that are constantly active. Getting cool air circulating around these areas is a challenge, so for that, you need some specialist industrial fans! Not to be confused with extractor fans, industrial air circulating fans aren’t subtle but they are effective! They’ll move around huge volumes of cool air at once and are designed to maximise air flow to even the largest indoor areas.

HSD Recommends: Professional Hurricane Power Air Blaster 450

Professional Hurricane Power Air Blaster 450 With a name like that, this high-performance industrial fan has a lot to live up to, and it doesn’t disappoint! With a durable, rugged design that makes it fit for even the most challenging environments, the Hurricane can move up to 3m³ of air every second, and if that doesn’t mean a lot to you, take it from us; it’s a lot! Despite this power, the Hurricane is completely free-standing and just needs a plug socket to work. This gives you complete flexibility, meaning you can place it wherever you want and move it around if necessary; ideal for busy warehouses where you may need to clear space for a lot of pallets very quickly.