Rooms ‘feel cooler’ with bottle and foil method shown on BBC

An experiment on today’s (July 10) episode of BBC Morning Live has shown a couple of ways UK households can make rooms feel ‘noticeably cooler‘ – including a bottle and tin foil method. The advice comes as the country faces its third heatwave of the year.

This week, temperatures in some areas of the UK have reached the mid-30s as the hot weather persists. According to the Met Office, Friday is likely to mark the peak of the ongoing heatwave. The UK Health Security Agency has issued amber and yellow heat health alerts, as the high temperatures are expected to have a considerable effect on health and social care services.

Deputy Chief Forecaster Tom Crabtree said: “Many people will understandably want to know how long the current heatwave is likely to last. While temperatures are expected to ease across southeast England through the weekend and into next week, it won’t be a straightforward end to the warm weather.

“The overall signal is for continued fine, dry and very warm weather at times for many parts of the UK into next week. There is, however, a chance of thunderstorms spreading into parts of the south and southwest.”

The sweltering daytime temperatures mean many people are struggling to stay cool in their homes, as UK houses are typically built to trap heat in during winter. Conditions at night remain muggy and humid, making it difficult for millions to sleep comfortably.

However, there are various online cooling hacks that claim to reduce indoor temperatures. Well-known TV presenter Nick Knowles spoke to Polly Turton of Shade The UK, an organisation helping vulnerable people from rising temperatures, about whether the hacks really do work.

They ran a couple of experiments, including placing ice-cold water bottles in front of a fan for an hour to see whether it affected the air temperature. As well as sticking tin foil on all windows to help lower indoor temperatures.

Explaining the water bottle method, Polly said: “We are going to show that by moving air across a cold object, you can cool the room temperature.” Looking at a thermometer, Nick said: “Okay, so the room at the moment reads at 27.1C.”

They switched the fan to “maximum” and left the room for an hour to see the impact of the experiment. Upon returning, they checked the thermometer again. Nick said: “It is noticeably cooler in here… [the thermometer] now says 25.4C.”

Nick asked Polly if the two-degree drop would make a difference. She said: “It may not seem it, but for a tyoung child in a hot bedroom, or an elderly adult suffering from heat, that’s going to make a big difference to their health and wellbeing.” She added: “The electricity used to run this is minimal, compared to an air conditioning unit”.

The Energy Saving Trust estimates that using air conditioning for 24 hours can cost up to £6. By comparison, a free-standing fan for the same period typically costs between 15p and 31p.

As for the tin foil method, which is designed to reflect sunlight and prevent heat from building up, they found it made a difference when they returned to the room an hour later.

Poilly said: “[The thermometer] was reading at about 32C on the glass pane. Now the surface temperature is about 28C – about a two to three-degree reduction”.

Nick said: “It definitely works”. Polly replied: “It is an effective solution if you don’t have any other options available to you.”

Nick also told viewers that the tin foil method is another “cost-effective” method, as a roll of tin foil typically costs around £1.50.