PigPog

We’d just got our old house sorted out for summer cooling. We don’t want the cats to get out of any windows, and we don’t want spiders getting in, so we wanted to do it with the minimum of open windows. Strategically placed fans moved a lot of air around the house, though, and proved quite effective. The main trick seemed to be getting airflow between upstairs and downstairs. Before we managed that, the upstairs would get incredibly hot, whilst downstairs remained relatively cool.

Now, we have a top floor flat, so things will be a bit different.

• We’re up high, so there are very few spiders who can climb up to us.
• Sliding windows can be opened an inch or two without danger of Sweeney taking a leap. Also, because we’re so high up, it’s pretty safe to leave the windows when we’re out.
• We’re in Devon. That probably means the summer will be a bit warmer, but a bit damper.

Our old fans were mostly pretty worn out, so rather than bring them with us, taking up valuable car space for a journey, we decided to buy new ones. We’ve been waiting for some good offers, but Argos (affiliate link) had some good ones.

We now have a 16″ pedestal fan (the tall floor-standing type) sitting in front of the bedroom windows, so it can actively pull air in from outside, and an amazingly powerful 18″ fan that sits on the floor in the hallway, which can get good airflow all round the flat from one place. The 16″ fan was only £15, and the 18″ one was £24. Both pretty cheap for the size and power. The 16″ one doesn’t seem like good quality, but it works ok, and it was still very good value. The 18″ one is really quite nice, although it didn’t screw together very neatly.

We won’t know if they’ll help us cope with the summer heat until it starts really heating up, but I think we have a pretty good chance.