Fan and damp cloth to lower the temperature: fake or trick that works?

We turn in one direction, then in the other. We take out one leg, then both. We remove the sheet. We open the window, the shutters; too late, we are already suffocating. This somewhat dramatic scenario is likely to repeat over the nights, as the mercury rises.

Well, without sinking into the theatrical, we scoured the Net to unearth tips to soften our sleep in case of high temperatures. The most recurrent asserts that you have to hang a wet cloth in front of a fan. Without waiting, we grabbed a fan, a towel and two temperature probes; head to the home lab. We settle more precisely in the adjacent room – where we store the products to be tested – whose size is similar to that of a bedroom.

On arrival, it is 25.6°C. We fix the cloth moistened with cold water on the front side of the fan. It’s the Duux Whisper that serves as a guinea pig, but it doesn’t matter the model: we could very well have opted for the Xiaomi Mi Smart Standing Fan 2 Lite, the Amazon Basic or the Rowenta Turbo Silence Extrême+, for example.

We make sure not to completely obstruct the airflow outlet, so that it sweeps the room properly. Set to maximum power, the Duux does what is expected of it: it cools us down, without lowering the ambient temperature. And the presence of the tea towel does not change the situation. After a few minutes, a few tens of minutes, then an hour of operation, the conclusion is clear: it’s a total flop.

The room temperature has not dropped. If the feeling makes us think that it is cooler, our probes still register 25.6°C; not the slightest variation in temperature after one hour of testing. This article also explains why we have a feeling of freshness in front of a fan, without the atmosphere having really cooled.

Faced with this masquerade, put away your tea towels and instead direct your fan towards a window, as we explained in a previous article. This is surely the best way to refresh your interior.