With there not strictly being any legal minimums or maximums for the average workplace in the UK when it comes to working temperature, it’s vital to be prepared for working through parts of a heatwave. Reusable ice cubes can give you reliable, daily cooling throughout the day but a more passive method is also available, and could benefit the whole office!
USB Desk Fans are small, light and easily set up via the simple USB cable. Plug in to a PC or laptop, or other powered USB socket and immediately access directional air flow. This article will dispel some myths about desk fans and teach our lovely readers how to properly set up your USB fan to cool you and the whole room down! There’s more to it than spinning the blades, you need to position it correctly and at the right time!
Our USB Fan showcase explains how we managed to make such a small unit so powerful, with quad-blade technology that constantly keeps the air moving so you’re saving energy and money while keeping cool.
The main thing to know for this article, to really make the best use of your fan and stay cool at work, is that fans do not generate cold. Fans simply move air around! This is a key fact of how a desk fan works, and doesn’t make them useless at all, but it does mean you need to use them correctly to benefit from the fan’s cooling effect.
If all you do is turn on the fan and point it somewhere then you’ll move air around the room without it achieving anything. Instead, you need to consider what type of cooling effect is best in your current situation.
The most intuitive option, and the one we all probably think of as the intended use, is to turn the fan on and point it at your face or body from the desk. This method certainly has some merit, but is not the most effective way to keep cool over long periods in an office.
This method provides an instant blast of air which we can feel our skin and perspiration react to. It is that air flow, causing contrast between the air around us and our skin / sweat, that makes us feel cooler. Rather than the air around us being actively made colder, the feeling of being cold is instead prompted in us.
Because of this, a fan pointed at you will only affect you, and only for as long as you sit directly in the breeze. The room will not really be cooling down overall, and as soon as you stand up that difference in perceived temperature will hit you straight away.
For these reasons, we recommend another method.
Here we start to get the pro desk fan strategies! By popping your desk fan up on a windowsill or hanging it behind your monitor pointing to the window you can lower the temperature of the office as a whole. Of course, you won’t have the breeze directly on your face making you feel actively colder, but the ambient temperature will lower to a more comfortable level for everyone!
For this strategy to work you need the window to be open, and the door or window in a colder area of the office / outside to also be open. The fan will draw air from the room and eject it, while air naturally flows in from the other entrance that is cooler. This current is maintained and a draft of cooler air will slowly develop into a lower overall ambient temperature.
This takes advantage of the powerful air flow the fan creates, as well as it’s directionality in the window. If you can’t position your desk fan directly at the people who need it, this is the best option for everyone.
So far, we haven’t touched on rotatable fans. This is mainly because, as we have seen, fans need to be directly and constantly on a person for the cooling effect to work. Or, they need to be constantly flowing to a window. In both of these cases, rotation is pointless.
However, in an office set up it may be worth investing more planning into the fan set up and creating a system where a rotating fan is positioned in front of a cold area, even a bowl of ice you refresh through the day! The fan will be constantly fed cold air and blast it out through the whole room thanks to the rotation.
Unless you can engineer a way for the fan to constantly be in front of cold air, do not be fooled into using rotation! Methods 1 and 2 are best for the types of mini fan you will commonly be setting up in your office. If your office has a backside window that faces away from the sun, however, you can open it and set a fan rotating nearby to pull the colder air through the building.
Once you understand the core mechanics of how fans really keep us cool, the application of a fan far outweighs its size. Small fans can be just as cooling, or more, than a large one simply through being used in the 3 proper methods listed above. Does a tiny fan work? The answer is usually down to how you use it!
Regardless, our mini desk fan is designed to be minimalist and focus on including only what is necessary to save you money, carry weight and noise! The UFN100 mini desk fan can stand on the in-built frame or use it to hang securely via the rubberised feet. In addition, the unit has 4 fan blades working in unison to keep air flow strong constantly. The consistent slicing of the air means less noise, and the minimalist design also decreases the chance of components rattling as the fan blads spin.
Before you invest in an expensive tower fan, it is always worth trying out a USB desk fan with the proper application. The results might surprise you and you can go on working through summer while saving yourself some money and, importantly, desk / office space!
Have you ever noticed that in almost every home there are different areas that seem to be a bit stuffy because they aren’t getting any airflow or breeze? If lack of air circulation, or poor air quality is getting you down it might be time to invest in a small, compact, desktop fan. Desk top fans are lightweight, easy to move and many of them include an adjustable stand to vary the height setting.
Smaller fans and desk fans are designed to be portable so it’s pretty easy to move them from one place to the next. You don’t have to lug around a big and bulky box fan or large stand-up fans that take up space and can be a hassle to get in just the right spot. Just grab the desktop fan and place it where you want it, as long as there is a flat surface to rest it on. Let’s get to the benefits of using small cooling fans inside your home!
1. Improve Air Circulation
When you find yourself sitting at your desk doing research for your latest home improvement project, and the breeze just doesn’t seem to make it your way, you could use a desktop fan. The fan will improve the air circulation and the air quality in your personal space.
2.
Takes Up Less Space
Portable fans are smaller than many other styles and varieties. You can place one on the edge of the table, desk or night stand, and you can even take them outdoors as long as you have a power source to plug it into. Air Innovations Swirl Cool 2-in-1 fan for example measures approximately 15” x 20” and comes with an adjustable stand allowing you to transition between 36-inches to 42-inches in height.
3. Small Fans in the Kitchen
During the hottest months of the year, even if the air conditioner is running at the lowest speed and highest setting, whoever does the cooking in the house is bound to get hot. Having a portable fan that you could stick right on the countertop facing your direction will help immensely in the kitchen. Standing over a sink full of dishes and hot soapy water after a summer cookout can be a drag but if you had one of these little fans it wouldn’t seem like much work at all.
4. Desktop Fans are Versatile
One of the greatest things about desktop fans is that they can be used for so many things. Our previous tip talked about using the fan in the kitchen to stay cool, but the fan can also be used to help dry your next batch of handmade pasta too! Use them to cool off, improve the air quality, dry wet paint, etc.
5.
Small Cooling Fans are Portable
As long as you have an energy source to provide the power for the desktop fans you’re good to go. Although fans, or anything electric for that matter, should only be used indoors small fans are portable for a variety of uses. Air Innovations Swirl Cool Fan includes a removable stand that lets you instantly convert it from a floor model to a desk top fan.
Small fans, placed in strategic locations, are a great way to offer spot cooling and improve the circulation in your home, apartment, condo or office. Problem solved!
If your career or activities have you traveling away from home, you probably know how dry and uncomfortable hotel and motel air can become. A small, portable humidifier is the perfect piece of equipment to help you breathe better and get a good night’s sleep while traveling away from home.