13 best fans to cool your home down this summer and help you sleep through (hopeful) tropical temps

The best fans will make dealing with this summer’s soaring temperatures a breeze, circulating cool air around your whole room in an instant and making hot nights (and days spent working from home) endlessly more comfortable.

News of an incoming heatwaves doesn’t just mean that it’s time to get clued up on the best swimwear brands and stock up on melamine plates and face suncream. In a country with a huge lack of air conditioning, it also means whacking out your powerful fan to aid in airflow and keep your living room from becoming an actual sauna.

Having a smart fan by your side through the ups (drinking hard seltzers from the comfort of your sun lounger) and the downs (the chafing, the sweating, the humid hair styles and the sleep struggles) is paramount.

But don’t kip on your purchase. If last year’s shopping trends are anything to go by, the best fans will be all sold out by the time the hot weather actually hits, so you’d be doing yourself a favour by investing in a portable air conditioner ahead of time.

How to find the best fan for you? Think about your requirements, first and foremost. Do you want a tabletop desk fan? A handheld fan? A standing fan or a pedestal fan? Think about the size of your room to help you choose: small rooms or office spaces will only need a desk fan to keep cool, while larger spaces might need something more powerful and versatile.

It’s also worth noting that tower fans and bladeless fans don’t pose a risk to small hands like larger fan heads do, so if you have children, make a beeline for these designs.

Finally, think about how your fan is going to fare at night. More on that below.

What is the best fan for bedroom?

Consider nighttime in your hunt for a good fan – namely, whether or not your fan is low noise. If you’re buying a fan for your bedroom, choose specs with a noise level of around 50-55db, which you’ll absolutely be able to sleep through.

Fans with DC motors are the quietest (fans either have AC (alternating current) or DV (direct current) motors), and they’re also much more energy efficient.

Some fans in our edit below come with “night mode”, and others can be controlled via a timer – or turned on and off with a remote control from the comfort of your bed.

Which brand of fan is the best? Here’s our pick at a glance:

• Best quiet fan for sleeping: John Lewis & Partners Tower Fan, £50, John Lewis
• Best tower fan: Dimplex Mont Blanc Cooling Fan, £70, Argos
• Best pedestal fan: Pedestal Fan, £90, John Lewis
• Best desk fan: Dyson Pure Cool Me Personal Purifier Fan, £379, Amazon
• Best fan for large rooms: Pro Breeze 20″ Chrome Gym Floor Fan, £79.99, Amazon
• Best fan for style: Swan Red Retro Desk Fan, £26.99, Amazon

For more from Glamour UK Commerce Editor Sophie Cockett, follow her on Instagram @sophiecockettx.