General tips re room cooling in summer...

Solar gain from direct sunshine is your enemy
o Solar gain can add 5-10oC to a outdoor (shade) air temperature
o Solar gain downstairs can elevate temps markedly upstairs

Minimise solar gain...
o Keep curtains/blinds closed on windows facing the sun
---- directly reflect as much heat back out as possible
o Keep windows closed on windows facing the sun
---- avoid drawing in air heated near brickwork, fascia etc
---- avoid drawing in air heated in the "curtain-to-window" gap

Maximise natural convection...
o Heat rises - so can be used to draw cool air in as hot goes out
---- sash windows -- gap at top & bottom allows hot out, cool in
---- 2 floors -- open windows downstairs & upstairs
o Open windows opposite to those exposed to solar gain
---- sunset gives a marked drop in air temperatures
---- East has sunlight in the a.m., but not for hours by sunset
-------- ideally open windows on a shaded East side downstairs
---- West has sunlight in the p.m. right through to sunset
-------- ideally open windows on the sunset West side upstairs

Generally it can take 22:00-02:00hrs to see a real drop in air temps,
and building fabric itself will solar gain over several days unfortunately.


Cooling systems...
o UK has high humidity even in summer
---- so evaporative coolers don't work so well here as say Arizona
o UK has high solar gain in summer re bricks/windows
---- bricks can be helped by cavity insulation (if you have a cavity :-)
---- windows benefit from both window blinds & curtains combined
o UK is trying HVAC more often, especially in loft conversions
---- key thing is heat rises + solar gain heats
---- both need to be minimised to avoid HVAC struggling away

Generally room fans make a big difference, particularly when combined
with careful window opening to use natural convection & cool night air.


As for which room fan is quieter, you'd actually have to try them.
Honeywell make very good quality fans (commonly radial hence tower),
and may be quieter - certainly of higher quality than the generic desk fans.

Windows roller blinds up to 8ft, perhaps longer, are easy on Ebay, 29-35ukp.
They are effective for stopping room contents (& curtains) fading, and in
particular stopping UV degradation of materials - especially curtain
linings.

Working on the floor may sound odd, but it's a lot cooler down there :-)
A cool drink (fridge to cool drink cheaper than running a chiller) and a
cool shower/bath do plenty to reduce your temperature.

For PCs, HDs below max op temp (and verify individually because most utils
only report one HD temp if multipled fitted, not always the hottest one).

Small 7" fans of major names (Salton, Pifco etc) can be extremely quiet
on the lowest setting - but ideal in size for placement next to a computer.
--
DB.