The UK has been hit with a summer heatwave this week.
Soaring temperatures across the country have prompted the Met Office to issue a rare amber heat warning. The alert is in force from Sunday, July 17 at 1am to Tuesday, July 19 at 11.59pm
In Liverpool, temperatures are set to rise on Sunday to 26C. Monday will bring 28C heat while on Tuesday temperatures will peak at 31C. Many people will be thinking of ways to cope with the sweltering conditions.
READ MORE: How much it costs to run an electric fan all night as heatwave hits UK
But there is one little known trick to keeping your house cool which needs only a 68p roll of tin foil or kitchen foil - such as that sold in Asda as well as other supermarkets like Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Aldi - as Leeds Live reports.
People desperately trying to keep cool have urged others to roll out kitchen foil and spread it in your windows, especially any windows that gets direct sunlight. Normally, when direct sunlight shines through a window, it magnifies the heat of the sun and makes your house even warmer - this is how greenhouses work to keep plants warm inside.
But foil works by reflecting the sun off the window, sending it back outside instead. Other options include keeping your window open but your curtains drawn, blocking direct sunlight from entering. But this will still warm your room slightly through the curtains, whereas foil reflects the sun more.
You may remember foil reflecting heat works in winter too, after people were advised to hang strips of tin foil behind radiators to help them reflect their heat into the room.
Is hanging tin foil in windows in a heatwave safe?
The other advantages of tin foil or 'aluminium foil' are that it's non toxic and it doesn't melt until it hits 660C, so even in this 'danger to life' heatwave, it's going to manage perfectly fine with hundreds of degrees to spare and you don't have to worry about foil melting in the sun.
Ways to keep your house cool in a heatwave
Other tips to keep a house cool in a heatwave include: Opening windows and doors, and keeping doors open to allow air to circulate through the house.
You can also place bowls of water through the house in different rooms that will evaporate into the air to help keep the air temperature cool. House plants also keep a home cooler.
They act as natural air conditioners, regulating the temperature of a room by generating moisture in to the air in a process called transpiration.
You can also turn off appliances that aren't being used. Every appliance, such as an oven, toaster, laptop or a PlayStation, could generate small amounts of heat on standby that all contribute to the general heat level of a house.
The same goes when charging items like your phone, the small amount of heat generated could help warm a room slightly so it's best to charge at night.
Energy saving LED lightbulbs also will help cool your house. Regular lightbulbs such as Halogen produce an enormous amount of heat as they light a room and several Halogen lights or spotlights can warm a room up quickly at night.
Try swapping to energy saving LEDs and keep lights off as much as possible - which will also save you money.
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