Placing a bowl of salty water by the window in winter : the trick as effective as aluminum foil in summer

The first time I saw a bowl of salty water sitting quietly on a window sill in the middle of January, I honestly thought someone had forgotten to soak chickpeas. Outside, the sky was the color of an old T‑shirt, the radiators were hissing, and yet the room still felt… clammy. The kind of cold that creeps into the bones and refuses to leave. The woman who lived there, a retired nurse with a practical streak, shrugged: “It drinks the damp,” she said, nodding toward the bowl. The glass pane behind it was almost dry, while the rest of the building’s windows glittered with condensation.

The trick looked so simple it felt suspicious.

And that’s precisely why it sticks in your mind.

Why winter windows feel colder than the temperature says

Walk up to a window on a frosty morning and you can almost hear the room change. The air is warm near the radiator, but right by the glass, the temperature drops like a stone. Your breath fogs the pane, tiny droplets form instantly, and within minutes the sill is damp. The thermometer might say 20°C, yet your fingers tell another story.

This strange gap between what the numbers show and what your body feels is where the salty water trick comes in.

Think about a typical winter evening. The heating is on, you’re cooking pasta, maybe drying laundry on a rack. The air fills with invisible moisture. That warm, humid air meets the cold glass and has nowhere to go, so it clings. Water runs down the pane, collects on the frame, and quietly feeds mold in the corners you don’t dare inspect too closely.

One family in a small flat in Leeds tracked their humidity over a week with a cheap hygrometer. On nights when they boiled potatoes and took showers back-to-back, indoor humidity shot above 70%, and the windows literally dripped. After placing three bowls of salty water along the coldest windows, the reading dropped by around 8–10% on the dampest days. Not magic. Not a miracle. Just less clamminess.

To understand the link with the famous summer aluminum foil trick, you need to picture the window as a battlefield. In July, the fight is against radiant heat blasting through the glass, so people tape foil to reflect the sun away. In January, the fight is quieter but just as real: warm humid air hitting a cold surface, turning into water and sucking heat from the room. That’s what makes the glass feel icy and the air beside it so uncomfortable.

Salty water doesn’t “warm” the window like a heater. What it does is help control the amount of moisture hanging around that cold surface. Less condensation means fewer droplets drawing heat from the glass and less of that sneaky chill right where you sit, work, or sleep. It’s a tiny, passive ally in the bigger war against winter discomfort.

The salty bowl trick: how it works and how to do it right

Here’s the gesture people quietly rediscover every winter: a simple bowl, a generous handful of salt, and a spot right by the window. The principle is almost childishly straightforward. Salt is hygroscopic; it attracts and holds onto water molecules from the air. Dissolved in water, it creates a sort of “thirsty” solution that keeps drawing in moisture.

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Place the bowl near the coldest pane, as close as possible *without touching the glass*. Over a few hours, especially at night when the temperature drops, the air just above the sill gets slightly drier. That small change can mean fewer droplets on the window, less trickling onto the frame, and a window area that doesn’t feel quite as icy when you walk past.

Plenty of people try this once, expect a miracle, then declare it useless. This is where the human part comes in. We’re tired, cold, and energy bills are eating the budget. We want one bowl to solve a whole flat’s problems. Reality is more modest. A bowl of salty water works on a very local scale. One window. One damp corner. One drafty alcove.

Let’s be honest: nobody really does this every single day. The trick is to pick your battles. Target the worst windows: the bedroom where you wake up to wet frames, the kitchen pane behind the sink, the small bathroom window that always blackens at the edges. Use several medium bowls instead of one tiny ramekin. And yes, you’ll need to refresh the solution when the salt is fully dissolved and the water starts looking cloudy and tired.

“Think of salty water as a budget dehumidifier,” explains a building maintenance technician I spoke to. “It won’t transform a soggy basement, but near a cold window it can genuinely reduce that sticky, unpleasant feel in the air. It’s low-tech, but not nonsense.”

• Use coarse salt (rock or sea salt) for slower, more sustained absorption.
• Choose a wide, shallow bowl to expose more surface to the air.
• Place a saucer or tray underneath if your sill is wooden or painted.
• Keep bowls out of reach of children and pets; salty water is not for drinking.
• Refresh the solution every few days when the salt is fully dissolved or crusty.

Aluminum foil in summer, salty water in winter: two sides of the same instinct

There’s something strangely comforting about these low-tech tricks. Taping aluminum foil to windows in summer to bounce the heat back out. Lining the inside edges of curtains with emergency blankets. Then, a few months later, placing bowls of salty water by the same panes to catch winter’s damp breath. It’s the same instinct: we’re trying to negotiate with our windows.

On one level, these gestures are about physics — light, heat, humidity. On another, they’re about taking back a bit of control in homes that aren’t perfectly insulated, in rentals where you can’t change the frames, in rooms where the double glazing is still a distant dream. When you leave a bowl of salty water by the window at night, you’re not just drying the air a little. You’re sending yourself the message that you’re allowed to tweak, adapt, experiment.

Key point	Detail	Value for the reader
Salty water reduces local humidity	Salt solution absorbs moisture around cold glass	Less condensation, fewer cold, damp window areas
Placement matters more than quantity	Bowls work best near the coldest, most humid windows	Targeted use for better comfort without gadgets
Pairs well with other low-tech tricks	Complements aluminum foil in summer and ventilating habits	Simple toolkit for year-round, low-cost home comfort

FAQ:

• Question 1How much salt should I put in the bowl for it to be effective?
• Question 2Does salty water really warm up the room, or just reduce dampness?
• Question 3How often should I change the salty water during winter?
• Question 4Can I use this trick alongside a dehumidifier or is it redundant?
• Question 5Is it better than putting aluminum foil on the windows in winter?