Ceiling Fans | Northside Heating & Air Conditioning (2023)

FAQs

Ceiling Fans | Northside Heating & Air Conditioning? ›

The fan won't actually change the temperature of the room, it will just make it feel warmer. Be sure to turn it off when you aren't in the room to save energy. You only need your fan on the lowest setting to get the benefit. Any higher and you might actually feel colder.

The fan won't actually change the temperature of the room, it will just make it feel warmer. Be sure to turn it off when you aren't in the room to save energy. You only need your fan on the lowest setting to get the benefit. Any higher and you might actually feel colder.

Since your ceiling fans will help circulate all the warm air back through your home, your furnace or heat pump won't have to work as hard and can run less often.

Do Ceiling Fans Help Air Conditioning Efficiency? Yes, as long as your ceiling fan is set to spin in the right direction, it can increase air conditioning efficiency and help reduce how much you spend on your monthly electric bills.

Using a ceiling fan in the winter may seem counterintuitive, but it could save you as much as 15 per cent on your heating bills. Your ceiling fan can help distribute and maintain heat pumped out your furnace. In turn, you can adjust your thermostat to a lower setting, but still keep warm and save on your heating costs.

Although it could run for over a 24 hour period, it is still best to turn off your ceiling fan when you are at work or out of the house for an extended time to give the ceiling fans' motor a rest and reduce electricity use and cost.

In the winter, reverse the motor and operate the ceiling fan at low speed in the clockwise direction. This produces a gentle updraft, which forces warm air near the ceiling down into the occupied space.

Do Fans Use a Lot of Electricity? Running a fan takes a lot less electricity than running an air conditioner; ceiling fans average at about 15-90 watts of energy used, and tower fans use about 100 watts.

By some estimations, experts report that homeowners can save as much as 15 percent on heating costs when they run ceiling fans during the winter. Due to the improved distribution of heat in the room, thermostats can be turned down. When you do that, your heater runs less often, consuming less energy.

Where do you put a fan to heat a room? ›

You should place outward-facing fans on the warmer side of your home to blow the hot air out and inward-facing fans on the cooler side to draw cool air in, says Barry Jacobs, vice president of product development at Comfort Zone, a home environment product company.

However, fan placement matters. Place your fan so that it faces the opposite wall from where most of the activity takes place in your space. This approach will drive the air to the surface, where it will bounce off, mingling with the rest of the air and cooling the space.

Fans are cheaper to run than air conditioners, and can be used in place of air conditioners or along with them to save money. If you have a ceiling fan, run it at the same time as the AC.

Your HVAC system can help maintain healthy air in your home, but a ceiling fan can lend a hand with indoor air quality, too. Ceiling fans can limit humidity, which prevents mold, and improve comfort and energy efficiency. You don't want your home to be too dry, so a balanced humidity level is best.

Even if your ductwork is well insulated, it can only do so much to fight off those temperature levels. Running the fan when the air conditioner isn't on can actually result in excessive heat getting pulled out of the attic and into the main part of the house.

During the warmer months, your ceiling fan spins counterclockwise to move cool air down towards people in the room. In the winter, however, you can reverse your ceiling fan so it spins clockwise (there's a small switch on the fan's housing) so it creates an upward draft and sends warm air throughout the room.

Ceiling fans should be installed, or mounted, in the middle of the room and at least 7 feet above the floor and 18 inches from the walls. If ceiling height allows, install the fan 8 - 9 feet above the floor for optimal airflow.

Use a bucket of ice

According to the GHI, placing a bucket of ice in front of a fan as a homemade AC unit is just as effective. 'As the air passes over the ice it will be chilled and will circulate refreshingly cold air around the room,' they explain.

Circulating air from a fan can dry out your mouth, nose, and throat. This could lead to an overproduction of mucus, which may cause headaches, a stuffy nose, sore throat, or even snoring. While a fan won't make you sick, it may worsen symptoms if you're already under the weather.

As long as your fan is clean, sleeping with it on generally does not cause serious health problems. But fans circulate air that may dry your nose and throat and trigger other uncomfortable symptoms. Keeping your home clean and free of dust is one of many ways to help prevent those issues.

What is the cheapest way to heat your house? ›

Natural gas is likely to prove the cheapest way to heat a home if you have this heating option available to you where you live. Although prices have risen, natural gas is the least costly form of space heating. This is followed by electricity, propane, and heating oil, from the next cheapest to the most expensive.

The ceiling fan direction in summer should be counterclockwise to help create a downdraft, which creates that direct, cooling breeze. Your fan direction in winter needs to be clockwise to create an updraft and circulate warm air around the room.

Change Your Ceiling Fan Direction

If your high-ceiling room has a ceiling fan, you should change the direction of its rotation to warm up the room. The best ceiling fan direction for winter is a clockwise motion at a slow speed. This redistributes the air by pulling the cool air up and pushing the warm air down.

One big thing you may be overlooking when you turn on a fan is its placement. To ensure optimal cooling with a window fan, the US Department of Energy suggests putting it in a window where the wind is blowing away from the house. This helps pull the hot air out of your home.

It's easy for us to conclude that ceiling fans help save electricity. After all, they use less energy than air conditioners and help better circulate cool air coming out of your air conditioner.

These effects all combine to help cool you down even if the room temperature remains high. If a space is actually around 80 degrees Fahrenheit, a ceiling fan can help it to feel closer to 76 degrees. Though ceiling fans do not physically cool air, they still help your AC to do its job of keeping you comfortable.

The heat will tend to rise immediately after leaving the coil, so a fan will disperse it more evenly throughout the room. (In fact, any space heater that I've ever owned had an integral fan.) Personally, I would put the fan behind the heater to avoid it being damaged by the heat.

Why not to use AC and fan together? ›

It may seem redundant to run both a fan and the AC together. However, the two work in different ways to cool down your home. A fan cannot provide the cold air that an air conditioner does. Just like an A/C cannot provide the circulation of a fan.

Adding ceiling fans to rooms like bedrooms, the living room, or family room will add value to your home immediately.

On average, ceiling fans can help save four to eight percent on cooling costs when combined with an air conditioner. If you live in a climate where you can use fans instead of air conditioning on marginally hot days, then ceiling fans could be a very worthwhile investment.

Ceiling Fan Direction in Summer – Forward / Counter Clockwise. In the summer, cool air collects near the floor, while hot air rises to the ceiling. The blades of a ceiling fan push air down, which forces the cool air near the floor to move outward and stir the air at the edges of the room.

Setting Your HVAC Fan to “ON”

Pros to Running Fan on Air Conditioner Continuously: Keeping the fan on creates a more even distribution of heating and cooling, circulating the air if you have cold or hot spots in your house, like a bedroom above a garage.

Ceiling fans are considered the most effective of these types of fans, because they effectively circulate the air in a room to create a draft throughout the room. Ceiling fans can help improve comfort year round. In the summer, operate the ceiling fan in a counterclockwise direction.

Do Ceiling Fans Help Air Conditioning Efficiency? Yes, as long as your ceiling fan is set to spin in the right direction, it can increase air conditioning efficiency and help reduce how much you spend on your monthly electric bills.

Air vents should be open to prevent damage

Increased air pressure can create cracks and holes in the ductwork. It can also cause your furnace's heat exchanger to crack. Leave all air vents open to prevent extensive damage to your home's heating system this winter.

That's right, and it's very simple to do! All you have to do is switch around the direction of your fan. Simply switching the direction of your fan will actually push the warm air down from the ceiling, keeping your room warm (and saving you money on that energy bill).

"The way a fan keeps you cool is that it either blows cold air across your skin so you lose heat via a process called convection and it helps sweat evaporate faster," Dr Jay said.

Does putting ice behind a fan work? ›

Use a bucket of ice

'As the air passes over the ice it will be chilled and will circulate refreshingly cold air around the room,' they explain.

'If you're looking for relief from the heat, it's best to put ice in front of a fan, not behind it,' he says. 'When this happens, the cold air from outside will enter through the open window, causing air pressure that pushes hot air out of your house naturally.

Choosing the Appropriate Mounting System

Ceiling fans should be installed, or mounted, in the middle of the room and at least 7 feet above the floor and 18 inches from the walls. If ceiling height allows, install the fan 8 - 9 feet above the floor for optimal airflow.

Leaving a ceiling fan on all the time, even when no one is in the room, can also cause an increase in your electric bill. To help with this, only use lights when you need them and make sure they are off before leaving the room.

When indoor air temperatures are hotter than about 95 °F: Fan use may cause your body to gain heat instead of lose it. On very hot, humid days, sweat evaporates off the skin slower than normal, and fans make it even more difficult for the body to lose heat by sweating.

In the winter, ceiling fans on the winter mode will rotate clockwise. The mode is usually used at a low speed in order to pull cool air up. The clockwise rotation pushes the warm air that has naturally risen back down. Through this, you keep the hot air down instead of losing it up near the ceiling.

In temperate climates, or during moderately hot weather, ceiling fans may allow you to avoid using your air conditioner altogether. Install a fan in each room that needs to be cooled during hot weather. Ceiling fans are only appropriate in rooms with ceilings at least eight feet high.