Contrary to popular belief, ceiling fans aren’t meant to cool your space. Fans are actually meant to enhance the temperature of your rooms, whether warm or cool. Ceiling fans keep air moving, having different effects depending on the seasons and how you use them.
Do ceiling fans help air conditioning and heating systems? Yes, if you know how to correctly use them.
In the summer months, ceiling fans help your air conditioning system by reducing the cooling load in your home. As the blades of the fan rotate counterclockwise, they move air downward toward the spaces where we sit, sleep, and live.
This creates a wind chill effect and moves air across your skin. The breeze evaporates moisture from your skin which makes you feel warmer. By doing so, your ceiling fan keeps bodies cooler, so you are able to stay comfortable and even set your thermostat a few degrees higher. Therefore, your AC unit gets a break.
In the winter, use a ceiling fan in combination with your heating and air system to keep your home more comfortable. Ceiling fans work to evenly distribute air in the room. They reduce the amount of heat needed by helping you benefit from the warm air already produced by your heating system.
The fan’s blades draw warm air up toward your ceiling, and the rotating motion pushes this air out toward the edges of the room before circulating back to the ground. With air warmer pooling naturally at the top of a room, this air distribution helps the whole space feel warmer by pushing it back down to reach your body.
You benefit with more of the warmth produced by your heating system. This helps you feel comfortable even if you set the thermostat back a few degrees.
Ceiling fans shouldn’t be used in the same direction in the winter as they work in the summer. Otherwise, you’ll get the undesirable windchill effect indoors when you’re trying to stay warm.
Adjust ceiling fan blade direction for each season to create the desired warming or cooling effect. Fans have a switch, typically located on the base, to adjust the direction of blade rotation. It is important you select the correct direction for each season to achieve the desired effect.
Do ceiling fans help air conditioning? Only if they rotate in the correct direction. In the summer, your ceiling fan blades are set to rotate counterclockwise; in the winter, the blades should be set to rotate clockwise. Changing the rotation of your ceiling fan blades is simple, as most models are equipped with a switch on the unit to switch the direction.
