Heating and Cooling the House Using Ceiling Fans
I love ceiling fans. They let me move air around quietly with a minimum of dust. They don’t get in the way since they’re attached to the ceiling rather than taking up precious floor or counter-top space. They don’t have to be stored during the off-season, taking up valuable space. They don’t have to be moved in and out of window frames on a regular basis. Not much goes wrong with a properly hung, quality ceiling fan. They can last for decades.
Most importantly, they work in the winter as well as the summer.
My mother installed ceiling fans in her house but, mysteriously, she installed them off to one side, rather than replace the central ceiling fixture. She cannot explain why they did this, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. The result is that the ceiling fan does not move the air around in the entire room. That one corner gets good air movement while the rest of the room swelters.
Don’t do this. Replace your central ceiling fixture with a ceiling fan. They come with light kits so you won’t lose the light fixture. Properly wired, you can still use the wall light switch. They come with instructions so that a reasonably handy guy can install them. Otherwise, your electrician will know what to do.
The other issue you may face is the ceiling height. Ceiling fans, especially those with light kits, need room to operate. Even a low-profile fan (with light kit) may need a foot or more of space to hang in. We have 7-foot, six-inch ceilings so this has been a consideration in our household. We chose the flush-mount option, keeping the blades of the fan close to the ceiling and, other than the dining room table fixture, chose the flattest light kits.
Other Considerations
A few last pointers on choosing and installing ceiling fans before we get to why I use mine year-round:
* Get the biggest blades that will fit in your space. Bigger blades move more air.
* Install your fan using a special fan mounting box. Fans are heavy and you will use them a lot so make sure the fan won’t come crashing down.
* Don’t buy the cheapest ones. Buy the best fans you can afford, looking for boxes that say lifetime guarantees on the motor. We’ve done well with Home Depot’s Hunter brand. They still run great after a decade and a half.
Fans do require some maintenance. The blades should be dusted monthly. Sometimes the pull-switch has to be replaced. This is the single most likely part to fail and is the reason every place that sells ceiling fans also sells replacement switches. They are not hard to replace and much, much cheaper than replacing the fan. There are also kits to level out wobbly fans, or you can tape a quarter or two to the offending blade.
How to Use Ceiling Fans
So once you have your fans in place, how do you use them?
First, decide on the blade setting. Fans are bi-directional. They can be set to spin so the blades push the air down towards the floor, making the room feel cooler. Or, with the flip of a switch, the blades can spin so they push air toward the ceiling, displacing the warmer air and bringing it back down around to make the room feel warmer. This lets me use my fans year-round.
Once it gets warm and stays that way, I set all my fans to blow down. Since my fans have several speeds, I can set for a gentle breeze that takes the edge of the heat without blowing papers around. As it gets hotter, I increase the speed until newspapers rattle in the gale. This lets me set the air-conditioner to 81 degrees during the day since the fans move enough air to make it bearable. Moreover, while I have to air-condition my entire house, I don’t have to run the fans continuously. They only run when someone is in the room. The rest of the time, the fan stays off. Turned-off fans don’t use electricity.
Ceiling fans are at their best at night, helping to keep the bedrooms cool enough to sleep in. They can be used with the air-conditioner, meaning you don’t have to set it as low. They also work great when using window-fans to draw in cool night air as I discussed last week. The air movements of the two fan systems don’t conflict. However, while they don’t get in the way of the window-fans exchanging the air in the whole house, they don’t improve that process either so turn the fans off at night in empty rooms.
We also use our ceiling fans in the winter. This is more subtle as you definitely don’t want to feel a draft when it’s cold. I change the switch on the fans so the blades blow the air upwards. This encourages the warmer air that has collected there (since heat rises) to circulate down into the room. The key is to only use the lowest fan setting. A higher setting, in my experience, defeats the purpose as you don’t want to feel the air moving around. Moving air in the winter equals a draft, making you shiver and turn up the thermostat.
During transitional seasons, I may adjust the up or down action of the fan blades on a near-daily basis. To make sure I can remember which is which, I labeled the switch setting with summer (˅ or ↓) and winter (˄ or ↑). The fan companies don’t provide this helpful information although they certainly should. Make sure you change the switch setting only when the fan is off. That way the motor won’t have to forcibly change gears to spin in the opposite direction.
Your ceiling fans can save you both heating and cooling dollars but only when used properly. They shouldn’t run in empty rooms. If you or a family member are not using a space, then turn off the fans. Their value lies in moderating the temperature where you are, so you don’t have to pay to air-condition or heat your entire, empty house.
This is the second part of our series on using fans to heat and cool your home. The first part can be found here.
Teresa discusses the window dance and other methods to heat and cool your house economically in Fed, Safe, and Sheltered which you can read about here.