How is this even possible? Your air conditioner and ceiling fan are both in full blast and yet you are still drenched in sweat!
Did you know that one surprising solution lies in the direction of your ceiling fan? Wait. Can the ceiling fan direction with air conditioning really affect comfort? Can a fan impact a complex, sophisticated system such as air conditioning? And how can changing the fan direction as the weather changes also help you save money?
This article will walk you through how to adjust the direction of your ceiling fan to better work with your air conditioning, making your space more comfortable and energy-efficient.
How Does the Direction of Ceiling Fan Improve AC Comfort
Modifying your ceiling fan direction that matches the weather temperature can affect comfort in three major ways:
- The ceiling fan promotes air movement and helps circulates the cool air the AC produces or the warm air the heating system generates.
- Setting your ceiling fan counterclockwise during warm seasons creates a wind chill effect boosting AC comfort.
- Changing the fan direction to clockwise in colder climates disperses warm air to make the room cozy and comfortable.
Simply turning on the ceiling fan as your air conditioner runs already enhances comfort as it promotes air movement and helps circulate the cool air the AC produces. The fine combination of ceiling fan and air conditioner also lets you increase the thermostat temperature, using less energy. See, you can save up to 8% on your air conditioner’s energy consumption without sacrificing too much comfort!
But a simple trick of switching your ceiling fan direction can greatly boost the comfort your air conditioning provides.
During warm climates like spring and summer, make your fan go counterclockwise to generate a “wind chill” effect. It is the cooling reaction of your exposed skin as wind or cold air moves past you. This particular air movement causes your sweat to evaporate faster, lowering your body temperature.
Meanwhile, during fall or winter, it is crucial to switch your ceiling fan direction clockwise. Warm air being lighter naturally stays near the ceiling, but by moving clockwise, it will distribute the warm air overhead throughout the entire room. What’s more, the ceiling fan will pull up the cold air from the air making the general temperature of the room warmer.
How Ceiling Fans Work
While the air conditioner is still the undefeated king in indoor comfort, the classic fan is not a pushover either.
Strong Points of Ceiling Fans:
- Comes in wide varieties depending on design and functionality
- Installed in the middle of the house and can reach wider spaces
- Use less energy compared to other cooling solutions
- It can last many years with proper care
- Low maintenance
- Stylish designs can match your home’s interior
- Safe from the reach of children and pets
A fan is an electrical-powered machine that creates a current or flow of air with its rotating parts such as blades or vanes. There is a wide variety of fans in the market depending on their design and functionality such as table or desk fans, tower fans, pedestal fans, exhaust fans, industrial fans, wall-mounted fans, and so forth.
The ceiling fan is one of the most popular kinds of fans in American homes. In the early 1800s, the ceiling fan is powered by a stream of running water. But later in that era, electric fans were developed so the first electric ceiling fan has been installed in indoor spaces.
The popularity of the ceiling fan is mainly due to its placement in the middle of a house so that it can reach a considerably wider space than most fans. Standard sizes of ceiling fans come between 42 to 48 inches and it can work well in rooms the size of 75 to 175 square feet!
Despite their tremendous efficiency, ceiling fans use significantly lesser energy than other cooling solutions. In a day, a ceiling fan uses up only 75 to 100 watts of electricity. To make sense of it in dollars, if you run a 100-watt fan for 24 hours at full speed, it will only cost you $0.32 per day!
Another great advantage of ceiling fans is that they can last for 10 or more years with very little maintenance. Ceiling fans can also come in various stylish designs that can match your home’s interior.
Families with children and pets prefer ceiling fans over other types of fan as it is less likely to be reached. Because of its high placement in the house, there are fewer accidents involving ceiling fans.
How Ceiling Fans and Air Conditioning Interact
Now that we’ve had a run-through of the unique benefits of ceiling fans, let us now explore how ceiling fans and air conditioners interact with one another.
Ceiling fans and air conditioning have the same intent: To improve your comfort indoors, whether in a home or office space by impacting the temperature
You may wonder, though, “If ceiling fans are so great, why doesn’t everybody switch to using them instead of an air conditioner?”
True, air conditioners are obviously higher in the upfront price of the unit, installation cost, maintenance and repair, and most importantly, energy consumption. But the answer lies in the singular limitation of a ceiling fan.
A ceiling fan cannot cool the space or lower the temperature in a room just like an air conditioner can. Its main and only function is to push the air in a certain direction so the existing air can move around or circulate. As the moving air passes over your skin, your sweat evaporates, giving you a sense of coolness.
Meanwhile, the air conditioner specializes in removing the heat from the air in your home by running it through a set of cold coils. This process separates the heat and excess moisture from the air, making the return air chiller than it enters the AC.
So in reality, the ceiling fan alone cannot replace the job of an air conditioner in giving you the ideal cool comfort you look for when the weather is blazing. Instead, using the ceiling fan WITH your AC can elevate your comfort in an air-conditioned room by pushing the cold processed air around so the temperature is more distributed and even.
There is a catch, though. It is important to switch the direction of the ceiling fan according to the weather.
“Say what?” you might ask. How does changing which way the blades of your fan go affect comfort? And how can turning on another home appliance powered by electricity supposed to help me save on energy?
Before we address these vital questions, let’s talk about the one big elephant-in-the-room kind of question.
How to Identify Your Current Ceiling Fan Direction
During the entire time you are reading this article, there is no way you are not yet convinced that using your ceiling fan with your air conditioning is a great idea. Yet you are afraid to ask this question that you think might be too dumb: How do I know what is the direction of my ceiling fan right now?
Don’t be embarrassed as it is indeed a common question and we are happy to give you a direct and simple answer.
No, you don’t need a special equipment to answer this question. Just turn on your ceiling fan and look up at it.
If the blades are going to the right as if it moves like the hands of a clock, then it is moving clockwise. Clockwise is for cold weather conditions.
If the blades are going to the left, opposite the clock’s hands, then it is going counterclockwise. You switch your ceiling fan to counterclockwise in the summer to keep you cool.
Ceiling fan going to the right = clockwise = for winter
Ceiling fan going to the left = counterclockwise = for summer
That easy.
Perks of Optimizing the Use of Ceiling Fan with Your Air Conditioning
Adjusting the direction of your ceiling fan to work with your air conditioning is a simple step that can bring significant benefits in comfort and energy efficiency. Let’s break it down how this statement can be true.
You see, as the ceiling fan goes counterclockwise, the air circulates in a downdraft direction, pushing the cold air into the room and onto your warm skin. Your sweat, which makes you unbearably uncomfortable and icky will evaporate swiftly. The breeze passing over you is perceived by your body as colder, hence the name “wind chill effect.”
Setting your ceiling fan direction during warm seasons can help your air conditioning to a great extent as the cold air produced by your AC will be readily dispersed throughout the home. This can allow you to increase the temperature in the thermostat setting which can mean saving a few bucks every day. With the constant help from the ceiling fan, you can even extend the life of your air conditioner by not wearing it out too much!
On the other hand, as winter arrives, it is still highly recommended to turn on the ceiling fan as it can help you feel more comfortable and even save energy. While It may be weird at first to think that turning on another electrically-powered appliance can help you save money, or a fan can improve your feeling of warmth, please hear us out first.
If you turn on your ceiling fan and switch it to moving clockwise it will improve your heating system’s performance. How? By initiating an updraft movement of air, the warm air which occupies the upper portion of the room near the ceiling (because warm air is lighter, of course) will be pushed to the sides of the wall and circulated around the room.
This way your furnace will not have to work twice as hard to make you feel warm and cozy indoors. You may even have the chance to lower the temperature setting of your heater, lowering your heating costs.
Try it out today with your ceiling fan and experience the difference yourself.