When you're considering your home's temperature, ceiling fans may not be the first items that come to mind. But by paying attention to your ceiling fan and using it effectively, you can actually gain significant savings on your utility bills. Let's take a look at how to properly set up your ceiling fans for seasonal use, how fans help circulate air and how to get the best efficiency out of your entire system.
Ceiling Fans: Seasonal Settings
One feature many people are unaware of in their ceiling fan is the ability to change the direction the blades turn. Most ceiling fans are set to turn counterclockwise in the summer, creating a cooling breeze underneath them that makes the air feel much cooler than it actually may be. But most ceiling fans also have a switch on the body of the fan that changes the direction in the winter to clockwise. Instead of blowing air down, the fan pulls it up and moves the warmer air near the ceiling down the walls to the floor, making the room warmer without feeling drafty.
How Ceiling Fans Help Circulate Air
The angle of the blades in your ceiling fan either pushes air down or pulls it up from the area underneath it. As the air strikes either the ceiling or floor, it spreads out towards the walls, where it continues to circulate the air throughout the room. Because of this feature, it's able to circulate all the air in the room instead of on a much smaller scale, as most house fans do.
How to Best Use Ceiling Fans Efficiently With Your A/C Unit
To get the best efficiency out of your A/C or heating units, you'll want to make sure the fan is rotating in the appropriate direction for the season. As the days cool off in fall and sitting underneath the fan becomes too chilly, reverse the direction the blades turn in to gain some amount of heat from the ceiling. By keeping the air in motion and regulating the temperature, it's easier to keep your system from cycling more than is necessary.
Knowing how to use your ceiling fan to increase your home's efficiency helps you save money, but only if you put this knowledge into practice. If you have questions, please contact us for more details.