How Using A Ceiling Fan Together With Your Air Conditioner Can Save You Money

Construction & Contractors Blog

Have you been treating your ceiling fan as redundant now that you own an air conditioner? This need not be the case. If you manage your ceiling fan and air conditioner wisely, you can save cooling costs and use less energy by running both simultaneously.

Using Air Conditioners And Ceiling Fans Together Efficiently

While air conditioners function by cooling the temperature in a room, ceiling fans work by propelling air around a room, creating a breeze effect. Ceiling fans generate a chill factor; much like a breeze on a hot day, the moving air across your perspiring skin cools you down.

With your ceiling fan running, you can increase the thermostat temperature on your air conditioner by 1.8 degrees. Even though, after a time, the room temperature may warm (by 1.8 degrees), you should not feel hotter than previously due to the breeze effect of the ceiling fan. This will save money because, although the fan does use electricity, it uses less energy than your air conditioner. Thus, the extra cost of the fan will be minimal and this slight cost will be more than offset by the energy savings from your air conditioner.

Needless to say, if you run a ceiling fan in conjunction with an air conditioner without increasing the thermostat temperature, you will be using more energy. Also, remember that as ceiling fans do not actually cool a room—rather they cool people within rooms by creating a breeze—they should be switched off in empty rooms.

The Rotation Of Your Ceiling Fan Blades

Most ceiling fans include a switch to adjust the rotation of the blades to either clockwise or counterclockwise. In order to cool a room in summer, they generally need to run counter clockwise, thus blowing air downwards. On the other hand, fan blades rotating clockwise draw air upwards and then down the sides of the room. Hot air climbs and in winter this effectively combines warm air near the ceiling with cooler air from else where in the room.

Test your ceiling fan by standing underneath. If you feel air blowing downwards towards you, this suggests the blades are rotating counterclockwise: the summer setting.

Using a ceiling fan in conjunction with your air conditioner can save money--so long as you increase the thermostat temperature on you air conditioner to compensate for the minimal cost of running a ceiling fan. What's more, you will feel a breezy open effect even though all windows and doors are closed. That can only be a bonus.

For more information, contact a company like Lower Mountains Air Conditioning.

9 January 2015