Ceiling Fans in Small Rooms

[Marta Pia]

Hello,

I'd love some advice regarding ceiling fans. I am buying a new house which has no central air and no ceiling fans. Central air is too expensive a proposition at this point, so I was considering putting ceiling fans in all the major rooms to improve air circulation and cooling. Downstairs doesn't present a problem, but upstairs the ceilings are just 7 feet high. There are three rooms upstairs =

15x15, 12x10 and 10x8. Are ceiling fans an option here? I've heard about the 'hugger' models, but are they going to be effective, espcially in the smaller room? If I do put them in, what do you suggest for a blade length?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Take Care, Marta

[Joseph Meehan]

Frankly I think ceiling fans are overrated. They can be convenient in some situations and you may well have that situation downstairs, but with 7 foot ceilings, I don't think I would want one, even a hugger.

Any number of appliance fans are made. I suggest considering some sort of fan designed to sit on the floor. Depending on your location, you may want a window A/C for a bed room. I really hate trying to sleep when it is warm and humid. A mobile fan will allow you to try it out in different rooms so you can decide if it will work and if so you can buy more like it.

In any case good luck and stay cool.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Ceiling fans don't help with cooling. They circulate the hot air and sometimes the draft may make you feel a tad cooler if you are in the moving air.

Much more beneficial, especially at night, is a fan to exhaust the hot air and draw in the cool air. Whole house fans can do a good job. Fans don't dehumidify either. You may want a small AC in the bedroom so at least you can sleep well. Ed

[SQLit]

7 foot ceiling? Yikes. I will not put an fan in unless there is 7'6" clearance from the finished product. Even an hugger will not achieve this in your situation. Surely you mean 8 foot ceilings.

Not planning for the a/c now will cost an fortune later. At least install the ducts and registers to an central location.

I agree with the whole house ventatulator. I grew up with one of those, until Mom wanted a/c so she could sleep in the hot muggy nights of southern Iowa

[nicksanspam]

Where is this house?

They do, IMO, especially at night, helping a whole house fan or natural ventilation. A narrow cool air stream won't cool the mass of a house much at night. Cool night air needs to scrub the thermal mass of the walls.

It can make you feel a LOT cooler :-) See the ASHRAE 55-2004 standard.

Nick

[Joseph Meehan]

I think this tends to be a local thing. In some climates they seem to work well and in others they are worthless. In recent years I believe they have been over sold and many people in areas that they are not very helpful for put them in and now a few years later, seldom use them.

[Betsy]

I think those who are replying negatively are possibly a little too rich and spoiled :)

I have a moral problem with using too much energy, and therefore I do not have, never have had, nor ever will have, air conditioning. I do have it in my car, as it is more efficient to drive with the windows closed, but even then use the "fresh air" vent option as much as possible.

That said, I've installed ceiling fans in most every room of both of the houses I've owned over the last 17 years. I LOVE them. They work great. I even installed one in the galley part (used to be a pantry, of all things) of my 5 foot wide by 9 foot long "kitchen". It's a little 30" model, and of course a "hugger". It helps enormously!

I've learned to love to hear the outside noises. I feel connected to the world at large, and in touch with what is going on around me. I am often the first neighbor to notice a problem, as others are behind closed doors and windows and hear little or nothing!

The crickets at night and the birds in the morning are music to my ears.

I've had a whole house exhaust fan, and it works great, too. But it died two years ago, and I've lived without it just fine.

BTW, I'm in hot and humid Baltimore, Maryland.

[Phisherman]

I use my ceiling fan (in the computer room) almost everyday. I put it on when returning from my daily workout or after bathing. It is a blessing when the A/C needs repair. I have a small four-paddle ceiling fan in the small room. All my ceiling fans are hard wired to a switch at the door. I turn it off when leaving the room.

[nicksanspam]

Good idea, except to help with night ventilation. FSEC planned a motion detector for the lovely Gossamer Windward II fan, but it never got implemented, perhaps because the blades or fan-wiggling triggered it. You might put one on the wall.

Nick

[nicksanspam]

Me too. Our UU church is having a candlelight vigil tonight for the 1000 Americans (and 1 million Iraquis?) killed in our latest Gulf war. Skipping the candles and standing outdoors under our 1000 watts of dusk-to-dawn parking lot lights might be more to the point. We might even (gasp!) turn them off tonight. Our US energy appetite is a large part of the problem. How did OUR oil get under THEIR country? :-)

Steve Baer went all the way from Albuquerque to West Texas to find a new pickup truck with no AC. He and his wife Holly use 80 kWh/mo of electricity, less than 1/10 of an average US household.

And people feel cooler. Equally comfy at 80 F with no air movement and

82.6 F with 0.5 m/s, at 60% RH, according to the ASHRAE 55-2004 standard, based on worldwide surveys of over 21,000 people.

You might replace it with Grainger's $73 4TM66 16" reversible window fan, which moves 3290 cfm with 84.1 watts or their $183 3C614 20" window fan, which moves 7005 cfm with 170 watts, which can capture lots of cool night air. Typical whole house fans are harder to mount, leak wintertime air, cost twice as much, and are half as efficient.

Moreso than Phila, at 77.0 vs 76.7 F in July, with average daily mins of 67.2 and 66.8...

Nick

[Betsy]

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Most are fairly quiet but there will be some noise. Keep in mind, the fan does not have to be in the same room as you. Proper window management can get a good draft drawing the cool outside air in from the other end of the house. Ed [e-mail]

[tgilb]

[Marta Pia]

Hello,

Thank you for all your excellent comments. The new house is over 100 years old and is near Pittsburgh and I wish I were kidding about the 7 foot upstairs ceilings. My old house in Eastern PA does have ceiling fans in just about every room and I am a huge proponent. Although I'll agree they don't do the job on the really humid days, they are very useful for the simply hot days and for air circulation. I do plan to put a window AC unit in the main bedroom for the worst of the days and an exaust fan is an excellent suggestion to assist in cooling.

I think I will test out one hugger ceiling fan with no light fixtures for the bedroom. If I find it works out here, I might install in the smaller rooms before next summer. If not, then I won't have gone through the expense.

Thanks again, Marta

[nicksanspam]

Grainger high med low speed

4TM66 $73 65 52 49 dB 5850 4400 3240 cfm 90 76 61 watts 65 58 53 cfm/W

3C614 $183 64 59 50 dB 8900 7627 5545 cfm 170 145 115 watts 52 53 48 cfm/W

You might buy 2 of the cheaper ones.

Nick

[Doug Kanter]

When run slowly in reverse, ceiling fans can lift cooler air from the floor upward. Too fast seems to defeat the purpose, based on my observations, but a slow speed definitely makes a noticeable difference.

Now, the trick is getting your average walkin' around slob to NOTICE the instruction manual in the box the fan came in, and then actually READ the manual.

[Doug Kanter]

Whatever you decide, do NOT under any circumstances buy a Hunter fan, unless you think it's cute to support slobs who sell awful products. Get yourself a Casablanca and you'll be happy forever, at least with the fan purchase.

[tgilb]

[Claudia]

my ceiling fan runs 24/7/365. At low and in reverse in winter. makes a HUGE difference in the even temp of the bedroom.

[Doug Kanter]

Nope. Spend some time reading the archives of this newsgroup and you'll understand why Hunter fans are inferior.