Ceiling fans, worth having?

[Dean Hoffman]

Mickey's post about fans triggered this question. A short search turned this up:

The short version is they're pretty much worthless. Whatcha guys think?

[Terry Coombs]

  We heat with wood , and without the ceiling fans all our heat would be at the ceiling . Keeping the air moving makes the temps a lot more uniform throughout the house . In winter they blow up so warm air moves down around the perimeter , summer they blow down for direct airflow .

[Xeno]

We have ceiling fans in every room in our house. I'm not a great fan of fans but my wife is. She prefers them to AC. That said, our climate here is such that we really need neither AC nor heating year round. Only use the AC a little in the high humidity 4-6 weeks of the year. When the air is moisture laden, a fan is much less effective in making you feel cool.

All in all, it really comes down to a personal preference.

[trader_4]

Have two here and like them. One in the den, one in the bedroom. Only used in the summer, the breeze feels nice and makes it comfortable at a slightly higher temp, which may save some energy. But I don't buy some of the claims, like that they save energy in the winter by moving hot air down and that you're supposed to reverse the direction. I'm sure they move air around, but it would seem to me those putting that theory forth have not considered that mixing it up now has air moving around the ceiling and walls. I would think that would increase heat loss. Left alone you get a boundary effect, where the air right next to the surface is cold, a little further away it's warmer, a little further it's room temp, etc. Mixing it constantly moves hot air against the colder surfaces, just like air passing through a radiator.

So, I say if you like the breeze for comfort in the summer, go with it, but don't expect miracles. One nice thing, with remotes now, you can just wire them into any available hot circuit, use the remote, no wall wiring needed. They even have wall brackets to hold the remotes.

[rbowman]

I lived in a cabin with wood heat. It was very picturesque with sort of a cathedral ceiling and a sleeping loft at one end. I'd come home after work, throw some wood in the airtight stove, and it was soon up to a comfortable temperature. Then I'd climb up to the loft that would be around 90 degrees. I learned a lot about cabin design that winter.

[Cindy Hamilton]

We have them in bedrooms, living room, and home office. I'd bet that all of them are running right now, except perhaps the living room.

When we don't use them, the air stratifies, even though we run the furnace blower 24/7/365. I wouldn't want to do without them.

Cindy Hamilton

[Ed Pawlowski]

I think it is a dumb article, good for click bait.

Last house I had them and when we moved here a year ago installed them in the bedrooms, living room, and the lanai.

In the last house the only time it was used in winter was to move the heated air from the wood burning stove to distribute it better. They were mostly for summer.

Pretty much the same in this house. With gentle air moving you feel more comfortable and work the AC less.

The ones in the bedrooms have remotes so they can be operated as needed from the bed. The lights are rarely used but can be dimmed from the remote also. Even sitting out on the lanai on a calm day you can get a gentle breeze.

They definitely can increase comfort and keep temperatures even. The one in the bedroom has not been used for weeks but will be on every night in summer. The living room get used more but also has been off recently but will be back on. Especially nice since the LR ceiling is coffered and about 11 feet.

[TimR]

I don't think they help at all with thermal comfort.

I use one in the bedroom, it adds a little white noise. Also they stir the air enough that odors disappear faster as particles stick to the walls.

In the basement I have a small fan pointed horizontal that I run all the time. I figure if I keep the air mixed and moving more of it passes through the dehumidifier.

[Clare Snyder]

I put ceiling fans in the auto repair shop a few decades ago and the floors stayed dry, the overhead doors didn't ice up,and we saved over

10% in heating costs. Also helped keep the place livable in the summer.

I have a ceiling fan in the kitchen and I would hate to give it up. We put them in the great room of the insurnace office too, and it kept the temperatures much more even.

In the Hangar there is radiant heat, and the ceiling fans help the areas that are not directly heated by the radiant warm up as well.

[micky]

I stayed in a cheap hotel in Panama and it was hot and humid and no AC and the ceiling fan was all there was, so I used it. It did some good but I think they just the fan in so they'll look like all those movies. This was 50 years ago.

Then I stayed at my brother's and I used the fan. I thought it helped some.

But at home I have a table fan in the bedroom, living room, kitchen, and office. They blow right on my body and do a lot. 85F, even 90, is comfortable with the fan.

If there were 2 of us, I'd let them oscillate. I connect them through a speed control or light dimmer and I lower the speed just below the point where I woudd hear the fan, because I don't like the noise. Don't tell me a light dimmer won't work. I've been doing this for 35 years. Some combinations won't work. When I first hook it up, I watch it for an hour or two, checking a) that it works, take a minute to do that, b) that neither the motor nor the control is hotter than usual. And I never make it so slow that they stall. I think that might cause overheating. But none has ever slowed down when I wasn't looking.

I don't use speed controls much because they are bulky or large, and don't have table top controls like light dimmers. I once took a Wall fan speed control and put it in a box on a cord.

[micky]

Btw, when I bought the house long ago, I put ceiling lights in two bedrooms. Never regretted not putting in fans.

Could put them in now I think. Won't they run on two wires and use remote control to turn the fan and/or light on/off? No desire to do this. Just use table fans.

[micky]

What do you hang in the Hangar?

[Clare Snyder]

Right now there is a Zenith 600 on the hoist and a little amphibian beside it. Up untill last fall there was a '46 AerCoupe on the hoist. A Lotus 7 chassis up in the mezanine along with IIRC another airplane. Several welders, a Mandrel bending machine, a lathe, drill press, and a lot of other neat stuff. Not mine (or at least most of it is not) There was an Isetta under the hoist for most of the summer, and other projects that rotate through. Hangar belongs to a good friend and I have a key.

[micky]

Cool.