Posted on Jul 16 2013 by Image 1 of 2 This standard ceiling fan heats up to about 100°F when running, adding heat to a house. If no one is sitting or standing near the fan, leaving it on is senseless and counterproductive. I can’t count the number of times I have walked past a neighbor’s home and seen the porch ceiling fans running with no one there to appreciate them. All the fans are doing is wasting electricity and contributing a little heat to the outdoor air. I am tempted (although I have never acted on the impulse) to pull the chains and turn the fans off or leave the neighbors a note. Now, leaving porch fans on is bad, but nowhere near as bad as doing it indoors, especially in the summer. I am surprised at how few people understand the basic concept of fans — that they make you feel cool due to the movement of air across your skin. The same way a breeze cools you off, a ceiling fan can make you feel cooler, but only if you are close enough to it to feel the air blowing on you.

If you can’t feel it, it isn’t doing any good. What about circulating the air? When I tell (or maybe more accurately, annoy) people about this concept, many of them tell me that it helps circulate the air around the room and keeps the house more comfortable. Unfortunately, most of them are wrong. Designing Houses That Keep Their Cool Fans in the Attic: Do They Help or Do They Hurt? GBA Encyclopedia: Fans and Natural Cooling There are very few situations where moving air around a house in the summer like this improves comfort. If there happens to be a big temperature difference between the floor and ceiling due to poor air sealing and insulation, it might be useful to run a fan in reverse in the winter to bring warm air down, but that’s not what most people are doing. On a related subject, I have been in homes where people are using their ceiling fans in the summer but they are running in reverse, moving air up instead of down. I once changed the fan direction for a friend and to his amazement, he actually felt cooler with the fan blowing towards instead of away from him.

Ceiling fans increase energy use A 1996 study in Florida determined that using ceiling fans appropriately could allow people to raise the temperature inside by 2°F, resulting in about a 14% annual cooling energy savings.ac unit 6000 btu The same study found that most people do not adjust their thermostats when using ceiling fans, actually increasing their energy use rather than reducing it.danby ac unit manual Those fan motors are hotsanyo heating air conditioning units Most people can understand that running a fan when no one is in the room wastes electricity, but the dirty little secret is how much heat they put out when running. I always knew this, but I was inspecting some very well built affordable LEEDLeadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

LEED for Homes is the residential green building program from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). While this program is primarily designed for and applicable to new home projects, major gut rehabs can qualify. homes recently, and one of my associates had an infrared camera with him. Scanning walls and ceilings showed that the homes were very well insulated and air sealed, but when the camera caught the running ceiling fan there was a huge hot spot at the motor. The temperature of the motor was far higher than anything else in the room, including windows exposed to direct sunlight. When the IR image was calibrated, we figured out that the fan motor was running at over 100°F. So not only is the fan not cooling the people who aren’t in the room, it’s also working as a little space heater — just the thing you need for a hot summer day. Now I am not suggesting that we should not use ceiling fans — just that they shouldn’t be on if no one is in the room.

If people only use them when necessary and set their thermostat a bit higher, then the extra heat is a small price to pay for the comfort and energy savings. When selecting a ceiling fan, look at the efficiency of the fan, usually expressed in CFM per watt. The Energy StarLabeling system sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy for labeling the most energy-efficient products on the market; website has a list of all labeled ceiling fans in a downloadable Excel spreadsheet that you can sort by efficiency. The most efficient fan on the list is the Haiku by Big Ass Fans. I managed to get an IR image of one of the company's fans as well, and, lo and behold, the temperature of the fan's motor at high speed is only about 81°F. If (like me) you keep your house in the high 70s to low 80s, a fan motor like this won’t make much of a difference at all. You don’t need to spend a fortune on a ceiling fan. There are many efficient models that are reasonably priced, and there is no reason to get rid of those that are working just fine.

You should, however, only use them when they will keep you cool, and raise your thermostat when you do. Contact Monroe Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc for all of your HVAC needs. We offer years of ... Tom Drexler Plumbing, Inc., is your trusted Louisville and southern Indiana area heating repair and ... Burke Heating & Cooling is committed to excellence in every aspect of our business. We uphold a ... B-J Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc., has been a locally owned, family run business in this area ... After Hours Heating & Air, LLC, has been in business since 2014 and we specialize in all your ... Contractors in Mount Washington, KYWhen it is sweltering hot in your living room, it is hard to be comfortable in your own home. On a southern summer day, the last thing you need is a broken air conditioner in Louisville, KY. To prevent your home from becoming a slow cooker, Breckinridge Heating & Cooling is the fastest and most reliable Louisville AC company to keep you and your family comfortable when the mercury starts to rise.

Anytime your central air conditioner isn’t working properly, your family is likely to get very cranky very quickly. Many of the calls we receive for Louisville air conditioner repair are common among Kentucky homeowners and include these frequent problems: 1. The AC unit won’t work (turn on) at all 2. AC will only hum with no fan function (not blowing air) 3. Odd and loud noises or vibration while the system is running 4. AC not cooling, blowing warm/hot rather than cold air 5. Water around the unit base Our technicians are skilled at not only solving the problem, but also discovering the underlying cause to prevent future issues. The diagnostic process we use looks at the core systems of your Louisville AC to examine each process to ensure it is working properly. The most common solutions include: Power Issues: Oftentimes we find there is no power connected to the AC, this may be due to an electrical issue, tripped breaker, or overheating.

All of these are simple fixes we can do in one day. Fan Belt or Fan Motor Replacement: One of the most common parts we repair is the fan belt. It produces a squealing sound and is much easier to replace before it breaks completely. Tubing Replacement: Leaking fluid is the most common cause of a hissing sound coming from the unit. Leaking fluid is not only bad for the machine, but bad for the environment as well. Our technicians can quickly replace the tubing and recharge the system to have you up and running in no time. Flushing the System: If you have a clogged condensate drain, our technicians will flush the system completely and apply a solution to prevent future clogs. Many of these clogs are seasonal and caused by algae, dirt, nests, or other debris that clogs the drain over time. One of the best things you can do for your cooling system is a healthy dose of preventative maintenance. Before the summer kicks into full gear, call us. Our technicians will take the extra time to show you what you can do to care for your cooling system and prevent future problems.