Would Energy Efficient Ceiling Fans Benefit Your Home?
July 25, 2017
Ceiling fans are a great benefit to our summertime and wintertime comfort, augmenting heating and cooling and heat so that we get the best use of our HVAC equipment. That saves money on utility bills, but you may well wonder — especially if you have ceiling fans in most of the rooms of your house — just how efficient are they?
Energy-Efficient Ceiling Fans
When the ceiling fan is running, the motor is throwing off heat into the room. Granted, it's not much, but it is adding to the heat your A/C must remove from the home to reach a thermostat set point. Choosing a fan that runs more efficiently can help cut down on energy use — you can cut back on the motor speed so it runs cooler. What's more, a less efficient ceiling fan just needs more juice to do the same job that an efficient model can do.
How to Compare Energy Efficiency of Ceiling Fans
So, how do you find an energy-efficient ceiling fan? One way is to compare how many watts the models that you're interested in use to move a certain volume of air, measured in cfms, or cubic feet per minute.
Another way is to go to the Energy Star website (Energy Star, a U.S. government program, tests and rates appliances for efficiency) and compare the various models that have been tested and rated.
The Size of the Fan Blade
Some experts recommend installing a larger fan than you think you might need, because the longer the fan blade, the greater the volume of air that is moved, and the lower you can run the motor. In other words, a smaller fan might necessitate running the fan at a high speed, while a fan with, say, 52-inch blades would allow you to run the motor on the lowest speed.
Running Fans Efficiently
Be sure to always run your fan efficiently. Do not leave the fan on when no one is in the room, as it does not make the room cooler — it just moves air so that people feel cooler.
For more on how an energy-efficient ceiling fan might benefit your home, contact Lozier Heating and Cooling of Des Moines.