Ceiling fans might appear a bit old-fashioned, but they are still very “cool” even today.
Though air conditioners have mostly taken over the job of combating Arizona’s summer heat, ceiling fans still have a role to play. In fact, ceiling fans and air conditioners work better together than they do apart.
A ceiling fan creates an indoor breeze. As we’ve all experienced, a breeze makes a hot day feel cooler, even though it does not change the temperature on the thermometer. So, the breeze from a ceiling fan makes a room feel cooler than it actually is.
Since the room feels cooler than what’s registered by the thermostat, you can turn the thermostat up a few degrees higher than it would otherwise be set. On average, the cooling effect of a ceiling fan is about four degrees, so you can comfortably set your thermostat four degrees higher.
That’s four degrees of cooling that your air conditioner no longer has to produce. By reducing the load on your air conditioner, you significantly cut down on the amount of electricity it consumes. And since a ceiling fan consumes relatively little electricity, you save energy (and save money) overall without having to sacrifice comfort.
To get the biggest benefit from your ceiling fans, follow these tips:
- Only turn on the ceiling fan when you enter a room, and turn it back off when you exit. Since fans do not change the temperature of the air, leaving the ceiling fan on while you’re gone will not make the room any cooler for when you return. Instead, it will just waste that electricity you are trying to save.
- Only install ceiling fans in rooms that are at least 8 feet high.
- Install fans so that there’s at least 8 inches between the blades and the ceiling, and at least 18 inches between the blades and the walls.
- To save even more energy, use fans certified by Energy Star.
To learn more about ways you can save energy this summer, contact the comfort and efficiency experts at Hansberger Refrigeration and Electric Co.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about fans and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Hansberger Refrigeration & Electric Co services the Yuma area in Arizona. Visit our website to see our special offers and get started today!
