Summer is the perfect time to start up the ceiling fans you have in your house. If you do not have ceiling fans installed, you should consider doing it. The fans will help keep you and your family comfortable throughout the summer and also help keep your cooling costs down.
How Can a Ceiling Fan Make Your House Feel Cooler?
Fans do not cool the air. If you leave the fan running in an unoccupied room, they’re not doing anyone any good but are still using up electricity. However, ceiling fans will make people who are in the room feel cooler.
Fans, whether installed on the ceiling or not, move air around the room. The drafting air moves across the skin of people in the room, causing a wind-chill effect. The people feel cooler due to the moving air, yet the temperature in the room does not go down.
Because people feel cooler in the room, due to the moving air, it’s possible to turn the thermostat up a few degrees. The room will remain comfortable for its occupants, and you can save money on cooling the house.
How Can You Optimize Your Use of the Fan?
- When the last person leaves the room, turn the fan off. If no one is in the room, the fan is not cooling anyone. Running it is a waste of energy.
- In the winter farther north, many homeowners reverse the direction of fan blades and turn the fan on low. This pulls heated air down from the ceiling and brings it down to people in the room. This helps lower the thermostat a bit during the winter. That provides year-round energy savings.
- In our part of Florida, however, where many winter days feature moderately warm temperatures, the ceiling fan generally should be kept in its cooling mode (counterclockwise) so it can continue to help with cooling, while eliminating the need for air conditioning. The moving air will keep you comfortable without the cost of running the A/C.
If you want to learn more about how ceiling fans are the perfect complement to your home’s air conditioning system, please contact us at Senica Air Conditioning, Inc., Inc. We are your home comfort specialists in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater.
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