Do Ceiling Fans reduce heating bills in Winter?

ezzylee90

Hello!

I saw claims online that using a ceiling fan clockwise in Winter can help distribute hot air that accumulates at ceiling level, downwards, increasing how warm a room feels and helping you lower your heating bills by 15%

Has anyone actually experienced this? 

Thank you

Vitor

Running a ceiling fan clockwise on a low setting in winter can help push warm air back down, especially in rooms with high ceilings. It can make a room feel warmer, but the "15% saving" figure is probably exaggerated, more like a few percent in most homes. Still, it’s a cheap trick worth trying if your fan has that setting.

tim_p

Is that clockwise looking up at the fan or down from above?

vacheron

I think fans can reduce heating bills by pushing warm air, (which naturally rises due to convection) downwards, but I don't really buy that the direction makes a difference as the fan is stirring the air regardless so it doesn't matter if it is pulling cold air up or pushing warm air down. 

The only advantage of anticlockwise which I can imagine is that there will be a less obvous breeze on those below the fan, which may otherwise make them feel colder, although in reality, the air temperature will be exactly the same. 

MyRealNameToo

vacheron said:

I think fans can reduce heating bills by pushing warm air, (which naturally rises due to convection) downwards, but I don't really buy that the direction makes a difference as the fan is stirring the air regardless so it doesn't matter if it is pulling cold air up or pushing warm air down. 

The only advantage of anticlockwise which I can imagine is that there will be a less obvous breeze on those below the fan, which may otherwise make them feel colder, although in reality, the air temperature will be exactly the same. 

Never bought a ceiling fan but have had a few properties with them in and each one with its manual did recommend a different rotation depending on if you wanted to warm or cool the room. Probably doesnt make a vast difference but enough that multiple vendors bothered to put a switch to reverse the direction. 

The whole clockwise/anticlockwise thing though seems a bit odd to me, its not the direction of spin alone that makes the difference but the angle of the blades so if the blades are in the mirror position you'd need a clockwise spin. Or is it such a cartel that everyone has set the blades in the same direction?

bob2302

The danger with this is that you end up compensating for the draught with a higher thermostat setting.

A long time ago I saw a product designed to do this. It used a tube to take air from the ceiling down to ground level. IIRC the fan was controlled by temperature sensors.

Scot_39

The cooling is a sort of wind chill impact just lije any other fan.

The heat mode help is to stop air drafts cooling you as dont want say even -18-21C hot air blown on you - as again that's going to give a wind chill effect.  So you want lower volume air circ just to stop all tge heat pooling at high ceiling height.

And in passive spaces the temp gradients can be a good few degrees C - higher ceilings say like old victorian tenements or modern vaulted / mezzanine floors type properties probably more so.

I have had them overseas in warmer climates US, Mexico, Africa etc - and their great for cooling - heating savings ??

Even Google ai only gives 15 % cooling savings vs a vendor sites 40% and c10% heating savings.

matelodave

A ceiling fan will only save you money on your heating bills if it makes you feel warmer and thus encourages you to turn down the thermostat to compensate.

 If you don't reduce your thermostat or heater settings then it's unlikely to make much difference except insofar as warmer air stirred down from the ceiling might cause the thermostat to operate a bit sooner.

Vitor

Simply put your sofa on a 5' high stack of pallets so you head is at ceiling hight. A Viz top-tip there

Qyburn

Destratification fans are quite often used in commercial spaces or things like halls. You can run them blowing upwards so the air rises in the middle of the room and descends down the walls. 

mac.d

Vitor said:

Simply put your sofa on a 5' high stack of pallets so you head is at ceiling hight. A Viz top-tip there

Got to be careful someone doesn't accidentally put the ceiling fan on though