Green in 365: The Living Room – Using Your Ceiling Fan

 

This is Day 22 of the Green in 365 series!

Do you have a ceiling fan in your main living area? They may not be the most trendy of interior decor, but did you know that they can improve air-circulation in a way that actually helps to lower your heating and cooling bills?

There should be a little switch on your ceiling fan that changes the rotation of the blades from clockwise, to counter-clockwise, and back. In the summer, be sure you fan is set to rotate counter-clockwise, or in reverse, to create a breeze and cooling effect.

This will help to either cool your home enough that you don’t need to use your air-conditioner, or it can help to circulate the air-conditioned air around the room so that you can turn your thermostat up a few degrees to save energy and money.  To test that your fan is moving in the correct direction, you should feel a definite breeze and air movement while standing underneath the fan.

It may seem counter-intuitive to run your ceiling fan in the winter months, but if you set your fan to rotate clockwise, or in a forward direction it helps to distribute the warm, heated air around the room. This is especially helpful if you have a high or vaulted ceiling in your home where your hot air can get trapped up by the ceiling.

When the fan is rotating in this direction, it will pull the air in the center or the room up and push the warm air by the ceiling down the sides of room. To test that your fan is moving in the correct direction for the winter, you should feel almost no breeze or air movement while standing underneath the fan, but if you move to the walls of the room you should be able to feel stronger air movement.

Do you change the direction your ceiling fan rotates based on the seasons?

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