Here is a question Experts in Your Home hears quite often at this time of year: When is the best time of year to install a ceiling fan?
This is a question that actually has four potential answers and one fundamentally spot-on answer: Summer, fall, winter, spring, which means that any time is a good time to install a ceiling fan.
While ceiling fans are most commonly associated with providing much-needed cool breezes during the summer and fall, they actually provide benefits year-round. So if you're considering whether to call one of our electricians to install a ceiling fan in your home, size up why the time is right – and the time is now:
Year-Round Benefits of Installing a Ceiling Fan
Feeling Cooler
- Ceiling fans provide a literal wind-chill effect when the blades spin in a counterclockwise direction. By absorbing moisture from your skin, ceiling fans make you feel cooler. Of course, blade speed and proximity count. (Just don't count on the chilliness to alter a room's temperature; ceiling fans cool people, not rooms.)
Reducing Your Electric Bill
- Ceiling fans can help you reduce your summer electric bill because when you feel cooler, you should be able to raise the temperature on your thermostat. In fact, the U.S. Department of Energy says that ceiling fans set to the “medium” or “high” setting should allow you to raise the temperature by 4 degrees with “no noticeable difference” in comfort. On moderate days, you might be able to dispense with running your air conditioner; a ceiling fan might provide all the cooling power you need.
Fresh Air Ventilation
- Ceiling fans can allow you to ventilate your home with fresh air. Sometimes a forgotten commodity during the hottest months of summer, fresh air can invigorate your home and clear it of airborne pollutants. The theory holds that when you feel cooler because of the influence of a ceiling fan, you're more likely to open your windows to ventilate your home.
Safety
- Ceiling fans are safer and more effective at cooling than desktop, pedestal and box fans. We're thinking of power cords and extension cords, but alternative fans also pose the risk of toppling over and causing injuries. By comparison, ceiling fans are blissfully safe (and consume no living space).
Quiet
- Ceiling fans are surprisingly quiet by comparison – provided they're properly installed. In bedrooms, the soft, soothing lull of ceiling fans has been known to help even incurable insomniacs find quick sleep.
Warm Air Circulation
- Ceiling fans switched to run in a clockwise direction in the winter can push warm air down from the ceiling, providing warmth where you need it.
Ceiling Fan Sizing for Any Room
- Ceiling fans can be sized to fit in virtually every room of your home. The Experts in Your Home recommend: 36-inch diameter fans for rooms of 75 square feet or less; 42- to 50-inch diameter fans for rooms between 75 and 145 square feet; 52- or 54-inch diameter fans for rooms between 145 and 225 square feet; 54- to 72-inch diameter fans for rooms between 225 and 400 square feet; and 52- to 72-inch diameter fans for rooms larger than 400 square feet.
Lighting Options
- Ceiling fans come equipped with lights that, when you choose, can provide task or accent lighting. Experts in Your Home can enhance this function with a dimmer.
Insect Deterrent
- Ceiling fans, while soothing to people, are thought to send some insects and bugs scampering. If you periodically grapple with an infestation problem, a ceiling fan could provide relief.
Style & Character
- Ceiling fans add style and character to a room. With this, perhaps Experts in Your Home has saved the best reason for last. With such a wide range of available styles and colors, ceiling fans allow you to make a design statement – in a cool and quiet manner, of course.
It's not exactly a breeze to install a ceiling fan properly, so turn to Experts in Your Home for an expert ceiling fan installation – so you can begin to enjoy the benefits year-round.
