GUEST POST from Don – Ceiling Fans +

CEILING FANS SAVE ENERGY? +

– Calling this Mostly Fake

Here is a needed PSA:  I have read a boatload of stories about the value of ceiling fans.  Almost all stories CLAIM that running those fans SAVES MONEY on heating and/or cooling the house.  They CLAIM it can save you 10-15% on your heating/AC bills.  They never (ever) point to a STUDY which proves it.  In fact, one investigative research of the issue said this:  “However, the number of studies focusing on the energy use of CFs were scant: most of them focused on thermal comfort, indoor air quality, and airflow of CFs, and many were performed using simulation (Omrani et al. Citation 2021).”  (CFs = Ceiling Fans).  Another study concurs: “Previous laboratory studies, simulation studies, and field studies have consistently demonstrated reductions in cooling energy consumption when air movement enables higher air conditioner cooling setpoints.”  In case you missed their point, the fan may cause you to “feel cooler” at a warmer temperature, but has no impact on the efficiency of the AC system.  

Did you know that the sun does not rise in the morning?  It is true.  What actually happens is that your location on earth TURNS toward the sun.  The sun does not circle the earth, the earth spins.  That’s just truth.  It is science.  We should know the truth about ceiling fans, too.

I feel like some still will miss the point.  If you set your AC to 78 degrees your system will run 33 minutes per hour to cool the house.  Then, let’s say you introduce a ceiling fan, the AC set at 78 degrees will still run 33 minutes per hour.  No energy savings there.  Except you now have added the burden of a ceiling fan motor to your energy usage.  It will not improve on the efficiency of your AC.  So, the truth is that ceiling fans DO NOT save energy.  What they actually do is increase personal comfort.  Two different animals, really.  A ceiling fan in the living room will not increase the comfort of someone cooking in the kitchen or a person sleeping in a bedroom.  

Let me say straight up that I believe it does help to heat and/or cool SOME houses more efficiently*.  Some people swear by the things, to be fair.  But the reason for my asterisk is that *there is no proof of efficiency.  Those who swear by the devices FEEL warmer or cooler (thermal comfort), as a general rule.  Then there are those who live in vaulted ceiling houses or two-story ceiling homes where there is a great need to move the warmer air down in winter.

However, the question of actual efficiency was made point-clear to me today when reading an article which said that the ceiling fan “should be turned off when you leave the room.”  What?!!!  If the fan was truly making your heating/cooling system more efficient you would never want to turn it off.

Your thermostat makes the decisions on when the furnace kicks on and off.  If the fan is making your system more efficient then your thermostat would behave more positively when you used the fan.  

So… I went to a discussion board which was discussing their own questions about the efficiency of fans vis ‘a vis heating/cooling costs.  Sure enough!  They all (there were over 25 commenting) had searched for the proof of this claim … which was missing everywhere they looked.  Some liked fans, some didn’t.  However, only one had found any evidence (personally or otherwise) of financial savings.  The one who saved money with the fan owned a large office building with a 20′ ceiling (it had been a warehouse) and interior walls were only 8’  (so, a big open ceiling box with some lower room dividers).  The hulking huge fan running at slow speed sent the heat that gathered by the ceiling back down in the winter (which reduced the amount of energy the furnace used).  The fan was useless in the summer.

My conclusions:  Using ceiling fans to SAVE MONEY in the winter is FAKE for most ordinary home owners (8′ ceilings and multiple rooms).  It neither reduces energy nor improves personal comfort in most situations.  Where it does improve comfort the heat source is likely to be a wood stove or other low distributed source, usually with no blower.

Using ceiling fans to SAVE MONEY in the summer is also FAKE.  The fans do not reduce energy usage when there is no one home or when no one is in the room with a ceiling fan, but they can increase personal comfort of a warmer room for those sitting in a room with a ceiling fan in limited situations.  If you, like me, have a house created without duct work for central air, but now have central air, you have to find a way to get that hot air near the ceiling to exit through the floor-level return air duct.  A fan will give minimal results, but I found a more efficient way by creating a stand-alone 5′  vent stack which I place over the floor return air duct grate.  No moving parts.  No added energy used.  It just sucks in the hot upper air instead of the cool lower air.  My AC runs fewer minutes per hour (and I don’t have to “turn it off” when I leave the room).

In the winter the only way I can save more money on heating is by turning down the thermostat.  My wife kinda’ hates that so I abide by the long-known rule “happy wife, happy life.”

You’re welcome!

STICK

There are people (right now) on the internet showing off a stick they found.  Yup!  That’s it!  They show off and often describe WHY they like it so much.  Little 1 minute videos … about sticks.

I watched quite a number of them…

Some I get.  “Nice stick, Judy.”  Others are more like, “Does this person not have any real responsibilities in life?  Like, does he ever do the dishes?  This hunk of wood in his hands is literally something which just fell off a tree in his neighbor’s yard and looks like a hunk of cellulose anyone might find.”

Sorry dudes, and gals, but I actually USE sticks to build fires.  A stick can be used (if balanced, the right shape and has stick integrity) as a walking stick.  I’ve thrown away several mid-hike because I could not stand the awkwardness.  I’ve never taken the time to show them off to a hundred or so strangers.  They are STICKS!  I didn’t grow them, or shape them.  I had NOTHING to do with how they turned out.

Copyright 2025 Donald Whelpley

[PLEASE NOTE that Don is always open to discussing the thoughts and opinions he shares here and welcomes comments as shared in the comment section. He doesn’t use other social media platforms and won’t see whatever you’d like to share with him if you post it elsewhere.
ALSO, Don is always open to offer his thoughts on various topics. If you have a specific request, you can let him know in a comment; he reads – and replies to – them all. ~ Sherry]

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