We all love our ceiling fans… but there are a few things you may not know about them. Some save you money, some save you frustration, but they all help to save your sanity (even just a little bit).
QUICK HITS:
Make the Switch – Run Your fan in the Winter
You’ve switched out your wardrobe to be ready for winter, but have you switched your ceiling fan?
Although some ceiling fans have a button on their remote for this feature, most fans have a little switch between the blades and the light kit, like this:
Welp, what most people don’t know is that this little switch will save you money all winter.
You see, in the summer your fan blows air down to you, cooling off your (and fido’s) body. We all love a cool breeze on a warm night. You can tell it’s running in cooling mode, because A) there is a breeze directly under the fan, and B) when standing under the fan, you can see the fan blades spinning from the top to the left (aka counterclockwise).
What you may not know is just by shutting your fan off, then flipping this little switch your fan will then run in warming mode, the blades will now be spinning from the top to the right (clockwise). The fan effectively pushes air UP to the ceiling (you know, where the warm air is in your room) which then pushes the warm air down the walls to the floor, making the entire room feel warmer.
Why would you bother with that? Is it worth dragging out the little ladder to get up there and flip that switch? Only if you want to save money! Most experts agree that you can save an average of 15% on your heating bills by doing this, because you can lower your thermostat slightly and feel just as warm.
So, when the seasons change, make the switch!
It’s a Turn-Off
Ceiling fans save you money. To save even more money, turn the fan OFF!
Alright, let’s be a little more clear. Again, contrary to popular belief, ceiling fans in cooling mode do NOT cool off a room. The room is exactly the same temperature as it was before, fan on or fan off. The breeze from ceiling fans cools off animals (yup, that includes us humans). If you leave a room, turn the fan off – it does absolutely no good without a body in the room. A warm body that is.
Let there be light. More light.
So, you have a light kit on your ceiling fan that takes bulbs, but you’re not happy with the amount of light you get from it. Many ceiling fans have a limitation of how much wattage you can run through the light kit...
I, for instance, was dumbfounded as to why when I turned up my dimmer switch, the lights shut off on my ceiling fan. Through some thorough investigation (okay, I called the manufacturer and asked) I found that my ceiling fan light kit has a limitation of 40-watts per socket, and because I had put 60-watt incandescent bulbs in the socket, the light kit shut off when it exceeded its limitation.
This is another amazing instance when an LED bulb comes to the rescue. Because LED bulbs use much less electricity, you can get a higher amount of light (read: lumens) from an LED bulb while sipping at the electric juice.
Replacing your 40-watt incandescent bulbs with LEDS, you could put in a 60-watt equivalent (which uses only 9-watts) or even a 100-watt equivalent LED (which uses only 14-watts) to drastically brighten your space while staying within the maximum wattage of your fan’s lights.
Hey, who turned out the lights?
We’ve all been there, the ceiling fan light bulb just blew out, and we need to replace it. Odds are that your old bulb was an “old style” bulb (meaning incandescent, the classic bulb we all grew up with), but these days you know you’d rather put in a new LED bulb. There are three reasons I’m going to suggest to you that it’s overall smarter to change out ALL your bulbs in your fan to LED than just the one that blew out.
First, when changing a bulb, it’s important that you get the right color. Purple bulbs? Nope. What I’m talking about is the color of the white’ish light coming off the bulb. When buying a new LED bulb, the chances of matching the color of the light given off by your old bulb are pretty slim; you could end up with three yellow’ish light bulbs and one bright white bulb – not a good look. Replace all your bulbs at the same time to new LED bulbs to avoid this color mismatch.
Secondly, it’s a hassle to change bulbs in a ceiling fan… Most people need a ladder or large step stool to be able to reach them. With the extremely long life of LED bulbs (many last as much as 50 times as long as a standard incandescent bulb), you may never have to change those bulbs again.
Finally, LED bulbs give you the same amount of light for MUCH less energy cost. An average incandescent light costs $6.60 in energy cost for 1,000 hours of use, while an LED only costs $1.32 for the same amount of time. Considering the years of service an LED bulb will provide you, this cost savings really adds up!
Nuclear Winter?
If you’ve ever tried cleaning your ceiling fan blades (admittedly, I’ve done this too) with a long-handled brush, Swiffer, or Uncle Pete’s toupee, you have experienced the dust showers we call “nuclear winter” around our house. Oh, but there is such an easy way to do this better…
Simply take an old pillowcase, slip it over the blade and rub it around. All the dust comes off leaving your blades good-as-new, and the dust is fully contained in your pillowcase. When you’ve cleaned all your blades, empty the dust into the trash and launder your pillowcase as usual.
Your ceiling fan has always been a trusted source of cooling in your home. Putting a few of these tips to use will save you money and hassle and help you to enjoy your ceiling fans to their fullest.