5 Ways to Save Money with Ceiling Fans

The humble ceiling fan has become a staple in most Australian households over the last few decades, becoming the go to choice for helping to cool your home in summer, as well as helping to heat it more efficiently in winter, and to do it more efficiently and cost effectively.  Why?  Well, there are a number of reasons.

• Ceiling fans are a relatively inexpensive cost choice for helping to cool and heat your home
• They are extremely energy efficient
• They help to reduce cooling and heating costs in your home by working in conjunction with other forms of cooling and heating
• They are environmentally friendly, helping to reduce your energy footprint
• And, ceiling fans are low maintenance

To explore each of these in greater detail, we first need to look at how they actually work.

How do ceiling fans work?

Unlike other forms of cooling or heating you may have in your home, ceiling fans are not designed to lower or raise the temperature of a room.  Instead, they circulate the air within a room, and are designed to circulate air in a way that makes you feel cooler in summer, and warmer in winter.

During the warmer months of the year, your ceiling fan blades work to generate a breeze, which is pushed down toward you, creating a “wind chill” effect on the skin causing you to feel cooler.  Think of those refreshing breezes you get on a hot summer day, and that short burst of relief you get from the heat as the breeze hits your skin.  This wind chill factor is created by the turn of the blades pushing air directly down toward you.

During the winter months, most ceiling fans are designed so that the direction of blade spin can be reversed.  Instead of pushing air directly down toward you, the blades, when reversed, will pull warm air down from the ceiling, and push it down the walls of your room.  We know that warm air tends to rise, so rather than having air directly hitting you, your ceiling fan will redistribute warm air from the ceiling to provide an overall feeling of warmth in the room.

How do ceiling fans help you save money?

1. They are a relatively inexpensive choice for helping to cool and heat your home

While ceiling fans aren’t going to replace other more expensive forms of heating and cooling, such as air conditioning, they are a relatively inexpensive addition that will help these other forms perform more effectively.

2. They help to reduce cooling and heating costs in your home

As noted above, ceiling fans are the perfect companion to other forms of heating and cooling in your home.  By working in conjunction with these other forms, they can help to reduce heating and cooling costs.  How?  By redistributing air in the room to where you need it most, this will allow you to adjust the temperature or speed of say, your air conditioner, which run at a much higher level of energy consumption.

Ceiling fans also help to generally distribute the warm or cool air evenly.  Air conditioners, for instance, do not always circulate air in the most optimal way; fans can help with air distribution and circulation.

Ceiling fans can also be an effective form of cooling or heating on those days when it is not too hot or too cold, and a great alternative to running a more costly air conditioner unnecessarily.

3. They are extremely energy efficient

The average ceiling fan will consume between 60w and 100w of energy, not much more than a 60w light bulb, and so are an extremely energy efficient form of cooling and heating.  Compare this to a 2.5Kw air conditioner, which uses around 2,500w per hour to run.

DC motor fans are a good choice for energy efficiency, consuming up to 70% less power than their AC counterparts.

To read more on the differences between AC and DC ceiling fans, see our blog AC vs DC Ceiling Fans.

4. They are environmentally friendly

Being as energy efficient as they are, it makes sense that ceiling fans are a much more environmentally friendly option that say, air conditioning.  Why?  By consuming less energy, ceiling fans help reduce your energy footprint.

5. They are low maintenance

Compared to your air conditioner, ceiling fans don’t require a lot of maintenance.  Unlike air conditioning units which require regular servicing, a simple clean with a damp cloth will keep your ceiling fan looking and functioning well for a long time.

Makes sense too, that being able to run your air conditioner on a lower setting or at a lower speed when used alongside ceiling fans, will also help to keep those air conditioning service costs down.

Other reasons to consider ceiling fans in your home

• There are many ceiling fans available with light included, saving you on additional lighting costs and installation.  There are also a wide range of fans with LED light available for further energy savings.
  
• Not what they used to be, manufacturers now aim for functionality and an aesthetically pleasing style when designing ceiling fans, meaning they can add to the décor and aesthetics of your space, and add a design element all on their own.
  
• Ceiling fans, particularly DC models, are very quiet, so are less obtrusive when used to help warm and cool your home.

Manufacturers in recent years, have had to rebrand the humble ceiling fan to fit the new brief of working alongside air conditioning, to be extremely energy efficient, and to provide design that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing.

Chat to one of the ceiling fan experts at Rovert Lighting & Electrical to find the ceiling fan to suit your home, and to help you save money.