DO CEILING FANS HELP LOWER ELECTRIC AND A/C BILLS?
By Betty Stephens
Ceiling fans can cut back excessive use of your home’s air conditioning and heating unit and use 5% less energy. They use about the same energy as a 100-watt light bulb.
The Department of Energy says YES. The Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration predicts that the price for natural gas, used for electricity and heating fuels, may increase 65 percent this winter .So, it is time to start thinking about ways to save on heating and cooling, especially since it makes up 45 percent of an energy costs. The answer to saving money is with a ceiling fan.
Turn on Fans
Fans make a room feel cooler, and the one in our living room quit w Turn up your thermostat because a ceiling fan can make an air-conditioned room feel four degrees cooler.
Savings with a Fan
The ceiling fan works to move the air throughout the room, which makes cooler. If you use a ceiling fan in cooler climates, it can actually make a house feel cool enough to prevent the need for an air conditioning. In hotter climates, a ceiling fan can make an air-conditioned room feel four degrees cooler, allowing you to raise the thermostat. By raising it two degrees, you can save up to 14 percent on your yearly energy bill.
Always turn off the fan when no one is in the room. Ceiling fans make people feel cooler, but they won’t actually change the temperature of a room like an air conditioning unit would. So there’s no point in burning the energy used by a fan when the room is empty.
Using the Fan
A ceiling fan should rotate counter-clockwise (in summer time), which moves the airflow in a downward direction creating a cool, wind-chill effect. When the fan is rotating clockwise, change its direction by just flipping the fan’s slide switch, is found on the motor housing at the body of the fan. In cooler weather change it back and the fan can make a room feel warmer. When a fan is rotating in a clockwise direction, it forces warm air down from the top of a room to the bottom.
Choosing the Right Fan
The height of the ceiling determines the fan you should choose. There should be at least seven (7) feet between the floor and the blades of the fan. This height prevents people from hitting their head. Buy a fan with a rod that allows the fan to have a hanging depth (the distance between the ceiling and the bottom of the fan) of about 10 inches, this allows the air to circulate (If there’s enough room.).
Fans with a performance grade motor are expensive but are designed for lots of use, operating 12 or more hours a day. A medium grade motor can be used for 12 hours or less a day, and a moderate or economy grade fan can be run for eight hours or less a day.
Summary
In the summer, cooling your home can account for half of your summer power use. Central Air Conditioning comfort comes with a hefty price. A 2.5-ton central system uses about 3500 watts. At 12 cents per kilowatt hour, it costs 42 cents an hour to run your air conditioning unit multiplied over 24 hours, It is a $10 a day expense. Over the course of a month, summer can cost your family $300 or more in extra electricity costs. So run your fans. A ceiling fan can cost around a penny an hour to run. You can run more than 40 ceiling fans for the same cost of your central AC.
