Prepping Ceiling Fans for Summer Energy Savings

Many people break a sweat just thinking about the summer spike in their energy bills necessary to keep their air conditioner running and their home comfortable during the steamy Minnesota summer. But you don’t have to choose between sweating it out to save money or sweating the cost of staying cool. One way to cut down on your energy costs this season is to make sure your ceiling fans are optimized for summer conditions.

You might be thinking “Optimize my ceiling fan? What are you talking about? All you gotta do is hit the ‘on’ switch.” But making sure your fan is rotating in the right direction can make a big difference in your home temperature and can save you money by making your air conditioner’s efforts more effective.

Send Your Savings Spinning in the Right Direction

The natural tendency is for hot air to rise, so most of the cool air produced by your A/C gathers near the floor. To optimize your ceiling fan, make sure that when it spins, the blades lead with the higher edge so that they blow air down. This downward motion will create a breeze that disperses the cool air gathered along the floor and circulates it throughout the room, cooling the temperature.

It’s a misconception that ceiling fans produce cool air. If you’re not present in a room, leaving the fan on will do nothing to cool the base temperature of the room on its own. But if the fan is rotating correctly, the breeze it produces will help to move your body heat away from you and keep cool air circulating. With cool air moving around the room, you can set your air conditioner’s temperature higher and still feel cooler overall.

If your fan is not spinning in the correct direction, changing the rotation direction is easy. Most fans have a switch on the mount that will swap the rotation direction. While you’re up there already, take the opportunity to dust off your blades to prevent dust and allergens from circulating with the cool air. You could also swap your light bulbs out for a more efficient model that will consume less energy and produce less heat.

Optimizing your ceiling fan is a simple fix that can make a significant impact on your summer energy savings.

Skip to content