You hear it all the time. Turn down the heat and turn on the ceiling fan. It will help you save money on your monthly energy bills. But will it really? Is a ceiling fan really an energy efficient option?

BREAKING DOWN THE EFFICIENCY OF CEILING FANS

Airflow is measured in cubic feet per min (cfm). The higher the cfm, the more air the fan can move. Simple enough, right? Energy usage, meanwhile, is not so cut and dry. The rate of energy consumption is measured in watts. Energy consumed is measured in kilowatt-hours. Confused yet? Don’t be. It is not as scary as all of that sounds.

To calculate the energy efficiency of a ceiling fan, we take the rate of airflow per unit time (cfm) and divide that by the energy use per unit time (watts). This is known as the airflow efficiency (cfm/watt) and should be on the label of most new ceiling fans, which range in efficiency from 35 cfm/watt to 106 cfm/watt.

ARE CEILING FANS AN ENERGY EFFICIENT OPTION?

Yes and no. You see, in the summer, ceiling fans don’t cool rooms. They cool people. In the winter, ceiling fans don’t heat rooms. Fans just move air. In this case, fans recirculate warm air trapped on the ceiling back throughout the room. So can a ceiling fan help ease the burden of your HVAC system? Certainly. But be sure to turn your fans off when you leave the room.

HVAC MAINTENANCE IS STILL THE KEY TO EFFICIENCY

The best thing you can do to help your HVAC system is to have it serviced twice a year, before the heating and cooling season. A visit from Minnick’s can improve the comfort of your house and reduce the money you spend every month paying your energy bills.

Click Here to schedule your HVAC maintenance!

When you schedule an inspection and repair call from Minnick’s, we will send out one of our qualified technicians to conduct a comprehensive inspection of your HVAC system. Following this inspection, your technician will review the work performed for you and create a personalized report that clearly lists all of the information found, along with recommendations that will improve the performance of your HVAC system.