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Does running celing fans in the winter (in winter mode) always make the central heating more efficient?If so, do I have to run it at high or can it be at any speed?TIA

Ceiling fans serve two different purposes in summer and winter.In the summer they work to circulate air and keep you cooler by allowing air to flow over your skin - which helps you stay cooler by allowing you to transfer your body heat away faster. This works weather you have A/C working or not. There is no real benefit to leaving the fans on when you are gone - unless you have a vaulted ceiling or loft area that allows heat to build up near the celing.In the winter the purpose of a celing fan is to bring the warm moist air that rises to the celing down to the area where the people are. The fan works best at the lowest speed that will still provide adequate circulation - if you get the air moving too fast it will actually make you feel colder - as you will be getting a breeze that will set up a "wind chill" factor. In standard height rooms (8') there is probably not much benefit or need for a celing fan in the winter. In areas with vaulted or very high ceilings...there can be a significant temperature difference from the floor to celing and the circulation a celing fan creates can help even that out.Some celing fans do have heating elements in them - and like toasters or the plug-in electric heaters they are "restance" heat and are a rather expensive form of heat. The heat is made by passing electricity through a wire that has high resistance and converts the flow of electricy into heat. Electric resistance heat is reliable and clean - but it is pretty costly and in most cases the use of your gas, propane, oil or electric heat pump will provide heat that will be less costly. The exception to this might be if you only want to supplement the heat in one room while you leave the rest of the house colder. Somebody that is just sitting while reading, studying or watching television may neet more heat than somebody that is actively working. My wife is a teacher and sits for hours while she is grading papers - and she get's much colder than I do while running around doing physical work.I would recommend that you try the lowest possibe setting and see if any difference is noticed - and determine if that change is desirable. I would also try the fan in both summer and winter (down and up) flow directions to determine which works best for your application. Depending on where you are sitting, where your fan is located and the shape of your house - the direction of the fan may not always work best in the direction labeled as "summer" or "winter" by the fan manufacturer.Dave

Quote, originally posted by 1oldbanjo »Ceiling fans serve two different purposes in summer and winter.In the summer they work to circulate air and keep you cooler by allowing air to flow over your skin - which helps you stay cooler by allowing you to transfer your body heat away faster. This works weather you have A/C working or not. There is no real benefit to leaving the fans on when you are gone - unless you have a vaulted ceiling or loft area that allows heat to build up near the celing.In the winter the purpose of a celing fan is to bring the warm moist air that rises to the celing down to the area where the people are. The fan works best at the lowest speed that will still provide adequate circulation - if you get the air moving too fast it will actually make you feel colder - as you will be getting a breeze that will set up a "wind chill" factor. In standard height rooms (8') there is probably not much benefit or need for a celing fan in the winter. In areas with vaulted or very high ceilings...there can be a significant temperature difference from the floor to celing and the circulation a celing fan creates can help even that out.Some celing fans do have heating elements in them - and like toasters or the plug-in electric heaters they are "restance" heat and are a rather expensive form of heat. The heat is made by passing electricity through a wire that has high resistance and converts the flow of electricy into heat. Electric resistance heat is reliable and clean - but it is pretty costly and in most cases the use of your gas, propane, oil or electric heat pump will provide heat that will be less costly. The exception to this might be if you only want to supplement the heat in one room while you leave the rest of the house colder. Somebody that is just sitting while reading, studying or watching television may neet more heat than somebody that is actively working. My wife is a teacher and sits for hours while she is grading papers - and she get's much colder than I do while running around doing physical work.I would recommend that you try the lowest possibe setting and see if any difference is noticed - and determine if that change is desirable. I would also try the fan in both summer and winter (down and up) flow directions to determine which works best for your application. Depending on where you are sitting, where your fan is located and the shape of your house - the direction of the fan may not always work best in the direction labeled as "summer" or "winter" by the fan manufacturer.Dave Very Well Said!!!

Ditto that.We have ceiling fans in most rooms of our house, but in the winter we really only use the one in the kitchen if my mom's been using the oven to dissipate the heat from the oven. My bedroom gets pretty cold because I'm directly over the garage and I've tried running the ceiling fan to help with the cold. Even on low speed, it still makes me colder regardless of the directional setting. The room just isn't big enough. I have a small electric "desk" heater that I bought at WalMart for about $25 three years ago that has an adjustable thermostat setting on it that I use to help warm the room a bit at night. The house is only about 8 years old and when we built it we upgraded the insulation and added housewrap, but my room gets too cold on winter nights. I've even tried adjusting the dampers in the basement to favor my bedroom, but even that doesn't help. Before using the little electric heater, I used to get sick in the winter a lot more from the cold at night. So far this winter I've only had minor nasal congestion twice, and that's all. This is great for me, since I'm prone to respiratory infections like sinus infections, bronchitis, and pneumonia.

Quote, originally posted by Stang2Vibe »Ditto that.We have ceiling fans in most rooms of our house, but in the winter we really only use the one in the kitchen if my mom's been using the oven to dissipate the heat from the oven. My bedroom gets pretty cold because I'm directly over the garage and I've tried running the ceiling fan to help with the cold. Even on low speed, it still makes me colder regardless of the directional setting. The room just isn't big enough. I have a small electric "desk" heater that I bought at WalMart for about $25 three years ago that has an adjustable thermostat setting on it that I use to help warm the room a bit at night. The house is only about 8 years old and when we built it we upgraded the insulation and added housewrap, but my room gets too cold on winter nights. I've even tried adjusting the dampers in the basement to favor my bedroom, but even that doesn't help. Before using the little electric heater, I used to get sick in the winter a lot more from the cold at night. So far this winter I've only had minor nasal congestion twice, and that's all. This is great for me, since I'm prone to respiratory infections like sinus infections, bronchitis, and pneumonia.is the duct work exposed in the basement of your house? If NOT:If you can wrap any duct work you can in insulation... Also any hotwater lines.this will not only help with heating the extermeties of the home but cut down on the energy bill.