CATS: Bidirectional ceiling fans – what goes around, comes around

Number 11 in the Clean Air Technologies Series.

Record-breaking temperatures abound all around. On Jan. 21, 2013, for example, Los Angeles recorded a record-setting high temperature of 81 degrees. That this occurred in the middle of winter especially, isn’t cool.

What is, or rather, what helps cool things off (or down), are fans. And with the record heat occurring in the American West, what could probably be banked on is increased fan usage.

In my home there are four ceiling fans each with five blades. They work reasonably well and by work reasonably well I mean they do what they’re designed to do but with wobble. For one especially, which was so unbalanced, I had to physically add weight to one of the blades. Even with blade weight added, there is still wobble, and it varies with a change in speeds.

A nice feature of these fans is the ability of fan rotation to be reversed.

During colder months when home heating is being used, the fans can be operated in a way that pulls up the cooler air and directs it toward the ceilings so that the cooler air more freely mixes with the warmer air that typically rises. This can lead to a room being heated faster thus bringing temperatures up to desired levels sooner and, as a result, maybe the home heating system doesn’t have to stay on as long as it might have had the fans not been used in this manner. The end result could be reduced home energy usage (even if slight), lower utility bills and therefore less negative environmental impact. The same can apply during warmer months where, in reversing blade-rotation direction, use of fans augments home central-air cooling systems use.

Ceiling fans definitely make a difference.

– Alan Kandel