When you get home on a hot day, your first inclination may be to turn on the air conditioning to its coldest setting. But energy experts say that doesn’t speed the cooling process. In fact, it makes your AC unit work harder than necessary. This uses even more energy, which is reflected on your utility bill. There are other ways to maximize the cold air that comes from your air conditioner. Using a fan with your A/C can significantly reduce the hot temps in your home – and reduce your energy bill. By positioning fans near window unit A/Cs or near central air vents, you can circulate the cool air over a wider area. Here’s a look at how it works.
It may seem redundant to run both a fan and the AC together. However, the two work in different ways to cool down your home. A fan cannot provide the cold air that an air conditioner does. Just like an A/C cannot provide the circulation of a fan. Positioning your fan so that it is near the A/C vent helps distribute cold air faster and more efficiently than the A/C alone could. Use a stationary tower fan or pedestal fan underneath or beside the vent. You can tilt a pedestal fan like the 4-Speed Remote Control Large Room Stand Fan or the 18″ Remote Control Elegance & Performance Pedestal Fan into a position that pushes the air into the room and beyond.
A tower fan (like the Lasko Portable Electric 42″ Tower Fan with Nighttime Setting) offers vertical breeze coverage. This covers a longer area for air circulation and dispersing the cool quickly through the room. Using a fan allows you to adjust the settings on your AC. It does not need to be on full blast or set at a very cold temperature setting, that costs more money, to cool the home. For the ultimate in economical coverage, try a box fan, like the Air Flex™ Air Purifier and Room Fan, running with your AC. On average, a box fan costs less than two cents an hour to run. Not only will the temperature get lower, so will your energy bill.
For those who use window air conditioners, fans can create an indoor cross-breeze that can carry cool air from room to room. Multiple AC units on a single floor will leave spots where the cold air just won’t reach. Position your fans to blow the cold AC air toward the hot spots in your home or apartment. Using more than one fan creates a cycle of cool that doesn’t allow the air to settle, maintaining a comfortable room temperature.
On a hot day, the air in your home rises close to the ceiling, while the cooler air sinks to the floor. By manipulating the air flow in your home with strategically placed fans, you can shift the air to more evenly distribute it. This air flow shift creates a more comfortable temperature. Utilize your fans so that cold air is moved up from the floor. Use the pivoting head of a pedestal fan or table fan to push cool air upward. Place your fan so it faces the opposite wall across your main living space, or the area you wish to cool. Point the fan lower so that it drives cool air up and out around the room. Larger living space? Try a tower fan for extra power to circulate and move air currents.
Pairing your AC with a fan is one step in making sure your home stays cool. For homes with central air conditioning, setting the thermostat higher in summer is an energy saver. The key is to keep the indoor temperature as close as possible to the temperature outside. When using a fan to disrupt and circulate cool air, a colder A/C setting isn’t really needed. To prevent the air conditioning system from turning on too soon, don’t place heat-generating appliances like TVs or lamps near the thermostat.
If you don’t need to cool the upper floors of a house while you’re out and about during the day, try other methods to keep heat at a minimum. Pulling down shades or drawing curtains prevents strong sunlight from entering rooms and heating them. Or, you can utilize a window fan on the exhaust setting to pull hot air out of the house. Window fans operate by pulling fresh air inside, pushing warm air out, or doing both at the same time. With an Electrically Reversible Twin Window Fan with Bluetooth®, you can turn off the air conditioner while you are out, and let the twin fans do the work of keeping hot air outside where it belongs.
You might think you know how to use a fan to cool down a room already – you just switch it on, right? But in actual fact, fans don't cool down your room in the way that an air conditioning unit can.
They do relieve some of the struggles of living in high temperatures, circulating air and making you feel cooler, but even the best modern fans won't actually lower the temperature of your room by themselves.
There are, however, still good reasons to use a fan. 'While air conditioning systems are powerful and undoubtedly effective in cooling down a room, fans are easily the most energy-efficient and, therefore, cost-effective solution,' says Chris Michael, managing director of Meaco.
'A fan blowing cool air around a room is far cheaper than running an air conditioner, in fact, the difference in energy consumption is quite staggering,' he adds.
There are also simple hacks to make your fan work harder for you during hot weather, helping to bring down the overall temperature of your home if you use them in the right way. Here are our top hacks you need to know for a heatwave.
Think of it this way, a fan cools down your body thanks to the sensation of air movement, but not the room at all, so there's no point putting a fan on in a room you're not using. With a few simple additions, or by using the fan in a specific way at a certain time of day, you can help shift the balance in your favour and keep your room cooler.
This idea isn't new, but it's a tried and trusted hack to make a fan act more like an air conditioner that can help you better sleep in the heat. 'A simple trick is to place a bowl of ice in front of the fan to cool the air,' says Hayley Thistleton, a sleep expert at SleepSeeker. Make sure to put the bowl on a tray, or similar, to catch any condensation as the ice melts.
If you find that ice cubes are melting too quickly, 'try bottles of frozen water instead,' Hayley adds. These should last longer and still cool the air being circulated by the fan.
One of the best ways to use a fan in extreme weather is to cool down a room once the temperature drops outside.
'Instinctively, the first port of call is often to open a window as far as possible, but consider this: is the air outside cooler than the air inside?' asks Meaco's Chris Michael. 'If the answer is no, you may want to keep the window shut.'
Once the evening sets in, you might find that your home has retained heat from the day, while the outside temperature has dropped. Here's where your fan can help to cool your home effectively.
Once the temperature outside is lower, open windows on either side of the house to create a cross-draft. Then place a fan by one of the windows, facing outwards. This will help to draw out and displace the hotter air inside your home with the cooler air outside. If you have another fan, use it in the room to help circulate the air coming in from outside, too.
Ceiling fans can feel like a lifesaver in absence of air conditioning, but did you know that the direction they rotate matters? In summer, fans should be set to rotate counterclockwise. This creates a downdraft that generates that air movement factor that generates that cooling sensation. In winter, they can be set to rotate clockwise, which creates an updraft that can help distribute warm air from your home's heating system.