Now that temperatures are topped out across the country, everyone is looking for the best ways to stay cool. This includes tips and tricks to save a little bit of money on your monthly electric bill, a topic that comes up a lot from our customers at Piper Electric. Ceiling fans are one of the best ways to beat the heat and save some on energy costs during the summertime, but only if you know these few key points.
What’s Their Role?
During hot months, what should be the role of ceiling fans, or any fan for that matter? Their primary function is to make you and those inside your home feel cooler, the key word being feel. Sitting in a room that is cooled to 75 degrees with a ceiling fan circulating air will make that room feel significantly cooler. The fan will circulate air onto your skin, dropping the felt temperature by several degrees. This means you can run your air conditioning at a higher temperature if you are also going to be using fans, which can help save you money. The next tip is key to remember.
When to Use a Fan to Save on Energy Costs
The important point to keep in mind if you are planning to use ceiling fans to reduce your AC usage is location. Fans only do their job when they are able to circulate air onto people. Running a ceiling fan in an empty room is just another way to increase your electric bill. Utilize ceiling fans only in situations when they are blowing air onto people, not on empty rooms. Turn fans off when leaving a room and on when entering so that they only do their job when you are there.
What About AC?
There is often a misconception when it comes to ceiling fans being used alongside central air or window air conditioning units. As we mentioned in our first point, fans circulate air onto your skin to make you feel cooler. Running ceiling fans in empty rooms alone will not make your air conditioning more efficient. Rather, you will just be spending more on electricity to run both the fans and your air at the same time. Even though fans can be used to move air around inside of your home, this won’t improve the work that AC units are doing on their own. Fans will only improve efficiency when you run them in rooms with people and lower your thermostat accordingly.