Change the direction of a ceiling fan from summer to winter.
Changing the direction that the blades of a ceiling fan spin can affect your comfort level. To change the flow of air and how it feels, adjust the ceiling fan's direction to cool the air in the summer and maintain warm air in the winter.
Direction in the Winter
In the winter, adjust the direction of the ceiling fan so that the blades rotate clockwise when you stand underneath the fan and look up at it. The clockwise, or reverse, rotation of the blades sucks the air inside the room up, to push the warm air that has risen toward the ceiling out toward the room walls, and back down toward you on the floor level.
Direction in the Summer
In the hot summer months, set the ceiling fan blades to rotate counter-clockwise, or forward. This direction actually forces cooler air through the turning blades and directly down onto you at the floor level.
Fan Speed
In the summer, to achieve the wind chill effect that the ceiling fan uses to cool you, turn the fan to a higher setting. For the clockwise rotation of the ceiling fan to be effective in the winter, you should set the ceiling fan speed on low. If you set the fan on a higher speed, even with the blades rotating clockwise, you will feel a wind chill effect, similar to when the blades rotate in the opposite direction. However, if the ceiling that the fan is on is very high, set the fan speed on medium or even high in the winter, to compensate for the extra distance.
Additional Adjustment
If you want to feel the cooling, wind chill effect that the fan produces in the summer, without the air blowing too forcefully, change the blade rotation direction from counter-clockwise to clockwise. Then set the speed on high. The fan will blow the wind in the same direction as in the winter, but it will be cooler. Do this when you are doing something such as reading a book underneath the fan, and you don't want the pages to be blown.
Tags: blades rotate, chill effect, , wind chill effect, ceiling that, chill effect that