It’s the middle of January. I haven’t thought about my ceiling fan in months.
As I was browsing through Avista’s website this week, I found an interesting item while reading DIY Savings Tips.
I love using a ceiling fan in the summer months. It keeps the air flowing through my living room without being too cold. But I have never used it in the winter.
I learned this week that I can switch the direction the blades turn on my ceiling fan to blow the warm air down into the living room.
I decided to give this a try this week to see if it helps keep my living room warmer. Lately, I’ve been curled under a blanket to keep warm. The switch wasn’t hard to find, even though I have never noticed it before.
In the summer when your blades are moving in a counterclockwise direction. That forces air down directly to create a windchill and feel cooler.
When you switch the blades to spin in a clockwise direction and run it on low, it creates an updraft that moves the cooler air away from the living space and forces the warm air back down.
When the blades were moving fast, it was difficult for me to see if they were moving clockwise or not, so I looked at the blades—if they are tilted in a way that it looks like they can scoop the air up as they spin, that is the direction you want. Googling “ceiling fan direction” helped a lot.
My living room now feels warmer with the air is moving in the right direction.
Lisa, an Avista customer, bought her 1910 house because she loved the old-world character, some of which doesn’t make her house very energy efficient. Lisa is sharing her experience on taking some simple do-it-yourself improvements to inspire others to do the same. You’ll find her stories right here every Tuesday.