So, you want to change your ceiling fan mode according to the season, right? Summer mode will be used on hot days for cooling and winter mode will help you with the warming. Most of the time, it does that but it also depends on other ventilation factors in your house.
Unluckily, the direction instructions will not apply in order to get the most out of the combined efforts of your HVAC system and a ceiling fan. using the operation of your HVAC vents and registers into this combination can result in more complications. However, knowing your objective and the layout of your ventilation, will make things simple.
use both modes summer and winter as always with ceiling registers. Summer mode on hot days with ceiling fan vents and registers. Winter mode in the summer season with ceiling vents and low registers. Summer mode in cold days with ceiling vents and registers. Winter mode on cold days with ceiling vents and lower registers.
What are Registers and Vents
Many people use these words “register” and “vent” interchangeably, one stands for an opening with a specific purpose, while the other stands for an opening with a generalized purpose.
With registers are vents, a room gets air supply. In addition to registers, you also get vents in exchange, which expel air from a room.
We wanted to make this article more thorough, so we will have a look at ceiling fan with ceiling registers (air supply vents) and ceiling vents (which we will call in this post as return vents).
Ceiling Fan Direction With Ceiling Registers
Ceiling Fan Direction in Summer
So, if registers provide air to a room, cold air will be provided through them in the summer season. Ceiling registers or registers in the upper part of the room work great since the supplied cool air can naturally spread into the place where you are.
A ceiling fan helps the downward flow of cold air when it runs counterclockwise (there are few methods to confirm the fan is moving in a counterclockwise direction), taking the air from above of the fan to push it below through the blades.
Counterclockwise movement is also called as summer mode on a ceiling fan, so it will be sensible to use this direction on hot days of summer.
Benefits
Running your ceiling fan with AC is a waste is a misconception among the masses.
In reality, it provides better air circulation. It boosts the efficiency of your HVAC system as it mixes the air available in the room properly to cool it down. It helps the whole space to cool down without involving the hard work of AC to reach that level.
The fan not only circulates the cold air but also helps to cool you directly. The fan’s airflow creates wind chill that removes the body-heated air from around you and this way, you feel cooler by a few degrees.
It means that you can still fight the heat but it is possible for you to do it without dropping the thermostat as low.
Since the fan is moving on you in order to keep the whole space cooler, the pros are worth the extra cost of using it.
Using the fan and AC at the same time can even help to save energy consumption.
Ceiling Fan Direction in Winter
Your HVAC system will generate warm air to the ventilation system in the winter season, indicating your registers will provide furnace-heated air to the space.
Now, when the hot air rises, ideally you will not want it to expel from the ceiling registers as it would only spread in that upper portion of the room. The warm air will not be pushed down to the busy space of the room without interference.
If you have a reversible ceiling fan, you can do the intervention by changing it to winter settings.
This mode will rotate the fan clockwise, pulling up air from below and pushing it out above the blades. This way, a clockwise direction spreads the warm air from the surroundings of the ceiling and forces it to lower, busy portion of the room.
Benefits
Ceiling fans have winter modes that are usually considered as the weaker setting unless they work together with a heat source. That is the reason why I like the teaming of ceiling fan with a heating system.
You are receiving hot air into your room, and the ceiling pushes it down into the area where it will be very useful for you. You can actually utilize the heat rather than having it at the ceiling where it was sent.
The fan will also improve the effectiveness of the heating system by moving the air. With the airflow, the temperature will be balanced in the room and send the warm air towards you, you will have to keep your thermostat low.
Overall, it will boost your savings in terms of cost and energy.
Ceiling Fan Direction With Vents
How you use a ceiling fan with vents at the same time can be determined by the location of the registers.
Ceiling Fan Direction in Summer
It is an ideal thing to have ceiling vents in summer.
In the summer season, you want to keep yourself safe from hot air. With ceiling vents, the hot air will be removed naturally, leaving enough space to accommodate the cool air in the room.
Registers on the Ceiling Too
With ceiling vents and ceiling registers, you need to keep your fan in summer mode. By moving anticlockwise, the fan can improve the air distribution into the busy area.
Your fan will push down the air from the registers while using the summer mode and it will be pushed to the lower portion of the room, where it will be prominent for you. The hot air will go naturally to the top of the room around the walls.
Registers in the Lower Half of the Room
if you own ceiling vents and your registers are installed in the lower part of your room, you might end up with ideal results from moving your fan onto winter mode even in hot days of summer.
The ceiling fan vents actually get rid of the hot air available around the ceiling before the fan does something to it. The fan’s clockwise rotation will pull the cool air from the low registers up from the entire room even though there is no warm air around.
The wind chill effect will not be felt by using the winter mode as the airflow will not be sent over you. Using the ceiling fan for air circulation rather than cooling is a better option when you have a working AC.
However, if you prefer the wind chill effect, you can use the clockwise settings to enjoy it rather than distributing the cold air.
Ceiling Fan Direction in Winter
It can be a good or bad design to have vents on the ceiling in winter, the whole thing depends on the supply registers location.
Registers on the Ceiling Too
The design can be bad if the registers are on the ceiling. This is due to the warm air your HVAC system is generating will move to the ceiling, will remain in the upper area of the room and will be expelled by the ceiling vents.
In this case, a ceiling fan can help. You can air from the ceiling can be taken into the fan and pushed out below the blades with the help of summer mode (rotate counterclockwise). It will push the warm air down into the busy area of your room before the vents get rid of it.
The only problem with this is the wind chill effect. However, if you use your fan at a lower speed level, you can prevent the strong draft, removing the chances of having wind chill factor.
Registers in the Lower Half of the Room
Ceiling vents in cold months can be considered a good design when your registers are in the lower half of the room. Hot air will be pulled from a lower point in order to rise upward through the room to where the vents get rid of it.
When you supply warm air into the lower portion of the room, you are also compelling the cold air up through displacement where it can be expelled by the ceiling vents. In order to make the most of this design, you will use the winter mode settings on your fan. By using the winter mode (clockwise rotation), your ceiling fan will allow the cold air to go up to vent out and can also be useful to pull the available warm air throughout the space.
