Ceiling fans save energy
With the price of electricity always going up homeowners are going to have to tighten their belts even further but you don't need to dread hot summer temperatures and high air conditioning bills when you have ceiling fans in your home.
2021
The price of electricity is expected to soar in the near future as Eskom puts its planned increases in place, and that means homeowners are going to have to tighten their belts even further. You don't need to dread hot summer temperatures and high air conditioning bills when you have ceiling fans in your home.
Ceiling fans do such an efficient job of circulating air you can use them in any room in the home. Put them on when you are in the room - during the day and when sleeping - and turn them off when you leave. Using ceiling fans wisely can save you a lot of money as compared to an air conditioner. Bedrooms, family rooms, and exterior living spaces are the most common applications, but you can also install them in larger bathrooms, walk-in closets, and your home office.
Size matters
How do you estimate the best size for your needs? A good rule of thumb is a 30" diameter blade for rooms of 12 to 15 square metres and a 52-inch diameter blade sweep for rooms measuring up to 20 square metres. Larger spaces may require two or more fan. The number of blades also add to the effectiveness of a ceiling fan, but it is really a matter of aesthetics. The more blades - the better the airflow at a lower speed setting.
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It's important not to underestimate. The most common size ceiling fan sold is a 52-inch diameter. This fan size provides excellent results in rooms up to 20 square metres, but can also be appropriate for smaller rooms since it can be adjusted with multiple speeds and the direction of the blades can be reversed. It's better to choose a slightly larger fan for a room than to choose a diameter that might prove to be too small to adequately provide air movement.
Do you need a light kit?
Many fans now come with integrated lighting or offer a coordinating light kit available as an option. These lights do not offer enough illumination on their own, but they are useful in a room that already has some form of ambient lighting. Ceiling fan lights should be considered as accent and mood lighting rather than main lighting for a particular room.
Should a ceiling fan blend in or stand out?
The next step to consider is whether you'd like it to serve as a focal point or be more understated. Is the room contemporary, traditional, cottage or eclectic? Ceiling fans can serve as a design feature of a particular decor scheme. The primary trend in ceiling fan design has been for styles that create aesthetic statements as bold as a chandelier. This follows the overall trend in residential design for more varied and more sophisticated concepts. Today a consumer can find a ceiling fan that matches any interior design.
Fans help in winter, too
In the summer, ceiling fans offer a comfortable alternative and accompaniment to air conditioning, but in the winter employing the reversible blade option provides a means of circulating the hotter air that rises to the ceiling. This helps save on heating bills when the weather gets cold.