I have recently moved into a new home and there is a ceiling fan in the family room and I have a question - which way should it spin during the winter months? Clockwise or counter-clockwise?? The room was previously a 3 season porch that was completely enclosed and semi-insulated - it is 4 steps down from the kitchen & den. Unfortunately, there is no heat down there except for a wood stove in the corner. The stove cranks out some serious heat, and I would like to redistribute some of that heat out of the family room and into other parts of the house. Will the ceiling fan help with that? I know there is a switch to change the direction, but I don't know which way it should turn. Thanks!!

 

I think it's supposed to blow straight down during the summer (counterclockwise) & pull air up during the winter (clockwise) (to circulate the heat)

I still have to run my AC from time to time here in Louisiana on account of this HORRIBLE winter!!! (it's 70 degrees out)

 

I believe the thoery is to have the fan blowing up towards the ceiling. This will push the warm air up to the celing and make it roll off downward while drawing the cool air up. Honestly I think its all BS, Ive tried mine both ways and it makes no difference. I have a similar set up to you. A family room off the back of the house thats 3 steps down from the kitchen. Although I have heat back there, my windows arent the greatest ( which will be gettng replaced in the next year) and the floor is a concrete slab . I did insulate the floor and lay down wood flooring. The floor is cool but not cold. The room tends to be about 10 degrees colder than the rest of the house. My fix for this is going to be adding a seperate zone and thermostat for the heat down there. Any way, this was long winded (sorry)_but like I said, I see no difference no matter which way my fans blow, so I just keep them off in the winter.

 

summer - the blade will spin this way from the side / -> which is counterclockwise on my fan.

winter - the blade will spin just the opposite \ ->

One way pushes the air down and the other pushes it up.

 

summer - air goes down like the direction this guy is going -

winter - air goes up like the smoke -

trying to splain it better makes question marks come out of my head -

 

In normal circumstances the theory is to have the fan blowing UP in the winter. The idea is to force the warm air out to the walls and down in order to circulate the warm air around the room. HOWEVER, in your case you have an adjoining open room at a higher elevation. So blowing the warm air UP will simply send most of it right out of the room and into the adjoining room. Heat rises, so running the fan in either direction will simply disturb the air enough to allow the heat to rise quicker, which means it's going into the other room. So I'd leave the fan off in that particular room.

Most ceiling fans have a little black switch on the side. Up is up and down is down. Who'dathunkit?

 

Hot air rises and cool air sinks, so:
in the winter, you want to blow the warm air down from the ceiling
in the summer, you want to pull the cool air up off of the floor.

Look at the blade see witch way you want the fan going to accomplish the intended affect.

However, I turn my off in the winter most of the time because circulating air over the skin makes the air feel cold regardless of how warm it is.

 

Here look at this....


http://www.wonderquest.com/Fans.htm

 

Seems to be conflicting advice here.

I'll try to simplify it.

winter - hot air is up, like hot air found in a hot air popper -

summer - cold air is down, like the cold frost off a couple of brews -

rather than try to figure out the fan, just wear a hat - :santa:

 

Raoul- you make me
and when I saw your goat, I went

 

This is a family site. Any more post like this WILL get reported to the Webmaster!!!