PSA: Fans have two modes: up and down

[Lithium381]

I've had my fan on all summer, and my room is always uber stuffy......come to find out there is a switch that changes the direction........oh man it helps so much!!!!!! why didn't anyone tell me this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BTW Who is a better composer?


A Yanni
B Nobuo Uematsu(FF music)

 

[NissanGurl]

So which direction helped get rid of the stuffiness? Is the fan pushing air from the ceiling towards the floor or is it pulling air from the floor to the ceiling? Go investigate with matches and report back (when you blow out the match what direction does the smoke go). I've often wondered which works best in the summertime and it seems you may have found an answer.

Edit: I suck at spelling

 

[waggy]

heh i always forget to switch it myself. then i can't remember what direction it should be going.

but we put a new fan in the bedroom. the switch is labled Summer/winter so its easy heh.

 

[Ika]

nobuo kicks so much ass.

I'm guessing you're pulling the air up, and it makes it better?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Aflac
nobuo kicks so much ass.

I'm guessing you're pulling the air up, and it makes it better?

Actually, I've found that blowing the air down works better at cooling you off.

 

[NissanGurl]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: Aflac
nobuo kicks so much ass.

I'm guessing you're pulling the air up, and it makes it better?

Actually, I've found that blowing the air down works better at cooling you off.

I think the OP needs another poll for this issue...I'd really like to know which direction works best for which season.

 

[ATLien247]

I think blowing the air down feels cooler, but I'm not sure that it makes any difference in ambient temperature either way.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: NissanGurl


I think the OP needs another poll for this issue...I'd really like to know which direction works best for which season.

No Poll needed.

In the summer you blow it down so that the breeze is blowing directly on you and cools you off. Run it on low if you're comfortable, or on med or high if you're warm.

In the winter you have it blowing up so you feel less of a breeze, but it still keeps the temp of the air the same at all levels of the room. Run it on low all the time.

Blowing up, or down, the air circulates in the room and the temperature is equalized at all levels of the room. The only difference is the breeze you feel sitting below it.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Amused
No Poll needed.

In the summer you blow it down so that the breeze is blowing directly on you and cools you off. Run it on low if you're comfortable, or on med or high if you're warm.

In the winter you have it blowing up so you feel less of a breeze, but it still keeps the temp of the air the same at all levels of the room. Run it on low all the time.

Either way it blows the air circulates in the room and the temperature is equalized at all levels of the room.

Ditto. Amused, I'm agreeing with you a lot recently. Did you get hit on the head? Maybe a weight dropped there while you were at the gym?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Amused
No Poll needed.

In the summer you blow it down so that the breeze is blowing directly on you and cools you off. Run it on low if you're comfortable, or on med or high if you're warm.

In the winter you have it blowing up so you feel less of a breeze, but it still keeps the temp of the air the same at all levels of the room. Run it on low all the time.

Either way it blows the air circulates in the room and the temperature is equalized at all levels of the room.

Ditto. Amused, I'm agreeing with you a lot recently. Did you get hit on the head?

Probably because we aren't discussing politics?

 

[The Pentium Guy]

In the summer you blow it down so that the breeze is blowing directly on you and cools you off.

In the winter you have it blowing up so you feel less of a breeze, but it still keeps the temp of the air the same at all levels of the room.

Either way it blows the air circulates in the room and the temperature is equalized at all levels of the room.

I have a different logic...

In the winter you want it blowing down so that the warmer air up at the top gets down to you. In the summer you want it pulling up to keep the heat in the top. Then in the summer I blow out hot air via window fan and circulate air around using a regular fan.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
In the winter you want it blowing down so that the warmer air up at the top gets down to you. In the summer you want it pulling up to keep the heat in the air.

So much wrong, on so many levels. Where do we begin. I think I'll begin by leaving the thread.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy

In the summer you blow it down so that the breeze is blowing directly on you and cools you off.

In the winter you have it blowing up so you feel less of a breeze, but it still keeps the temp of the air the same at all levels of the room.

Either way it blows the air circulates in the room and the temperature is equalized at all levels of the room.

I have a different logic...

In the winter you want it blowing down so that the warmer air up at the top gets down to you. In the summer you want it pulling up to keep the heat in the top. Then in the summer I blow out hot air via window fan and circulate air around using a regular fan.

Wrong.

No matter which way it blows it will quickly eqaulize the temp at all levels of the room.

The ONLY difference is the breeze you FEEL. And blowing down blows the air directly on you, making you feel cooler. Blowing up severely lessens that cooling feeling because there is less of a breeze under the fan.

Where do you feel cooler: Sitting in front of a fan, or behind it?

In front of course, because the air moving over your skin pulls heat energy off of you faster making you feel cooler.

Therefore to feel cooler, you blow the fan ON you (down). To simply equalize the temp of the room, you blow it away from you (up).

 

[Kanalua]

I have mine blowing towards the ceiling. Cools much better than blowing air downward.

 

[Quasmo]

The reason the fan blows up is during the winter, it keeps the air circulating, and because heat rises, you need to push that heat back down to the ground.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Kanalua
I have mine blowing towards the ceiling. Cools much better than blowing air downward.

So when you're hot you point a fan away from you to feel cooler? How odd.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
In the winter you want it blowing down so that the warmer air up at the top gets down to you. In the summer you want it pulling up to keep the heat in the air.

So much wrong, on so many levels. Where do we begin. I think I'll begin by leaving the thread.

Not before I leave it!


D'oh!

 

[Dubb]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Kanalua
I have mine blowing towards the ceiling. Cools much better than blowing air downward.

So when you're hot you point a fan away from you to feel cooler? How odd.

I do that sometimes. a fan in the bedroom blowing air out, so then cooler air is drawn in the windows in the living room. less noise and more efficient that way.

really you can't say that it's always summer = down winter = up, there's lots of things that can influence it. Amused is right for many situations, but there are a good number of exceptions (if you have radient heat vs forced air, for example)

 

[waggy]

yeah amused is right.


we have fans in every room of the house. well the one in my office broke. it used to be a bedroom and the prevouse owners broke it and patched up the hole. im tempted to put one up but they patched it and nto sure if i can do it heh.

its great having them in the bedrooms and living rooms ( yeah we have 2)

 

[Lithium381]

Right now i have it blowing down, which seems to be more efficient. Apprently in the winter you're better off with it blowing upwards. This is news to me, as such i posted a PSA, which has people from both camps in here battling it out fiercly...... Anyways, vote in my poll b*tches......

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: NissanGurl


I think the OP needs another poll for this issue...I'd really like to know which direction works best for which season.

No Poll needed.

In the summer you blow it down so that the breeze is blowing directly on you and cools you off. Run it on low if you're comfortable, or on med or high if you're warm.

In the winter you have it blowing up so you feel less of a breeze, but it still keeps the temp of the air the same at all levels of the room. Run it on low all the time.

Blowing up, or down, the air circulates in the room and the temperature is equalized at all levels of the room. The only difference is the breeze you feel sitting below it.

QFT.

 

[Zach]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Kanalua
I have mine blowing towards the ceiling. Cools much better than blowing air downward.

So when you're hot you point a fan away from you to feel cooler? How odd.

It works if you only spend time in the rooms perimeter and not the center. The air moves down the walls. In some spots of my living room it feels cooler if the fan is in winter mode during the summer. Overall for me I like it blowing down better though.

 

[Lithium381]

Vote

 

[ruffilb]

Don't know either conductor.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
In the winter you want it blowing down so that the warmer air up at the top gets down to you. In the summer you want it pulling up to keep the heat in the top. Then in the summer I blow out hot air via window fan and circulate air around using a regular fan.

No, because it's not about ambient temperature. It's about rate of heat loss, which is only related to ambient temperature. If your skin is losing heat at a high rate, it feels cold to you, if it's losing heat at a low rate, it feels warm. Example: You have a room that's held at 18C. There is a large window in that room. If the outside temperature is hot (say 30C), you feel much less cold than if the outside temperature is cold (0C), since there is much less radiative transfer from your skin in that case.

The three methods of heat transfer are conductive (temp of air in room), convective (breezes/fans, evaporative cooling from sweat factors in here too), and radiative (temperature of walls and outdoors, if there are windows). All three factors determine how hot you feel.