Stay Cool Without Spending A Mint
As we’re tumbling into early fall it can be easy to fall into the allure of comfy sweaters and soup season. But fall doesn’t mean it’s time to stop dealing with summer heat. While it may not be time to blast your air conditioner, it’s not quite time to turn on your furnace. So, how do you keep your house cool? Ceiling fans are great for circulating air through your home and keeping rooms comfortable. Plus, they help keep your New Jersey electricity bills low. But how can you get the most energy efficiency from your ceiling fan?
Give Your Ceiling Fan Some Direction
Most ceiling fans will have a switch on the body of the fan to change the direction it spins. During warm months, make sure your fan spins in a counterclockwise direction. This blows air straight down into the center of the room. Not only will the breeze help you feel cooler but it helps circulate air. In many older homes, this can help your air conditioner run more efficiently. But during the colder months, you want to run your fan in a clockwise direction. This pulls warmed air up from the center of a room and pushes it out and down the walls.
Make Sure Your Ceiling Fan Is Properly Placed
Ceiling fans work best when they’re positioned properly to get the maximum amount of air movement. In most homes, that’s in the center of the room. The optimum placement for a ceiling fan is around a foot down from the ceiling, and 7-9 feet away from the floor. This gives the perfect amount of room for air to circulate through the blades. It also reduces strain on your fan’s motor. That means less electricity spent to move the air in your home, which reduces your bills in other ways.
Ceiling Fans Reduce Your Cooling Needs
When working together with your air conditioner, a ceiling fan can increase the efficiency of your air conditioner. By circulating the air through your home, you can avoid drafts and hot spots that trick your air conditioner into running longer than it needs to. Less run time means you’ll spend less money on your cooling costs. Plus, there’s less wear on your air conditioner. So, to avoid expensive repair bills, invest in a ceiling fan to keep your home feeling cooler.
Fans Cool People, Not Rooms
With all this talk of air circulation, it’s important to remember that moving air cools people, not rooms. The human body uses sweat to cool itself. So, the wind chill effect from a ceiling fan helps evaporate sweat from your skin. As a result, you’ll feel cooler even though the air temperature doesn’t change. This windchill effect can also allow you to raise the temperature of your home by 1 or 2 degrees. This helps cut down on your air conditioner’s run time.
Save Money On Your Electricity In Other Ways
Putting in a ceiling fan isn’t going to reduce your electricity bill by much, but it can help. But switching to a new electricity plan can save you even more. You can find great rates across New Jersey to help lower your bills. And you can shop all of them at www.njenergyratings.com