These recommendations depend on the height and size of the room, the season, and the activity taking place in the room.
Keep in mind that warm air rises to the top and cold air settles on the bottom. Air settles in layers from warm at the top to cold at the bottom, if left alone at equilibrium.
Ceiling fan recommendations:
In the winter
Set the fan to run counterclockwise (reverse; this looks clockwise as you are looking up). This will redirect the warm air from the ceiling and down the walls and into the living space where the people actually are. In a house, you would run the fan at a low speed so that you don't actually cool the warm air that you are moving downward. If you have a high ceiling, or are trying to heat a hall or a church, you may want to increase the fan speed so that the warm air will reach the living space as long as the fan speed does not create an unwanted downdraft at the people below.
In the summer
In a room of normal height (8 - 10 ft), you should operate your fan so that it turns clockwise (this looks counterclockwise as you are looking up), causing a more directed downdraft, especially with the fan running slightly faster. This causes a wind-chill effect because the skin evaporates slight amounts of water from the sweat glands and thereby provides cooling through the skin's surface. However, the air is only moved but not cooled! You may find that you can turn your thermostat down a degree or two and save more money on energy costs. The air blowing down won't actually cool the room though, so you should turn the fan off when there are no people (or animals) in the room.
In a high hall or church
It may be best NOT to run the fans at all in summer. This lowers the demand for cooling since the hot layer on top is an excellent insulation between the cool air near the floor (and the people) and the hot roof and outside.
A large, tall manufacturing hall would typically have different goals. There one would have a floor full of heat producing machinery plus the people operating it, working hard and welcoming a bit of a breeze. Then it would make sense to run the fans at fairly high speed to create a certain and directed downdraft. And with the shifts going throughout the days of the week, the fans should be running all the time and maybe in all seasons.
Finally, fans typically use 80-100 watts. When used properly, ceiling fans can really help to optimize the comfort level of the people and save energy and money.
Another user contributes this:
The important point from the previous answer is that fans are for cooling people. Advanced Energy (see the Related Link) says: "The most optimistic estimates I've seen on energy savings from ceiling fans peg the air conditioning savings at about 15%, assuming people do raise the thermostat setting and only run the fans when people are in the room, and taking into account the cost of energy used by the fan itself."
normally anti-clockwise. if you want it to cool you can swap the live and neutral wires around so the extractor fan works in reverse.
If you want more info, you can also take a look here: http://www.ceiling-fan-wizard.com/ceiling-fan-direction.HTML
The direction that would cause the air movement to circulate up toward the ceiling instead of down. Usually counterclockwise looking from the floor up. That way the heat hanging on the ceiling will be recirculated down the living area without causing an uncomfortable cold breeze.
The recommended group size and child:staff ratio allow three- to five-year-old children to have continuing adult support and guidance while encouraging
A ceiling fan should blow air downward in the summer and upward in the winter.
The ceiling fan should be set counterclockwise, so that the air from the fan blows downwards.
What way do you turn your ceiling fan for summer time
Counter clockwise
I done knoe
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Reverse direction of the fan. Move air down in summer of breeze, and up in winter for circulation
With a typical fan, run the fan counter-clockwise in the summer, and in the winter, run the fan clockwise at a low speed. In the summer, blow the air down to directly cool you. If you have a large room, and you are on the outside of the room, you may want to run the fan in the opposite direction. In the winter, blow the air up on slow to pull the cool air up, mixing the cool air with the warm air at the ceiling, and pushing the air across the ceiling to the walls, then coming down the walls, and minimizing wind chill.
The string activates a switch in the fan.
In this way, the shadow of the fan rotating at the floor is clockwise. Ceiling fans can be set up to rotate either way, many of them have a switch that will change the direction. Others can be wired to rotate either way. Typically they are designed to push air rather than pull it.
Ceiling fans are a good idea because they help to circulate air. In the summer they can be adjusted to circulate the room air down. In the winter they can be adjusted to circulate the room air up.
down
Reverse direction of the fan. Move air down in summer of breeze, and up in winter for circulation
up in the summer and down in the winter
Counter Clockwise. Push air down (down position on most fans)
down for the summer and up for winter
----------- According to ehow.com: In theory, the updraft can aid heating. The premise is that it pulls cool air up to the ceiling, where most of the heated air settles, and then sends warmer air down into the room along the outer walls. Most fans come with a discreet switch to reverse the direction the motor turns the fan blades. This is a vertical slide switch with two positions. Generally the down position will cause the fan to blow downward and the up position will create an updraft. http://www.ehow.com/how_4895488_reverse-ceiling-fan-blades.html
With a typical fan, run the fan counter-clockwise in the summer, and in the winter, run the fan clockwise at a low speed. In the summer, blow the air down to directly cool you. If you have a large room, and you are on the outside of the room, you may want to run the fan in the opposite direction. In the winter, blow the air up on slow to pull the cool air up, mixing the cool air with the warm air at the ceiling, and pushing the air across the ceiling to the walls, then coming down the walls, and minimizing wind chill.
In winter, fan should blow down,heat rises,get it back. In summer ,fan should blow up for a 2 story vaulted ceiling,to circulate air but not blow down hot air.On a one story in summer it can blow either,but it's a prefference.Up is ok,but down you get a lower cool index feeling.
For summer use, the airflow should go down directly from the fan to the floor. For winter use it should pull the air from the floor towards the ceiling so it flows across the ceiling and around the room. So as to whether it should be clock-wise or counter clock-wise, that would depend on the angle of your blades. It's best to just stand under it when it's on. In the summer you should feel the air blowing on you from the fan and in the winter you shouldn't.
Paint the ceiling first. Work top down.
The string activates a switch in the fan.
In this way, the shadow of the fan rotating at the floor is clockwise. Ceiling fans can be set up to rotate either way, many of them have a switch that will change the direction. Others can be wired to rotate either way. Typically they are designed to push air rather than pull it.