Save Energy For Summer : Flip Your Ceiling Fan Rotation

Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer and, in many parts of the country, weekend weather was indistinguishable from what one might expect in August.

Temperatures climbed into the 90s throughout the Southwest, South Central, Midwest and Southeast and even crossed 100 degrees in parts of Kansas.

For homeowners with ceiling fans, the change of season offers a timely reminder to change the direction in which ceiling fan blades rotate. Properly-rotating ceiling fan blades not only cool your home more efficiently, but can lower your energy bill, too.

Ceiling fans are meant to amplify your home's natural heating and cooling systems. Using the equivalent energy of a 100-watt light bulb, on a cool day, a ceiling fan will recirculate warmer air, making a room feel up to 6 degrees warmer.

On a warm day, a ceiling fan can reduce a room's effective temperature by 4 degrees. It accomplishes this by pushing colder air back into a room, creating a "windchill effect" on the skin. This is a far more economical way to regulate temperature as compared setting a home thermostat up or down by 4 degrees.

The key is to have the ceiling fan blades running in the proper direction.

• When your home's heating system is on, rotate fan blades clockwise
• When your home's cooling system is on, rotate fan blades counter-clockwise

For additional cost savings with a ceiling fan, remember to turn it off when you're not in the room. Ceiling fans don't cool the air; neither do they warm it. Rather, ceiling fans move air which gives the sensation of a room being cooler or warmer. With nobody in the room, there's no need to run the fan.

If your home is without ceiling fans, and you'd like to install one or many, the process is inexpensive and easy. There are videos online which walk you through the steps, or you can call a qualified electrician. Need an electricians name?  Call or email me -- I'm happy to offer a referral in Seattle.