Ceiling fan advice

I have a ceiling fan in the center of my cathedral ceiling cape style home, almost directly over the living room woodstove.

The fan has two speeds and pushes air from the ceiling downward. Somewhere on this forum I have read about reversing direction of the fan so that the fan pulls air UP towards the ceiling and my guess would be the air would then follow along the roof line upside down V of the ceiling and "push" the warm air downward along the back and front walls of the house.

Do I have this right?

Secondly, how do I reverse the direction of the ceiling fan? It's basically wired to a simple wall switch. it's 110V AC. Seems to me reversing the wires wouldn't do a thing? Any advice on that question?

Thanks guys! Anything for better/more air flow.

Hay, OH...mine have an "up/down" switch on them to reverse air flow.

'Course, you might need a ladder

Mine has a little switch next to the chain pull that reverses the fan direction. I run it counter clockwise, air up in the winter and clockwise in the summer to push air down. Your blades may be set up different than mine but once its on, I'm sure you can tell if the breeze is coming up your leg or hitting you in the face

Yep, your gonna have to get on a ladder and a flip the switch. All of mine in the house have them (5 total)

Like everyone said, you'll need the ladder. It will make a difference in gettiing the heat spread around.

Interesting, ...I've never noticed the switch, but I do have a ladder, one of those neat fold out ones that can be used in numerous configurations. So I'll get up close and see what I can see. This is a 1979 fan I'm talking about here, so I'll take a look. It needs dusting anyway.

On a probably unrelated note, they make Energy Star ceiling fans. I got one at a low price at HD a while back (not sure why it was so cheap). It does make a difference in electric use if you run it a lot.

Might be a good time to ponder replacing it.

Whilst you're up there with the ladder, and all

That is probably a good idea.
New fans can come equipped with thermostats that can turn the fan speed up or down depending on the room temperature helping to keep the room temperature more comfortable. This is a nice feature in the fall when the days get warm but the nights are cool.

I think this item is going to suffer from my increasing case of PMS. Which is, of course, Parked Motorcycle Syndrome. This is a disease that occurs in late January, all of February and comes to crisis level by mid March. The symptoms are what you would expect. Losing all interest in spending money on anything except various doodads that have to do with motorcycle riding preparation. This would include any new leather outerwear, any maintenance to ready the bikes for spring riding, and/or any new chrome or other bling to ramp up the new season in style.

A new ceiling fan... meh.. not so much.

I am suffering from PMS as well
What do you ride?

I have a 98 Honda Valkyrie.. and a 07 H-D Electraglide Classic. Neither of which is getting heated by the woodstoves due to them being in the on car under garage which is another airflow issue entirely. (just to keep this thread on topic.. LOL! )

Ceiling fans cool you down by blowing air across your skin causing evaporation of moisture which cools your skin. Great in Summer, not so good in Winter. Most fans have a reverse switch on the housing so they can blow up causing hot air at the ceiling to come down around the outer walls but not blow air on you coolong your skin. Usually a slow speed is all that's needed.

Ceiling fans cool you down by blowing air across your skin causing evaporation of moisture which cools your skin. Great in Summer, not so good in Winter. Most fans have a reverse switch on the housing so they can blow up causing hot air at the ceiling to come down around the outer walls but not blow air on you coolong your skin. Usually a slow speed is all that's needed.

Good explanation. Thanks! I'm not sure what kind of air flow chaos I am causing today by blowing back down.

Either built with a pull chain, or a little slider switch (typically on top) then you move on way or the other. Hopefully reachable with a decent ladder and not like 20' up.

Also, I've experimented with air flow direction and mine ALWAYS works better with it blowing down. Feels like a nice warm breeze is blowing down on, and when I crank it on high WOW it's like a hair dryer. Probably depends upon room size, ceiling height, and such, I dunno why but it's better like that for me. Happy experimenting!

What are you trying to do with the ceiling fan? If you need to move heat out of the stove room to other rooms, It may work better if you have a small, low-speed fan on the floor just outside the stove room, blowing cool air back to the stove. Sometimes the ceiling fan will disrupt the natural convection out of the stove room, whereas the fan on the floor enhances it. The hot air will stay higher, not roasting you out when you are seated in the stove room. The speed of the floor fan has to be low or it will disrupt the natural convection...

Saw that ideal on here last year, tried it. Haven't turned back since. In fact I put up like 10 or 12 incher ceiling fan up in the hallway and it has helped keep that area much warmer this year.

My ceiling is 2-1/2 stories high, thankfully there is a wall switch that is used to turn it on, it beeps up each speed up to 5 speeds, and pressing the light switch with the fan switch together reverses direction. Not sure if it came with the fan or was purchased separately. But glad the prior owner installed it as such. Now changing the one bulb that is out.... not sure other than a bunch of scaffolding.

Blowing down will get the heat off the ceiling, it will just make you feel cooler if you're underneith it.

Not all fans use switches to change rotation direction for reversing flow. If you're lucky enough to have a Hunter Original fan up there you have to twist each blade to reverse its pitch. Hunter Originals were widely used in 1979, have an oil bath for bearing lubrication, last darn near forever, and have a lifetime warranty. Most were two speed units also.

Edit: youtube video showing fan blade pitch change:

2 fans here in living room - remotes to change speed, direction. Wall switch to power off as well. I set them on low/ reverse in winter, then after heating season dig the remote out of the drawer, flip the direction. They really move the air even on low.

OH...I'm betting that, if your fans are circa 1979, they don't have the switch that reverses the blade direction. I have a cabin built in the 50s with a fan that has no such switch. If anyone knows how to deal with this situation, would appreciate some advice.

You have nice bikes I am still riding my 30 year old Yamaha's. My street bike is a Virago and my dirt bike is an IT490.
Both bikes run awesome so I haven't had the urge to upgrade yet. Maybe one day I will.

Even if the fan is not reversible (good possibility with a 1979 fan) DO NOT REPLACE IT!! It has already lasted longer than all but the most expensive "new" fans will ever think of lasting. I put up a new ceiling fan in our stove room (basement living room), and as soon as I can find an older one to fit the location, it is coming down. It hardly moves any air and buzzes like a razor. As posted above, you may be lucky to have a Hunter original, which will likely last another hundred years or so, as long as you keep it oiled.