Ceiling fans in basement

[TheRambler]

The only location in my house that i have ceiling fans is the basement, which is finished. I have a harman xxv in the basement. Heat does a decent job flowing up the stairs to the main floor.

My question is if it would be worthwhile to run the ceiling fans in the basement, and if normal or reverse would be better. I know reverse is the norm for winter, but since they are in the lowest level would running them in normal/ counter clockwise be the best choice. I am assuming running in normal they well help pull cool air in the lower level.

 

[DAKSY]

Every house is different. What works in mine may not work in yours.
Give it a try & let us know how it works out.

 

[DMKNLD]

The goal of fan use should be to augment the 'convection loop' air flow of warm stove air to other cooler parts of your house, and vice versa. In our house the ceiling fan really only seems to help in the room the stove is located in - I didn't really notice a difference between normal or reverse fan direction. When I tried the ceiling fan in our bedroom, which is the farthest room from the stove room, it seemed to just mix up the colder room air rather than improve the convection air flow from the stove room.

I got much better 'convection looping' by putting a small 8" floor fan on low setting just inside our bedroom door, blowing the cold air towards the warm stove room, and thus having that colder air replaced with the warm air flow nearer to the ceiling. Having the ceiling fan in the stove room on low seemed to help the convection looping and in equalizing the room temps throughout the house.

A simple toilet paper 'streaming test' confirmed the 2 different directions that the colder and warmer air were moving, and our bedroom temp increased from 63 F to 67 or 68 F, w/ our stove room temps at 72 - 74 F.

Search 'ceiling fan' in the upper right search function link and you will find lots of threads with thoughts on this. As always, YMMV. What works in my drafty double balloon wall 1870's connected farmhouse floor plan will likely be quite different in a modern air tight and well insulated stick frame spray foam sealed residence with an open floor plan footprint. Figure out how the air flow patterns move in your basement and experiment ! .