Yes, a directional ceiling fan question

[chutes]

Sorry for this question, as I remember someone even recently saying (I paraphrase): "summer is over so here come the newbs with the questions about which direction should ceiling fans be set at", but I want to ask anyway:

I read on here some posts by Fossil about setting ceiling fans to updraft, but that particular thread that I found seemed to me to be about ceiling fans that were in the same room as the insert. My insert is in my living room on the first floor. My three son's each have rooms on the second floor, and each room has a ceiling fan. Should those be set to updraft as well? Will those ceiling fans running even help, being that they're on the second floor?

Thanks,
Dave

 

[billb3]

Well, get a step ladder (if you have tall cielings) and put your bare hand on the ceiling. If the air up there is quite a bit warmer than on the floor, then you may want to move some of that air around the room. You should be able to sense the temperature difference on the back of your hand between the air near the floor and that of overhead. Get a thermometer if you need definitive documentation. Or just decide if the sound of the fan is worthwhile.


In my old house I found that the lowest speed setting was enough, anything more just added a chilling breeze. Didn't really matter which way the fans went (in the Winter, down in the Summer was more effective for feling cooler)
The house I'm in now the ceilings (double) are so low I can stand up and put the palm of my hand flat on the ceiling while barefoot.
If I had ceiling fans I'd have to walk around on my knees.

I've got a small squirrel fan at the office. Drop ceilings and without the fan the temp on the ceilings must be 90. At my desk it's 66. I move the air around. It helps. Comfort wise. Just knowing that hot stratified air is up there while I'm shivering with the fan off drives me nuts. The squirrel fan is much quiter than the round fan I had before.

 

[Bill]

I doubt the ceiling fans do much for the bedrooms, but if it gets to hot, that's a different story. Pulling the heat up and around the outside walls is less drafty than the other way, that's the only difference I see.

 

[fossil]

In any room, regardless of the heat source, absent a ceiling fan or other means to destratify the air, warm air will tend to collect at the ceiling. A ceiling fan disrupts that stratification and mixes the air in the room to even out the vertical temperature differential. Conventional wisdom says run the fans on updraft in the wintertime, when you don't want to feel the cooling effect of the moving air on your skin. This will establish a circulation pattern that brings cooler air up from below, through the fan, displacing the warmer air collected at the ceiling, and forcing it out and down the walls. In summertime, you may want the cooling effect of the gentle breeze, so you can reverse the fans to downdraft. Try it both ways and see which works best for you, in terms of both direction and fan speed. Rick

 

[bmcintyre]

First month after install of our new QuadraFire 3100 and I'm still getting a feel for how to burn with the stove. That being said I've only fired it about 8 times this past month. I could not believe how much a difference was made by reversing (pulling air up) the ceiling fan in the room where the stove is installed. Thanks for the suggestions!! I'm considering maybe running a vent over the stove with ducting to our bedrooms to distribute the heat a little more evenly.. but honestly after making this small change I may not make any further venting modifications in the house.

Fossil.. I'm an Oregon native.. lived in Eugene for almost 30 years before heading midwest. I'm jealous of you guys in Bend!!