One of the main reasons why people prefer to use ceiling fans over air conditioners is that they are less expensive, both in terms of the initial outlay, and the cost over time. With a ceiling fan, you can enjoy the luxury of enjoying cool air while not spending a lot of money. But you might wonder ‘How much electricity does a ceiling fan use? Is it really better than an air conditioner? In this post, we will answer that question. We will also consider some of the best tips on reducing the amount of electricity that your ceiling fan uses.
You will see the exact cost of the fan as well as learn exactly how much electricity the ceiling fan uses. So, without further ado, let us consider these and more.
Before we determine what the actual cost of running the fan is, the answer to the question above is important.
The truth is that these appliances are not expensive to run. For most folks, the ceiling fan is a way of cooling down the home. Instead of using an air conditioner, they have opted to use the fan. Hunter Minimus is an example of the best economical ceiling fans to run.
There are several reasons why this is great. For one, it is less expensive to buy a ceiling fan. It is cheaper right off the market. Also, the cost of running air conditioning is higher than the cost of running a ceiling fan.
An air conditioner does come with some benefits. Many have said that it offers more power and is more effective at cooling.
If you stay somewhere with high humidity, then you might be better served by an air conditioner.
Here we will discover the exact amount of electricity that your ceiling fan uses.
To find out the exact amount of electricity used by your ceiling fan, you have to know how many watts the fan uses to operate. When you have that, then you need to know how long the fan runs every day.
To know the cost of the fan, all you need to do is multiply the number of watts by the price per kWh that your power company charges. Therefore, if the fan has a capacity of 120 watts and the power company charges $0.12 per kW, this is how to break it down into exact figures:
To know how much you are charged per hour, calculate this way: 120 watts multiplied by 0.12. This will give you 14.4.
As we calculate the value in kW, and 1 kilowatt gives you 1000 watts, you will need to divide the 14.4 by 1000. This gives you 0.0144.
Therefore, the power company charges you $0.0144 per hour of usage.
Calculating the amount of electricity spent per day is easy. If you run the fan for about 6 hours daily, then you will have a total consumption of 6 multiplied by 120 watts. This gives you 720 watts.
With that in mind, you can calculate how much you will spend per day. To do that, multiply the cost every hour by the number of hours that the fan is on.
Using the values that we used earlier, we have 0.0864. Therefore, you will spend $0.0864 per day.
Calculating how much you spend every year is also straightforward. If the fan consumes 720 watts of power every day, you simply calculate for a month by multiplying that by the number of days in the month. A 30 day month means that you will use up to 21,600 watts per month. This gives you 21.6 kWh. Therefore, your entire consumption for a month would amount to 21.6 units.
So how much will you be charged per month? To know that, multiply the units by the amount charged by the power company. This will mean 21.6 x 0.12 = 2.592. Therefore, the fan will cost you $2.592 every month.
For a whole year, the fan will cost 2.592 x 12 = $31.104.
Now that we have seen the exact amount of electricity that the ceiling fan uses, let us now see some tips on how you can save electricity while running a ceiling fan.
The first thing that you should check out, which can help with the costs of electricity is the direction of the fan. The efficiency of the fan is very important in terms of cost-saving. Therefore, if the fan does not rotate in the correct direction, you might be wasting energy and this will affect the cost of electricity used by the fan, especially in case with the bedroom ceiling fans.
How can you do it correctly? Let’s see.
In the summer, ensure that the fan is in a direction where the air moves downward. The downward movement can be achieved by setting the fan to move anticlockwise. With this setting, the air that will be blown will be cool and ensure a good time. In the colder months, set the fan in a clockwise direction. The clockwise movement ensures that the fan sucks up the cold air and replaces it with warm or hot air.
When you do this for the different weather conditions, then you can enjoy a fan that will use a very little amount of electricity or will use it optimally.
Another tip that will assist you to make the best of your fan and use as little electricity as possible is to switch it off when you are not in the room. It has been established that ceiling fans don’t use plenty of electricity and are rather cheap to operate, however, there is no essence having the ceiling fan operational if there is nobody using it.
Thus, if you are not using the fan, always remember to turn it off as you leave. It might seem minute, but it is the little things that add up and increase the cost of your electricity.
There are several types of ceiling fans on the market, and they come in different designs and styles. One of the styles that have risen in popularity is the fan with light fixtures. This design might be appealing and will enhance your décor, but if you are looking to reduce the electricity costs of the fan, you might need to remove these attractive fixtures.
However, if you are determined to get a model that has light fixtures, we recommend that you opt for models that have LED light bulbs. This type of light is rated as energy saving. Therefore, it uses a reduced amount of electricity when compared to the other types of lights. Westinghouse Lighting 7801665 comes with this type of economical lighting.
These are the major things to keep in mind. Some other tips that can help include:
There are some factors that will affect your ability to calculate correctly. For example, if you have solar panels installed and running, the calculations we have done above might not accurately show you just how much you are spending on the electricity costs due to running a ceiling fan,
If you are using this type of energy, you might not be spending a single penny on the ceiling fan. You can use this
energy calculator
Trusted Source
Estimating Appliance and Home Electronic Energy Use - ENERGY.GOV
Our appliance and electronic energy use calculator allows you to estimate your annual energy use and cost to operate specific products. The wattage values provided are samples only; actual wattage of products varies depending on product age and features.
www.energy.gov
to get exact figures.
The price variation between air conditioners and ceiling fans are rather clear. The air conditioner is more expensive, at least most models are, than the ceiling fan. Before we determine which of the two is better in terms of efficiency, let us consider what they do.
The ceiling fan serves a rather simple function, especially when compared with the air conditioner. It works by rotating the blades with the aid of a motor. These then distribute the air around the space quickly. With ceiling fans, you can cool down naturally because the air will cause sweat to evaporate from your body.
An air conditioner, on the other hand, does more than the ceiling fan. There is more that goes into the workings of an air conditioner for it to cool the area. For the AC unit, chemicals help in transferring the heat in the space to the outside air. These chemicals do this by changing the gas to liquid form and back quickly.
In terms of efficiency, there is a difference between the two. A ceiling fan uses around 10 to 120 watts of power. Compare this with the 750 to 3500 watts of the average air conditioner and you can see that the ceiling fan isn’t as powerful as the AC unit. From that alone, it is rather clear which of the two appliances would use the higher amount of power. With higher use of electricity comes an increase in the cost.
Since the fan uses a lower amount of electricity, it will be cheaper to use than the AC unit.
For better understanding, a regular ceiling fan will need around30 watts of power to function, while a regular air conditioner will need perhaps around 1200 watts of power just to start working. So if you ran the ceiling fan for about three hours, you will spend only around 1 cent. If you spent the same time with an AC unit, you will have to pay around 14 cents. As you can see, there is a lot of difference between the two.
Although people see that there are differences, many still prefer using the AC unit. The main reason is that air conditioners are simply more comfortable to use. These appliances will help to cool the temperature of the room. The ceiling fan only cools your skin and not the run. Thus, running the fan for several hours will not result in any change to the room’s temperature. It will only make you waste electricity.
Is it possible to enjoy the best of both worlds? Yes. You can do this by using a combination of the air conditioner and the ceiling fan. This way, you can get the best using them together instead of running each one for a long time.
In summary, while the air conditioner offers the best cooling and comfort, a ceiling fan is affordable and the cheapest option. By combining a fan and AC unit, you can reduce the temperature of the room and save some money too.
So, what have we discovered? Our in-depth analysis has shown the exact amount of electricity that the ceiling fan uses. We have seen that ceiling fans are very effective and cheap, both when you initially buy them and when they are in operation. Compared to other air quality appliances, like the air conditioner, they use very little electricity to run, which in turn costs very little.
In this post, we have made practical explanations and have shown calculations to help you to know and answer the question of how much electricity does a ceiling fan use. We believe that you know have enough knowledge that will help you choose the ceiling fan to keep your room and body cool without costing a fortune. The reviews indicate that Hunter Indoor Low Profile IV is very economical to run.
