Why You Should Set Your Ceiling Fan’s Direction Clockwise This Winter? Appliance Experts Weigh In

Inside almost every house in the world, there is a mob of ceiling fans whose cold metal blades start rotating, slicing hot air, and circulating hoops of coolness all around the room. Once installed on the ceiling, a ceiling fan is fairly easy to operate. Most people think that this is it. But a ceiling fan functions beyond just this. In an interview with HuffPost, several experts revealed that a ceiling fan is designed not only to “cool” but also to “warm.” The trick is to change the direction of its rotation according to the season. So, to add a little warmth to your room this winter, here's how you can manipulate your ceiling fan.

“Ceiling fans are extremely useful for controlling the way the air moves within a space,” Katie Whitaker, founder of home repair business Handyma’am, told the media channel. “It’s important to note that they don’t change the temperature of the room — they move air in different ways, and the way that your body interacts with that air changes your perception of the temperature.” When the fan’s blades fling counter-clockwise, it pushes the air down, which causes the persons sitting below to feel cool. But just as it can circulate cool air, it can also circulate warm air, something that is little known to people.

In the winter season, when people need to feel warmer, they usually abandon their ceiling fans, leaving them to the mercy of the dust motes flying around. Till spring arrives, the fan stares down still, its blades coated in a gossamer film of dust and dirt. But this isn’t mandatory. Whitaker described that by changing the direction of the fan from counter-clockwise to clockwise, one can prompt the appliance to supply the room with warm air. When the fan rotates clockwise, it pulls more of the warm air upwards, and circulates the same in the room, creating a warm atmosphere.

“For the most efficient warming effect, allow your fan to rotate on a low speed, creating an even distribution of warm air and eliminating cool spots in the room,” said Gary McCoy, the store manager of Lowe’s Central Charlotte in North Carolina. Changing the fan’s direction is simple. McCoy explained that there is “a switch, usually located on the fan’s motor unit right below the blades that when adjusted will change the direction of the fan’s rotation.”

Changing the direction of the fan is not just about feeling cool or warm. It is also rooted in saving energy. A fan is not just about spinning blades, but also a lot about physics and airflow dynamics, CityLightsSF explains. The angle at which the fan blades are set, known as the “blade pitch,” is crucial to determining the airflow. “A steeper pitch moves more air but requires more power, whereas a shallow pitch moves less air but is more energy-efficient. The direction of rotation affects how the pitched blades interact with the air,” they elaborate.

As a result, by following this simple direction-changing tip, people can save a lot of money. Whitaker noted that some people claim that they can save as much as 15% off their heating and cooling bills by following this fan-circulation tip. The Department of Energy also agrees with this statistic. But other factors also work in the background too. “It depends on how well insulated your home is. It depends on how efficient your heating or cooling system is. It depends on a bunch of different factors,” he said.