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I just installed a ceiling fan in the central room. It has four doorways leading to a hallway and stairs, living room, kitchen and den.

Which direction of the fan will optimize air flow? Pushing the hotter air down or pulling cooler air up onto the ceiling?

Thanks

Pushing hot air towards floor

in the winter.. while you are heating a room with a ceiling fan in it... you will want the fan in reverse mode
.. you will want to draw the cooler air up into the room( ceiling area)...
.. which will displace the warmer air above.. causing it to wash down the walls on the perimeter of the room
.. you should use a lower speed settings. .

Tried it both ways with many readings with my IR gun over my Jotul and it made no difference. In normal mode you are taking the hot air and moving it towards the floor and the negative pressure will move the cold are up there. However, I suppose you should go with conventional wisdom which is like the moral majority.

I've been messing around with the fan settings on both of the fans in my living room. The airflow in my house is so weird that one day I could have both of them pushing air up, the next I'd be pushing the air down.

Yep, what everybody else said. It would totally depend on your house layout, ceiling height, how is it broken up wall wise, arch ways, etc????????

Rigar wrote:in the winter.. while you are heating a room with a ceiling fan in it... you will want the fan in reverse mode
.. you will want to draw the cooler air up into the room( ceiling area)...
.. which will displace the warmer air above.. causing it to wash down the walls on the perimeter of the room
.. you should use a lower speed settings. .

... P.S.
.. if the room is extremely large... with very high ceilings ( over 10 feet)...
then you may want to push the air downward
room size and shape will matter.. but in a standard height room.. displacing heat trapped at the ceiling and pushing it down the walls should be your best bet..

... but the truth of the matter is... try it both ways- and see which 1 gives you the most comfort.
I do however suggest you keep the fan speed low.
.. good luck and stay warm!

freetown fred wrote:Yep, what everybody else said. It would totally depend on your house layout, ceiling height, how is it broken up wall wise, arch ways, etc????????

...lmao !

... and don't forget to keep your windows closed!

It's a 10' high ceiling in a 15x20 room. 3 standard doorways and one double-sized entry leading to the living room. The fan will run
on low speed and I'll try the reverse setting with the air blowing up to the ceiling. Hopefully I'll notice an improvement in circulation.

What we found is to run a ceiling fan on reverse in another room. This pulls the warm air into other areas. Of course everything depends on many many variables. Ceiling height, layout of the home ect ect ect. One constant had been to run the fan on low. Low and slow wins the race.

It's all personal preference. Some people don't like to feel air blowing on them so run the fan so it's pulling air up. That washes the walls with the warm air going down.

I have a cealing fan and don't use it. I have two box fans on the floor blowing air into the living room this pulls warm air into the top of the hall and into my bedroom.

I recommend running the fan in reverse during the winter. I don't think either direction will make much difference. The purpose of the fan is to evenly circulate the air throughout the room and mixing the heat that will inevitably rise into the ceiling with cooler air down at the floor level. The purpose of running the fan in reverse is to eliminate the breeze felt by room occupants if the fan is run in the normal direction. Obviously in the summer this cooling breeze is desired

Exactly. If the air touches your skin, it will make you feel cooler. Wind chill effect. Most fans come with a owners manual and will describe it.

coalkirk wrote:It's all personal preference. Some people don't like to feel air blowing on them so run the fan so it's pulling air up. That washes the walls with the warm air going down.

I hafta admit. I'm different than most.
I have tried both ways, and to be perfectly honest,
I don't like it on, either way.
Wife hates it, too....
(normal height ceilings)
I think it makes it feel cooler. Don't like it.

Dan