If you want to take a bite out of your heating bill, consider using ceiling fans to help recirculate the heated air that naturally rises to the ceiling.

If you live in a home with high or vaulted ceilings, you'll especially benefit from ceiling fans set at their lowest speed setting to gently mix the air. But any homeowner can enhance heating during winter using ceiling fans. In the summer, ceiling fans make you feel cooler, but in the winter, they actually bring down the heated air near the ceiling to redistribute already heated air, and help keep the temperature more uniform in your rooms.

Many ceiling fans have two settings, one for hot weather and the other for cold. In the winter, the switch should be set so that fan blades turn clockwise. According to experts, the air at the ceiling can often be significantly warmer than the air in the lower part of the room. Using ceiling fans, the blades move the hot air out toward the edges of a room, and down the wall, where the process starts all over again, with the heat rising to the top of the room. That's how running a ceiling fan helps redistribute the overall warmth.

Using ceiling fans can also cut down on some of the water condensation that gathers on windows when it's excessively cold outside, because they move the air around a room continuously, helping to keep the glass in the windows warmer.

Before installing ceiling fans, be sure you find the right place for them. They should be hung from a reinforced plate in the ceiling or from a dedicated electrical box. You may want to hire an electrician if you don't have any light fixtures in the ceiling, since you'll have to run wires to the site. Ceiling fans are also heavy and need to be securely hung to avoid accidents. 

If you'd like more information about using ceiling fans and learning more about holding the line on your heating bills, contact Tri-County Heating & Cooling. We've provided HVAC services for Butler County and Greater Cincinnati for more than 40 years. 

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