Here’s What You Absolutely Need in a Ceiling Fan

It’s no surprise that ceiling fans are getting more popular among eco-conscious and fiscally responsible homeowners. With all kinds of costs going up these days, and perhaps even an imminent recession, people are doing everything they can to lower costs, and a ceiling fan is much cheaper to run than traditional air conditioning and heat.

But before you hit the home supply circuit, you should know exactly what you’re looking for in a new ceiling fan. Things like size, number of blades, design, could make all the difference to whether your fan works well in your space or not. Here are the things you absolutely need to consider when choosing a new ceiling fan.

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A ceiling fan’s size is determined by taking a measurement straight across the blades, from the tip of one blade across the center to the tip of the corresponding blade. If the fan has an odd number of blades, then there is no corresponding blade – in that case, the measurement is taken from the tip of a blade to the center of the fan motor and then that number is multiplied by two.

Fans come in sizes as small as 29 inches and range all the way up to 80 inches or more. You need to buy a fan that’s appropriately sized for your space. Measure the room in which you’ll be hanging the fan to determine its square footage. Use these guidelines to choose the best size fan for your needs:

• Fans 36 inches and smaller are good for rooms no bigger than 75 square feet.
• Fans 36 to 42 inches are good for rooms up to 144 square feet.
• Fans 50 to 54 inches wide are good for rooms 145 to 225 square feet.
• Fans larger than 54 inches should be placed in rooms larger than 225 square feet.
• For the largest rooms, choose fans 60 inches and above.

It’s important to make sure you get the right size fan for your room. If your fan is too small, the breeze it creates might not be strong enough to adequately circulate air in the space. If the fan’s too big, on the other hand, you can easily create too much of a breeze for the space.

You definitely want a ceiling fan that blends in with your decor. Thankfully, it’s not hard these days to find fans in a wide range of styles and designs. You can choose from farmhouse ceiling fans, tropical ceiling fans, industrial fans, traditional fans, contemporary fans, and more.

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Today’s ceiling fans are much quieter than the ones of yore. However, you’ll want to make sure you choose the fan with the quietest motor, especially if you’re going to hang it in a bedroom. Motors like the Emerson EcoMotor or the WhisperWind motor used in Hunter fans will minimize fan noise so you and your family can enjoy a cool breeze during sleep.

Okay, so maybe not every ceiling fan needs to have smart features. You might be perfectly happy with pull-chain controls on your bedroom fan, because the ceilings in bedrooms tend to be lower and you’ll be able to easily reach the chains to control your fan. But if you have high ceilings, smart features are a must. Smart fans can connect to your smartphone or smart home device so you can more easily control things like fan speed, blade direction, and operation or dimming of the lights.

These days, the number of blades on a ceiling fan is largely an aesthetic choice that can even spruce up your ceiling. That said, fans with more blades tend to create gentler breezes than fans with few blades. Fewer blades put less stress on the motor and are quieter, while more blades create more air circulation, while at the same time being more subtle. The four or five blades found in most fan designs strike a balance between air circulation and noise generation, but you might decide that having a specific fan design is worth having a few more or less blades.

A ceiling fan’s profile refers to how far from the ceiling the motor housing hangs. A low-profile fan nestles right up against the ceiling, with no downrod to create space between the blades and the ceiling. This design is best for rooms with low ceilings. Fans with downrods are best for high ceilings. Ceiling fans should hang at a height of seven to eight feet from the floor, so choose the right fan profile for your ceiling height. If you have very high ceilings, you may need to buy a downrod extension kit for your fan.

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A ceiling fan is a major purchase, so you need to know what you’re looking for in a fan before you go shopping. Get the right fan for your space, so you can enjoy it for years.

Published in: Home advice | Author: Yanita