A New Spin on Efficient Home Ceiling Fans

Submitted by Web Master on Fri, 2011-04-22 13:26

Most ceiling fans come without lights, but energy-efficient light kits can usually be added.

There are thousands of residential ceiling fans out there. GreenSpec picks three lines that outperform others on performance and efficiency.

Have you ever tried to find an energy-efficient residential ceiling fan? There are thousands of models available, using blades in an assortment of numbers, shapes, and sizes. How does anyone sort through all those choices?

Here at GreenSpec, we've done some digging for you and have found the most efficient ceiling fans on the market. Out of those thousands of models we've found three lines from three different manufacturers, each of which offers fans with special ECM motors that significantly outperform any standard fan.

BG Blog ID: 
7
BG Blog URL: 
http://www.buildinggreen.com/live/index.cfm/2011/4/22/A-New-Spin-on-Efficient-Home-Ceiling-Fans

Comments

If you take a look at the ene

Submitted by Todd Collins on Fri, 2012-01-06 17:20.
If you take a look at the energy star website, you will find that Emerson has a couple options that have fantastic numbers. I have Emerson's Midway Eco fans and it is in one of the pictures in the article. They aren't cheap but amazingly efficient.

Ralph if you click through to

Submitted by Tristan Roberts on Thu, 2011-04-28 11:11.
Ralph if you click through to our fan listings: http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/productsByCsiSection.cfm?csiMF2004ID=3... You should see three residential ceiling fans among the 10 or so total products there (the other products include inline fans, etc.). Those are our top three. I hope this helps.

Brett: I have scanned the art

Submitted by Ralph Bicknese on Thu, 2011-04-28 11:05.
Brett: I have scanned the article 3 or more times and looked at the BuildingGreen fan listings on-line but can't seem to find any list of what the top 3 fans are. Did I miss it? Cheers!

The idea of using ceiling fan

Submitted by Walter Simpson on Sun, 2011-04-24 16:35.
The idea of using ceiling fans in the winter to recirculate heat at the ceiling is based to some extent on saving energy by reducing thermal conduction through the ceiling. In theory these savings would accrue because if there was thermal stratifcation and higher temps at the ceiling than the floor, there would be greater conductive heat loss through the ceiling due to higher delta T across the ceiling to the exterior of the building. This theory can fall apart in at least two ways: (1) There may be little or no temperature stratifcation. I have measured temperatures along the cdeiling in very high ceiling rooms and found only a degree or two difference in temps between floor to ceiling, not the 5 or 10 degrees fan manufacturers seem to predict; and (2) the ceiling may not be adajcent to an exterior roof and therefore any losses through it are just heating the next floor of the building which is still within the thermal envelope -- so no real thermal loss and no real savings.

Ralph if you click through to

Submitted by Tristan Roberts on Thu, 2011-04-28 11:11.
Ralph if you click through to our fan listings: http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/productsByCsiSection.cfm?csiMF2004ID=3... You should see three residential ceiling fans among the 10 or so total products there (the other products include inline fans, etc.). Those are our top three. I hope this helps.

Brett: I have scanned the art

Submitted by Ralph Bicknese on Thu, 2011-04-28 11:05.
Brett: I have scanned the article 3 or more times and looked at the BuildingGreen fan listings on-line but can't seem to find any list of what the top 3 fans are. Did I miss it? Cheers!

The idea of using ceiling fan

Submitted by Walter Simpson on Sun, 2011-04-24 16:35.
The idea of using ceiling fans in the winter to recirculate heat at the ceiling is based to some extent on saving energy by reducing thermal conduction through the ceiling. In theory these savings would accrue because if there was thermal stratifcation and higher temps at the ceiling than the floor, there would be greater conductive heat loss through the ceiling due to higher delta T across the ceiling to the exterior of the building. This theory can fall apart in at least two ways: (1) There may be little or no temperature stratifcation. I have measured temperatures along the cdeiling in very high ceiling rooms and found only a degree or two difference in temps between floor to ceiling, not the 5 or 10 degrees fan manufacturers seem to predict; and (2) the ceiling may not be adajcent to an exterior roof and therefore any losses through it are just heating the next floor of the building which is still within the thermal envelope -- so no real thermal loss and no real savings.