Ceiling Fans

Often, ceiling fans come with a switch on their bodies. This switch allows you to change the direction of the blades from anti-clockwise to clockwise. During summers, the angled blades of the ceiling fan are designed to turn anti-clockwise to attract the warm air up and facilitate the movement of the cool air downwards. By flipping the switch on the fan, you can reverse the direction of the blades which can be very helpful during winters. When the fan blades move in a clockwise direction, they create a slight updraft that draws the cool air is towards the ceiling while pushing the warm air down to the floor level. Thermostats that are usually located on the floor level can utilize this warm air to make your room warmer and cozier. So. even when you maintain your thermostat at a low temperature, you can keep your room quite warm.

Ceiling fans having AC single phase induction motors require capacitors as they lack the self-start property. All motors need a magnetic field to create a torque for rotating the rotor. Single phase induction motors without capacitors only have one phase on the stator winding. So, the magnetic field generated in such motors is positive in one half of a cycle while in the other half, it is negative. As the resultant magnetic field is zero and thus, the torque is also zero. Incorporating a capacitor in this setting changes everything. Adding a capacitor to the auxiliary winding of the stator creates a field that lies at an angle of 90 degrees to the main winding field. Thus, there are two fields lying perpendicular to each other and the torque generated by these fields powers up the fan motor.

It is generally believed that ceiling fans should not be run along with air conditioners. This is not true as using these two appliances simultaneously not only helps reduce the energy consumption of the air conditioner, but it also helps you cut down on electricity costs. The function of a ceiling fan is to circulate the air around in a room. When it is used with an AC, the ceiling fans help circulate the cool air generated by the AC evenly throughout the room. So, you can increase the thermostat setting of your AC and still enjoy a excellent cooling effect within the room. For every degree you raise on the AC’s thermostat, you minimize the duration of “on” cycles of the AC compressor up to 10%, thereby reducing your energy consumption.

Contrary to popular belief, ceiling fans can be very beneficial during winters. Most people are unaware of the fact that ceiling fans often have a little switch on them that allows you to reverse the direction of the fan blades. When the ceiling fan rotates in a clockwise direction, it attracts the cool air towards the ceiling and pushes the warm air down. This not only helps to circulate warm air throughout the room, but it also allows you to maintain your thermostat at a low temperature and still keep your room warm enough. By doing this, you can lower the energy consumption of your thermostat. This process is called winterization of the fan.

Yes, ceiling fans are far more energy efficient than air conditioners. While a central air conditioner typically consumes about 3,500 watts per month, a window AC unit consumes anywhere between 500 to 1,500 watts per month. A ceiling fan, on the other hand, uses a meager 15 to 95 watts depending on its size and speed. Even when used along with air conditioners, ceiling fans help cut down on energy and electricity costs by allowing you to raise the temperature of your AC, all the while enjoying a great cooling effect in the room.

It is a known fact that air naturally stratifies – warm air being lighter rises and the cool air which is heavier sinks down. The ideal way to circulate air in a room is to use fans along with proper ventilation. Using a cross ventilation system (arrangement of a series of fans) to suck the stale air from your home and replace it with fresh air from outside. This system allows you to cool your home using much less electricity than would normally be required. You could also use ceiling fans, window fans, and pedestal fans to circulate the air around the room. Unlike ceiling fans, pedestal fans and window fans can bring in fresh air from outside.

Your ceiling fan may become wobbly for some reasons.

• The screws that attach the fan to the electrical box at the ceiling may have become loose
• Screws attaching mounting brackets to the motor may have become loose
• The electrical ceiling box hasn’t been correctly secured
• Misalignment of fan blades
• Excessive accumulation of dust in fan parts
• Fan blades may have become warped

By checking for these visible signs in your fan, you can take the necessary measures. In case the screws have become loose, tighten and secure them properly. Check the blade alignment by placing it with a yardstick against the ceiling and measuring each one of them, and if any blade is a bit off, you can try bending it a little to align it. In case of warped fan blades, they need to be replaced with new ones.

Yes, ceiling fans can help you save a lot when it comes to heating costs. In summers, when the fan rotates in the anticlockwise direction, it pushes the cool air towards the floor of the room. What most people don’t know is that ceiling fans can also be made to rotate in the clockwise direction to warm up rooms during winter. Most ceiling fan models come with a little switch on them that allows you to reverse the direction of the fan. When the fan operates in the clockwise direction, the blades draw in the cool air towards the ceiling, pushing the warmer air evenly throughout the room. As the warm air continues to spread to the outer edges of the room, the entire room begins to feel warm. Hence, you can lower the temperature of your thermostat and still keep your room warm and cozy. This way you save almost 15% on heating costs by using ceiling fans along with thermostats during winter.

When compared with other cooling appliances, ceiling fans are the cheapest and most affordable means of cooling your home. The power consumption of a ceiling fan depends on factors such as its motor and the blade span. Fans that are equipped with energy efficient motors, such as the BLDC motors, operate on very less power compared to regular ceiling fans. Atomberg’s Gorilla ceiling fans stand testimony to this fact. Fitted with high-performance BLDC motors, they cut down your energy costs by almost 65%! Now, coming to blade span, standard ceiling fans with blade spans ranging from 36” to 56” consume about 55 to 100 watts while a regular 48” ceiling fan uses up to 75 watts on an average. If you are concerned about keeping your energy costs to a minimum, you should always opt for energy efficient fans that are Energy Star certified.

A fan is the cheapest and most efficient device for cooling your home. Their running costs are way less than air conditioners or air coolers, and with all the energy efficient fans available in the market, fans have become the most economical option. You can calculate the hourly cost of operation of a fan by multiplying the wattage of the fan with the amount of power (kWh) it consumes. On an average, standard fans of different brands consume anywhere between 18W to 120W per hour. In case of fans with lights, this range can fall between 52W to 190W per hour.

Ceiling fans can become noisy and wobbly over time with prolonged usage. A common cause for wobbly fans is misaligned blades. Minute differences in the size and weight of the blades, warped blades, bent blade irons, and loose blade irons may lead to wobbling of a ceiling fan. At most, a wobbly ceiling fan vibrates a lot, generating noise, but hardly has there been any report of a wobbly ceiling fan falling off. If a ceiling fan falls off, the junction box or the ceiling mount may have been the culprit. The junction box holds the ceiling fans in place. When a fan operates, it exerts a force on the ceiling mount. So, if it is not secured correctly, there always remains a risk of the fan falling off. To prevent such mishaps, please look for possible visual signs in your fan, like the ones mentioned earlier and get the issue fixed immediately.

Why would a ceiling fan stop working?

A ceiling fan may stop working due to numerous reasons.

• A tripped circuit breaker
• Faulty wire connections in the canopy of the fan
• The fan blades don’t spin freely
• The reverse switch may be in neutral
• The plug connection in switch housing is faulty or loose
• The batteries in the remote control may be dead (in case your fan has a remote)

These are some reasons why ceiling fans may stop working, and they can be easily fixed with the help of a professional electrician. If you are facing issues with a brand new fan that won’t function properly even after the possible issues are checked and resolved, contact your ceiling fan manufacturer as it may be a specific problem with the fan model. All ceiling fans come with a warranty period so any problem you face during the warranty period can be resolved.

With prolonged usage, ceiling fans tend to show some signs of deterioration such as lagging or wobbling. Several reasons lead to performance issues of a ceiling fan. The first step to fix your ceiling fan is to diagnose the specific problem.

• If you fan stops working, check for a tripped circuit breaker or any loose connections in the fan canopy and the switch housing. Make sure the batteries in your remote are not dead, and the reverse switch isn’t in neutral.
• In case of a wobbly ceiling fan, clean any dirt accumulated on the fan blades and tighten loose screws. Make sure the hanger ball is firmly seated in the mounting bracket, and the outlet box is attached correctly to a support beam.
• If your ceiling fan makes noise, check for loose screws on the switch housing, blade brackets, motor coupling, and the downrod. Also, make sure the wire connections aren’t striking against each other inside the switch housing. The fan canopy should not be very close to the ceiling.
• If the speed settings of your fan aren’t functioning properly, you should clean and lubricate the ball bearings and change the capacitor of the fan.

These are a few ways by which you can fix the little issues in your ceiling fans.

Ceiling fans are meant to cool your room quietly. Fans that constantly make noise while operating can be very annoying. Here are a few reasons why your ceiling fan is making noises.

• Controlling the fan with a dimmer switch may cause the fan to hum. Dimmer switches are meant for controlling lights and not your fan. A standard speed control is the ideal way to regulate the speed of a fan and prevent it from humming.
• Any loose screws in the motor housing or the ones that secure the fan blades may cause the ceiling fan to rattle, thus, making it noisy. Fans with loose screws generally make intermittent screeching noises.
• If the ceiling fan makes a grinding sound, probably the ball bearings in the motor have worn out. Sometimes, ceiling fans generate a sizzling sound with a certain odor. This is an indication of a bad capacitor that needs to be replaced immediately.
• If your fan is creating a rubbing sound, it is probably coming from the lower motor housing. This is a common issue in old fans where the flywheel could be broken and the blade irons rub against each other when the fan is running.

While it is true that squeaky ceiling fans can be very annoying, you could prevent it from happening by following these easy steps:

• Check the fitting of your fan. If your fan is loosely secured to the ceiling mount, fasten it correctly.
• Clean the dirt accumulated on the fan blades. Too much dirt and dust can hamper the balance of the fan blades and lead to squeaking.
• Loose fan blades can cause the fan to squeak when running. Tighten the screws on them.
• When fans with light fixtures operate, the motion may loosen the light fixture and cause it to vibrate, leading to a squeaking noise. In such a case tighten the screws of the light fixture.
• Make sure all the blades of the fan are correctly aligned and that they are of the same length. Mismatched and unbalanced blades are often the culprits behind squeaky fans.

During summers, the fan is supposed to cool the room. So, it must rotate in the anticlockwise direction to push the cool air down. In this direction, the fan attracts the warm air from the floor level towards the ceiling and pushes the cool air from the ceiling down to the floor level. As the cool air begins to spread evenly to the outer corners of the room, you begin to feel cool.

In the clockwise direction, the ceiling fan will move from right to left, just like the moving hands of a clock. This is very beneficial during winters. As the ceiling fan rotates in the clockwise direction, it creates a subtle updraft that attracts the cool air towards the ceiling while pushing the warm air down to the floor level. The warm air spreads throughout the room, and along with a thermostat, you can keep the room warm even while maintaining your thermostat at a low temperature. This process is also known as the winterization of the ceiling fan.

You can reverse the direction of your ceiling fan simply by flipping a switch on it. Most ceiling fans have a switch on them that allows you to change the course of the fan. As the fan rotates in the clockwise direction at a low speed, it creates a gentle updraft that sucks in the cool air from the room and pushes the warm air from the ceiling down to the floor of the room. In this way, not only can you keep your room warm but also save a lot of power. Running a fan in the clockwise direction in winter allows you to keep your thermostat at a low temperature, thus, saving energy.

The wattage consumption of a ceiling fan depends on the blade sweep and its motor quality. Fans that have high-performance and energy efficient motors consume very less power while generating excellent airflow throughout a room. While standard fans with blade spans ranging from 36” to 56” consume about 55 to 100 watts, a typical 48” ceiling fan consumes up to 75 watts on an average. Compared to the latest models of ceiling fans having energy efficient motors, fans having old and outdated motors use a lot of energy for running and hence, are not cost-efficient.

Most contemporary fan models use less than one amp, somewhere between 0.5 and 1 amp, depending on the fan model and its setting. While fans with low settings run on less amp, those with higher settings use more. One amp consumed by a fan amounts to about 120 watts. For instance, a ceiling fan on low speed uses about 0.25 amp, on medium speed around 0.4 amp, and on high speed around 0.6 amp.

A ceiling fan may use any of these three motors – a single phase induction motor, an AC motor, and a DC motor. Single phase induction motors were very popular among the conventional ceiling fan models owing to their low cost, simplistic design, and easy handling. While AC motors convert electrical energy to mechanical energy using alternating current, DC motors do the same using direct current. DC motors are the most energy efficient motors among all three. A DC motor produces higher starting torque and consumes much less power than an AC motor or a single phase induction motor. Today, the brushless DC motor (BLDC) is becoming increasingly popular among the fan manufacturers producing energy efficient ceiling fans. Atomberg’s Gorilla range of fans uses BLDC motors that can reduce your energy consumption by almost 65%.

The function of a ceiling fan motor is to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy. First, the capacitor of the fan generates a starting torque that causes the motor to start running. As the electrical current enters the winding coils around the metal base of the motor, a magnetic field is created. This magnetic field exerts force in a clockwise motion and transforms the electrical energy into mechanical energy. Finally, the motor coils start spinning, and this spinning motion then transfers to the fan blades causing the fan to rotate.

Ceiling fans do not actually cool a room. When the fan runs, it increases the rate of evaporation of the perspiration on the human skin, thereby, making you feel cool. So, if you think that running a ceiling fan for a period of time before entering the room will make it cooler, you are wrong. A ceiling fan only moves the cool air from the ceiling around the room, and at most it helps lower your body temperature.

A ceiling fan usually has two capacitors – start and run capacitors. When a capacitor is added to the auxiliary winding of the stator, a magnetic field is created that lies perpendicular to the primary winding field. The two fields being at a 90-degree angle to each other generate a powerful torque that powers up the motor of the fan. As the voltage is applied to different windings in different phases in an AC motor, these create a rotating magnetic field whereas, in a single phase induction motor, these capacitors create a phase shift in the motor windings.

A ceiling fan is made of various components. Each part has a definite function and purpose.

Motor – The motor is an essential part of a ceiling fan as its performance, and durability greatly depends on the motor quality. Fans with small and low-cost motors tend to become wobbly and noisy with time, and those with high-quality motors are not only great in performance but are also energy efficient. A motor further consists of several small components within – copper wires or windings, stator, rotor, and the motor housing that encloses all of it.

Blades – The blade size, pitch, and number also determine the performance of the ceiling fan. While it is true that longer blades deliver higher airflow than smaller blades, this is only possible if the fan has a high-performance motor. The reason behind this is simple – without a high-performance motor, the ceiling fan will not be able to overcome the resisting force of the air, that is the ‘drag’ factor.

Apart from these two important components, a ceiling fan also has blade holders, switches, light kits, remote controls, and decorative accessories such as pull chains.