Need Imput on Ceiling Fans

[sylvie]

I have a very high ceiling great room. Of course that's where the heat goes. Many on here have said a fan will make a difference. Now I am shopping for one and am stumped.
Do I need one great room sized ceiling fan or two large room sized fans? One 68" or two 52" fans?
It/they will be mounted on a beam(s) 13' high- about midpoint between ceiling and floor. No need for an extension rod from what I've been told. Unless I was told wrong, of course.

What should I be looking for?

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I'm no expert. I would think that one large fan would be best. If you had two, wouldn't they potentially interfere with each other's wind moving action (yeah, real technical vocabulary here)? I think one would be a simpler solution. JMO.

 

[sylvie]

I'm no expert. I would think that one large fan would be best. If you had two, wouldn't they potentially interfere with each other's wind moving action (yeah, real technical vocabulary here)? I think one would be a simpler solution. JMO.

Yeah,I wish I knew the answer to that.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I would stick to the one biggest fan.

We had a large den in our old house, it was a converted garage, it had a single fan and it did the job just fine.

I would think that 1 fan would be more energy efficient than two.

 

[sylvie]

I have read that the slightly smaller fans have higher speeds than the largest fans in a review. The reviewer felt that was a problem for his application(similar to mine) and would have preferred a larger fan with the higher speed of the smaller.
The sales guy at the big box store said I could go with either 1 or 2. That's why I am on here asking those who have fans.

 

[dacjohns]

Just my thoughts. I think one 52 inch fan would be enough. All you are trying to do is move the warm air around. A 68 inch fan is almost 6 feet across, that is pretty big. I think you would have more trouble with balance in the larger fan and it would take more electricity to move the fan.

If the room is real big then you might want to go with two fans spread pretty far apart.

Lot of help huh?

 

[xpc]

Last winter I did an experiment to figure that question out - but first a little history, In 1987 I built a 20' x 30' addition as a great room to my Florida house and installed four 52" ceiling fans in a rectangular pattern. When all were turned on high it made some serious wind and thus it was dubbed "my Alaska room". The snow shoes on the wall gave it character too.

Fast forward 22 years and in my newly remodeled smaller room of 14' x 24 feet I was going to do the same but decided to be a bit more pragmatic and do some testing (heating season only). I installed a single 42" fan in the center of the room and put thermometers one foot from the ceiling, one foot from the floor and the third at about 4 feet from floor.

The only heat I have is a wood burner in that room and did not like the idea of placing floor fans all around the house. I built a fire and let it warm the room to 70F, the kitchen and bedroom stayed at 60F without the fan on. The idea behind a ceiling fan in winter is to run it in reverse blowing the air upwards so as not to cause a chill and to destratify the rooms air. It is still best to test in both directions to see which is best for your room.

With no fan on the room was 70F at the 4 foot level, 82F at the ceiling, and 55F at the floor, with the fan on low speed I saw no discernible difference in temperatures, on medium speed it help equalize the temps in just that room but not in the others, on high speed it evened out the ceiling and mid point temps but the floor was still at 58F while the other rooms now warmed to about 67F.

The wood burner needs a lot of fresh air for combustion and in my newly remodeled house I sealed all the openings tightly and the only place it could get make-up air was from under the two outside doors which it duly sucked in at a high rate, when I blocked them with towels the floor temp went up to 65F. For fear of using up all the oxygen in the house and making me sleepy I leave the front one unblocked. New sealed houses now have outside heat exchanges and sealed combustion furnaces and wood burners that get their air from the outside.

My conclusion was that for winter a single fan in my size room will work fine for mixing up the rooms ceiling air. . I Also tested different length down rods and saw no real difference in rooms from 8 to 12 feet and for you the length would be more for aesthetics than anything else but would use a 2' to 3' down rod with a 13' ceiling, If your room is heavily rectangular then two fans would be best using the biggest ones that will look good and is relative in cost to a 52" fan. Meaning I would not spend $200 on a 68" vs $50 on a 52" model. Also larger fans run at a slower speed taking some of that imbalance question out of the equation and may look better then an imposing ceiling blender.

If your great room is 30' x 30' x 13' then 30% of you heat is up there. it will cost approximately $0.50 an hour to heat vs $0.20 an hour for the same size room with 8 foot ceilings. This would be for a square room and not one with an angled vaulted ceiling, using natural gas.

 

[patandchickens]

I agree, all you are trying to do is *gently* mix/destratify the air so unless your room is practically a hallway, one fan should do just fine. And should give you less overall drafty feeling than two would.

Installing a drop ceiling, or a separate second story, would be more effective and efficient of course <vbg>

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[xpc]

I just did a quick test with a fan I recently installed in the bedroom:
I turned on a 1500 watt space heater and warmed it to 70F near the ceiling, 65F at 4 feet and 55F on the floor, the humidity also dropped from 82% to 60%. The room is 13' x 12' and started at 55F using a 42" ceiling fan. These are only five minute tests each and are only partially conclusive.

Temps at - Floor - midpoint - ceiling
fan on low down - 56F, 66F, 70F (no breeze)
fan on medium down - 56F, 66F, 69F (light breeze)
fan on high down - 57F, 67F, 67F (heavy breeze)

Off for ten minutes - 56F, 66F, 70F

fan on low up - 57F, 66F, 67F (no breeze)
fan on medium up - 62F, 67F, 66F (no breeze) - this is my best choice
fan on high up - 63F, 67F, 65F (no breeze)

The eastern sun is shining brightly in the window and while the room is at 67F the area in front of window is at 75F, this free heat will shift to the southern windows as the season progresses.

 

[Mackay]

What ever you do don't put your fan on a rheostat to control how fast they go. It ruins them. Just be content with the speed settings they come with.