Spin Your Hat Backwards, But Not Your Fan!

10/15/2020

Whelp, summer’s over. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but hey… there’s always next year! So, along with football season and colorful fall foliage comes the return of colder weather. As we’ve discussed before (Strait Talk, February 2015), this is the time of year when your HVLS fans really start returning on their investment by lowering heating costs. But don’t be like all those other jabronis that continue to spin their fans in reverse. Why? Let’s discuss further!

As we learned all the way back in February 2015, the most efficient way to destratify air is to spin your fans slowly in the forward direction. This will mix the air vertically, giving you a warmer overall temperature profile ceiling to floor. So why not use reverse? Doesn’t it work for home ceiling fans? The answer is yes, but there’s a reason it works in a residential setting: the fan is usually much closer to walls. Also, most house fans do not have a forward setting slow enough to not create a breeze. So running them in reverse not only mixes the air, it keeps those in the room from getting chilly.

The same is not true in a warehouse or other industrial setting. Since HVLS fans are best used in large, open areas, they are generally not near walls. Because of this, running them in reverse results in lower air mixing efficiency, and can increase the time needed to equalize the floor to ceiling temperature. Proper destratification involves spinning your fans in the forward direction at a speed fast enough to move air, but slow enough that it does not create a discernible breeze.

So what’s the moral of the story? You never need to use the reverse direction on your fans – just vary your speeds from season to season. Turn them up in the summer to create a cooling breeze, and dial them back in the winter to destratify. Seriously… how easy is that?!

Looking for more helpful fan knowledge? It’s only a phone call away! Talk to the fan experts at Patterson today – before the real cold weather sets in! You could be well on your way to saving 25-30% on your heating bills!*

*Actual savings depend on heating costs, size of facility, number of fans, and other factors.

CHECK OUT OUR HVLS FAN LINE HERE

THE AUTHORITY IN AIR MOVEMENT

2 Comments

JOHN STRAIT

Patterson Fan's
Air Movement Guru & Man of Wisdom

Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that who cares?... He’s a mile away and you’ve got his shoes!
- Billy Connolly

John Carston link

3/22/2022 07:21:05 pm

I like how you mentioned that considering the best location for your fans is important to prevent hazards. One of my parent's friends told us that they are looking for industrial fans that they will use in their workplace, and he asked if we have any suggestions. Thanks to this useful article, I'll be sure to tell him that consulting a trusted compressor service can provide more information.

Nathaniel Hibbard

8/24/2022 04:02:26 am

If you run the fan in reverse during the summer wouldn't that help to pull cool air up from the floor and push hot air out through the roof vents? It seems like if you set it to blow down during the summer all it would do is push hot air down to the floor heating it up even more. I've noticed that when I set the fans in my warehouse to pull it sucks in cooler outside air through the open dock doors, pulls it up and cools the air in the ceiling before it falls back down. Whenever the fans are set to push air down it just blows warm air from the ceiling down into the cooler air down low warming everything, and all you feel is warm air pushed past your skin.

STRAIT TALK ARCHIVES