Everything You Need To Know About Ceiling Fan

Ceiling fan can be your personal savior during hot summer days where you find yourself searching for ways to stay cool and comfortable in your home.

With a simple yet effective design, it can create a refreshing breeze and help to circulate air throughout the room, thus cooling you and the house you’re living in.

But, you might be wondering how this piece of technology works, how it is able to cool off the room in your house, what kind of ceiling fans do you need, etc..

So, with that in mind, we will give you a thorough explanation about everything you need to know about ceiling fans. Let’s get going!

How The Ceiling Fan Works?

To put it simply, ceiling fan works based on the concept of an air movement and fluid dynamics. What it means is when the ceiling fan is turned on, the motor powers the blades that make it rotate in a circular motion.

As the blade rotates, it creates a flow of air that moves downwards towards the ground. This flow of air is what creates a cooling effect on your body and helping to lower the temperature in your room.

The said air movement is achieved through the principle of Bernoulli’s law which states as the speed of the fluid (in this case, air) increases, the pressure decreases.

So, as the blades move through the air, they create a low-pressure zone above the blades that draws the air from below the fan and causes a flow of air to move downwards.

Types of Ceiling Fan Mountings

So, after knowing how the ceiling fan works, you need to know that there are few types of ceiling fans commonly available on the market.

Whether you need it for indoor or outdoor settings, you want it also comes with the lights, or any other options.

Let’s get the explanation down below!

1. Low Profile Fans

As its names suggest, low profile fans AKA huggers or flush mounts are designed for rooms with ceilings lower than nine feet (2,75 meters).

2. Stem Mounted Fans

Also known as standard mounts, these ceiling fans have a bracket (which commonly a metal pipe) that connects the fan’s mounting brackets to the motor housing.

This makes it able to be mounted on both flat or sloped ceilings. Be sure to get the right downrod length for your ceiling height before installing this type of fan.

3. Extended Mounts

These ceiling fans are generally the same as stem mounted fans that we’ve explained earlier with the exception that it has a longer downrod.

These fans are great for high ceilings and usually have a downrod range from 6-120 inches (15-305 cm) in length, depending on ceiling height.

Be sure to measure the ceiling height and consult with the manufacturer before you install them to ensure the correct downrod size.

4. Sloped/Angled Mounts

This is usually installed to sloped ceilings while keeping the ceiling fan blades horizontal.

Things to Consider Before Installing Ceiling Fan

There are few considerations that you need to think about before installing the fan. Here are some of them!

• Size: The first one is obviously the size of your fan. You’ll need different fan sizes for small, medium or large rooms.
• Indoor/outdoor: The next one is whether you want to place your fan in indoor or outdoor settings. Check the UL rating to see how well they run in damp, wet or dry condition.
• Light: Some fans are equipped with traditional lights or even LED lights and some are dimmable. The lights can be bowl-shaped, globe-shaped, branches or integrated into the fan. Be sure to include the light fitting when doing measurement if you decide to choose the fan with a light.
• Finish and materials: This one is a very subjective matter. Some people are more into modern while others can be in love with the industrial model. The materials can also be varied too, including nickel, bronze and many more.
• Low-profile: As we explained earlier, the low-profile fans are designed for a room with a ceiling lower than nine feet.
• Start-up mechanism: Ceiling fans can be activated via wall switches, motion sensors or pull chains.

Also Read: “Pros and Cons of Ceiling Fan“

What Type of Blades Are There on Ceiling Fans? 

Being the most technical part of your fan, you’ll need to think about this subject. From how many blades you need, the blade pitch and also the motor.

1. Number of Blades

Usually, ceiling fans have four to five blades depending on the fan’s manufacturer and brand. The general rule of thumb is that the more blades the fan has, the quieter it is.

But, it also means less air circulates that makes the motor work harder because of the extra blade’s increased drag.

With that being said, that’s why most industrial fans such as wind turbines just have two or three blades so they can move as fast as possible.

2. Blade’s Pitch

The next one is the blade pitch or the angle of the blades, most modern fans have a pitch of 10-15 degrees. 

The blade’s pitch can affect the fan’s airflow with the flatter the blade, the less energy it needs to move the blades.

But it can cause a little drawback, as the flatter blade will make the fan wobble if you spin it at higher speeds.

In contrast, as the blade pitch increases, the drag also increases, and it makes the motor work harder to spin the blades.

So the conclusion is, the flatter blades move less air than steeper blades.

3. Blade Sizes

The last one is the size of the blade itself, it can affect the motor as the bigger blade will obviously need a more powerful motor to spin.

What Size Ceiling Fan do I Need?

Here are the general rule of thumb if you want to install ceiling fan:

• Up to 75 ft² (7 sq m) = 29-36 inch blades (74-91 cm) 
• 76-144 ft² (7-13 sq m) = 36-42 inch blades (91-107 cm) 
• 144-225 ft² (13-21 sq m) = 44 inch blades (112 cm) 
• 225-400 ft² (21-37 sq m) = 50-54 inch blades (127-137 cm) 

And with that it’s a wrap! Everything you need to know about a ceiling fan!

In addition to that, it is also important to choose the ceiling fan that is already tested for its quality and safety.

A ceiling fan that has not yet undergone a series of tests might cause failure that might lead to various unwanted safety hazards.

In Indonesia, there is a regulation and standard to the electric fan, to ensure every fan that is sold and distributed in Indonesia is up to Indonesian standard.

These fans will undergo a series of strict tests so it can be safe enough to be sold in the Indonesian market.

The said standard is called SNI which stands for Standar Nasional Indonesia (Indonesian National Standard).

This standard aims to give us the consumer a peace of mind knowing that the fans we bought are already safe enough to operate.

The standard of electric fans is clearly stated in SNI IEC 60335-1:2009.