If your room has high humidity levels, then you know how uncomfortable summers can get. Winters are not much better either – any humidity will create condensation on your windows and in turn, can lead to problems with mold. But did you know that ceiling fans help with humidity?
That’s right, there is a reason why so many homes in the South have ceiling fans!
A ceiling fan won’t actually remove humidity and moisture in the air (that’s what you need a dehumidifier for), but it does help the situation by dissipating the warmer air thus cooling the room. Increased airflow will also help with evaporation if there is moisture on surfaces.
If you want to learn more about ceiling fans and how you can utilize them to control the humidity in your house, keep on reading.
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Do Ceiling Fans Help With Humidity?
So, we know that ceiling fans can’t remove humidity from the air inside your room. That makes sense because the humid air never leaves your room. You can only remove moisture in the air by using a dehumidifier or an air conditioner. But ceiling fans are way more efficient than either of the aforementioned devices. They use very little electricity yet they make you feel much cooler.
The breeze generated by a ceiling fan feels very refreshing during hot, humid summer days. The fan will dissipate the warm air that is around you, so only cooler air will be left in direct contact with your skin.
Moreover, the increased airflow will promote evaporation if there is moisture around your house. The humidity level will slightly increase as a result of that, but you can then open the windows for a few minutes and the levels should drop (provided that the air outside is less humid than the air inside your home).
Likewise, you can actually place a desk or standard fan near a window to draw in drier air from the outside and displace the humidity that way. And if the air outside is cooler and fresher, this technique will quickly make your home feel more bearable. As a result, the humidity levels will drop because cool air can hold less moisture than warm air.
Pay Attention to Fan Rotation
If your ceiling fan can change the rotation direction, you’ve got to utilize it!
When your room is humid, you can make the ceiling fan rotate counterclockwise. This will create a wind chill effect by creating downdraft. This is a cool trick that will bring the cold air inside the room all around you and displace the warm air. Read our guide on which way should a ceiling fan turn?
The wind chill effect cools you down by evaporating all the moisture on your skin. In case you don’t know what it is, it is essentially an effect where you feel a significant decrease in temperature because there is a lot of airflow around you. That’s like when you are riding a bicycle during a hot summer day and you feel very comfortable, especially when going downhill at high speeds.
So why not bring the wind chill effect into your room. By simply having the air circulate, the perceived room temperature will be much lower than the actual temperature.
Bonus tip – ceiling fans really help in winter if you have a reversible motor. They circulate and draw the warm air down from the ceiling, helping distribute it throughout the room.
Do Ceiling Fans Make the Air Dry?
A ceiling fan alone can’t make the air dry because it does not remove any moisture from the air in the room. It will displace some of the hot, humid air and allow fresh, cool air from the outside to enter the room, but this only works if your window is open or has access to cooler air.
If you really want to make the air in your room very dry, you can combine a dehumidifier or air conditioner with your ceiling fan. The air conditioner will have an easier time to do it’s job, therefore will use less energy and you will save some money on your electricity bill.
And dehumidifiers are even better with ceiling fans. The dehumidifier removes the moisture from the air directly and then the ceiling fan circulates the now-dry air around your room. This can quickly remove the moisture from the air and you can turn the dehumidifier off once you feel the difference.
When it comes to winter and keeping your home warm, you can use the trusty ceiling fan once again. Usually, the air in your home is dry during winter and if you reverse the motor, you can use it to move the warm air throughout the room.
In the case the air is too dry, the best way to introduce some humidity is to turn on a humidifier (this is our favorite). What it does is that it just releases water vapor into the air, which can be then circulated through the room thanks to the ceiling fan.
Use the clockwise direction on your fan so that the warm air is pulled up and then circulated. That way you won’t waste energy because hot air rises and then the ceiling fan pushes it back down.
Do Ceiling Fans Prevent Mold?
Since we all know that humidity promotes mold growth, it is great news that a ceiling fan can help with that. The hot, humid air loves to stay in the corners of your room, which mold just loves. The ceiling fan won’t allow that, though.
The condensation that appears on your windows promotes mold growth. The fastest way to lower the humidity levels in your room and get rid of condensation is to open the windows and turn on your ceiling fan.
Additionally, you can get an air purifier ceiling fan that comes with built-in filters. Since mold particles are located in the air, this is a great way to eliminate it before it even has a chance to grow somewhere.
Conclusion
Ceiling fans are an amazing and cost-effective way to make your room feel cooler. It can also help with humidity levels if you combine it with a dehumidifier, air conditioner, or just open the windows around your house.
Did you know that ceiling fans are also good at deterring mosquitoes? Handy on those warm humid summer evenings.
Ceiling fans are also very useful in the winter because they won’t allow the warm, humid air to stay around the top corners of your room. Instead, it will circulate it and the warm air will mingle with the cool air, reducing humidity and increasing the perceived room temperature. All in all, ceiling fans are very efficient and useful machines.