It’s true. Fans cool people and have no ability to reduce room temperature. That’s why we always recommend fans be turned off whenever you leave a room unattended. Not convinced?

Try this: blow very slowly on your wrist. It feels pretty warm, right? That’s not surprising since your body is around 98.6°F. Now purse your lips together and blow as fast as you can across your wrist. It feels nice and cool. Your internal temperature is still the same but by creating a wind chill effect and the evaporative impact across your skin’s surface it makes you feel cooler. It makes all the difference during a day at the beach too. Outside temperature of 85°F with no breeze and you are heading back to your hotel room to escape the heat. A nice breeze with the same outdoor temperature and you can stay outside all day. However, your ice cold soda is still going to turn warm pretty quickly because, wind or no wind, it is still 85°F.

So we’ve established that ceiling fans cool people and not rooms, but have we actually saved any energy? Not unless we subsequently raise the air-conditioning thermostat. Without doing that all the ceiling fan does is contribute additional load to your household energy use. So if your air conditioner thermostat is at 76°F, try raising it to 78°F and use your low-wattage fans to increase comfort while in the space.

To get the maximum windchill effect from your ceiling fan make sure it is rotating in a counterclockwise fashion to force airflow down. It also helps to pay attention to the length of the fan downrod, particularly in rooms with tall ceilings. The closer the fan is to you the greater the wind chill effect. So it’s usually best to avoid flush mounted models.

Better yet, try a fan that stands or sits on the floor. The more direct the breeze, the cooler you will feel. Now, two words of caution about relying on fans to keep cool: when heat indexes reach the high 90°s, fans cannot protect people from heat-related illnesses and in low-humidity conditions can actually make body temperature rise. So if you lack adequate cooling resources during periods of extreme heat it is imperative that you seek out a local cooling station or other means of relief.

Secondly: don’t underestimate the importance of being properly hydrated. The evaporative nature of fans against your skin mean you may not notice the loss of bodily fluids through perspiration. Those bodily fluids must be replenished at regular intervals.