Circulate Air for Optimum Cooling in Summer

Sunny days and muggy nights can make summer an uncomfortable season. Running an air conditioner helps cool things down, but many find AC air too cold, and often lament that the energy bill is too high. Proper air circulation can help keep your home comfortable this summer. Circulating air in your home is just as important as cooling it off during hot days. Without proper circulation of the cooled air that your air conditioner supplies, you’re probably using far more energy than you need to, racking up those energy bills. By using electric fans throughout your house, you can maximize the benefits of air conditioning for a longer period and over a wider area.

Air Conditioning + Fan = Just Right

Your air conditioner is responsible for providing cold air to your home on hot days. Depending on the placement of the vents in your home, cold air can linger in some rooms and not reach others. Rooms with high ceilings will be cooler in the summer months, as heat rises. Small bedrooms with only one vent or a location on a second floor may be too warm. Fans can be used with the air conditioning to more evenly distribute cool air. As warm air rises, cool air sinks. Positioning a fan to blow the cool air up helps maintain a comfortable temperature in the home. Use your fan to push cold air into rooms that only have one vent, or position the fan to disperse the hot air that has risen to a second-floor room. A pedestal fan or a wall-mount fan is ideal for manipulating air movement. Pedestal fans like the 18″ Pedestal Fan with Remote or the 20” Oscillating Remote Control Pedestal Fan can be placed below or near AC vents to aid in spreading cool air. Their tilted heads can point downward to bounce airflow off the floor and walls to push the cold air upward. Wall-mount fans like the Max Performance 20″ High-Velocity Floor Fan/Wall-Mount Fan or the Oscillating Wallmount Fan with 3 Speeds are placed higher than the pedestal fan to reach a wider range and can be pointed in any direction needed. (A bonus come winter: Both your pedestal and your wall-mount fan be set to spread heat when the seasons change. Learn more at How Fans Can Help Spread Fireplace Heat.) Once your air conditioner has lowered the room temperature to a comfortable level, turn it off and allow the fan to continue circulating the cooled air. It will stay cool significantly longer than running the air conditioner alone and save you money on your electric bill.

Opt for Two-Way Circulation

Another option to stay cool in the summer is to circulate air with a two-way window fan. This also dispenses fresh air in the home, helping eliminate that stale, stuffy air feeling from muggy summer temps. Window fans offer an advantage that no other fan does – they circulate in two ways by taking hot air out of the house and by bringing in a breeze from outside. On some fan models, they can achieve both at the same time. Many people don’t know the difference between air intake, exhaust, or exchange when they’re actually just what they sound like. When a window fan’s intake setting is in place, the fan pulls air from the outside into the house. When the switch is placed on the exhaust setting, the fan is pulling hot air from the room and pushing it outdoors. Twin window fans, like the Electrically Reversible Twin Window Fan with Remote Control or the 8″ Electrically Reversible Twin Window Fan, are the only ones that can do both at the same time. The air exchange occurs when one fan is exhausting hot air outdoors while the other is bringing cool air inside. These fans are quite as well, making them ideal for bedrooms and night-time use.

Find Quick Relief with Air Circulators

If it’s just too hot to wait for the combo of fan and AC to cool down your space and moving air quickly through an overheated room is your goal, an air circulator does that better than any fan. A high-performance air circulator is engineered to clear away stagnant, humid, and hot air fast by creating a powerful breeze with pivoting heads that direct the airflow wherever you need it most. They’re especially effective in kitchens that become overheated during cooking times. Hallways, stairways, and lengthy, narrow rooms also benefit from circulator fans by directing a strong current in a straight line to clear away accumulated heat. When stuffy, humid air accumulates in those areas, it eventually infiltrates nearby rooms. An air circulator is powerful enough to work in tandem with the AC to prevent stagnant air, moving more air through the home than a fan ever could. For example, the Lasko® Motion-Air Whole Room Circulator is engineered to deliver 40% more air as it permeates the entire room with air currents. The 20″ Cyclone® Air Circulator Fan with Remote Control offers three powerful speeds to quickly migrate air from one room to the next. High-velocity air circulators are also useful in sheds, garages, or home workshops that may not have windows or sufficient air movement in those spaces.