Ceiling Fan Vs Air Conditioner Power Consumption

I will assume for arguments sake that no one is honestly considering getting ceiling fans instead of air conditioning as this would be a poor choice unless you lived in the north like bozeman montana where it is cool most of the year.

Ceiling fan vs air conditioner power consumption.

We know that the propensity for maximum chill with air conditioners can t be beat and neither can ceiling fans cost to run. Air conditioner power consumption trumps that of most appliances. A three ton central air unit a common cooling system runs on about 3 kilowatts and costs about 36 cents an hour to run. Given their size it s not surprising house fans consume more power than ceiling fans.

According to the article. A good ceiling fan it draws only 30 watts to run costing about 1 cent per three hours of use. While that s a feature on many air conditioners it s not typically used often. Fans can t match the raw cooling power of air conditioning units especially in warm climates but the air circulation provided by ceiling fans or a whole house fan can make a house feel substantially cooler for a fraction of the energy cost of a central ac unit.

You ll see some unlikely appliances paired with each other to show where your money is going and to shine a light on high energy consuming appliances you may not have considered. Exact energy amounts vary based on the size of the fan s motor but most whole house fans use between 120 and 600 watts according to the national renewable energy laboratory but this is still much less energy than a central air conditioner uses. Sometimes running both a fan and an air conditioner gives you the benefit of air conditioning at a lower cost. There are ceiling fans with high cubic feet per minute cfm available at affordable price points.

One way to fan out a nasty power bill is to use both air conditioning and ceiling fans in tandem to achieve maximum comfort. Take a look at the charts below to compare the electricity consumption of regular household items. If you were using fans without any air conditioning then of course fans are cheaper. A good window ac unit runs on 1 2 kilowatts and costs 14 cents an hour to run.

The average is only 318 watts because air conditioning units automatically cycle their compressors on off as needed. Energy costs of fans fans in general do not consume a lot of energy. However i measured the power consumption for those modes as well for reference purposes. Fan only means the air conditioner is only powering the fan and isn t actually cooling the air.

Ac why ceiling fans are here. The cost of air conditioning vs. Most ceiling fans average between 5 000 6 000 cfm s.