Clockwise?
 

OK. The apartment I rent has two ceiling fans - one in the living room and one in the bed room. It's HOT here, so I turned on my fans. They don't seem to be helping much. I know you have them turn one direction to encourage the flow of warm air, while the opposite direction favers cooling. Right now the fans are going counter clockwise and not doing much of anything else. Clockwise seems no better. I am an instant gratification person and keep switching them back and forth. Do I have to wait like hours or something before I can feel any improvement?

What if I moved to Australia? Would the directions there be opposite of the ones there? What if I lived in the Australian outback? Is there air conditioning there? Oh, wait! It's winter down there. Do you still need cooling fans there in the winter?

I am sooooo confused. Help! :confused:

Hi Lady. I knew who u were long time. Remember the photo you sent me with scrap iron mule?
BTW everyone one is circling the drain.

Ha ha, Busterb! You can't kid a kidder. I loved that metal mule, but I guess the folks in Naturita didn't. He's gone now. Too bad.

But back to my question. Clockwise or counter clockwise?

clockwise when viewed from underneath.

right, but it looks the opposite way when viewed from underneath.
no?

hmm. video on toad's link shows counter-clockwise from beneath. i think. I give up. Get a slave to waft palms.

OK, apparently the answer is counter-clockwise from underneath and Hebe doesn't know which way clock-hands turn......

pay peanuts, get monkeys.......

I'd like to throw in the fact that the whole "you should draw air upward during the summer time" thing is complete crap. I live in a hot place and I'm telling you that you always want the air blowing down on you. But the difference should be obvious--if there's not a noticeable difference between the two directions on top speed, then it sounds like your fan blades aren't angled well and are just slicing horizontally through the air. Pro tip: don't try to bend them to a sharper angle while the fan is spinning. :)

Great link, UT - everything you wanted to know about ceiling fans but were afraid to ask. I skimmed the lengthy explanations and discovered that the fan's motor may be bad. Wouldn't surprise me since this place was built back in the 50's and allowed to go downhill every since.

I really liked the following technique from the link:

I love being ignored by everyone except those who point out my errors. that's why I came back...

I come back hoping that people point out my errors. I am often wrong.

I say all the time that the reason I am arguing is because I want to be proven wrong.

But the thing is, you have to do the work. You have to make your case. If you can do that, I love it. It's my favorite thing.



Oh, and by the way, I frequently wonder about this business with the switch that changes the fan's direction. I developed the idea somewhere that there is a 'summer' and a 'winter' setting, but I'll be damned if I know which is which.

But wait, that doesn't work so much for me. I don't care about you enough to work hard to convince you. I care about you, but not that much.

Clod is right, at least for cooling. Airflow = increased evaporation = feel cooler.

Check which way the fans blades are angled, and make them turn so as to push air downwards onto you; i.e. the higher edge of each blade should be the leading edge as it spins, and the lower edge should be the trialing edge.

Dunno about clockwise vs counter, but you want the air to blow down in the summer (the breeze dries the moisture on your skin and helps cool you). In winter you want the air to go up so that it doesn't cool you (but gets the warm on the ceiling down where you are).

OR... just stand under it and see which way it's blowing on you.:rolleyes:

just don't sleep with the fan blowing on your face or you'll get Bell's Palsy

By the way, I should have asked before; Northern or Southern hemisphere? *ducks*

You're moving the same amount of air. You're moving the same air. After a few minutes all the air is mixed.

Unless the windows are open.

Ooh, and don't forget Fan Death!!

Where's tw? I bet HE could resolve the question for us. Although I bet his answer would involve MBA's and/or top management.

I bet he could revolve the question

•spoken in to my phone

Do not speak his name. Lest you summon him!!!

It has nothing to do with me, or what my criteria is, or why you would care to convince me. That is way off-point.

The only thing that matters is doing the work to verify facts, to check hypothes. Demonstrate the foundation for a statement, i.e. what are the fundamental components--how do we know they fit together in the fashion suggested?

If these things can't be done, then what has been posited is classified as "file 13" --garbage. Not by me, but by the tireless global community of thinking individuals which constitute the vanguard of human culture and knowledge.



It has nothing to do with me, or whether you think I'm arguing with you. There is a correct procedure, well-defined and having stood the test of time. If you aren't following it, and I'm the one who has to bust your balls, and you want to spin that as me "arguing" with you, then you're really missing the point. Do your homework, because you aren't getting any free passes.

To flip this to the counterpoint--why should I care enough about you to take your glib statements at face value?

Who will immediately apply rule 34.

A Google Image search for 'ceiling fan porn' (no quotes), returns at least two images of a man hanging from a ceiling, taking it in the chili ring.

I went blind after just the two images.

Attachment 39503

I think you have to say it three times...like Beetlejuice.

For extra cooling, get a water spray bottle and mist yourself in front of the fan.

You cared enough to ask the question. Now look at me not caring enough to answer. Quod Erat Demonstrandum, in some subtle way.

I'm not playing the "I care less than you" game--I'm asking the question.

Well I didn't make my original statement correctly.

I was having this same discussion with a friend of mine, who said he was always happy to entertain contradictions in his personal philosophy; and said with some pride that they never do. Sometimes they test it but it remains unbroken.

And I put that to great thought, and realized that I had a lot of contradictions to point out, but despite being his good friend for years, I never did. I thought maybe that's what friends do.

So it is partly up to us to put our own thoughts and beliefs and narratives to the harshest tests we can find. I won't fix you. You fix you.

By the way sir
but earlier
Hey man YOU said it was "arguing" so I just went with your term

Oh, no, man, not "you" you, universal you--anyone.

Anytime anyone wants to "chicken out" when hard verification is called for. And not of my personal belief systems, or anything like that.

Mostly just mundane stuff, like as if two people were debating what 2 plus 2 adds up to. Person A says it is 4, and is happy to demonstrate why it is 4. Person B just feels like it is 5, but has nothing to back that up. If person B is pressed by person A for more details, it is easy to say that person A is being an a$$hole "for no reason" and why can't they just leave it alone.

But it isn't "for no reason" --it is because facts and details are important.



What I got from your original comment is that, as a "Person A" I am not trying to force my conclusion as the only possible true conclusion. I would actually love for Persons B to break out a pencil and paper, show me the math and show me where I was wrong.

Then, you know, you learn.



In short, I don't debate to prove I am right. I debate to learn what is right. It's a process. It's on purpose.

Everyone has something to contribute. If we counted on ourselves to have the exclusive correct answers, that would be silly.

Going back the the fan direction...

I run it so that it pulls the air up. I have a really cool basement. Now, in a hot house, I cant imagine it doing much if there isnt any cooler air below that needs to be drawn up. In that case, I would think that forcing the air down would provide more relief, at least while you are under it.

To test which direction the blades need to run, I simply lick my finger and hold it under them. If the bottom of my finger gets a little cooler than the top, then the air is being forced up. :D

that would be Religion or Politics, actually.

quick, somebody put that shit in the Hall of Fame.

Is this when the shit hits the fan?