The ceiling fan dilemma, which way should the blades turn to give you the most cooling potential in the summer? The fan direction makes a huge difference and means the difference in staying cool or sweating through the season.

We just moved into a new home and haven't installed a window unit in our bedroom yet. I usually turn the A/C window unit to 65 degrees at night and leave it on constant cool. I would much rather put another blanket on the bed than constantly be kicking covers off because I'm hot. Most people sleep better in cooler temps than warm temps. My husband and I were sweating at night while we tried to sleep. It was miserable. The rest of the house was cool and comfortable but we needed coolness to sleep. Finally we looked at the direction of our ceiling fan and realized it was spinning the wrong way so we switched the direction of the fan and it helped cool our room down to temps that allowed us to sleep better.

Here are the best settings for summer cooling with ceiling fans:

Bedroom interior
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For sleeping and most other rooms where you want to cool off during the summer, the ceiling fan blades should spin counter-clockwise on high speed.

Interior with dining table
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If you are sitting under a ceiling fan to eat dinner, you want the air to move but not to cool your food off so you'll want the blades to spin clockwise on high to move air but not blow it down on your food. This will cause the fan to draw the air up from the table and blow it around the room.

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