How to Cool a Home with an Air Circulator

Once the summer months roll around, the air conditioner thermostat starts to get pretty popular in many households. However, there are other ways to keep the temperature down without driving up the electricity bills, year round. One of the more effective ways is the addition of quiet and efficient air circulators alongside a household network of fans, from ceiling fans to box fans.

What Is an Air Circulator?

When looking into choosing an air circulator vs air conditioner in order to regulate the temperature or maximize air circulation in a house, consider adding air circulators first. An air circulator is more effective at moving air than an AC system or a simple fan. From the shape of the blades to the CFM rating, they are designed to move and mix hot and cold layers of air throughout the whole room. 

An air circulator provides even air distribution over a larger coverage area, which when used correctly helps blend hot and cold air, or force heated air out of the space. An air circulator provides energy efficient, consistent coverage rather than the directed, forced air in order to create the wind-chill cooling effect of a smaller fan. Like personal-use fans, they come in a range of sizes to meet the demands of different uses throughout the house. 

Types of Air Circulators and Fans

If you’re wondering how to circulate air in a room, an air circulator has a few different styles and types to help find the best fit. They all require access to a standard electrical outlet, and Energy Star certified models will allow you to minimize energy use even when using multiple types of air circulators and fans throughout the home.

The trick to finding the best air circulator is to match the right CFM to the room size. The CFM refers to the amount of air the circulator can move in cubic feet per minute, and a larger CFM rating can obviously accommodate a larger room size.The challenge of the room size can also be addressed by incorporating different types for different zones or air movement tasks.

• Ceiling Mounted Fans - Ceiling installation helps blend the hot and cold air distribution by forcing the heated air back down and around the room.
• Floor Fans - Powerful, directed air flow, and usually a compact size that is easily moved around and adjusted.
• Pedestal Fans - Lifts the fan up off the floor to move air around from a higher angle, with many models allowing the user to adjust the height as needed.
• Table Top Fans - Designed for the desktop to direct air at the user, cooling with wind chill.
• Tower Fans - A more modern design that features a vertical fan housing to conserve space and move air from the floor up rather than only work with a narrow zone.
• Wall Mounted Fans - Air circulators that can be mounted on the wall to help maximize air flow circulation around the entire room. 
• Window Fans - Also called box fans, these fans are designed to fit in doorways or windows to remove large amounts of heated air from the room quickly.

There are a few must-have features when investigating how to circulate air with fans and air circulators. First, make sure the circulator has the appropriate location rating for the space. These fans will be designated for either indoor or outdoor use, and it’s important not to use an indoor fan where it might be exposed to the elements to prevent damage from moisture.

Other features include:

• Oscillation settings
• Tilt range
• Bladeless fan operation
• Multiple speeds
• Timer settings
• Remote control
• Warranty

Air Circulator vs Fan

There isn’t a lot of difference between an air circulator vs fan other than the amount of air they move. Fans are designed to direct strong, chilling wind directly onto a user to wick away moisture to help the body lower the temperature more quickly. Most fans are not designed to blend or move large amounts of air, only exactly what is needed to create a more narrow-focused breeze for personal use.

Air Circulator vs Air Conditioner

When choosing between a cooling solution of an air circulator vs air conditioner, keep in mind that they are very different things. Air conditioners are a less mobile option, as they can be quite big and bulky. Some require installation or venting through a window, or additional setup and maintenance requirements.

Air conditioners are designed to release air that has been cooled via moisture, adding to the humidity of the room. Well-placed air circulators work as an excellent complement to an air conditioner when it comes to how to circulate air in a room. Running the circulator near the AC vent or outlet helps to quickly spread and blend the heavier, air conditioned air into the warmer air and disperse it throughout the room without using a lot of electricity.

How to Use Air Circulators and Fans

Air circulators and fans can be used to blend air circulation in a house or in any setting, whether residential or more commercial settings, from a store front to a warehouse. Circulating air can prevent stale, stagnant, and hot air in closed rooms, or help keep open rooms cooler. They are quite portable and can be used year-round wherever they are most needed to help regulate the temperature in a room and chase off hot and cold spots. There are many ways to use air circulators in the home and office.

Use Multiple Fans

When planning out how to circulate air with fans, look for opportunities to create a network of circulators throughout the house to work the naturally colder air in some places out to other areas of the house that collect heat. For instance, putting a fan near an air conditioning vent can help distribute the cooler air from the vent, keeping the room cooler and keeping the AC system from having to use as much energy to work efficiently. Most air circulating fans can be positioned wherever they are most needed, so look for the sizes that best fit in different areas of your home, from small to large.

Heat Rises

Convection moves hot air up naturally, so it can be helpful to place fans as high as possible to get the air blending and cooling by forcing it back down. This can include using wall mounted fans, or more portable options like pedestal or tower fans. A ceiling fan pulls cold air up into the lighter heated air, helping to distribute heat down. Or it can be switched to reverse the direction of the blade movement and force the heated air down into the cold air, disbursing it throughout the room.

Create a Crossbreeze

To improve air circulation in a house, air can be moved in or out from different areas to create a more comfortable temperature or humidity level. A fan or air circulator can be placed in a window or doorway or both, forcing the heated air inside the room out of it, or pulling the cooler air into the room, depending on the direction of the blade movement. Create a crossbreeze in a room with a box fan in the window to pull the hot air out, and a second fan in the doorway to drag the cooler air from a hallway into the room.

Plan the Angles

When exploring how to circulate air with fans, use the walls. Aim fans and air circulators to angle off of the walls, creating a wind pattern that keeps hot and cold air mixing. It’s important not to place them too close to the furniture, however, as doing so will block the air flow entirely.

In the warmer seasons, point an air circulator so that, when the fan is set on the highest speed, the airflow is directed halfway up a wall. This helps to create a higher speed air circulation pattern that will keep the cooler air from the floor moving around the room.

In the winter months, point an air circulator at the ceiling, on the lowest speed setting, to move and mix the hot and cold air. Any fan placed closer to the floor will move colder air, it’s all a matter of how powerful the fan is and whether there are any obstacles in the way of the air flow.