Can a ceiling fan in a room where the a/c controller is, affect the temperature in the rest of the house?

Question

My wife and I are having a debate. She thinks that having a ceiling fan on in the room where the a/c control unit, will force more cold air onto the unit, thereby causing it to click off, while the rest of the house is still hot. I told her that a fan does not affect the temp in a room. She agrees, but thinks it will force the air from the a/c vents to the control unit too fast and cause it to shut off. Help.

Answer 1

I say not much, for this particular task I would do the following:
If you have a central heating system you can set the blower on constant and open the vents only in the rooms you want too cool. This is assuming that the cold air return is in, or near the room with the air conditioner. If you do not have a central air system, then you can use some fairly small and inexpensive fans in the doorways and/or hallways leading to the other areas to move the cooled air to these areas. They even make fans that are made for this that mount at the top of a door frame or other opening so they will be out of the way. The effectiveness of doing this will be directly affected by the BTU capacity of your air conditioner. If it has a temperature thermostat but the compressor must run constantly just to cool the room it is in, this may not work very well. If it does cycle from time to time, then you have additional cooling capacity to spare that can be spread around. BUT A lot of window units just have a low-medium-high selector which really won't give you this information which means that you will need to just give it a try. Perhaps start with the additional rooms on a priority basis and see how it goes. I would limit the number of rooms you are trying to cool by shutting doors and closing the heating vents if you are going to use your central air system to move the air around. Good luck with this, some of your success will depend on just how cool you want those other rooms to be. They will probably not be as cool as the room with the unit but I am sure they will be much cooler than they are now. P.S. If you already have the ceiling fan than YES do run it when you are doing what I suggested to help stir the air and move it to the other areas, but I would NOT buy a ceiling fan and install it for this project. I really think you can save bucks and time with my approach. My suggestion is more plug and play on a budget!

Answer 2

Obviously, lol, "general opinion" is as divided on the topic as you folks are....

If you install a ceiling fan in a room that contains the controls for your central air system... yes... it will affect the system. How much it will affect your system, and how well you can balance the change in the airflow with the temps in the rest of the house, will depend a lot on how you have balanced the air flow thru the vents, how much air is being moved by the fan, and the default timers/settings on your air system (i.e., how long the central unit runs after coming 'on', how long it runs after it is told to shut off, etc)

Here is a REAL SIMPLE method to test for your particular situation....

Buy a few cheap thermometers, and place them in other rooms of the home.
Record the temps throughout the home on a regular basis for a few days, at regular times.... doesnt have to be anything in particular, you are just getting a baseline established for what your system normally does. You will probably find that some of those rooms are warmer or cooler than others, already.
Place a basic fan near the wall controller (thermostat) for your air system, and point it at the wall, or thermostat. Record the temps for a few days like this.

Comparing the two sets of recordings will give you a good idea on what you can expect if you install a ceiling fan. Oh, dont forget the outside temp too.... How hot the outside temp is, will affect how long a system will run.

Good Luck

Answer 3

A fan DOES effect the temperature in a room. That is the reason they are hung right? If it did nothing there would be no point in having them in the millions of homes they are in.

Remember that hot air rises and cool air drops.

In fan instructions it Say's to have the fan pulling air up in the summer. That is keeping the hotter air closer to the ceiling.

In the winter reverse it so it is blowing the hot air down into the room/which in turn keeps the room warmer. Most thermostats are at about 5' off the ground. If the room is warmer, the furnace will kick on less-thereby making it colder in other rooms that may not have a fan.

Answer 4

Both of you are correct.

A fan does not affect the actual temperature (though it makes it FEEL cooler).

However, a fan also can take, say, the cool air from a window A/C unit and distribute it through the house.

Thus, if the thermostat is in a warm room, and the fan is blowing the cold air into that room, indeed, it can cause the temperature in THAT room to cool faster than, say, the temperature in another room in the other direction...and so trigger the thermostate to click off the A/C.

The fan is not cooling the air...it is simply blowing the cool air conditioning into that room rather than equally distributing in throughout the whole house.

Again, you both have a point.

God bless.

Answer 5

a ceiling fan impinging on the thermostat can affect how often the air conditioner cycles or doesnt cycle. That's why most thermostats are placed in hall ways, away from Drafty windows, doors and ceiling fans. If your thermostat has a fan blowing on it, your air con will probably not cycle like it needs to and the house will tend to be hotter than you'd like.

Ceiling fans do absolutely nothing to the temperature of a room. They are for HUMANS. If you leave the room, save yourself some energy and bucks and turn off the fan. The fan makes YOU feel cooler while you are in the room since it moves air across your skin, making you feel cooler. The fan does not change the temperature of the room, only the apparent temperature on an animal or human.

Answer 6

it will not cool the air. it will just move the air that is there around. if you are going to run the fan, just adjust the vent so it dont blow as hard in that room. it will still save on the electric bill. good luck to you argueing with the wife. you will not win even when your right.........well, i dont. LoL

Answer 7

Caro Jason:
Eu particularmente não acredito que vá afetar a temperatura do restante da sua casa!
Fique com Deus...

Answer 8

if the window is open yes it can it will suck heat in the house