Fan energy use varies depending on the type of fan being used. Many fans are available in different speeds, so it’s important to look at how much electricity they draw when run at low speed or high speed. A common misconception is that if you leave a fan running all day long it will cost more than if you turned it off and turned it on again as often as necessary. While this is true of some appliances, a fan uses very little electricity and you would have to run it constantly for weeks or months before the electricity costs added up to much.
How much electricity does a fan use?
To answer how much electricity does a fan use, we need to look at what type of fan it is. A ceiling fan, for instance, has a few different speeds. Some of the most common are low (about 44W), medium (about 55W) and high (about 66W). Most fans use about 50-70 Watts of electricity at high speed, but using them for short periods of time shouldn’t cost too much energy. Continue reading: Outdoor outlet not working
How to calculate it?
To calculate how much electricity does a fan use, simply multiply the wattage by the number of hours you plan to run it. In this case, let’s say we planned on running our ceiling fan for eight hours at a time:
44W x 8h = 352 Watt-hours
352Wh / 1000 = .35 kWh
In this case, running the fan for eight hours would use about .35 kWh of electricity.
Alternative method: 1 Watt = 2.65 BTUs
Another way to calculate how much electricity does a fan use is to convert their wattage into British Thermal Units (BTUs). Most fans will list their BTU output in the specification information. One BTU is equivalent to 1/60th of a horsepower-hour, or .3125 kWh. If you divide the fan’s wattage by .3125, then multiple that number by how many hours are left in the day, you should arrive at approximately how much electricity does a fan use over the course of your usage period.
44W / .3125 = 148.13Wh
148.13 x 8h = 1,178.24 watt-hours
1,178.24Wh / 1000 = 11.78 kWh
This means that the fan will use about 12 kWh of electricity over the course of an eight hour period.
Save electricity
Running a ceiling fan for eight hours may not seem like much, but multiply that by the number of days in the summer and it can add up to significant electricity cost. If you do plan on running the fan all day long, consider installing a timer so that it will automatically shut off after about 15 or 30 minutes.
Save electricity by using the right fan for the job
Rather than having several fans running in different parts of your house, why not have one central fan that circulates air throughout the whole room? The larger the room, however, the more powerful a fan you’ll need to keep things cool. Some people may find it difficult to sleep if a fan is blowing on them all night long, and for this reason many people use fans only at times when they’re awake. Wouldn’t it be great to have a fan that you could turn on and off with your computer or smartphone? You can do so by using an online program such as PWM controller . These allow you to adjust fan speed based on the temperature, giving you complete control over your comfort level 24 hours a day.
Different types of fans
- Table fan (common) – uses about 65W
- Bathroom extractor fan – uses about 125W
- Industrial fan (portable) – can use up to 1,350-2,000W
How much electricity does a fan use? A common misconception is that if you leave a fan running all day long it will cost more than if you turned it off and turned it on again as often as necessary.
