1.

Mrs. Micah
June 8th, 2008 at 8:30 pm

It looks like ours goes clockwise to push air down, but we just flipped the switch until it felt right. I never bothered subscribing to the Consumerist because while it’s interesting to go there and poke around there’s a) so many articles that it floods your inbox and b) a lot of random crap.

2.

Stephanie PTY
June 8th, 2008 at 11:47 pm

Am I dumb or what? I read that post when it came up in my feed reader - while sitting under a ceiling fan. I could feel the air on me, but I looked up at it anyway, to see which way it was spinning. Then I proceeded to turn it off, switch the direction of the blades, and turn it back on again. Of course, this stopped blowing air down at me, and I came to the realization that Consumerist was wrong.

If they’d written gullible on the ceiling, I probably wouldn’t have even seen it the whole time I was mucking with the fan

3.

rocketc
June 9th, 2008 at 12:02 am

Can I say something stupid on my blog and have you rant about it? Oh, wait, I guess I do that regularly. . . can you call me out sometime, I mean, just tear me a new one.

In a metaphorical sense.

Good catch by the way.

4.

donnie5
June 9th, 2008 at 6:57 am

Forget the fan stuff, thanks for taking Gawker (consumerist) to task. I commented on a spelling error and was quickly banned. I now avoid them.
On the same note, they also tend to take ONE store in a franchise to task and blame the whole chain. Just stupid.
Oh, and I have my fan going the right way. All you have to do is stand under it and feel for the cool air blowing on you, if it is not, its the wrong way.

5.

Chad @ Sentient Money
June 9th, 2008 at 7:21 am

If you’re in a regular room in a house and ceiling fan is moving either way (clockwise or counterclockwise) isn’t the warm air being forced down no matter what?

If it’s pushing air down, then obviously warm air is coming down.

If it’s pulling air up, then obviously the air coming up displaces the air already up their by forcing it down.

Other than the direct cooling affects of being in the path of the breeze, I don’t see how moving hot air from the top (where you aren’t) to the bottom (where you are) helps.

6.

Kyle
June 9th, 2008 at 10:12 am

I think the main point of a ceiling fan isn’t so much that it blows air on you as that it circulates air, mixing hot and cold to form your own awesome mini-tornado in your living room. In the winter, I often like to build a massive fire, then open all the windows and turn on the ceiling fan. My “magic” impresses the ladies and I usually get to at least 2nd base.

7.

Teleolurian
June 9th, 2008 at 10:26 am

The fan issue got so confusing that I threw them all away, then hired people to blow on me when it gets too warm. Thanks!

8.

Nick
June 9th, 2008 at 10:30 am

@Teleolurian, the way that energy prices are going, it might actually be cheaper to get some immigrant laborers to do that than to pay for an appliance to do it.

9.

Baz L
June 9th, 2008 at 11:32 am

It amuses me how so many people can have so many different opinions. The comments on Consumerist are retarded…

Anyways, with that being said: Diff. manufacturers may do different things. Who’s to say that all blades tilt the same way? So down for one person would be clockwise and counter clockwise for someone else.

I’ve always used the Kleenex test myself. Throw a Kleenex near the blades and see what happens.

But with the direction thing: Down in the summer (blows are near your body cooling you). No it’s not blowing hot air on you, because it’s purpose is to circulate air.

In the winter, make it blow up: Pulls the cold air off the floor and forces warm air off the ceiling and down the walls.

10.

A1 Medical Supplies
June 9th, 2008 at 12:43 pm

My air conditioning is broken and I don’t have any ceiling fans

I would settle for a backwards spinning consumerist fan right now…

11.

JimmyDaGeek
June 9th, 2008 at 1:56 pm

I was wondering about the post. I even went to Consumers Reports and read the same thing. My brand new fan rotates CC to blow down. As you wrote, my fan blade is higher towards the direction of rotation, capturing the air to blow down.

12.

Hostmonster
June 9th, 2008 at 9:20 pm

all of my older fans spin backwards. none of the new ones do that…maybe because we have heaters now…lol

13.

Maria @ Frugal Homesteading
June 17th, 2008 at 6:47 am

In the winter, we make the fan go the other way and push down the warm air. Since we have high ceilings, the warm air likes to get out of reach and needs to be brought back to our level.

14.

Fanimation Fans
December 19th, 2008 at 1:29 pm

My roommate actually had his fan running the wrong way for the longest time. I kept telling him that but he didn’t believe me at al. Then one day I showed him he was wrong and he finally changed it. Now he actually gets cool in the summer.