A fan can help a little with humidity. The breeze encourages moisture to evaporate, so your home does not feel damp and soggy all the time. The drying effect of a ceiling fan is not quite as powerful as an air conditioner. Unlike an air conditioner, a ceiling fan cannot physically remove moisture from the air.
When it is warm, and you are looking for an effective yet inexpensive way to reduce humidity, ceiling fans are a straightforward solution. When you turn on a ceiling fan, the breeze evaporates excess moisture, which makes you feel cooler.
Most people enjoy the cooling and comfortable breeze of a fan. But excess wind makes the air dry. When you sleep, this dry air may affect your breathing, causing sleep disruptions. Using a fan at night can even aggravate your allergies, making you uncomfortable throughout the night.
"When you run a fan while you sleep it can move dry air around as well as pollen and dust," Dr. Seema Sarin M.D., director of lifestyle medicine at EHE Health, tells Bustle. "A fan can cause your nasal passages and mouth to lose precious moisture through evaporation, drying them out."
Added benefits of using your ceiling fan in winter include: More air movement means that cool air doesn't sit near windows, causing condensation and mould. Lowering your heater by a few degrees can equal huge energy savings. For homes with high ceilings, ceiling fans can help distribute heat more evenly.
Positive Input Ventilation is the most effective method of curing and preventing condensation dampness. PIV systems are most popular condensation solution for existing properties as it is an easy and simple solution to install.
By some estimations, experts report that homeowners can save as much as 15 percent on heating costs when they run ceiling fans during the winter. Due to the improved distribution of heat in the room, thermostats can be turned down. When you do that, your heater runs less often, consuming less energy.
As long as your fan is clean, sleeping with it on generally does not cause serious health problems. But fans circulate air that may dry your nose and throat and trigger other uncomfortable symptoms. Keeping your home clean and free of dust is one of many ways to help prevent those issues.
Circulating air throughout the night may cause your muscles to tense. This is harmful if the fan is pointed close to your face and neck. If using a fan, point the fan away from you at night, so the air doesn't blow directly on you.
However, experts are advising against leaving the fan on overnight. Apparently it can increase asthma symptoms, and trigger allergens. Fans circulate air, but they also spread dust mites, spores, pollen, and other allergens around the room.
Ceiling fans move the stagnant air around the surface of the body and therefore cool the skin. This can help maintain body temperature and reduce the risks above, and also aid in healthier sleep.
The main reason we rely on a trusty fan to get a good night's sleep is less about temperature and more about white noise. White noise essentially works to mask the difference between background sounds and “peak” sounds (such as an ambulance siren or a door slamming) to maintain more consistency in your environment.
However, an AC does remove some amount of humidity from the air in your home as it cools things down. Depending on where your humidity level is starting out, and how much you are running your AC, it is possible for it to excessively dry out the air in your home.
Open the windows to ventilate the inside of your home.
Opening multiple windows will allow a cross breeze to develop in your home, which will help more humid air to circulate out. You don't need to open your windows all the way; just crack them 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5.1 cm).
Water can enter your home by leaking or by seeping through basement floors. Showers or even cooking can add moisture to the air in your home. The amount of moisture that the air in your home can hold depends on the temperature of the air. As the temperature goes down, the air is able to hold less moisture.
Boost your home ventilation
It's important to note that although they can be extremely helpful, running these fans for too long can actually bring in more humidity than it gets rid of.
Health: Fans circulate the natural air in your home, while air conditioners generate cold air by extracting the moisture out of the natural air. Unless you live in an area with terrible air-quality, chances are the air from outside is better for your health than the cold air generated by an air conditioner.
Photo: Jamila Toderas. "For a lot of people, it's the fact that the fan creates white noise, which blocks out other noises," Sleep Health Foundation chair and sleep psychologist, professor Dorothy Bruck said. "White noise acts as a noise reduction and noise cancellation.
Sleeping with a fan on all night you could be at risk of sinus problems, exacerbated allergies and dehydration, among other health issues. This is because as the fan circulates it dries the air out and when you breathe in that dry air it can cause your nasal passages to produce excess mucus and become blocked up.
Lisa Ackerly, home health hygienist, described Sick Bed Syndrome to the Daily Mail as a condition where the bed becomes a breeding ground not only for dust mites, but disease causing bacteria and viruses.
Brown noise produces a low-frequency rumble that's less jarring, better neutralizes higher-pitched sounds, and provides a soothing feeling of calm and focus. Think of it like a lullaby for adults, without the nursery rhymes.
White noise can also help the brain to relax by giving it a sound to focus on instead of the cacophony of stressful thoughts inside our heads. The faster we're able to fall asleep, the less chance our brain has to keep us up until three in the morning stressing about the day ahead.
CON: Noise
Some ceiling fans are noisy, although more expensive models tend to be quieter. Also, the likelihood of fan noise increases with time, as screws may loosen and the motor becomes louder with age. DC-type fans tend to be quieter because they use smaller and more efficient motors.
In most cases, you should only turn ceiling fans on when people are using the room. One possible exception is if the thermostat for your central air conditioning is in a location that tends to stay warmer than the rest of the room.
Running a fan takes a lot less electricity than running an air conditioner; ceiling fans average at about 15-90 watts of energy used, and tower fans use about 100 watts. The best ceiling fans, window fans, towers and whole-house fans use only a fraction of the energy consumed by an air-conditioner.