Ceiling fan or standing fans

[Spud50]

Currently we use 2 standing fans at night in the bedroom to keep cool. I was thinking of buying a ceiling fan which would be sited above the bed. Had different views about their effectiveness. Has anybody had these fitted? How good are they and what would be your recommendation?

Thanks

[sophie]

We have both and they both have their pros and cons. I have to admit that in the bedroom I tend to prefer the free standing as its much more adaptable and you can angle it more accurately plus you can buy the ones that turn from side to side. In living and dining room we much prefer ceiling version. If course you can also use the A/C Pays your money etc!!

[Panchocat]

We have a five bladed, almost silent, German remote controlled one over the bed.
We put the A/C on before we go to bed for a couple of hours and when we go to bed turn the A/C off and the fan does the job through the night.

[waddo]

Just to add to the melting pot - we used floor standing fans, the type that turn from side to side, for many years then decided to go for ceiling fans. However, I neglected to check the ceiling to see if they would work before buying them, big mistake. Our ceilings are all suspended and there was nothing to fit the ceiling fans to at all - sold them at less than half the buying price and chalked it up to experience. Then I spotted some wall mounted ceiling fans that also swing from side to side and bought two of those for the bedrooms.

Best things we have ever bought! In the summer they hang on the walls where we want them to be and just simply plug into the wall sockets, in the winter we store them in the cupboard and hang a picture where they used to be! Fully speed adjustable and we use them in the same manner as Panchocat uses her ceiling mounted fan, i.e. aircon on for about an hour before bed then aircon switched off and fan on for about another 4 hours, wonderfull and cheap to run as well!

[sophie]

Got to get a lot hotter before A/c on anywhere in house. Don't like it, dries my eyes up and was even worse when I used contact lenses.

[waddo]

That's only coz you are dead hard! Bet you don't light your fire till the end of January either - lol. We cool the bedrooms with the A/C and switch them off when we go into the bedrooms and put the fan on, no problem with dry eyes or the A/C hacking dry cough that will appear in the middle of next month once it gets hot enough for everyone to use them. Only A/C we use during the day to cool down is Sah or the Starlux - heaven when summer is full on with us.

[alphamike]

Have always had a ceiling fan in the bedroom, and never had floor standing ones, so can't compare the difference.

At the moment, I'm finding that the ceiling fan is cutting it well with the windows opened at night, without using A/C at all. Am trying to stave off using the A/C for as long as possible, but come July/August will definitely need it on to enable sleep, but also using the ceiling fan. Apparently using the two together, allows you to put up the temp by a few degrees on the A/C.

Some of my windows get the sun all afternoon in the summer. Black out curtain linings, and keeping curtains closed during the afternoon, before the sun actually hits the windows, seems to be helping in keeping the house cooler.

[Scoobydoo]

Had both and without a doubt prefer the ceiling fan above the bed with a remote control

[jackvern]

We have an assortment of both ceiling and standing fans and they all work well for different functions. However we bought a Simfer water cooled standing fan a few years ago which we prefer to all others. You can use ice cubes in the water to cool it and it's remote controlled. Our dog seems to like this one best. Can't remember were we purchased it but it certainly does the job.

[thornaby]

If you go for a ceiling fan get one with a handheld remote control not a wall mounted controller. The handheld is a lot more convenient to use and the wall controller will need an extra wire at the ceiling rose which almost certainly won't be there. We use our ceiling mounted fan now but when it gets really, really hot it will be the floor standing one.

[sophie]

Hard.......me? Heaven forefend. Actually its the dogs that usually determine what goes where. So if I put the wrong thing in the wrong place, they just up sticks and sleep on the top terrace watching the stars and listening to the fox doing his thing.

In reality two of our bedrooms have the highest ceilings the a/c installers had ever seen so ceiling fans in bedrooms are not an option, however they are installed in living and dining room. They are both on as I type, knocking seven bells out of any insect that has the temerity to fly inside.

[MoonageDaydream]

Our experience is that ceiling fans can be quite noisy. We installed one the in the bedroom, and although it has its uses, you can't run it all night because the noise keeps you awake! Last year we changed our 12 year old aircon units for the modern inverter type. Now we can cool the room down quickly before we go to bed, and if its hot in the night if we run it fr another 5 minutes that does the trick.