[liatrais]

Hi, My brother is in the Middle East for a few months and I am taking care of his house. I try to keep the electricity bills as low as possible since it is an empty house. But, there is an difference of opinion in the family which I hope you can shed some light on.

This has to do with the operation of the ceiling fans. I am the main person caring for the house. But other family members have ideas which they think is right. Could you please shed some light on this difference of opinion?

The main issue here is I want to keep them off. Number 2 wants to turn it on slow. Number 3 wants it on high all the time. Can you tell us is it unsafe to keep a ceiling fan running on Hi for a long period? Someone has been told that keeping a ceiling fan on Hi for a long time can cause a fire hazard. Can this happen?

Thanks for your answer in advance. Cheryl

[tkrussell]

Any appliance should run carefree,but anything can fail, anytime, esp if left running unattended for long periods.

Why are the fans needed if the place is unoccupied? My opinion is if the home is empty every thing possible should be shut down, except perhaps a refrigerator if food is being stored, security systems, sump pumps, etc.

So seems that I agree with you, will save more energy, why run something that uses power and runs up the bill and no one is there to take advantage of the usage, plus the added benefit of not worrying about something that may fail.

This includes all lights and appliances, water lines, gas lines.

[ballengerb1]

I run my furnace fan 24/7 in two homes just to keep humidity and temp levels even, doesn't matter which home I'm living in. Ceiling fans are pretty much for specific zones and it may be a waste to run them at all. Do you have a furnace fan that could be left on?

[KISS]

Ceiling fans don't actually "Cool" a house. They make the occupant feel cooler because of airflow which cases evaporatation on the skin.

Now if, the window was open, the ceiling fan could draw air into the house making it cooler.

[liatrais]

To the person that wanted to know why the a/c is left on. We live in Houston. You leave it off for any length of time and you start a mold/mildew war, and your furniture starts to warp because of the humidity.

My main concern is whether it is more of a hazard to keep the fan on high for MONTHS. This really scares me, but when I go to check on the houose, family member #3 has it turned on high again.

Silly isn't it? Thanks Again!

[ceilingfanrepair]

It's not a hazard to run fans on high, many businesses do it 24/7. However there is no point if the house is empty. I keep my fans on low, it keeps the air from becoming overly stale, however turning them off is fine.

[ballengerb1]

If you have hig humidity the fans aren't going to do much to help, they do not dehumidify. Set the AC fairly high so it runns for just a few hours a day to keep humidity down. Either that or by a dehumidifier but they use as much juice as a window AC.