The power consumption of air conditioners averages 318 watts hourly for a 24 000 btu unit in most american households the power draw of a unit that size ranges from 1 800 to 2 500 watts in most cases.
Ceiling fan vs air conditioner power consumption.
Fan only means the air conditioner is only powering the fan and isn t actually cooling the air.
Most ceiling fans average between 5 000 6 000 cfm s.
Given their size it s not surprising house fans consume more power than ceiling fans.
Exact energy amounts vary based on the size of the fan s motor but most whole house fans use between 120 and 600 watts according to the national renewable energy laboratory but this is still much less energy than a central air conditioner uses.
The cost of air conditioning vs.
Yes max in terms of power consumption ceiling fans are more efficient than air conditioners however they don t necessarily have to cost the same or more than an air conditioner.
According to the article.
There are ceiling fans with high cubic feet per minute cfm available at affordable price points.
However i measured the power consumption for those modes as well for reference purposes.
Ac why ceiling fans are here.
While that s a feature on many air conditioners it s not typically used often.
Energy costs of fans fans in general do not consume a lot of energy.
The electricity consumption of a.
We know that the propensity for maximum chill with air conditioners can t be beat and neither can ceiling fans cost to run.
A good ceiling fan it draws only 30 watts to run costing about 1 cent per three hours of use.
You ll see some unlikely appliances paired with each other to show where your money is going and to shine a light on high energy consuming appliances you may not have considered.
If you were using fans without any air conditioning then of course fans are cheaper.
Take a look at the charts below to compare the electricity consumption of regular household items.
A good window ac unit runs on 1 2 kilowatts and costs 14 cents an hour to run.
Sometimes running both a fan and an air conditioner gives you the benefit of air conditioning at a lower cost.
The average is only 318 watts because air conditioning units automatically cycle their compressors on off as needed.
A three ton central air unit a common cooling system runs on about 3 kilowatts and costs about 36 cents an hour to run.
I will assume for arguments sake that no one is honestly considering getting ceiling fans instead of air conditioning as this would be a poor choice unless you lived in the north like bozeman montana where it is cool most of the year.