When your living room has a vaulted ceiling, you might be wondering if a ceiling fan will work to keep the temperature cool. While vaulted ceilings are attractive and provide a spacious look for the room, installing a ceiling fan can be challenging. For instance, the varying height of vaulted ceilings requires you to have different down rod lengths when you install multiple ceiling fans. Learn more about vaulted ceilings and ceiling fans below.
Do ceiling fans work with vaulted ceilings? Ceiling fans work with vaulted ceilings but they need unique installations. Because of the ceiling height, you will need to optimize the fan’s reach by using an extension rod. Moreover, the addition of wide paddles will move more air around the room and cool it more effectively. It is ideal that you hang the ceiling fan about eight to ten feet from the floor. Furthermore, you might also need to hire the services of a professional electrician to do the installation.
Does ceiling height affect air conditioning? Can you put a ceiling fan on a vaulted ceiling? How do you cool a room with a vaulted ceiling? How do you circulate air in vaulted ceilings? These are some of the questions that we will discuss. Find out more about the topic by reading the rest of the article below.
Can You Put a Ceiling Fan on a Vaulted Ceiling?
You can put a ceiling fan on a vaulted ceiling. It makes the room appear more elegant and relaxing. Vaulted ceilings provide the illusion of a bigger room and installing ceiling fans on the ceiling will maintain the air circulation in the room. It will provide warm air during the winter and cool air during the summer.
Does Ceiling Height Affect Air Conditioning?
The height of the ceiling can affect the air conditioning in a room. Having vaulted ceilings will increase the workload of the AC unit because there is more space that needs to be heated or cooled. Because of this, your energy bill might skyrocket. It is recommended that you install a ceiling fan to circulate air trapped in the higher ceiling space and to lower your energy bill. You can also check out this article that we have shared titled, are high ceilings harder to heat? We have shared an in-depth discussion about the topic.
How to Cool a Room with Vaulted Ceilings
To cool a room with vaulted ceilings, you need to install a whole house fan. These fans are usually placed in the attic. As the weather cools down during the night, you can open the windows and turn on the fan. The fan works by drawing in cool air through the open windows. Another option is to use a ceiling fan. You can use the fan as an accompaniment to the AC unit. Running the fan and the AC together will effectively circulate air throughout the room for a cool and even temperature.
Ceiling Fan Direction for Vaulted Ceilings
For vaulted ceilings that are higher than the usual eight to ten feet height, it is recommended that you run the ceiling fan in a counter-clockwise setting. Make sure that you are familiar with the direction of the ceiling fan blade when it is turned on so that you will know if it is in a clockwise or counter-clockwise setting. The downside of having a ceiling fan in a vaulted ceiling is that the height of the ceiling makes it hard to create a wind-chill effect. Because of this, the ceiling fan is not much of a help in cooling the room even if you run it at high speed.
How to Choose the Best Ceiling Fan for Vaulted Ceiling
The blade number, blade pitch, design and down rod length, and lighting fixture are some of the things that you need to consider when choosing a ceiling fan for a vaulted ceiling. Having a quality ceiling fan can make the room feel more comfortable all throughout the year. There is a wide array of ceiling fans that are available in the market and choosing one can be confusing. Below, we have shared some of the things that you need to consider when choosing the best ceiling fan for vaulted ceilings,
Blade Number
The first thing that you need to consider is the blade number. This is important because it determines how much air the fan can circulate. A vaulted ceiling means that the room is large and wide. Choose a ceiling fan with at least three to four blades so that it can effectively generate enough airflow in the room.
Blade Pitch
Another thing that you need to consider is the blade pitch. This is the angle of the ceiling fan’s tilt and is measured in degrees. The blade angle of the fan can affect how it effectively circulates air in a room. Between twelve to fifteen degrees is the optimal blade pitch of a ceiling fan. If you have a large room, the ideal blade pitch of the ceiling fan should be closer to fifteen degrees.
Design and Down Rod Length
You also need to consider the design and down rod length of the ceiling fan. Usually, vaulted ceilings are higher than eight feet. For a tall ceiling, it is recommended to have a down rod length that can be able to extend low enough so that it can circulate the air effectively throughout the room. Furthermore, make sure that you choose a ceiling fan that suits the theme of the room. You can choose from the wide array of ceiling fan designs available on the market.
Lighting Fixtures
Some ceiling fans come with lighting. If you want to have a ceiling fan that will also be the main source of light in the room, consider the number of lighting fixtures that it has. Aside from that, you need to find out the maximum wattage that is allowed in a fan.
How Far Should the Ceiling Fan be from a Vaulted Ceiling?
How far the ceiling fan should be from the vaulted ceiling will have to depend on the height of the vaulted ceiling. For safety purposes, a ceiling fan should hang at least seven feet above the floor. If your ceiling measures ten feet tall, you need to hang the ceiling fan at least three feet from the ceiling.
✅ Video – Vaulted Ceiling Fan Install
The Handyman shared the video below on YouTube. It shows how to install a ceiling fan in a vaulted ceiling. You can check out the video below for more tips and information.
How Do You Circulate Air in Vaulted Ceilings?
To circulate air in a vaulted ceiling, you need to install a ceiling fan, run the system fan, and choose the right capacity of the air conditioner. Take note that rooms with vaulted ceilings have a greater volume of air. Because of this, a coolness deficit can occur. Let us learn more about how to circulate air in vaulted ceilings below.
Install a Ceiling Fan
One way to circulate air in a vaulted ceiling is to install a ceiling fan. These fans can be set to continuously blow air in a downward direction. During the cold season, ceiling fans will circulate the heat that accumulates at the ceiling by pushing it back down. We have also shared this article that discusses how to circulate air in vaulted ceilings. Check out the article for an in-depth discussion about the topic.
Run the System Fan
Another thing that you can do is to run the system fan. Usually, most central HVAC systems can be set to run continuously even if the furnace or air conditioner functions are off. Bear in mind that continuous air circulation helps mix both warm and cool air and keep temperatures cool and consistent.
Properly Sized Air Conditioner Capacity
The cooling performance of the air conditioner cooling is rated by BTU capacity. An air conditioner that does not have the right BTU capacity may not produce enough cooling power to cool a room with vaulted ceilings. This can lead to high energy bills and low comfort levels.
What Size of Ceiling Fan Do I Need?
To find out what size of ceiling fan you need for a room, you first need to measure the total square footage of the room. Take note that smaller rooms need shorter fans and larger rooms need larger fans. For rooms that measure 150 square feet or less, a 36 inches ceiling fan is ideal. If the room measures 225 square feet or less, a 42 inches ceiling fan is recommended. Lastly, for rooms that measure 350 square feet or less, you need to choose a 52 inches ceiling fan.
How Many Ceiling Fans Do I Need?
The number of ceiling fans that you need will depend on the dimension of the room. For rooms that measure about a square, one ceiling fan is required. Rooms that are twice as long as they are wide will need two ceiling fans. You also need to consider the location of the junction boxes. If you only have one junction box, you will need only one ceiling fan. You can add more, but you need to add another junction box. We have also shared this article that discusses if a ceiling fan can reduce AC cost. Check out the article for more information about the topic.
Can You Put a Ceiling Fan on an 8 Foot Ceiling?
You can place a ceiling fan on an 8-foot ceiling. On the other hand, make sure that the bottom of the blades of the fan must be 7 feet from the floor for safety reasons. There are instances wherein the bodies of the ceiling fan may extend slightly below the blades, but this is still acceptable.
Conclusion
In this article, we have discussed if ceiling fans work with vaulted ceilings. We have found out that you can have ceiling fans in a vaulted ceiling but they may need unique installation. We have also shared tips on how to find the best ceiling fan for vaulted ceilings. We hope that this article has answered your questions regarding ceiling fans and vaulted ceilings. Thank you for reading!