Air Conditioning V ceiling fans, or both

I am looking for advice on whether to fit ceiling fans as well as air conditioning. My thinking was that with Air con installed it may not be required all the time and better to run ceiling fans as required when not hot enough for Air Con, or during the night for example. Do most people install both or just either?

I am concious of comments about electricity charges reported on the forum so can anyone also advise on their running costs.

regards,

Allan

Hi BigAl

Our apartment has hot/cold air con.  Some friends told us about ceiling fans and we had some placed in each bedroom.  These were about 25 euros each from Leropy Merlin and incorporate a light as well.  Our apartment is not south facing which is agreat bonus in the summer.  During the summer before we go to bed at night we run the air con on a cold setting for about and hour and a half then switch the ceiling fans on a slow setting all night.  This seems to working keeping us and the room cool.  It also costs less than running the air con all night.  The only thing is you have to keep the doors and windows shut.  Hope this helps.

We have both air con. (hot & cold) and fans, which we use as needed, depending on the temperature.

There are some fans that have a reverse rotating blade facility. This is supposed to direct air from the ceiling, towards the walls and then down to the ground, marginally increasing the benefits. Might be worth bearing in mind, if and when purchasing?

We have both installed. The air con on its own in the summer works well, but find that in the winter, as heat generated from the aircon unit rises in the room being heated, switching on the fans circulates the air and makes the heating more evenly distributed.The cold effect at floor level caused by the tiles and lack of underfloor insulation of course is great in the warmer weather but in the colder times cools the warmer air more quickly, so the warmer air from any heating device tends to rise quicker so putting the fans on helps.

We have both as well.  It seems that this is the norm.  Last summer we hardly used the aircon. The one room upstairs we just use a swivel head desk fan to cool the air, with the window left open.  During the winter we use the log fire supplemented by the portable gas fire if necessary.  If it is particularly cold, we do run the hot aircon for an hour or so before bed.  But it is really a case of horses for courses & whether or not you feel the cold / heat.

 We don't have ceiling fans but bought room fans last year and an ecosensor. We use the ecosensor to ensure the a/c isn't left on all day when guests go out, but also found that most people preferred to use the fans. From a personal point of view (i'm not a great heat lover, why did I buy in Spain???) I prefer the movement of the air around the room and find it cooler (and less noisy at night!!)

Mark

We are in Mojacar and would like to know where does one buy ecosensor for airconditioning

Wrixon

 Take a look at this thread which discusses it in detail and has the web address for the company too. I can vouch for it working with my reduced bills last year 

Mark

We have both ceiling fans AND aircon/heat units. There's a period when you don't need the aircon on but you DO need air movement. We have the fans with three lights in each room.

Hi    As I fit A.C. I would obviously say have a nice A. C. unit installed !!       Not everyone can afford the initial outlay but they are not as expensive to run as many people think. A good quality unit giving out 3.5 kw of cooling or heating would cost less than 20cents/hour.        Just remember that all you people that allready have A.C you don't need a fan........your unit has a "fan only" setting.  So don,t buy  a fan just switch on the A.C. to "fan only"   In this  "mode"   the internal fan runs  (but not the external unit), and it uses only minimal electricity  (just like an ordinary fan).      I come across lots of people who have not been instructed on the operation of the A. C. units. 

 I didn't know that either . Then again, we have cheap and cheerful Haier units fitted, so they are limited in what they can do and not inverter driven. That said, if I didn't know that, the guests won't either which is where the sensor comes into play .

Mark

We have two light/ceiling fans in each bedroom and two large light/ceiling fans in lounge / diner in south west facing appartment. No problems sleeping at all. I wanted AC but partner doesn't like it so tried the fans, I wouldn't bother to install AC now we have tried ceiling fans, they work well for us.

Thanks for the tip about air con used as fan only, will try that this summer,also have both,hubby dont like ac at night,and must say it keeps me awake

Really interested in your Ecosensor unit Mark.  Read on the other thread that you turned it to night setting before it was installed on the ceiling because of the beeping every 30 minutes.  Do you leave it on night setting constantly, if so how does that work?  Perhaps I'm not reading between the lines

Anita

The way the sensor works is that if no movement is sensed in a room, a signal is sent to the a/c unit to switch it off. You can set it for 15/ 30/ 60 mins before the signal is sent. The problem is that the unit is not intelligent enough to know it has already sent the signal so every 15/ 30/ 60 mins it will send a signal if no movement is sensed. In night setting, the unit only sends the signal during daylight, so no annoying beeps overnight. The downside is that you can't have the unit auto shut off at night in this mode and will run all night if so set. 

Mark

Thanks Mark, all makes sense now. 

Anita

Hi,

I'm in a detached house in Javea region (Costa Blanca). Apartments & Town houses may be different from my experience.

We have both A/C & ceiling fans in all the bedrooms. We had the A/C installed before moving into the house and before we had any experience. The ceiling fans I installed later and are excellent for cooling. They keep you cool and are quiet when operating during the night. I run the fan all night in the bedroom when sleeping if required. Sometimes if it gets too cool during the night I need to turn the fan off.

Fans are a lot cheaper to install and run compared to A/C.

I have A/C also in the living & dining room that I use occasionly.

I paid approx 150-200 euros for each light/fan (it's a comnbined unit) as I wanted to be sure they'd be quiet when running. I didn't want any motor noise.

The A/C units have been usful for heating purposes during the colder months, which there are several of them. Energy is expensive in Spain and the typical levels of house insulation is not good. Small separate free standing heaters could have covered this need at a much lower cost.

The A/C can be good when you come out of the shower/getting dressed to go out and do not want to end up like you need another shower due to the air temperature being hot in the summer.

If I was starting again, I would not install the A/C units. The ceiling fans would be all I'd install. Which I did myself as it's almost the same as installing a new light onto the existing ceiling light position.

If you're not sure and want to delay the decision, have the A/C infrastucure pre-installed but don't buy all the A/C units. Then you can decide at a later date if you want/need to install all the A/C units. As all the work has been performed on the walls in the rooms, then it will be relatovely easy to have the actual A/C units installed. Any good plumber can take you through this option.

Hope this helps.

 Again, I have nothing to gain from this, but I saw the Ecosensor units on Dragons Den tonight :) They didn't get any investment though :( I still like mine though (and it works).

Mark

I saw them on Dragons Den but also had the same reservation as was mentioned i.e. yes it's great that it switches the AC off if no movement detected but if you've been out for a long day not vary nice to come home to a warm house!

Silly question Mark but if say a responsible holiday tenant goes out for the day, and sets the timer so the AC comes on at say 7pm how much cooling will he get before the unit knocks it off again? (apologies if this is stated elsewhere as only just had a quick read through).

Think I'd be a fan if it can co-exist (or supervise) to timer, but not if it simply replaces it.

 It all depends on how long the delay is set by the owner. The delay can be set from 15 minutes to 60 minutes, mine is set to 30. I don't know how many responsible holiday tenants there are to be fair (tarring everyone with the same brush here), and even less sure how many of them would want to learn how to use the remote properly (I still haven't mastered it and I use it frequently :)).

Our apartment is South facing, so gets sun for the majority of the day. If the shutters are put down when going out, it is surprising how much heat is kept out of the apartment. A quick burst on the a/c or fans and it is soon more than acceoptable temps.

I did actually email them last night and tell them it was a shame the product wasn't recognised. Their reply this morning was that it wasn't done for investment, but for advertising . Nice one Cyril, play them at their own game!!

Mark