Ceiling fan rotation direction: summer, winter, how to set it and how to check

In summer mode the blades turn anticlockwise when you look at the fan from the floor. The blades' angled profile then pushes air down: a column of air descends in the centre of the room, spreads over the floor and rises along the walls. Under the fan you clearly feel the breeze. That air movement on the skin is what lowers the felt temperature by 2 to 4 °C.

All speeds suit summer. Speed 1 for the night, at 30 dB; speed 2 for an evening in the living room; speed 3 to cool a room quickly after it has heated all day, before dropping down. Summer mode is used with windows open or closed, with no difference in principle: it does not cool the air, it moves it.

In winter, warm air from the heating rises and gathers under the ceiling: up to 4 °C between feet and ceiling in a 2.50 m room. In winter mode the blades turn clockwise seen from below and draw air upward. Warm ceiling air is pushed to the walls, comes down along them and returns to floor level. The room evens out, with no perceptible breeze in the centre.

The absolute condition: minimum speed. At speed 1 the air movement is too slow to be felt, and heat comes down gently. At speed 2 or 3 the movement becomes a draught, and 20 °C air moving over the skin feels cold. That is the mistake that makes people say winter mode cools: it is not the direction at fault, it is the speed. The real benefit: 1 to 2 °C less on the thermostat for the same comfort, 7 to 14% of heating over the season, for 5 W of consumption.

On the Boréal 107, reversal is done from the remote, fan stopped or running depending on the receiver model: stop, press the reverse command, restart. On other models a small switch on the motor body does the same, which means climbing a stepladder twice a year. The remote avoids that chore and lets you switch in ten seconds the day the season changes.

To check direction without watching the blades, two tests. First: stand under the fan on speed 2; if you feel air, it is summer mode; if you feel nothing, winter mode. Second, more precise: a sheet of paper held at arm's length under the blades is pushed down in summer mode and slightly drawn up in winter mode. A glance at the blades confirms: anticlockwise seen from below in summer.

Three mistakes recur. The first we have seen: winter mode at speed 2 or more, which creates a cold draught. The second: winter mode in an unheated room, where there is no ceiling heat to redistribute; the fan moves cool air for nothing. Winter mode is justified in heated rooms, living room, office, bedroom with a radiator.

The third: forgetting to switch back to summer mode in June. A fan running clockwise at speed 3 in high summer moves air toward the ceiling and gives no breeze on the skin; you conclude it does nothing. The simple reflex: the first day you turn the heating back on, reverse; the first day you unfold the blades to cool down, reverse. Two presses on the remote a year.