How close is too close for ceiling fans?

6 years ago

We are building a house and our living room is around 18.5' x 20'. I had already bought ceiling fans that are 52" fans before the beams were put in, and am now questioning if the fans will be too close together. The 2 beams that I am hoping to put the ceiling fans in are about 6' apart, center to center, I am calculating about 20" between the tips of the blades. Is this too close? Should I get smaller fans?

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Kim KP

6 years ago

Anglophilia, clearly you don’t live in the desert SW where ceiling fans in every room are almost a requirement even with the AC on

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beckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
6 years ago
This article might help,

"How to Position 2 Ceiling Fans in a Single Room"
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Virgil Carter Fine Art
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Yes, that position is really too close for two fans. Rather than mount the fans on the bottoms of the beams, have you considered mounting them on the ceiling, centered between beams such that there is a bay between the two locations for the fans?
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Anglophilia
6 years ago
I'm not a fan of ceiling fans unless one lives in a place where AC is just not available or prohibitively priced. They are huge dirt/pet hair catchers, and if up high, will need a TALL ladder for cleaning. Yet another reason to not do these oh-so-popular high ceilings in family/great rooms.
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Jim1405
6 years ago
I am a huge fan of ceiling fans. Currently have one in every room in this house except the spare bedroom. And the new home I will be moving into on Tuesday also has ceiling fans in every room including the spare bedroom. Living is the desert SW I couldn't image not having them during our roughly 8 months of warm/hot/inferno weather. Not that the OP asked whether we like or dislike ceiling fans. Sorry I can't help with the your placement problem.
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simplify52
6 years ago
.............. or in Florida where you need air to move around even with the AC turned low. There is nothing worse than being hot and sweaty!
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David Cary
6 years ago
I am going to agree that ceiling fans can be overdone. 2 fans in that size room is too much IMO. I would go smaller.

Houses should be comfortable without requiring fans. If not, that is design flaw. That being said, I really like them in bedrooms.

I will admit to not living in the desert SW and I totally get that climate changes things a lot. But if the temp and humidity are correct, I am not sure why fans are required. Wise perhaps from an energy standpoint but shouldn't be needed for comfort.
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vinmarks
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
We love ceiling fans and use them all the time. We have 7 inside the house and 3 outside on porches. I guess we like air movement. We have 2 in our greatroom hanging down between beams. Right now they are on reverse to help send warm air down from the high ceiling. They are 60 inch fans. I'm not sure how far apart our beams are. As far as cleaning we bought a long telescoping 15 foot pole and ceiling fan duster attachment by Ettore. No ladder was needed. Excuse the mess. The picture was taken after we just moved in.
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Holly Stockley
6 years ago
Even way up here in Michigan, ceiling fans can help keep you comfy. As long as they have a "reverse" setting, you can keep the warm air down, as well.

(Dad used to threaten to clean ours by spreading out a drop cloth, then turning it on the highest reverse setting. Effective, but messy)

I'm currently crushing on the belt-driven models, because I like the antique styling, and will probably need two for my living area, anyway. That way, I could put them on a single motor mounted in between!
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Anglophilia
6 years ago
Since I do not have any ceilings on the first floor higher than 8', and on the 2nd floor, 9', perhaps this is why I don't "get" the idea. I did have two in my house - one on the sunporch and we put one in the kitchen. The one in the kitchen was a huge nuisance - with multiple dogs/cats at that time, cleaning it was a daily task and all it did was stir up the pet hair being "discharged" from all these pets. Better to keep it low, on the floor where a quick wipe with a Swifter could gather it all up.

I used to use the one on the porch (it is reversible) but find I really don't need it. I did leave it up "just in case" when I re-did the ceiling in true painted beadboard. It's a very old one with lovely real stained wood blades and it just looks nice on the porch; I do rarely turn it on, though.

I do not live in the desert SW, but I do live in KY where the humidity is horrendous during many months of the year. What I finally had to bring myself to was to accept that I needed to have the HVAC running year 'round and rarely (really NEVER!), open a window. I LOVE open windows and natural air, but I also have allergies, and the Ohio River Valley is awful - always some sort of pollen/air alert day. I pay a very high price, health wise, for an open window.

Perhaps fans are needed for these enormous beamed ceilings, in order to heat and cool. But if so, my question is how on earth do you get up there to clean the danged things? I would rather have more reasonable ceiling heights and no fans, but that's just my personal preference. With normal ceiling heights and a zoned HVAC system, I have no need for fans.
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Virgil Carter Fine Art
6 years ago
If the fan blades hit one another when the fans are operating, chances are they are too close to one another!
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Mary Leigh Krock
last year
I was interested in the same information as the original post. Please respond if you are aware of best practices in pacing 2 fans in same porch space. Thank you.

How close is too close for ceiling fans?

Kim KP

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beckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally

Virgil Carter Fine Art

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