Domestic fan speeds.

Or hire a punkah wallah to sit in the corner and wave a palm frond over you as you sleep. A la that old show "It Ain't Half Hot Mum".

My friends laugh at our ceiling fans claiming we are 1970s throwbacks.... I've never found a more efficient way of keeping cool, so I'll stay a throwback!

I measured the power drawn out of interest, 50w is typical once it's up to speed. This seems very efficient (and made me doubt my meter).

Trying to picture what you're doing there. If the concern is to avoid hanging the heavy weight of the fan from a lighting junction box in the ceiling, one way around it is to shift the mounting points of the fan (using 2 large, long screws) over to the adjacent joist. This, of course leaves the junction box exposed or partially so which can be redressed by also fitting a ~10" ceiling-rose centred on the fan which should cover the box ... or whatever size of rose will do it.

I have a number of ceiling fans in this place and I've done all of them like that.

I couldn't agree more that a (decent) ceiling fan is the way to go. Probably remote control and 3 speed. Doubt that you'll use the high speed, mostly the low speed which you probably won't hear or (just possibly) the middle speed which you may (or may not) barely hear.

And if noise is your issue, four-blade ceiling fans run quieter than three blades.

We have a high quality Fantasia 5 bladed, remote controlled ceiling fan, which is nice and quiet in operation. It is still packed in its box though from our recent house move.

I prefer to mount it to a wooden plate fixed between two ceiling joists, rather than just one joist. It has four large mounting screws/bolts, in a 120mm dia plate, which covers a larger footprint than the width of one joist, so I need something for the other two screws to attach to, and a wooden plate secured above the ceiling plasterboard between two joists gives me that. It is also quite a heavy ceiling fan so I prefer to spread the load over two joists and slightly over-engineer things, especially things I don't want falling onto us as we sleep ! This same fan has been fitted in our two previous houses, and I always fit it this way, with no problems at all.

As I say though, I don't want to work in the loft while it is so hot - ironically - so I will wait until slightly cooler weather. I had hoped that I would be able to change an electronic component to make our floor fan run more slowly and more quietly, but that was not possible, so I smoothed the leading edges of the blades and convinced myself it was a little quieter !

Edited By John Doe 2 on 13/08/2022 08:04:00

You are right. Ceiling fans are standard in every room in every house here in the tropics. Couldn't live here without them. Pedestal fans etc simply are not up to the job.

Two extra beer before bed and it will be silent.

Just to wrap this up, I have now fitted our bedroom ceiling fan - so you have me to blame for the cooler weather, sorry !

As usual, the fan needed to be fixed between two joists, hence the wooden plate, but anyway, I prefer to over-engineer things, and the fitting instructions do say the fixing should be able to support 4x the fan's static weight, so I like to spread the load over two joists.

PS, yes I will be changing those wall lights, but we have only just moved in.

Mine never went away. I've used it with a cheap-and-cheerful fan for many years, and it gives smooth progression of speeds from nearly-nuffink to full-whiz. It has never given any problems at all, and on the occasions when I need it for a workshop project I choose a cool day and borrow it back from the living room.

George