What direction should your ceiling fans go? Tips for cooling your home

As temperatures climb higher in the summer, so do electricity bills.

One way to lower their cost is to use ceiling fans to cool your home.

But what direction should they rotate? Here's what to know about fans to cool your home, and another possible cooling solution: a box fan.

In summer, ceiling fans should rotate counterclockwise when you look up at them, according to the US Department of Energy. This direction pushes cool air downwards, creating a cooling breeze that helps you feel more comfortable.

In winter, reverse the direction to clockwise and set to low speed to circulate warm air from the ceiling down to the living spaces.

The Department of Energy suggests these tips when installing a ceiling fan in your home:

Pacific Gas and Electric has an online database of ENERGY STAR-compliant fans you can search.

What temperature should you set your AC?

Both PG&E and Southern California Edison suggest users set the AC temperature at 78 F or higher when at home, health permitting. Every degree above 78°F represents an approximately 2% savings on cooling costs, according the company.

The thing to remember about box fans is that they're great for pushing hot air out and sucking cool air in.

Experts recommend placing window fans blowing air into your home on the coolest side of your house. Windows near shady, cooler outdoor areas usually provide the best intake, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

On the western, or hottest side of your home, face your window fans so they're blowing air out of your house.

If your house has more than one floor, consider putting the window fan facing out on the upper floor where indoor temperatures are usually hottest.

If you're going to go through the trouble of setting up a window or box fan, you probably want to know whether or not you're actually saving money, right?

Most box fans use between 50-100 watts of power per hour, according to experts, who say a 20-inch box fan consumes about 50-75 watts per hour. That's about 50% more than your standard ceiling fan, but far less power than an air conditioner, which can use between 500-5,000 watts of electricity.

You might be wondering, then, how much that box fan will cost you in electricity every month. Fortunately, there's a simple formula you can use.

The simple answer? Roughly 20 cents a day.

That's if you're running a 50-watt fan for 24 hours and the price of your electricity is $0.13/kWh — rounded down from 13.41 ¢/kWh — which is the average cost of residential electricity in Indiana, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

So one box fan running nonstop typically costs only a few dollars a month. That amount can change periodically, so be sure to check your energy bill for the amount of electricity you pay for every kilowatt-hour of energy.

To find out how much any appliance in your home will cost per hour, use this formula courtesy of Homes And Gardens.

Multiply the appliance's wattage by the number of hours you want to use it. Divide by 1,000 and then multiply again by the cost per kilowatt-hour on your electric bill. The formula looks like this:

Cost = (power (in watts) x time (in hours)) / 1,000 x cost of one kilowatt-hour.

So in our box fan example from above, the formula would be: (50 watts x 24 hours) / 1,000 x $0.17 per kilowatt-hour = $0.20.