Best Ceiling fans - review

Home & Living
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Hey Everyone,

We’ve just moved into a new home and it’s come with a mish-mash of ceiling fans, and we’re looking to replace them all with the one family.

We’ve had ceiling fans before and are sold on them - they’re a must for all seasons (at least here in Sydney/Newcastle).

From the updated review in the Dec/Jan 21/22 issue we’re whittled the list to the Irene ‘Hugger’ styles (due in part to our low 2.4m ceilings), but I still have one unanswered question: what’s better, 3 or 5 blades?

In the absence of any compelling argument either way, our default thinking is that the smaller bedrooms will get a 3-blade 42", the larger bedrooms get a 3-blade 52", and the lounge rooms get a 5-blade 60".

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

- Greig.

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Hi @greiginsydney,

I merged your query into the existing ceiling fan review.

Regardless of the numbers of blades, performance in the test environment is objective - in that environment. Specific fans have advantages in lounges or bedroom, dependent on their similiarity to the test environment.

Moving on from that, nose levels are probably more important than the number of blades, as is air movement.

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Thanks Phil.

It sounds like an almost impossible quest then.

3H and 5H versions of the fan that looks best are rated the same and have fairly identical spec’s and performance, so sounds like it’s a coin toss - although as there’s a $70 hike for 2 more blades, the 5H might not be warranted - or just come down to an aesthetics thing. (Finding somewhere I can set eyes on these in the real world here in Newcastle might be a challenge - but for 6 fans it might justify a day-trip to the big smoke).

- G.

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In my experience with fans seeing one in operation might be warranted for 6 of them. Air movement makes its own noise at speeds, and motor noise is not an absolute in each person’s ear. One may find a soft whining sound easier than a slightly louder deep sound and vice versa as example.

If you cannot see one running (your perceptions in a quiet home will vary from those in the noisy shop) be sure about the return (change of mind) policy and resist the temptation to open them all at once if they are sealed. Consider having the first (probably a bedroom where noise matters most) installed and assess it for suitability, and then make your judgement on the rest.

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In theory if there are more blades the fan can turn slower and move the same amount of air and thus be quieter. Whether this is true in this case you would need to test.

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This commercial site seems a good complement to the Choice articles previously linked.

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I have a problem with this part.

Fewer Blades for Less Drag

When a fan has fewer blades, there is generally less dragon on the motor. This means it can go faster and more air more efficiently. As a result, there is more airflow and a better wind chill effect. This makes your face feel cooler. Finally, the specific shape of the blades ensures that air is being picked up and moved around your home.

The air sped depends on things aside from the speed the axle turns, including the total area and design of the blades. The quote above in effect assumes the result it wants to demonstrate by ignoring that larger blades move more air than smaller ones turning the same speed. Also air speed and volume of flow seem to be conflated.

I also doubt that as a general proposition efficiency goes up with blade speed. As blade speed goes up so does air speed but so does turbulence. Turbulence reduces efficiency as air does not flow smoothly and energy is turned into heat and sound rather than motion.

This is not a simple question as there are more factors, like the size and shape of the room, and air volume vs airspeed that determine cooling effect. Also the user preferences make a difference. Do you want the whole room to have some air motion or just in your favourite chair?

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The two points made by Martec should be qualified.

  1. 3 bladed fans need to spin faster to move the same volume of air as a fan with 4 or 5 blades of the same size. Alternately a 3 bladed fan may have a broader blade and spin at the same speed. That one is moving the mass air volume faster is not necessarily a given. IE no measurable difference in velocity depending on where the airflow is measured.
  2. A faster moving blade will create more noise than a slower moving blade of identical size and shape (design). While a slower moving blade would be expected to create less noise, adding blades increases the number of noise sources. The shape/design of blade is also a significant factor in the noise level.

Martec’s advice is likely aligned to it’s product line and marketing needs.

@syncretic has suggested all things are not as simple as we all might assume.

I can only note that the top rated fan in the Choice reviews has but a single propeller style design - effectively 2 blades. It challenges any alternate logic that a 3, 4, or 5 bladed fans are better.

The 3 vs 5 bladed fans mentioned previously score close enough to identical results.

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Only if the blade pitch is the same. A 3 blade fan, with larger blade and slightly steeper pitch (angle from horizontal) may push more air as a flatter pitch, 5 blade fan with smaller blades.

It is possible to calculate the push of a fan based in the number of blades, pitch, blade areas and RPMs.

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Agreed, or it may not, depending on what else is the same or different.

The Choice review has products featuring a mixture of fan blade designs including complex airfoil shaped props through to pressed metal and simple flat timber slats. It keeps things simple by providing relative assessments as part of the scoring. Every fan model will perform slightly differently depending on the size and location in a room, ceiling height and fan hanging height. Our main fans are on high ceilings and extended or long hangers. This improves the airflow compared with the close to ceiling fans they replaced. Personal observation.

In the Choice reviews some of the more complex and expensive fans perform poorly, while some of the cheaper blade designs perform adequately. It’s worth looking at the wide variance in noise levels and effectiveness of the fans reviewed. Some of the quieter fans have the most basic of low cost blade designs.

What I took away was that the DC fans most often had lower power costs. Looking at the purchase prices the annual savings in power consumption were often insufficient to justify the price premiums (style excepted) for many of the more expensive options.

P.S.
The Choice detailed review (member content?) provides ready links to supplier or manufacturer web sites. Additional details including fan performance such as airflow volumes or similar are available for many of the fans, for those interested.

Edit - example added
Note that this random sample comes in 3 sizes. The largest 60” fan moves 50+% more air than the smaller of the 3. Note power consumption also indicated.

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Good that you mentioned the latest article and test results by Denis Gallagher.
Note however that the table only shows test results for DC fans operated via a remote control and that the light options (where available) vary.
After reading the article and doing further research (including talking to a very knowledgeable sales assistant in a shop), I have decided to NOT replace the 120 cm 4 wooden blade AC wall switch-controlled fans (with light) in 3 bedrooms even though they are 19 years old Incidentally, they cost $55 each and have worked well and when any have stopped working on all speeds it was easy and cheap to fix the problem by replacing the fan condenser.

The main reasons for deciding to continue to use the existing fans are:

  • installing new fans would deliver few benefits and result in significant purchase and installation costs.
  • most new fans with lights seem to have LEDs and many are not replaceable.
  • many new fans control the fan speed and the light from a remote control so there is more to go wrong (the remote control and the wireless receiver in the fan housing)
  • the existing wiring is set up for the fan and the light to be controlled from a wall switch.
    However, I will try see if I can increase the lighting level by using LED not CFL bulbs. Is this likely?

BTW while looking at fans I was surprised and disappointed to find that for some fans the box or other easily accessible signage did not show:

  • the blade diameter in cms (Why are inches still used for this important measurement? IMO if an imperial measurement is provided a metric one should be too and preferably only in one unit e.g. cm not cm or mm)
  • max air movement rate (Is there a Australian or international standard on how to measure this and how to display the results? If not should there be?)
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Yes, we have two such fans. For one an Arlec brand the remote operation can be hit and miss. The timer is not intuitive, and it chews 12v A23 batteries (3-6 months) despite only being used several times each week.

I had difficulty at first finding suitable compact LED bulbs for our older fans with oyster lights. Victim of not living in a trendy Capital like Melbourne. Finally took an old filament bulb to Cetnaj and found a similar outline, size shape and illumination point replacement. Several warmth’s and powers available, they work much better than a CFL or original filament globes. Blinding white or warm glow.

Most suppliers nominate the airflow capacity of their products. There is no Aussie standard for rating the airflow capacity. Each fan is manufacturer rated. The USA DOE may be onto it, but from the need to rate fans based on energy efficiency.

https://macroairfans.com/blog/how-to-test-fan-performance/

More effort needed to dig deeper, I’m out of time for today.

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With most LED lights as @mark_m has noted they come with various warmth levels. We feel that the usual “warm white” is far too yellow in tone so feels dim. Our preferred level is “daylight” but “cool white” will also provide a sharper light level, sometimes depending on the brand cool white and daylight are the same intensity. Strictly speaking daylight is 6000K to 6500K so bluish white (midday without cloud cover type light), natural or cool white (brand dependent on how they call their tone) is around 4100K to 5500K so a little less blue in the tone. Warm white is around 2700K in tone so far more yellow/red in tone. Normal old school fluorescents are about 4000K for tone comparison purposes. You can also find some CFLs offer similar warmth levels to LED ones but they can be harder to source.

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‘Warm white’ seems either 2700K or 3000K and we find the 2700K too yellow these days, but reflects the colour of old halogen downlights. The 3000K is much better to our eye.

It is best to check the numbers than just the ‘warm, daylight, or cool’ statement.

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Very much agree on that @PhilT. Sadly not all brands offer Kelvin values on their lights, if they do then yes it is best to shop by the K value than light description. Sometimes there is no choice than to shop by cool white, warm white, daylight etc branding and even then between brands there can be no consistency of what a colour tone description means. Perhaps an area where K values need to be stated.

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Two links that are worth noting @BrendanMays and @DenisGallagher?

https://www.techstreet.com/amca/standards/amca-230-15?product_id=1904250

The ANSI document is produced by an industry association. It has found it’s way to official USA recognition as noted in the links. Not all manufacturers/suppliers may be onboard reading further into this document.

https://www.bigassfans.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/42-46_Taber-Ivanovich_Fans.pdf

Note for fans sold in Australia, unless the supplier has indicated the test method/industry recommended test procedure the data they advise may be doubted. It’s also important to note that earlier versions of the guide to fan testing produce different results. EG The 1999 edition over estimated airflow by up to 41% compared to later revised calculations.

The test method (I’m not wasting USD on a 20 page booklet) appears easy enough to replicate in an industrial lab. No comment if the cost is justified in a Choice test. What I would suggest is for every fan review publishing in the detailed comparisons the performance and flow rates of the fans. IE that the supplier will guarantee against the latest ANSI accepted test method. If they will or cannot, it may be best to leave that field blank or annotated, to avoid misleading comparisons.

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Thanks to you and others for the comments/suggestions on how to increase the brightness of the light in the ceiling fans by using info about the light colour. Very helpful.

I’ll also check out the lumen info available for various types of lights since that will also have a big influence on brightness.

This oz govt fact sheet “Light bulb buyers guide” contains some very useful info:
https://www.energyrating.gov.au/document/factsheet-light-bulb-buyers-guide

And this CHOICE article

by Chris Barnes says:

"How do lumens, incandescent wattages and actual LED/CFL wattages relate? Here’s a rough guide:

  • 420lm = 40W incandescent = 6W LED/ 7W CFL (suitable for a table or floor lamp)
  • 800lm = 60W incandescent = 8W to 10W LED/ 12W CFL (to light a small room)
  • 930lm = 75W incandescent = 10.5W LED/ 15W CFL (to light a medium-sized room)
  • 1300lm = 100W incandescent = 13W LED/ 20W CFL (for a large room or work area where very bright light is needed)
  • Brighter light bulbs can also be found; for example 2000lm/20W LEDs."
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Not so much about brightness (lumens) when looking at K values and more about contrast. Think about insect lights (those yellow bulbs) or Sodium lamps. They can be very strong lumen wise but because the colour is very much in the yellower/redder bands anyone finds them harder to discern details with. As the light approaches more white light levels the details can be seen more clearly for exactly the same lumen levels. So a warm yellow 800 lumen level lamp will produce softer tones (not as sharp) while a cool white 800 lumen will be a crisper tone…the cool white may look brighter because it is more white toned than yellow tone but they are producing exactly the same amount of lumen.

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I’ve had the Milano SLIDER solid timber blade fan -No Light installed in two houses in all rooms. 52 inch in the bedrooms and 60 inch in the large living spaces. These fans are the quietest and most effective I have ever used. They aren’t cheap, but in my view they are well worth the cost. In previous house we have lived in with cheap fans my wife would/could not go to sleep with them on and she generally disliked having them on at anytime. With the Milano Sliders she has been more than happy because they are quiet and generate good airflow. Also having only 3 blades they don’t tend to generate that flickering sensation you get when you see them out the corner of your eye. Maybe no affordable for everyone, but they’re the benchmark for me. I also found Fan City (where we bought them) to be quite helpful in recommending what was best for each room.

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Welcome @ScoutCo.
Other consumers now have an opportunity to consider the feedback provided.

For paid Choice members there are comparisons in the Choice reviews of a wide range of fan types and styles. We are looking to replace our ceiling fans and considered the Milano option,

As a general observation.
All our current ceiling fans are AC. The Milano fans are way outside of the budget for our needs. Looking to similar performing fans in the reviews, we were able to select at least another 5 to look to as replacements. A possible justification is newer DC fans may consume less power and have more speeds. 6 vs 3 for those we are looking at.

Of the alternatives all are significantly less expensive than the Milano Junior. The difference between fans by noise levels are insignificant, with one exception. Styling varied. We have higher ceilings, hence the option of an extension rod is also important. All the fans have lights.

We thought the more expensive fans may be justified on power savings. As part of their promotional material Fan City

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It’s a little confusing as in the Choice reviews the 5 lower cost fans all consume less energy annually. I don’t think the Milano would be a poor choice. It’s just no better at saving energy than the alternatives.

Choice Team Note:
For the Choice review team please note the differences between the as tested 5W to 30W power consumption and power indicated in the marketing material. The suppliers spec sheets are also different. @BrendanMays

P.S. On the Energy Star award which is a US system.
The Milano Junior Slider 50” fan award noted by Fan City needs further clarification. 599 ceiling fans available in the US Market share an ‘Energy Star Certified’ and an ‘Energy Star Most Efficient’ rating. Is it a formal award? My reading it’s a certification that says it’s not inefficient.

Optimistically Fan City’s marketing might be puffery. It’s possibly misleading consumers.

Is the Milano Junior Slider the most energy efficient 50” fan available. It’s one way to read the promotional material. It’s difficult to determine the full facts. The brand of Milano is not listed in the Energy Star certifications. Although the same manufacturer may sell to a US importer using a different branding or model?

The following link will take consumers to the website. Every fan model tested has a numerical fan efficiency score. They vary significantly, hence certification is more a pass fail than a best in class award. It’s not evident how relevant the certification is to product imported and sold in Australia. It is possible to sort the fans rated by efficiency from the US test results,

The US Energy Star system is not promoted broadly to Australian consumers. It’s open to argue it should not be referred to as most consumers will not be familiar with it or how to use it. Should the ACCC have an opinion on it’s use in marketing products?

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