Vornado calls most of their fans “air circulators,” like their popular Vornado 660. That sounds cool, but what does it mean and how do you use an air circulator?
An air circulator is a relatively large fan that is designed to move air around a space. It can cool a person by blowing air directly on them, but it’s best used for boosting your home’s heating and cooling systems and making rooms more comfortable and efficient than they would otherwise be.
Summer
In the summer you want to use the air circulator to augment your air conditioning system. Place the air circulator near your AC unit’s cold air flow and use the fan to flow the cold air up into the upper and farther portions of the room. This will circulate the cool air and prevent localized cold and hot spots.
It doesn’t matter if you have a whole house AC unit, a window unit, an open window, or a bucket of ice.
You can also blow cold air from your main floor to upstairs, where temperatures tend to be considerably higher. To do this you simply need to place your fan at the bottom of the steps.
If you like to sleep with a fan on you but you get cold you can use a circulator to keep your room’s air moving and feeling cooler with blowing it directly on you.
Winter
In the winter you’ll want to remember that hot air rises, which means you want to use the circulator to push hot air down towards the floor.
In a larger room you can place the fan in the middle of the room and aim it straight up. This will push cool air up and get the hot air moving around the room, not stuck at the top of the room.
You can also use the circular to distribute the warm air from your heat source. You can place the fan near your baseboard heater and aim it towards the center of the room or a colder portion of the house. You can greatly augment the effect of a pot belly or even a fireplace, but you should never aim the fan directly at your heat source. Think air distribution, not directly pushing the warm air.
Spring and Autumn
In the middle seasons you’ll want to use the fan to keep your room fresh with the feeling of airflow.
Aim the fan at a far, upper corner of the room. Place your fan near an open window in the corner of a room. Since you likely don’t have your heat or AC on in these seasons, your goal is to circulate the comfortable air around the room and make the whole room’s air temperature consistent.