On Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:34:32 -0700 (PDT), keith
wrote:

On Jun 30, 1:46*pm, Cindy Hamilton
Coming from a guy who lives alone and has 7 televisions, I don't think
your comments would carry too much credibility.

I don't run them all at once, only the room I'm in. *Two if I'm going
back and forth. * And regardless of whether I did or not, I wouldn't
be trying to tell them I'm better than they are. * Whether their fans
are making the rooms they are not in hotter, and costing them money
just to be hotter, are matters of fact. *And the facts don't depend on
the good or bad habits of whoever is teling them about it.

Ok, how much more does it take to suck away the heat generated
by a ceiling fan? *A dollar a day? *Ten dollars a day?

I don't think it's 10. Probably not even a dollar. I've known for a
while that I treat different kinds of waste differently. If a movie
production wastes loads of film, or gasoline, or has to build a mockup
house to blow it up, that doesn't bother me, but if they take this
year's model car that runs well and blow that up, I really hate that.

Here what bothers me the most is not the wasting, but that they make
heat just to pump it outside where it is already hot. I wouldn't
turn off a fan if I were only leaving a room for 5 minutes, or even
longer, but I think they just haven't realized that they are making
heat with the fans. Like a couple posters said.

About half as much electricity as the fan uses. IOW, an infinitesimal
amount.

Well it's not infinitesimal. The fan uses roughly what the wattage
rating is on the fan itself. I've never looked.

The total heat is like you say, twice that much.

I'm in full agreement that the heat from the fan has to be dealt
with by the air conditioner, but how much does that really take?
Should I worry more about the insolation from opening the curtain
on the south-facing window so my houseplants can get light?

*Far* more. That amounts to real heat, particularly in the summer.

I think they do keep their shades closed. They had a big bay window
facing east on their previous house and put in special glass and
planted a tree to keep the heat out.

Can you feel the heat from the sun? Can you feel the heat from the
fan?

Not the best test. The heat from the fan is dispersed all over the
room with the blown air. In fact it's in six rooms, so the most one
can feel is 1/6 of the heat, and that's if he could be everywhere in
one room at the same time.