LITTLE ROCK — Although it doesn’t officially begin for weeks, the hot, sticky Arkansas summer is already here. That means soaring temperatures outside and astronomical cooling costs inside.

Still, there are ways to stay cooler without pushing the thermostat to extremes. Sipping on a popsicle in the pool works.

So does flipping on a ceiling fan.

“Ceiling fans do allow you to increase your thermostat in the summer and reduce the load on the air conditioner,” says Jeff Dross, Kichler Lighting’s corporate director of education and industry trends. “The fan is a very efficient and relatively inexpensive piece of equipment - substantially less expensive to run than an air conditioning unit.”

A properly installed ceiling fan can make any room feel as much as 8 degrees cooler, according to U.S. Energy Star estimates - making it possible to raise the thermostat and save cash on utility bills.

Here are some things to consider before buying a ceiling fan.

Size matters.

Ceiling fans aren’t one-size-fits-all. Ceiling fans come in all sizes and are measured by blade span, which generally ranges from 29 to 54 inches across. The size of the ceiling fan should correlate to the size of the room, according to the EPA. Rooms under 75 square feet need a fan spanning 29 to 36 inches; rooms between 76 and 144 square feet need fans with blade spans of 36 to 42inches; and so on. The agency’s energystar.gov website offers a guide to help consumers find the right size ceiling fan and learn more about proper ceiling fan installation.

Look for the Energy Star sticker.

The U.S. government has only recently begun handing out Energy Star labels to ceiling fans, but that little sticker can make a world of difference. Fans that are Energy Star rated use up to 50 percent less energy than fans that aren’t, according to energystar.gov.

Choose the right materials.

The two most important things needed for a fan to operate properly are blades and a good motor. Blades can be made of cheaper materials like medium density fiberboard and plywood or from higher cost materials like solid wood or metal.

“[Medium density fiberboard] is lesser quality by nature and tends to sag over time [producing] droopy blades,” says Bethany Pirtle, marketing and creative design manager for Emerson Air Comfort Products.

Plywood is sturdier, but must come with a real wood or paper veneer, she says, while solid wood blades are the sturdiest.

Make sure it’s pitch perfect.

Blade pitch (or angle) is another consideration when buying a fan. Generally, the greater the pitch, the more air a fan will move, but there are other considerations.

“Recent U.S. government regulations require all ceiling fan manufacturers to provide a cubic feet per minute, or CFM,number, which is obtained using a standardized testing procedure,” Pirtle says. A fan’s CFM number indicates how much air it will move, deduced from a combination of pitch, blade span, rotations per minute and overall design. “Generally speaking, the higher the CFM, the better air flow the consumer feels,” Pirtle adds.

Check the motor grade.

Fan motors come in three grades - performance, medium and moderate or economy. Performance grade fans are designed for continuous use, according to energystar.gov, and are usually the most expensive models. Medium grade fans can be used 12 hours per day or less, while moderate or economy grade motors are designed for rooms with 8-foot ceilings and should run no more than eight hours a day, according to the website.

Consider a fan for patios or porches.

Look for fans rated for damp or wet use to install outside. “Damp location fans mean that the temperature can be moist, but it can’t have rainfall pouring on it,” Dross says. A wet location fan, on the other hand, can withstand rainfall. “Everything is finished in a way that will prevent rust,” Dross says. “The motor is sealed in a slightly different way [than an indoor or wet fan] so that water can’t seep into the electrical compartment.”

Light or no light?

Fan lighting has come a long way. No longer are lights simply attached to fans. Designers now work hard to integrate light fixtures into fans to make fans and their lights look like a cohesive whole, Dross says. And many designers create the same fan with and without lighting attachments, so fans can be used as the central source of light in a room or simply as an unobtrusive ceiling fan, devoid of lighting elements, for rooms with other light sources.

Ask for help.

Deciding which fan is going to work best on a screened-in porch or in a 400-square foot den can be daunting. It’s hard enough to find a fan with the right dimensions and specifications, but what about finding a fan that’s going to be quiet?

“If a consumer is interested in purchasing a fan, visiting a ceiling fan or lighting showroom would be advisable,” Pirtle says. “Their sales staff are trained on all the various differences [from manufacturer to manufacturer].”

HomeStyle, Pages 33 on 06/02/2012