What Size Ceiling Fan Do I Need for Each Room?

Once you install a ceiling fan, you will never want to go back. These simple devices that attach to your ceiling double-task by keeping you cool in the summer and warm in the winter by reversing the fan direction.

As long as electricity is in place, ceiling fans install relatively easily. But the best part is the energy savings. You'll be able to trim back expensive heating and cooling bills with ceiling fans installed in key areas of your home.

Consider that a mid-sized 44-inch ceiling fan draws approximately 45 watts for an estimated annual energy cost of between $10 to $15. That more than pays for itself in terms of HVAC energy savings.

To work efficiently, ceiling fans need to be correctly sized for each area of operation. This means matching the diameter of the fan blade span with the room and determining fan drop height to match with ceiling height.

What Ceiling Fan Size Is

Ceiling fans can be categorized in many different ways—style, color, lights, mounting type—but few categories are more important than the diameter width of the fan blades.

Fan blade diameter is generally not measured from the tip of one blade to the tip of an opposing blade because few ceiling fans have an even number of blades. Five- and three-blade ceiling fans form the majority.

Instead, ceiling fan size is measured as if the rotating fan were drawing an imaginary circle. The length from one side of the circle to its opposite side is the ceiling fan blade size.

Importance of Ceiling Fan Size

Determining the correct ceiling fan size for a room is important because fans are meant to move a certain volume of air. Increasing the speed of the fan will do little to increase that volume. Instead, it needs larger fan blades.

A 44-inch ceiling fan, for example, will move 3,600 to 3,700 cubic feet of air per minute. To install a fan of this size in a small room means that you are buying far more air-moving capacity than is needed.

Not only that, the size of the fan will dominate this small room. Conversely, a small fan in a large room cannot adequately move enough air to be effective.

Ceiling Fans Less Than 29 Inches

Small ceiling fans with a blade diameter of fewer than 29 inches are meant for only the smallest areas in the home, such as small bathrooms, narrow hallways, mudrooms, and small porches. These fans are appropriate for spaces of 50 square feet or less.

Tiny ceiling fans less than 20 inches wide are available and these can be used for equally tiny areas, such as in closets or near home theater A/V media racks, computer racks, or other items that need to stay cool.

Ceiling Fans Between 29 and 36 Inches

For areas ranging from 50 to 75 square feet, the correct size is a fan between 29 and 36 inches.

This fan is best for medium bathrooms, most bedrooms, children's bedrooms, and home offices. This is a good, all-purpose fan size that doesn't take up too much room and is easy to install.

Ceiling Fans Between 42 and 48 Inches

Most ceiling fans are between 42 and 48 inches in size, and they work well for spaces from 75 to 175 square feet. This includes large bathrooms, large bedrooms, medium-sized living rooms, and kitchens.

Because most ceiling fans on the market are in this size category, you have your greatest range of style options with this fan size.

Ceiling Fans Between 52 and 56 Inches

Large ceiling fans that are between 52 and 56 inches work well at moving air in spaces ranging from 175 to 350 square feet. Such areas include large living rooms, cathedral-ceiling rooms, or any room with a high ceiling.

Ceiling Fans Over 60 inches

Super-sized ceiling fans over 60 inches in diameter—with a few mammoth fans that reach up to 99 inches wide—move air in spaces that are over 350 square feet. Outdoor areas, small gyms and exercise studios, and public areas are well-served by ceiling fans greater than 60 inches wide.