It hums but will not turn
A failed capacitor on an older fan. The motor is trying and heating up while it does. Switch it off.
What to check >
Which Way Should Your Ceiling Fan Turn?
Ignore clockwise and anticlockwise. Stand under it and see what you feel.
Summer is coming and the fan has sat all winter. Here is how to tell which way yours is turning, how to switch it over, and what to do if it does nothing at all. Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland and Port Stephens.
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The ten second test
Stand under it and look up
Run the fan on its highest speed and stand directly underneath.
You feel a clear breeze on your faceIt is in summer mode. Blowing air straight down at you. Leave it alone.
You feel almost nothingIt is in winter mode. Pulling air up instead. Switch it over for the warm months.
That is the whole answer. Everything below is detail.
Why we will not tell you "clockwise". Which direction pushes air down depends on the angle of the blades, and fans are not all built the same way. Half the advice online gets this wrong for half the fans. Your face is a better guide than a rule.
What each direction is actually doing
Summer: the fan blows down. It is not cooling the room. A ceiling fan does nothing to the temperature on the wall thermometer. What it does is move air across your skin, and moving air carries heat away from you far faster than still air. You feel several degrees cooler while the room is exactly as warm as it was.
Which is also why there is no point running a fan in an empty room. With nobody in it, it is a motor making heat for no reason.
Winter: the fan pulls up. Warm air rises and sits against the ceiling, doing nobody any good. Run slowly in reverse, the fan draws that air upwards and pushes it out and down the walls, so it comes back into the room at the edges rather than falling on your head as a draught.
Be honest about winter mode: it earns its keep in a room with a high, raked or cathedral ceiling, where there is a real pool of warm air out of reach. In a room with an ordinary flat ceiling the difference is small. It costs nothing to try for an evening.
How to switch it over
Two minutes, and nothing here needs a ladder.
Turn it off and wait for it to stop
Completely stopped, not still drifting round. A reverse switch flicked while the motor is turning can damage it, and on an older fan that is a repair rather than a setting.
Find the control
- Remote control fanA button with a curved arrow, or one marked Rev
- Older wall or pull-cord fanA small slider on the fan body, above the blades
- App controlledUsually a direction toggle in the fan's settings
- Wall dialSome have a separate direction switch beside the speed
- No control anywherePlenty of fans simply do not reverse
If the slider is on the fan body and you cannot reach it safely from a stable step, leave it. It is not worth a fall to change a setting.
Switch it, then run it up again
Set it back to its highest speed and stand underneath. If you now feel the breeze, you are in summer mode and you are done.
Some remote fans need the power off at the wall for about ten seconds and back on before the change takes.
While you are there, look at it running
First run of the season is the best time to notice a problem, and it is why we get busy in October.
A wobble that has got worseThat is the mounting, not the blades, and it is worth fixing before summer rather than after.A hum, a grinding, or it will not startSwitch it off and leave it off. What that means >
The first warm night is when fans fail
It is the most common thing we are called out for as the weather turns:
The remote does nothing
Try fresh batteries first. On a fan with no wall control, a dead remote makes a perfectly good fan look finished.
There is no fan at all
If the room has never had one, the first hot week is when that gets noticed. We can usually fit one on the existing light point.
Ceiling fan installation >Too hot to sleep?
Tell us what is going on. We ring you back, usually the same day.
Worth knowing before summer
One switch, fan and light
If the room has only one light switch, that does not stop you having a fan with a light. We fit a DC fan with a remote, which runs both off the one supply. No new cable through the wall.
Ceiling fans >
A fan beats air conditioning for cost
A ceiling fan draws a tiny fraction of what an air conditioner does. In a bedroom it is often all you need for the shoulder months, and it takes the load off the air conditioner in January.
Outdoor areas need an outdoor fan
A fan on a patio or an alfresco has to be rated for it. An indoor fan put outside rusts at the bearings and the blades drop, which we see every year.
Renting, or managing rentals?
Renting? Changing the direction is yours to do. If the fan hums, wobbles or will not start, that is a repair and it goes to your property manager.
Property managers: the first hot week brings a run of fan calls every year. Tell us whether it is remote or wall controlled and we bring the right parts. On a rental we usually suggest a wall-controlled fan where the wiring allows it, because a remote is one more thing to go missing between tenants. Property maintenance >
Related home services
Ceiling fan not working?
A hum, a dead remote and a wobble mean three different things.
Read more >Ceiling fan installation
A new fan, or a fan where there has never been one.
Read more >Exhaust fan not working
Or running, and still leaving the room steamy.
Read more >Lighting and downlights
Light the room properly while we are up there.
Read more >Ceiling fan direction questions
Which way should a ceiling fan turn in summer?
So that it blows air straight down at you. Stand underneath and you should feel a clear breeze on your face. That is summer mode, and the moving air makes the room feel cooler than it is.
Which way should a ceiling fan turn in winter?
The other way, so it draws air up instead of down. You should feel almost nothing standing under it. It pushes the warm air collected at the ceiling gently down the walls without putting a draught on anyone.
Is summer clockwise or anticlockwise?
It depends on the fan, which is why that answer is unreliable. Which rotation pushes air down is set by the angle of the blades, and plenty of fans are built the other way round. Feel for the breeze instead of watching the blades.
Where is the reverse switch on a ceiling fan?
On an older fan it is a small slider on the body of the fan, above the blades. On a remote or app controlled fan it is a button on the remote, often marked with a curved arrow. Some fans have no reverse at all.
Does running a ceiling fan in winter actually help?
It can, in a room with a high or raked ceiling where the warm air collects out of reach. In a room with a normal flat ceiling the difference is small. It costs very little to try for an evening and see.
My fan has no reverse switch. Is it broken?
No. Plenty of fans, including some good ones, only turn one way. It is a feature the maker chose to leave out rather than a fault.
Should the fan be off before I change the direction?
Yes. Switch it off and wait until the blades have completely stopped before touching a slider on the fan body. A reverse switch flicked while the motor is turning can damage it.