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Did you know the ceiling fan is nearly as old as the electric light
bulb?

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Actually, did you know it's older than electricity itself?

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We humans really don't like the feeling of being hot,

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and we figured out more than a thousand years ago

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that forcing the air around us to move

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a la the wind can help us cool down.

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Hand fans like this worked great for millennia, but they really did a number on the wrists.

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And while the solution to that for a distressingly long period of time was to

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outsource that problem to other humans,

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once industrialization started giving us access to powered machinery, we had a much better solution.

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It didn't take that much imagination to use that machinery

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to spin some angled paddles hanging from the ceiling

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to create artificial wind.

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Early fans were driven by simple gearing or belts

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powered by waterwheels or even steam engines,

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and the... nicer factory owners out there would spend the money to install ceiling fans

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to help their workers beat the heat in the summertime.

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And since we figured out how to build electric motors which spin things very early into this whole electricity business,

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electric ceiling fans were an obvious invention.

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Just attach some of those fan blades to a motor,

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hang the thing from the ceiling and you've got a ceiling fan

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powered by electromagnetism.

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Philip Diehl is credited for inventing the electric ceiling fan in 1882,

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the same year Schuyler Wheeler is credited for inventing the electric...

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regular fan.

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Electric fans were pretty obvious,

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and arguably the first mass market application for the electric motor.

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In fact, many pioneering motor manufacturers

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went into business to sell cooling fans.

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Much of the United States gets pretty hot in the summer, so

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electric fans became a very intriguing item.

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If you were convinced to subscribe for Electric Light,

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you'd have to do a lot of work running wires around the place to light up each room,

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and maybe you could use 'em to keep cool, too.

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The idea of an artificial wind machine

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that you could just switch on must have been incredibly compelling.

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I imagine to many folks at the time,
it felt like controlling the weather.

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But we had barely figured any of this stuff out yet.

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We still hadn't settled on AC or DC power when Diehl patented his fan, and even once we did,

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electric motors were incredibly expensive to make.

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But over time, we'd learn how to mass produce them.

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And since all it takes to make a fan from a motor

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is the fan part, before long

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they started to become a fixture of our lives.

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Around the turn of the 20th century,

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ceiling fans were a common sight, especially in public spaces.

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But by the middle of the century,

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they rapidly began to disappear.

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The advent of air conditioning

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turned a once revolutionary cooling technology into old news,

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and for many years, those of us in the US

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pretty much forgot about ceiling fans.

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Which might be surprising, because today

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ceiling fans are once again a very common sight.

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Though I hear tell much of Europe hasn't discovered them yet.

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Maybe by the end I'll convince you to give ‘em a try.

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But the reason ceiling fans 
managed to stage a comeback over here

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is not quite as straightforward as you would think.

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If you're wondering how on Earth a video 
about such a simple thing could possibly be this long,

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well, hello, welcome to the channel.

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You must be new here!

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But I've been spending so much time on this script

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because the humble ceiling fan can explain so much about us.

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It's resurgence in the United States
 is a fascinatingly human story

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where nostalgia for the past amplified a cultural moment of reckoning.

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But that nostalgia, while useful

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for reminding us of a good idea we had abandoned,

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also opened the door for a market

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which quickly turned to crap.

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Ceiling fans began to be sold

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not so much for their functional purpose,

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but instead for their fashionable looks.

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And when fashion comes first,

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weird things happen which we're still dealing with to this day.

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To understand what I mean, we have to start

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with what ceiling fans used to look like.

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This vintage ceiling fan made by the Hunter fan company

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might look like the most generic and traditional

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ceiling fan design you could possibly imagine,

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but that's because when this design was first made,

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fans were the only cooling technology we had.

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And the whole point of hanging one from the ceiling like this

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was to produce a lot of air movement so the cooling effect

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could be felt throughout a large area.

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That required big, aggressively pitched paddles

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which pushed on lots of air,
and spinning them required a powerful motor.

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However, when at operating speed,

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the paddles don't actually move very fast at all.

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At full speed, this fan only rotates at 200 rpm,

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and with the technology of the time, a strong motor

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designed to run that slowly needed to be quite large.

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Which is why the motor itself is what you're looking at.

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That's not a decorative cover with a motor inside.

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It's a 40 pound lump of cast iron and copper windings.

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This is function over form and even the details are functional.

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That pattern of holes may look pretty,

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but it's there for ventilation to keep the windings cool.

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And because those great big motors needed lots of raw materials

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and skilled labor to produce, they were pretty expensive.

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Even into the 1920s when we had figured out

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how to make motors pretty well, a ceiling fan like this cost the 2026 equivalent of about a thousand bucks,

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and pricing would remain similarly high for decades to come.

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The high cost of a ceiling fan meant

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it was mainly businesses and institutions that would spend the cash

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and go through the effort to install them.

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They had plenty of incentive

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to keep their employees happy and their guests cool

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so they could justify the cost, especially since one

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fan could handle a whole room.

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Also, thanks to the advent of light kits,

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which attached light fixtures to the bottom of a ceiling fan,

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installing one could add room lighting at the same time,

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making them a compelling purchase  in the early days of electrification,

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even in parts of the country where it's only hot part of the year.

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Over time, as electrification spread and awareness of ceiling fans did too,

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they'd slowly gain some popularity in the home,

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but mainly among the wealthier set

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and mainly in parts of the country which were chronically hot.

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Once we had standardized on plugs and sockets... and voltage,

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it was a lot easier to just plug in a portable fan like this.

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These fans, with their much smaller blades designed to rotate very quickly

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could use much more compact motors, and that made them a lot more affordable.

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Plus, they don't need permanent installation

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and they can be moved around the house as you do.

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So these were a much better value in the eyes of most ordinary people.

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Still, ceiling fans were a very common sight around town wherever people congregated,

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like their favorite restaurants or maybe the barbershop,

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or the old soda fountains and the bank and whatnot.

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They were a staple of the community, which everyone would see as they went about their day

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and in the summer, which everyone enjoyed.

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That is, of course, until my hero Willis Carrier invented air conditioning.

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Fans can't actually lower the temperature in a room,

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but air conditioning can.

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And, air conditioning could also lower ambient humidity, too

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providing a whole new kind of comfort.

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Air conditioning was this marvelous new invention

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getting installed in movie theaters to boost ticket sales, and before long

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everywhere else a blast of arctic air could draw in some customers.

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As you may imagine, this caused demand for new ceiling fans to rapidly dry up.

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The public spaces they were most likely to be seen

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were also the first to install air conditioning.

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And before too long, air conditioning systems became affordable enough for average folks to buy one.

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Now, air conditioning was extremely energy intensive compared to ceiling fans.

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But during the post-war boom, where we were building power plants left and right,

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and we barely had to work to get coal and oil out of the ground,

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we weren't thinking very much about that.

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We were thinking about the tremendous work needed to upgrade the power grid

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such that all those new suburban homes could have an energy hungry air conditioner of their own, and later

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central air conditioners which cooled the whole house.

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But you know what?

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We did that work because we're humans who know how to do very hard things

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like run wires and upgrade power grids when we want to.

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If only we could remember that.

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Anyway, the point is air conditioning was expensive and very difficult to deploy,

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but energy was cheap and it was a sign of progress

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which was extremely desirable to a wealthy, growing nation.

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Meanwhile, ceiling fans were literally old technology.

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So as air conditioning became widespread,

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ceiling fans started to disappear from our lives.

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By the 1960s, there were few companies bothering to make them in the US.

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Robbins and Myers, the iron foundry turned motor manufacturer

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who made this desk fan and had acquired Hunter in 1949,

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kept the Hunter ceiling fan line in production

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as there was still reasonable demand for ceiling fans in outdoor spaces,

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but for indoor spaces

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ceiling fans became quite esoteric and the mark of a cheapskate.

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There were, however, plenty of situations where air conditioning was impractical,

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like large factories and warehouses.

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So there was still decent industrial demand for ceiling fans.

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But those buyers wanted cheap, reliable fans

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which did the job without a fuss.

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And that's how this came to be.

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This is an Emerson Heat Fan.

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And yes, it’s called a heat fan despite the fact that it's just a ceiling fan.

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That's important for what comes later.

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But those in the ceiling fan collector community often call this the blenderfan

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thanks to the motors resemblance to the base of a kitchen blender.

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And yes, there's a ceiling fan collector community because of course there is!

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Humans are awesome.

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Get yourself a proper fixation.

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It's fun!

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I know way too much about ceiling fans now.

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Anyway, much like Robbins and Myers,

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Emerson was a pioneering electric motor manufacturer

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who got started selling cooling fans

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because, again, it's the simplest thing to do with a motor.

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Stick some fan blades on it and job done.

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But over the years, Emerson grew into a major industrial supplier of electric motors

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which got used by all sorts of industries for all sorts of things.

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For decades they had been making ceiling fans

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very similar to this Hunter model, but as ceiling fans went from

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“desirable thing to keep your patrons comfortable” to

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“the solution for when air conditioning is too expensive,”

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Emerson got a little crafty with their production lines.

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They decided to take one of the washing machine motors

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they pumped out like some kind of motor factory,

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and stuck some fan blades onto it so they could sell it as a ceiling fan.

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And that's why this looks the way that it does.

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This is just a washing machine motor.

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That's a little oversimplified,

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because the technical details of this motor are quite different

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from what would go in an actual washing machine.

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Plus, they had to design a flywheel to attach the blades to

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and add a switch housing so you could actually turn it on and off

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and select between its speed settings.

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But this right here is the same case K63 motor housing which Emerson was using

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for all sorts of applications.

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They likely started using it so they could shut down the production line

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of pancake motors, which were only useful for the rapidly declining ceiling fan market.

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So as we approach the 1970s,

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you had essentially two options:

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an extremely traditional ceiling fan from Hunter

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or this... thing.

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However, the situation was very different in other parts of the world,

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particularly the warm climates of Asia.

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Buildings were rapidly getting electrified,

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but energy resources weren't abundant enough for air conditioning

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to become widespread for quite some time.

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So while we had basically stopped caring and arguably even trying,

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ceiling fan manufacturing was experiencing a huge boom overseas.

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For example, the Shell Manufacturing Company

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in Hong Kong built upon an idea
which appears to have originated in Italy.

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Turning the motor inside out

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allowed for a sleeker looking fan, which was also a lot cheaper

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to build from a materials perspective.

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Here's an example of such a ceiling fan motor.

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Unlike the traditional American design where the stator windings surround the spinning rotor,

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in this design the stator windings are inside the rotor,

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and the outside surface of the whole thing is what spins,

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giving them their common name “spinner motors.”

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This greatly simplified the design of a ceiling fan

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and lowered materials cost substantially since you didn't really need a motor housing.

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Just attach the fan blades directly to the motor.

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Early designs had some glitches to work out, like bearings which failed prematurely,

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but eventually those issues were solved

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and this became a much more refined and cost effective design

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than anything we were making here in the States.

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On occasion, fans like this ended up getting imported

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to the US and sold as a cheap alternative to the fans from Emerson and Hunter,

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but it was a pretty rare occasion since nobody really wanted a ceiling fan.

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But that was about to change.

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Remember how this is called the heat fan?

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Emerson started making these things in the 1960s,

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but in 1973 we would go through a bit of an oil crisis

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which we clearly learned lots of very good lessons from.

246
00:14:38,010 --> 00:14:42,381
In response to the oil embargo causing energy to get much more expensive,

247
00:14:42,381 --> 00:14:47,052
including heating oil which was still quite commonly used back then,

248
00:14:47,453 --> 00:14:51,490
Emerson started to market their ceiling fans as heat recovery fans

249
00:14:51,490 --> 00:14:53,692
which could save on heating costs.

250
00:14:54,426 --> 00:14:56,562
See, in a space with high ceilings

251
00:14:56,562 --> 00:15:00,065
like a factory, warehouse, or even a church sanctuary,

252
00:15:00,132 --> 00:15:04,069
a temperature gradient forms in the winter due to warm air

253
00:15:04,103 --> 00:15:06,372
rising above denser, cooler air.

254
00:15:06,672 --> 00:15:11,252
And this means a lot of the heat energy coming from a building’s heating system

255
00:15:11,252 --> 00:15:14,515
simply ends up stuck at the ceiling where nobody can feel it.

256
00:15:14,515 --> 00:15:16,148
A pretty significant waste.

257
00:15:16,548 --> 00:15:19,218
If you could use some sort of mechanical device

258
00:15:19,218 --> 00:15:22,021
to push that warm air back down to the floor,

259
00:15:22,054 --> 00:15:25,224
then you could recover that wasted heat energy.

260
00:15:25,291 --> 00:15:29,061
Thus heat recovery, also known as heat reclamation.

261
00:15:29,395 --> 00:15:32,498
Getting the warm air back down to the floor where the people are

262
00:15:32,665 --> 00:15:35,067
would not only make the heat more useful, but

263
00:15:35,100 --> 00:15:39,638
since the thermostat is down there, too, the heating system won't need to run as often

264
00:15:39,638 --> 00:15:43,475
and it will burn less if it's suddenly much more expensive fuel.

265
00:15:44,877 --> 00:15:47,346
Emerson just so happened to make ceiling fans

266
00:15:47,346 --> 00:15:49,648
which would be perfect for heat reclamation,

267
00:15:49,648 --> 00:15:53,319
so they began to market them specifically for that purpose.

268
00:15:53,319 --> 00:15:59,124
And that's why their very utilitarian ceiling fan, which is the same ceiling fan it was before

269
00:15:59,325 --> 00:16:01,160
became the Heat Fan.k

270
00:16:01,660 --> 00:16:05,164
Industry and large institutions were slowly discovering

271
00:16:05,164 --> 00:16:08,734
that ceiling fans could be useful for saving energy.

272
00:16:08,734 --> 00:16:11,070
And the good word was starting to spread.

273
00:16:11,537 --> 00:16:14,773
And you know what else got really expensive very suddenly?

274
00:16:15,374 --> 00:16:16,575
Air conditioning.

275
00:16:17,009 --> 00:16:21,647
We still burned quite a lot of oil 
for generating electricity back in 1973,

276
00:16:21,647 --> 00:16:24,450
which meant the oil embargo made pretty much

277
00:16:24,450 --> 00:16:27,653
everything we did using energy much more expensive.

278
00:16:27,653 --> 00:16:30,689
And out of necessity, people began to realize

279
00:16:30,689 --> 00:16:33,292
that they could save some money on their electricity bills

280
00:16:33,292 --> 00:16:35,761
by turning up the temperature on their thermostats

281
00:16:35,761 --> 00:16:38,697
and using electric fans to keep cool.

282
00:16:39,198 --> 00:16:41,834
Basic portable fans were still widely available,

283
00:16:41,834 --> 00:16:43,769
now with less finger chopping!

284
00:16:44,336 --> 00:16:47,006
But while fans were all the rage,

285
00:16:47,373 --> 00:16:52,611
ceiling fans were still expensive and ugly industrial items,

286
00:16:52,611 --> 00:16:56,415
which relatively few people would consider appropriate
for a living room.

287
00:16:56,949 --> 00:17:02,254
[Scott Joplin’s Easy Winners plays in background]
However, in 1973, we were also going through a very intense

288
00:17:02,254 --> 00:17:05,624
wave of nostalgia for the turn of the 20th century.

289
00:17:05,991 --> 00:17:09,395
Films like The Sting repopularized the ragtime music

290
00:17:09,395 --> 00:17:13,065
of Scott Joplin, and earlier films like Hello, Dolly!

291
00:17:13,098 --> 00:17:16,335
brought the Gay Nineties back into our collective attention,

292
00:17:16,435 --> 00:17:19,571
as did the restaurant chain TGI Fridays.

293
00:17:20,105 --> 00:17:22,341
Walt Disney World had just opened in Florida

294
00:17:22,341 --> 00:17:27,913
with a duplication of Disneyland's Main Street, U.S.A., bringing an idealized recreation

295
00:17:27,913 --> 00:17:31,183
of turn of the century America to a national audience.

296
00:17:31,617 --> 00:17:35,354
It was a whole thing, which lasted a surprising while.

297
00:17:35,454 --> 00:17:39,691
Cheers, the TV show wouldn't hit the airwaves until 1982,

298
00:17:39,691 --> 00:17:45,798
and yet the Tiffany lamp, stained glass and ornate woodwork aesthetic was still going strong.

299
00:17:46,598 --> 00:17:50,002
While we were enamored with that old timey aesthetic,

300
00:17:50,135 --> 00:17:54,373
well, we started getting obsessed with antiques and curios of the time.

301
00:17:55,107 --> 00:17:57,709
And, you know what was a quaint, old timey curio

302
00:17:57,743 --> 00:18:01,280
you could find in antique shops which hailed from the turn of the century?

303
00:18:02,281 --> 00:18:03,816
Ceiling fans.

304
00:18:04,383 --> 00:18:09,054
Yep, ceiling fans started to become a fashionable item

305
00:18:09,088 --> 00:18:12,057
thanks to our sudden obsession with the past.

306
00:18:12,491 --> 00:18:15,294
But it's even weirder than it sounds on the surface.

307
00:18:15,294 --> 00:18:18,997
I'm skipping details for time, but in 1974

308
00:18:19,064 --> 00:18:23,902
an antiques dealer named Burton Burton founded the Casablanca Fan Company

309
00:18:23,902 --> 00:18:27,940
to sell reproductions of antique ceiling fans.

310
00:18:27,973 --> 00:18:30,976
But when I say reproductions,

311
00:18:30,976 --> 00:18:34,880
I don't mean “ceiling fans that look like antiques.”

312
00:18:34,947 --> 00:18:42,054
I mean “objects which appear to be antique ceiling fans” because his earliest designs were,

313
00:18:42,054 --> 00:18:45,624
I kid you not, purely decorative.

314
00:18:45,891 --> 00:18:52,097
Initially, they started making reproductions 
of the old belt-driven ceiling fan systems you'd find in a factory,

315
00:18:52,097 --> 00:18:55,100
and those made their way into lots of themed restaurants,

316
00:18:55,100 --> 00:18:58,570
including at least one Portillo's I have myself been to.

317
00:18:59,004 --> 00:19:05,677
They were rigged to rotate, but nowhere near fast enough to actually function as effective ceiling fans.

318
00:19:05,978 --> 00:19:11,116
Yet diners were so captivated by the visual of old timey

319
00:19:11,116 --> 00:19:15,587
spinning things that it became a shockingly huge fad.

320
00:19:15,988 --> 00:19:18,857
And the visual really was the point.

321
00:19:19,124 --> 00:19:21,260
For those who may not know the connection,

322
00:19:21,293 --> 00:19:24,429
the name Casablanca Fan Company was chosen

323
00:19:24,429 --> 00:19:29,168
because of how prominently ceiling fans are featured 
in the film Casablanca.

324
00:19:29,668 --> 00:19:30,936
You know, Humphrey Bogart.

325
00:19:30,969 --> 00:19:32,337
Here's looking at you, kid.

326
00:19:32,871 --> 00:19:36,275
In the film, the ceiling fans shown on screen

327
00:19:36,308 --> 00:19:38,644
were props meant to convey to the audience

328
00:19:38,644 --> 00:19:43,582
that it's hot in Casablanca, and because they were movie props,

329
00:19:43,582 --> 00:19:46,251
they were rigged up to spin much more slowly

330
00:19:46,251 --> 00:19:48,921
than an actual ceiling fan would.

331
00:19:48,921 --> 00:19:51,390
A real ceiling fan in operation

332
00:19:51,423 --> 00:19:54,893
doesn't look very interesting or even recognizable on film

333
00:19:54,893 --> 00:19:57,429
because its blades will just blur together.

334
00:19:57,896 --> 00:20:03,435
And the look from the film is what Burton Burton was trying to replicate.

335
00:20:03,502 --> 00:20:06,572
He wasn't trying to sell actual ceiling fans.

336
00:20:06,572 --> 00:20:10,542
He was trying to sell a kind of dynamic decoration,

337
00:20:10,542 --> 00:20:15,314
which just so happened to be copies of antique ceiling fan designs.

338
00:20:15,981 --> 00:20:20,552
Quick side note, Emerson, who we already know was great at selling the same thing

339
00:20:20,552 --> 00:20:23,689
they had always been making for different reasons, also started

340
00:20:23,689 --> 00:20:27,025
selling their ceiling fans using the name Casablanca.

341
00:20:27,426 --> 00:20:30,362
I'm guessing the film must have been on TV a lot at the time.

342
00:20:30,462 --> 00:20:34,433
In fact, Emerson trademarked the name Casablanca

343
00:20:34,466 --> 00:20:37,903
before Burton Burton started his company,
which turned into a whole mess

344
00:20:37,903 --> 00:20:39,271
which we don't need to get into.

345
00:20:39,404 --> 00:20:42,341
Emerson was just trying to sell more of their fans,

346
00:20:42,341 --> 00:20:47,779
but the Casablanca fan company was trying to serve the weirdly huge demand

347
00:20:47,779 --> 00:20:51,195
for purely decorative turn of the century ceiling fans,

348
00:20:51,195 --> 00:20:55,420
which were suddenly all the rage in your favorite themed restaurant chains.

349
00:20:56,188 --> 00:21:00,325
This sounds nuts, but I mean, it sure was flair.

350
00:21:00,792 --> 00:21:05,931
And as the general public became exposed to ceiling fans in formal settings again,

351
00:21:05,964 --> 00:21:11,270
their reputation as quaint, oddball things to have in the home started to fade.

352
00:21:11,770 --> 00:21:14,439
After all, quaint was in!

353
00:21:14,473 --> 00:21:17,576
And the timing could not have been more perfect.

354
00:21:17,809 --> 00:21:22,748
People were being reexported to ceiling fans right at the start of an energy crisis,

355
00:21:22,748 --> 00:21:25,951
which renewed interest in their functional purpose, too.

356
00:21:26,652 --> 00:21:33,926
For a brief while, the options for actually functional ceiling 
fans remained quite limited and mostly industrial.

357
00:21:34,393 --> 00:21:40,532
But all it really takes to make a ceiling fan 
look old timey and fashionable is decoration.

358
00:21:40,565 --> 00:21:43,769
So many companies, including Casablanca,

359
00:21:43,802 --> 00:21:47,739
started purchasing real ceiling fan motors from suppliers like Emerson

360
00:21:47,739 --> 00:21:50,409
and concealing them in decorative shrouds

361
00:21:50,409 --> 00:21:54,079
which replicated the appearance of old timey fans.

362
00:21:54,513 --> 00:21:59,151
Give the blades some details, like perhaps a stencil or a woven inlay,

363
00:21:59,217 --> 00:22:03,588
and now you have a decorative fan, 
which is both in fashion and —

364
00:22:03,588 --> 00:22:06,325
get this, actually works!

365
00:22:06,892 --> 00:22:10,729
Ceiling fans were now being sold as a premium item

366
00:22:10,729 --> 00:22:14,700
which was both an energy saving appliance and furniture,

367
00:22:15,167 --> 00:22:17,002
and this was only the beginning.

368
00:22:17,636 --> 00:22:23,241
You see, there would be a sequel to the 1973 oil crisis in 1979.

369
00:22:23,275 --> 00:22:27,379
And so ceiling fans, already experiencing renewed interest

370
00:22:27,379 --> 00:22:30,549
as a premium item for the nostalgic middle class,

371
00:22:30,549 --> 00:22:32,918
started flying off the shelves.

372
00:22:33,452 --> 00:22:36,221
We finally realized we had made a mistake

373
00:22:36,221 --> 00:22:38,390
in getting rid of all those ceiling fans.

374
00:22:38,523 --> 00:22:42,272
They made us comfortable before air conditioning, after all,

375
00:22:42,272 --> 00:22:46,731
and our collective decision to view air conditioning as a replacement for them

376
00:22:46,965 --> 00:22:49,601
turned out to be a false choice.

377
00:22:50,001 --> 00:22:52,437
As energy policy started to become a thing

378
00:22:52,437 --> 00:22:56,007
and we began looking at ways to increase energy efficiency,

379
00:22:56,174 --> 00:22:59,378
new homes started getting constructed with electrical boxes

380
00:22:59,378 --> 00:23:03,081
on the ceiling meant specifically for ceiling fans.

381
00:23:03,415 --> 00:23:05,817
Home builders were happy to go along with it, too,

382
00:23:05,851 --> 00:23:11,656
since a fan with a light kit could fulfill code requirements for lighting in bedrooms and living rooms.

383
00:23:11,990 --> 00:23:15,761
This massively increased the market for new ceiling fans,

384
00:23:15,761 --> 00:23:19,097
and with a new market came a flurry of innovation.

385
00:23:19,331 --> 00:23:21,400
For the first time in decades,

386
00:23:21,433 --> 00:23:26,169
new motor designs meant specifically for ceiling fans were being developed

387
00:23:26,169 --> 00:23:29,207
to make them even more energy efficient than they already were.

388
00:23:30,008 --> 00:23:35,781
Some were flops, but others were significant 
improvements both to performance and noise.

389
00:23:36,214 --> 00:23:38,717
New controls for those motors appeared,

390
00:23:38,750 --> 00:23:42,587
offering more speed settings than the 2 or 3 you'd typically find.

391
00:23:42,821 --> 00:23:46,825
And if you wanted to get fancy, you could put in an in wall speed control

392
00:23:46,825 --> 00:23:49,795
so you didn't even have to pull on a chain to switch it on.

393
00:23:50,262 --> 00:23:55,133
And of course, with renewed interest, 
many more designs started to appear.

394
00:23:55,133 --> 00:24:00,238
And now ceiling fans weren't just 
the industrial machines you'd find in a factory,

395
00:24:00,238 --> 00:24:03,575
but could actually be a centerpiece of your living room

396
00:24:03,575 --> 00:24:06,878
to express your taste and brag to your friends about.

397
00:24:07,145 --> 00:24:10,549
Now I'm going to take a little bit of a break from the history here

398
00:24:10,549 --> 00:24:15,187
to explain what makes ceiling fans so different from a portable fan,

399
00:24:15,187 --> 00:24:18,657
and thus why they suddenly became desirable in the home.

400
00:24:19,424 --> 00:24:22,260
For one thing, mounting a fan on the ceiling

401
00:24:22,260 --> 00:24:26,631
means it's out of the way, yet always there which is convenient.

402
00:24:26,631 --> 00:24:33,939
But putting a fan on the ceiling produces 
a very different cooling effect than a directional fan.

403
00:24:34,406 --> 00:24:36,708
Ceiling fans are still directional, of course,

404
00:24:36,708 --> 00:24:40,045
and you'll feel their breeze most when you're directly underneath them.

405
00:24:40,178 --> 00:24:46,852
But their large diameter means they produce a large column of air moving downward,

406
00:24:46,852 --> 00:24:50,055
which will bounce off the floor and spread out sideways,

407
00:24:50,088 --> 00:24:53,258
producing noticeable air movement throughout a room.

408
00:24:53,625 --> 00:24:55,894
As a matter of fact, this is the principle behind

409
00:24:55,894 --> 00:25:00,332
those high volume, low speed ceiling fans which have been popping up lately.

410
00:25:00,732 --> 00:25:04,936
Put a giant ceiling fan at the top of a warehouse or shopping center,

411
00:25:04,936 --> 00:25:11,076
and it will send strong lateral currents of air through the aisles and over a really large area.

412
00:25:11,576 --> 00:25:16,515
Ceiling fans are essentially trying to replicate a natural breeze.

413
00:25:16,882 --> 00:25:20,318
If you can imagine the sort of relief you feel on a warm day

414
00:25:20,318 --> 00:25:23,655
when the wind picks up enough to make the tree leaves rustle...

415
00:25:23,655 --> 00:25:26,157
well, that's pretty much the point of a ceiling fan.

416
00:25:26,191 --> 00:25:29,461
And you feel relief for two reasons.

417
00:25:29,628 --> 00:25:37,468
First, in still air, your warm body heats up the air next to 
your skin, and if you yourself aren't moving,

418
00:25:37,569 --> 00:25:42,207
you end up surrounded by a bubble of air 
which is warmer than the rest of the room.

419
00:25:42,741 --> 00:25:49,314
A ceiling fan, even if it's running at a low speed, is able to constantly push that air away from you,

420
00:25:49,314 --> 00:25:52,951
which has the effect of making the room seem cooler than it is.

421
00:25:53,385 --> 00:25:57,674
This is perfect for amplifying 
the effectiveness of an air conditioner,

422
00:25:57,674 --> 00:26:03,762
and since most ceiling fans only draw 20 or 30W of power when running at their medium speed setting,

423
00:26:03,828 --> 00:26:07,832
that amplifying effect comes with virtually no cost.

424
00:26:08,466 --> 00:26:11,136
But it doesn't just amplify what your air conditioner does,

425
00:26:11,169 --> 00:26:14,706
it also amplifies what your body naturally does.

426
00:26:15,173 --> 00:26:20,278
We cool ourselves through perspiration, 
and as sweat evaporates from our skin,

427
00:26:20,345 --> 00:26:22,781
heat energy is pulled out of our bodies

428
00:26:22,814 --> 00:26:26,051
thanks to the same mechanism which makes air conditioning possible:

429
00:26:26,084 --> 00:26:28,453
The latent heat of vaporization.

430
00:26:28,887 --> 00:26:32,157
A ceiling fan churning up the air in a room

431
00:26:32,157 --> 00:26:34,826
will help your sweat to evaporate faster,

432
00:26:34,926 --> 00:26:37,262
which not only cools your body faster,

433
00:26:37,262 --> 00:26:40,065
but can also keep your sweat from building up on your skin

434
00:26:40,065 --> 00:26:42,167
and making you feel all gross.

435
00:26:42,801 --> 00:26:47,706
Best of all, a ceiling fan can do this without making much noise.

436
00:26:48,006 --> 00:26:52,307
Running at high speed, most ceiling fans 
sound very similar to natural wind

437
00:26:52,307 --> 00:26:56,881
and running at lower speeds, many are effectively silent.

438
00:26:57,515 --> 00:27:00,986
That's the logic which caused them to get popular again.

439
00:27:01,086 --> 00:27:04,990
Everyone already knew they could save energy using fans,

440
00:27:04,990 --> 00:27:08,793
but every other style of fan is not only loud,

441
00:27:08,793 --> 00:27:12,030
but also only really works for one person at a time.

442
00:27:12,163 --> 00:27:14,866
And while oscillating mechanisms existed

443
00:27:14,866 --> 00:27:17,869
to make portable fans like this sweep across the room...

444
00:27:18,536 --> 00:27:20,538
well, that's its own kind of annoying.

445
00:27:21,139 --> 00:27:25,444
Ceiling fans allow for a constant, 
mild breeze with none of the fuss,

446
00:27:25,444 --> 00:27:30,949
and if that breeze makes you feel comfortable enough to raise your thermostat set point by a few degrees,

447
00:27:31,116 --> 00:27:36,554
a ceiling fan will save energy 
and money without sacrificing comfort.

448
00:27:36,688 --> 00:27:43,762
So for the millions of Americans who already have ceiling fans but might have gotten out of the habit of using them,

449
00:27:43,762 --> 00:27:46,965
switch those suckers on and see how they make you feel.

450
00:27:47,265 --> 00:27:50,335
It's a subtle effect, so it may take a while to notice,

451
00:27:50,335 --> 00:27:53,038
but their subtlety is the point.

452
00:27:53,772 --> 00:27:56,541
And ceiling fans have other benefits beyond cooling.

453
00:27:56,808 --> 00:27:59,678
Most ceiling fans offer a reversing function

454
00:27:59,678 --> 00:28:03,715
because by drawing air from below
and throwing it up against the ceiling,

455
00:28:03,782 --> 00:28:08,153
they can churn up the air in 
a room without creating much of a draft.

456
00:28:08,219 --> 00:28:14,525
In fact, many fans set to their lowest speed 
aren't even noticeable when running in reverse,

457
00:28:14,559 --> 00:28:19,698
but they'll still be moving enough air to keep the room at a uniform temperature,

458
00:28:19,698 --> 00:28:22,367
which can be very useful in the winter.

459
00:28:23,168 --> 00:28:25,694
Thermal gradients aren't as much of an issue in a home with typical ceiling heights,

460
00:28:25,694 --> 00:28:33,511
but keeping the air mixed up just enough can reduce the effect of drafty windows and doors,

461
00:28:33,511 --> 00:28:37,122
and can even help an HVAC system operate more efficiently,

462
00:28:37,122 --> 00:28:42,354
particularly when your system has distribution issues like poorly placed vents and returns.

463
00:28:42,987 --> 00:28:45,356
But let's get back to the story from the past,

464
00:28:45,356 --> 00:28:50,962
because their sudden popularity would soon lead to some inevitable consequences.

465
00:28:51,563 --> 00:28:56,101
Domestic manufacturing, 
which had all but abandoned ceiling fans,

466
00:28:56,101 --> 00:28:59,804
couldn't possibly keep up with this very sudden demand.

467
00:29:00,138 --> 00:29:04,542
Not only were new homes getting constructed with several fans each,

468
00:29:04,542 --> 00:29:09,047
but folks looking to add fans to their existing home wanted options, too.

469
00:29:09,748 --> 00:29:16,529
In yet another example of fortuitous timing, the rather new concept of the big box home improvement store

470
00:29:16,529 --> 00:29:22,293
was starting to sweep the nation, and ceiling fans were some of their best selling items.

471
00:29:22,894 --> 00:29:25,296
Accordingly, the purchasing departments of stores

472
00:29:25,296 --> 00:29:28,800
like Builders Square, Home Depot, Lowe's and Menards

473
00:29:28,867 --> 00:29:34,339
started contracting with overseas suppliers 
to meet the seemingly insatiable demand.

474
00:29:35,006 --> 00:29:39,044
Remember how Hong Kong was making 
tons of ceiling fans for Asian markets?

475
00:29:39,477 --> 00:29:42,547
Well, suddenly they were making them for us, too.

476
00:29:43,314 --> 00:29:45,216
But even that wouldn't be enough.

477
00:29:45,316 --> 00:29:50,988
The ceiling fan market in the US continued to grow 
through the reforming and opening up of mainland China.

478
00:29:51,055 --> 00:29:56,661
So tons of ceiling fan factories started 
popping up there just for our market.

479
00:29:57,095 --> 00:30:02,934
They were apparently puzzled by our desire 
to have antiquated looking ceiling fans and not modern ones,

480
00:30:02,934 --> 00:30:06,271
but they were still fundamentally motors on sticks,

481
00:30:06,271 --> 00:30:10,074
and thus they were pretty cheap to make and to customize.

482
00:30:10,475 --> 00:30:14,813
Just as Casablanca was putting motors 
from Emerson inside decorative shells,

483
00:30:14,879 --> 00:30:18,049
Chinese factories would do the same with their own motors.

484
00:30:18,583 --> 00:30:23,822
There's even some evidence that the, uh, unauthorized copying

485
00:30:23,855 --> 00:30:30,328
of intellectual property common in Chinese manufacturing started thanks to, of all things,

486
00:30:30,361 --> 00:30:34,566
the sudden and explosive growth in ceiling fans.

487
00:30:35,099 --> 00:30:38,970
Saying that it started thanks to ceiling fans is obviously speculation.

488
00:30:38,970 --> 00:30:44,409
But this was all happening right as manufacturing in mainland China was getting serious

489
00:30:44,409 --> 00:30:48,719
and factories were constantly copying design details from one another

490
00:30:48,925 --> 00:30:53,893
as deals brokered for American firms were made and, uh,

491
00:30:54,719 --> 00:30:55,920
broken.

492
00:30:56,621 --> 00:30:59,824
We're not necessarily the good guys in those stories.

493
00:30:59,824 --> 00:31:03,670
My friend Dan, who served as 
script consultant and fact checker

494
00:31:03,670 --> 00:31:07,799
and who supplied many of the fans I've shown you, 
has a video explaining this

495
00:31:07,832 --> 00:31:10,869
if you'd like to know the specifics of certain situations,

496
00:31:10,869 --> 00:31:15,473
but the early to mid 80s were a wild time!

497
00:31:15,707 --> 00:31:23,615
Nostalgia, the growth of big box stores, the shift to overseas 
manufacturing, and hard learned lessons from an energy crisis

498
00:31:23,715 --> 00:31:29,119
all lined up to make ceiling fans 
a shockingly lucrative business for a hot minute,

499
00:31:29,153 --> 00:31:31,089
which everyone wanted to be a part of.

500
00:31:31,155 --> 00:31:35,760
Because if you could manage to import 
ceiling fans, you would sell them.

501
00:31:36,394 --> 00:31:39,397
But, if you didn't already see this coming,

502
00:31:39,597 --> 00:31:41,966
here's where we get to the bad news.

503
00:31:42,233 --> 00:31:46,437
Or, more fairly, the complicated news.

504
00:31:46,804 --> 00:31:51,409
As ceiling fans became popular and manufacturing got cheaper,

505
00:31:51,609 --> 00:31:56,014
the market changed in many ways which made ceiling fans abundant

506
00:31:56,014 --> 00:31:59,951
but ultimately much worse at their job.

507
00:32:00,318 --> 00:32:03,054
Initially, imported fans were pretty good.

508
00:32:03,187 --> 00:32:07,325
Yes, the motors were made cheaply, but they were still powerful.

509
00:32:07,725 --> 00:32:12,041
Remember, Hong Kong was making ceiling fans because it's hot over there too,

510
00:32:12,041 --> 00:32:18,603
and the compact size of the spinner motor
 made them perfect for hiding in all sorts of different designs.

511
00:32:18,670 --> 00:32:20,972
It was really a match made in heaven.

512
00:32:21,406 --> 00:32:25,677
But the ceiling fan would become a victim of its inherent simplicity.

513
00:32:25,677 --> 00:32:29,447
And before long, things would go off the rails.

514
00:32:29,881 --> 00:32:32,917
Now that ceiling fans had become a commodity,

515
00:32:32,951 --> 00:32:36,120
most were being sold for one of two reasons:

516
00:32:36,187 --> 00:32:38,523
style or price.

517
00:32:38,756 --> 00:32:43,761
And both of those things began 
to distort the function of a ceiling fan.

518
00:32:44,262 --> 00:32:49,000
Big box stores had already started 
a race to the bottom by competing on price,

519
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:53,104
and were encouraging their 
suppliers to cut costs wherever possible.

520
00:32:53,705 --> 00:32:57,208
The motor is the most expensive component in a ceiling fan.

521
00:32:57,308 --> 00:33:00,845
And to make it cheaper, it's got to get smaller and weaker.

522
00:33:01,446 --> 00:33:03,348
So they did.

523
00:33:03,348 --> 00:33:06,451
And ceiling fans became rather weak sauce.

524
00:33:06,484 --> 00:33:11,723
And this didn't get any better because 
the other thing which sells fans - style

525
00:33:11,990 --> 00:33:13,891
didn't matter to the motor

526
00:33:14,325 --> 00:33:19,564
manufacturers quickly realized they could 
just put the same cheap motor into many,

527
00:33:19,564 --> 00:33:24,102
many different styles of fan and create a huge product line

528
00:33:24,168 --> 00:33:27,705
all based around the same pretty crappy components.

529
00:33:28,239 --> 00:33:35,046
But style is also what sells many premium fans, so even the quality options on the market

530
00:33:35,146 --> 00:33:38,016
would start to suffer as vanity took hold.

531
00:33:38,516 --> 00:33:43,024
For example, while the turn of the century fad would eventually end,

532
00:33:43,057 --> 00:33:50,528
a new fan fad started in the 90s, where plain ceiling fan blades were replaced with giant leaf looking things.

533
00:33:50,595 --> 00:33:53,498
And you can still by fans that look like that today.

534
00:33:54,265 --> 00:33:56,401
That design is charming,

535
00:33:56,501 --> 00:33:57,802
at least to some folks,

536
00:33:57,969 --> 00:34:02,140
but it simply doesn't work as well as a traditional fan.

537
00:34:02,173 --> 00:34:05,810
That design is far more decorative than it is functional,

538
00:34:06,544 --> 00:34:10,915
which is poetic given that's what put 
Casablanca on the map in the first place.

539
00:34:11,382 --> 00:34:16,878
The resurgent ceiling fans of the late 70s were never sold purely on their merits,

540
00:34:16,878 --> 00:34:22,022
and once it became obvious that style was the main thing which sold ceiling fans,

541
00:34:22,022 --> 00:34:27,465
manufacturers looked at the race to the bottom they were already in and floored it.

542
00:34:27,799 --> 00:34:32,737
Before long, the mass market ceiling fan 
pretty much turned to low effort,

543
00:34:32,870 --> 00:34:34,906
barely passable slop.

544
00:34:35,473 --> 00:34:37,742
And we are still dealing with that.

545
00:34:37,975 --> 00:34:40,812
There are countless options on the market today,

546
00:34:40,812 --> 00:34:43,581
but having played around with some vintage fans,

547
00:34:43,714 --> 00:34:47,618
it's become quite clear to me that we've pretty much lost the plot.

548
00:34:47,985 --> 00:34:52,309
The high speed setting of almost every ceiling fan I've ever lived with

549
00:34:52,309 --> 00:34:56,661
is nowhere near as powerful as this old Emerson fan.

550
00:34:56,994 --> 00:35:01,266
So if you've ever felt that ceiling fans don't seem to really do anything,

551
00:35:01,899 --> 00:35:06,104
there's actually some truth to that beyond their inherent subtlety.

552
00:35:06,537 --> 00:35:12,310
They genuinely became much worse when form took precedence to function.

553
00:35:12,734 --> 00:35:17,615
And there's what I would call a truly remarkable piece of evidence for this.

554
00:35:18,216 --> 00:35:21,552
Remember that ceiling fan from Hunter I showed you earlier?

555
00:35:22,053 --> 00:35:25,790
This particular example was made in the late 1970s,

556
00:35:25,790 --> 00:35:30,795
but this design traces all the way back to 1906.

557
00:35:31,362 --> 00:35:35,800
when Robbins and Myers 
purchased the Hunter Fan Company in 1949,

558
00:35:35,900 --> 00:35:41,973
they just sort of let those guys in Memphis keep on making the same ceiling fan motors they had always been making.

559
00:35:42,540 --> 00:35:44,876
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

560
00:35:45,042 --> 00:35:49,780
And you bet the folks at Hunter 
smelled opportunity with that turn of the century fad.

561
00:35:49,914 --> 00:35:55,453
Here's the installation instructions for 
The Original Hunter Old Tyme Ceiling Fans.

562
00:35:55,887 --> 00:36:02,126
And if you think it's remarkable that a fan from 1906 
kept getting made into the 1970s,

563
00:36:02,493 --> 00:36:05,062
wait’ll I tell ya they still haven't stopped!

564
00:36:05,530 --> 00:36:08,099
This is the Hunter Original,

565
00:36:08,466 --> 00:36:15,506
a 120 year old ceiling fan design which is somehow still in production.

566
00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:21,402
There's a bit of a Ship of Theseus situation going on here 
since the new Hunter original in this box

567
00:36:21,402 --> 00:36:25,126
doesn't have quite the same motor design due to technical revisions over the years,

568
00:36:25,126 --> 00:36:27,751
and plenty of smaller details have changed, too.

569
00:36:28,419 --> 00:36:30,922
Plus, it's now made in China because of course it is.

570
00:36:30,922 --> 00:36:35,226
But Hunter is still using the same cast iron housing,

571
00:36:35,226 --> 00:36:39,063
and they are still using an oil bath bearing.

572
00:36:40,064 --> 00:36:42,967
Yes, that means this thing needs oil.

573
00:36:44,202 --> 00:36:47,638
There are so many reasons that's wild in 2026,

574
00:36:47,638 --> 00:36:50,107
but as the box is proud to boast,

575
00:36:50,141 --> 00:36:54,879
this is a proven design which stands 
a very good chance of outliving you.

576
00:36:55,413 --> 00:36:58,516
You can probably already tell I am extremely fond of this.

577
00:36:58,583 --> 00:37:01,018
It's such a unicorn of a thing.

578
00:37:01,285 --> 00:37:07,291
What other machine has been in 
continuous production for 120 years?

579
00:37:07,725 --> 00:37:09,894
But before I fawn over it too much,

580
00:37:09,927 --> 00:37:15,032
I want to make sure you know that it takes a certain kind of crazy to buy one of these things.

581
00:37:15,299 --> 00:37:19,637
A Hunter Original currently retails for $750,

582
00:37:19,637 --> 00:37:26,143
which is quite a lot of money for such a basic fan 
which weighs enough to be slightly terrifying and needs oiling.

583
00:37:26,877 --> 00:37:29,180
But I am that kind of crazy.

584
00:37:29,180 --> 00:37:34,085
And this is a fascinating case study of what has happened to ceiling fans over the years.

585
00:37:34,185 --> 00:37:39,757
This is a machine which is stuck in time 
because it respects its purpose.

586
00:37:40,057 --> 00:37:43,261
It's not trying to look cool or chase trends.

587
00:37:43,261 --> 00:37:45,963
It's not trying to be a cheap option, that's for sure.

588
00:37:45,997 --> 00:37:49,537
It's simply trying to be an excellent ceiling fan,

589
00:37:49,537 --> 00:37:54,771
and its continued existence proves that at least some people are still willing to pay for that.

590
00:37:55,072 --> 00:37:57,341
Let's do an unboxing, shall we?

591
00:37:57,642 --> 00:38:00,344
The first thing we're greeted by is the instruction manual,

592
00:38:00,344 --> 00:38:05,950
which lets you know right away 
that you have the option to install either 4 or 5 blades.

593
00:38:06,217 --> 00:38:08,662
I really appreciate that Hunter does this,

594
00:38:08,662 --> 00:38:14,058
especially since so many actually antique 
fans with four blades are still in service.

595
00:38:14,258 --> 00:38:16,227
These things last forever.

596
00:38:16,427 --> 00:38:20,631
And before you ask, it's going to perform 
the same no matter what you choose.

597
00:38:20,698 --> 00:38:23,200
The motor produces a constant power output,

598
00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:27,738
so adding the fifth blade will just 
slow it down a little bit as it increases drag,

599
00:38:27,738 --> 00:38:29,940
but it's still going to move the same amount of air.

600
00:38:30,141 --> 00:38:33,177
though the five blade configuration is a little bit quieter.

601
00:38:33,678 --> 00:38:36,206
As we keep going, we have the blades, of course,

602
00:38:36,206 --> 00:38:40,418
and like many fans, they're reversible 
with two different finishes on each side.

603
00:38:40,618 --> 00:38:45,189
Then we have the included bottle of oil
because remember this thing needs oiling

604
00:38:45,189 --> 00:38:47,391
just like its 1906.

605
00:38:47,858 --> 00:38:51,228
You will likely never really need to add oil again once installed,

606
00:38:51,228 --> 00:38:53,831
but it comes with a pipe cleaner to check the oil level,

607
00:38:53,831 --> 00:38:56,200
which they recommend doing every five years.

608
00:38:56,467 --> 00:39:01,305
Then there's the included very tiny 
downrod and hardware to hang the fan.

609
00:39:01,339 --> 00:39:04,041
This would be appropriate for standard eight foot ceilings,

610
00:39:04,041 --> 00:39:08,279
but if you've got taller ceilings, 
you should consider ordering a longer down rod.

611
00:39:08,846 --> 00:39:12,283
Two of the cast iron fan blade brackets are here, too.

612
00:39:12,283 --> 00:39:14,752
And then there it is.

613
00:39:14,952 --> 00:39:20,558
The 37 pound cast iron motor
which makes this the Hunter Original.

614
00:39:21,225 --> 00:39:25,796
This is the same exact fan as the vintage one from earlier.

615
00:39:25,830 --> 00:39:31,702
The only major differences are that this one is painted brown rather than polished into an antique brass finish,

616
00:39:31,702 --> 00:39:34,638
and the blades are attached very differently.

617
00:39:34,972 --> 00:39:41,045
The vintage fan has a shaded pole motor which is not reversible, so to provide a reversing option,

618
00:39:41,078 --> 00:39:45,816
Hunter created the Adaptair 
mounting system, which does... this.

619
00:39:46,550 --> 00:39:50,054
Bet you didn't think there were ceiling fans out there with collectives.

620
00:39:50,488 --> 00:39:54,725
The current Hunter Original has a much more efficient permanent split capacitor motor,

621
00:39:54,725 --> 00:39:57,528
and since this kind of motor is trivial to reverse,

622
00:39:57,528 --> 00:39:59,764
it now has a reversing switch.

623
00:40:00,030 --> 00:40:02,933
Much less cool, but also much more practical.

624
00:40:03,401 --> 00:40:05,936
One quick note I want to make sure I include

625
00:40:05,936 --> 00:40:08,773
is that while this fan doesn't come with a light kit,

626
00:40:08,773 --> 00:40:13,511
it does come with an adapter ring 
to fit one on its switch housing if you so desire.

627
00:40:13,978 --> 00:40:17,047
This is actually how ceiling fans were traditionally sold.

628
00:40:17,081 --> 00:40:19,450
They'd be pre-wired for a light kit

629
00:40:19,450 --> 00:40:22,409
(that's why there's a blue wire coming out the top of this thing)

630
00:40:22,409 --> 00:40:26,536
but you'd get to choose which 
light kit you wanted from various options

631
00:40:26,536 --> 00:40:29,727
Or to not get one if you didn't need it.

632
00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:33,998
In fact, way back in the day, 
the motor and blades were sold separately,

633
00:40:33,998 --> 00:40:37,835
so you were basically building your own fan from a series of options.

634
00:40:38,169 --> 00:40:40,237
Too bad the world doesn't work like that anymore.

635
00:40:41,238 --> 00:40:44,141
And this motor, while identical in appearance...

636
00:40:44,642 --> 00:40:49,346
Well, it's now a little harder to say 
that what you're looking at is the motor itself.

637
00:40:49,780 --> 00:40:53,617
The current design actually is an inside out spinner motor.

638
00:40:53,717 --> 00:40:56,220
The windings are now close to the center of the fan

639
00:40:56,220 --> 00:40:58,022
and the rotor surrounds them.

640
00:40:58,489 --> 00:41:02,626
It's still a cast iron rotor and it still has that old bath bearing.

641
00:41:02,626 --> 00:41:06,897
So this is very much an old fashioned way to build a ceiling fan.

642
00:41:06,897 --> 00:41:14,371
But now it is more like a modern motor
which happens to be contained in an antique cast iron housing.

643
00:41:14,638 --> 00:41:19,677
This is really apparent from the top, where you can see 
the stamped steel assembly for the windings.

644
00:41:20,277 --> 00:41:26,250
Obviously the smaller guts mean the cast iron 
body could be much smaller than it actually is,

645
00:41:26,250 --> 00:41:33,424
but I for one, think it's extremely cool that Hunter has chosen to keep making it exactly like they always have.

646
00:41:35,426 --> 00:41:37,261
Except for that vent hole.

647
00:41:37,361 --> 00:41:39,663
Why is that hole a circle?

648
00:41:39,663 --> 00:41:41,332
That's very irritating.

649
00:41:41,599 --> 00:41:42,666
But I'll deal with that,

650
00:41:42,666 --> 00:41:47,137
because installing one of these 
brand new ancient fans in my bedroom

651
00:41:47,338 --> 00:41:49,106
(yes, that does mean I did buy two of them)

652
00:41:49,139 --> 00:41:53,777
has proven to be somewhat revelatory
when it comes to the modern ceiling fan market.

653
00:41:54,178 --> 00:42:00,350
This thing is simply a much better ceiling 
fan than anything else I've ever experienced in my life.

654
00:42:00,584 --> 00:42:03,220
Well, except for the vintage one of these.

655
00:42:03,420 --> 00:42:06,394
For one, this motor is nearly silent.

656
00:42:06,394 --> 00:42:10,661
At high speed I can detect the faintest bit of 60 cycle hum,

657
00:42:10,661 --> 00:42:14,875
but it's completely overwhelmed by the wind 
noise once the blades are moving.

658
00:42:14,875 --> 00:42:19,603
and running at full speed, despite the fact 
that it makes a whirlwind in the room,

659
00:42:19,770 --> 00:42:22,506
the noise it makes is remarkably tame.

660
00:42:22,506 --> 00:42:28,712
It might be a touch louder than the extremely ordinary 
fan it replaced, but certainly not by much.

661
00:42:28,946 --> 00:42:35,386
Even more notable to me is that on its medium speed,
 the fan produces nearly no noise at all.

662
00:42:35,386 --> 00:42:38,355
It's just a very faint rustling on medium,

663
00:42:38,355 --> 00:42:44,595
and yet it feels like the 
fastest speed offered by the fan it replaced.

664
00:42:44,929 --> 00:42:48,399
Now "feels like" is an important thing to call out.

665
00:42:48,399 --> 00:42:50,826
I'm going to discuss this more later on

666
00:42:50,826 --> 00:42:55,372
because there's a lot more to a ceiling fan’s 
performance than how much air it can move.

667
00:42:55,506 --> 00:42:59,543
But I did buy an anemometer so I could measure wind speed

668
00:42:59,577 --> 00:43:03,280
to provide the closest thing to an objective comparison I can.

669
00:43:03,881 --> 00:43:09,118
The Kichler fan I took down, 
which I'd very much describe as builder grade,

670
00:43:09,152 --> 00:43:14,158
was registering about 2.2m/s 
when running at its highest speed setting.

671
00:43:14,458 --> 00:43:20,698
This reading was taken at arm's length directly below the fan, and I moved around to find the sweet spot.

672
00:43:20,998 --> 00:43:26,671
And whaddya know, the Hunter Original 
also produced about 2.2m/s of wind speed

673
00:43:26,737 --> 00:43:29,740
while only running on its medium setting.

674
00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:33,811
So not only does it feel like the same thing to me,

675
00:43:33,944 --> 00:43:35,779
but the numbers seem to agree.

676
00:43:36,313 --> 00:43:38,415
This is especially interesting to me

677
00:43:38,415 --> 00:43:43,814
because the Kichler fan drew about 55W from the wall to produce that wind speed,

678
00:43:43,848 --> 00:43:48,192
while the Hunter fan was 
only pulling about 37W to do the same.

679
00:43:48,792 --> 00:43:55,132
This ancient design would appear to be more energy efficient 
when providing equivalent performance.

680
00:43:55,366 --> 00:43:58,402
Now it will draw much more power on high.

681
00:43:58,535 --> 00:44:04,375
Here it was drawing 85W, though I've seen it get 
as high as 90, probably just due to voltage fluctuations.

682
00:44:04,508 --> 00:44:09,413
But of course when it does that 
you also get way more air moving!

683
00:44:09,647 --> 00:44:12,349
The sweet spot on high seemed to bounce back and forth

684
00:44:12,349 --> 00:44:15,452
between 3.3 and 3.4 meters per second.

685
00:44:15,552 --> 00:44:19,790
That's 50% faster wind speed than the Kichler fan could produce.

686
00:44:19,790 --> 00:44:23,694
And best of all, it doesn't seem to be any louder when it does so.

687
00:44:24,361 --> 00:44:28,098
Look closely at the fan blades, 
and you'll get a clue as to why this is.

688
00:44:28,298 --> 00:44:31,001
It may not come across super well on camera,

689
00:44:31,001 --> 00:44:36,641
but the blades of the Original are pitched 
much more aggressively than most ceiling fans.

690
00:44:36,907 --> 00:44:42,279
This means they don't need to be moving nearly as fast 
to push on the same amount of air.

691
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:44,882
As has always been the case,

692
00:44:44,882 --> 00:44:48,585
this motor is only designed to rotate at about 200 rpm,

693
00:44:48,585 --> 00:44:53,991
but with these sharply angled blades 
that results in plenty of air movement.

694
00:44:54,458 --> 00:45:00,749
The ceiling fan it replaced also got up to nearly the same rotational speed, but with shallower blades

695
00:45:01,416 --> 00:45:06,236
that just meant it made a similar amount of noise while not being nearly as effective.

696
00:45:06,737 --> 00:45:11,275
Another very traditional thing about this fan is how it mounts to the ceiling.

697
00:45:11,375 --> 00:45:15,145
While most fans now incorporate some kind of ball and socket joint

698
00:45:15,145 --> 00:45:17,981
which allows them to be suspended from angled ceilings,

699
00:45:17,981 --> 00:45:22,119
this is using an old fashioned hook and rubber bushing.

700
00:45:22,786 --> 00:45:23,987
That's it.

701
00:45:24,154 --> 00:45:26,924
Because this fan is so dang heavy,

702
00:45:26,957 --> 00:45:30,461
they really want you to attach this directly to the building structure.

703
00:45:30,461 --> 00:45:36,733
But if you know you've got a true ceiling fan 
box rated to support at least this much weight, that's fine too.

704
00:45:37,868 --> 00:45:40,670
Except despite knowing I had a ceiling fan box,

705
00:45:40,704 --> 00:45:43,540
these mounting holes in the bracket didn't line up in my case,

706
00:45:43,540 --> 00:45:47,077
so I had to drill an extra one and use a big washer for peace of mind.

707
00:45:47,511 --> 00:45:49,580
That was annoying, but I got there.

708
00:45:50,013 --> 00:45:55,927
The decorative canopy which conceals its mount and wiring attaches directly to the downrod itself

709
00:45:55,927 --> 00:45:58,356
and leaves a small gap against the ceiling.

710
00:45:58,756 --> 00:46:00,257
This looks a little weird,

711
00:46:00,257 --> 00:46:06,864
but it means if the fan is rocking somewhat 
while it runs, it all moves as one piece,

712
00:46:06,864 --> 00:46:10,801
and you don't have any irritating clicking or ticking noises to worry about.

713
00:46:11,668 --> 00:46:13,403
This is old fashioned,

714
00:46:13,403 --> 00:46:19,176
but it is truly an excellent fan and I would say 
it's genuinely worth its high price.

715
00:46:19,710 --> 00:46:24,515
That is, if what you want out of a ceiling fan is extremely good performance.

716
00:46:25,382 --> 00:46:31,455
But here's where we get to the very frustrating reality at the bottom of all this.

717
00:46:31,889 --> 00:46:32,890
Everything -

718
00:46:32,890 --> 00:46:39,063
Every single thing about a ceiling 
fan is not only extremely situational,

719
00:46:39,096 --> 00:46:41,698
but also deeply subjective.

720
00:46:42,065 --> 00:46:43,967
We all have different priorities,

721
00:46:43,967 --> 00:46:48,930
and perhaps you would rather trade performance for something a little more modern.

722
00:46:48,930 --> 00:46:53,977
But we probably also don't even agree on what performance means.

723
00:46:54,411 --> 00:46:58,615
Every human is going to have a different reaction
to a given ceiling fan.

724
00:46:58,749 --> 00:47:00,851
Our bodies perspire at different rates,

725
00:47:00,851 --> 00:47:04,087
which means the literal cooling power of an identical breeze

726
00:47:04,154 --> 00:47:08,258
is different from person to person,
and the perceived effect even more so.

727
00:47:08,959 --> 00:47:12,429
I can't really tell you what makes a good ceiling fan,

728
00:47:12,462 --> 00:47:14,731
because that depends on so many things,

729
00:47:14,731 --> 00:47:19,670
and that's a huge part of why ceiling 
fans have largely gone to crap.

730
00:47:19,870 --> 00:47:23,807
It's difficult to be objective, so nobody really tries.

731
00:47:24,341 --> 00:47:29,780
Now we have come up with ways to make objective comparisons between ceiling fan models.

732
00:47:30,380 --> 00:47:33,817
But I am now pretty thoroughly convinced,

733
00:47:33,851 --> 00:47:36,720
mostly due to my experience with this fan,

734
00:47:36,987 --> 00:47:40,057
that those methods don't actually work.

735
00:47:40,891 --> 00:47:42,092
Let me explain.

736
00:47:42,292 --> 00:47:44,928
If you shop for a ceiling fan, you're going to find

737
00:47:44,928 --> 00:47:49,666
that they're given an airflow rating 
in CFM, that's cubic feet per minute.

738
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:52,536
The EPA, through its Energy Star program,

739
00:47:52,536 --> 00:47:55,005
developed a pretty scientific test procedure,

740
00:47:55,005 --> 00:47:57,908
along with quite the testing rig for doing this.

741
00:47:58,175 --> 00:47:59,943
Now, I'm not actually sure

742
00:47:59,943 --> 00:48:02,980
whether this is the test procedure done to all ceiling fans,

743
00:48:02,980 --> 00:48:05,649
since it's the Federal Trade Commission which is responsible

744
00:48:05,649 --> 00:48:08,452
for these energy guide labels and not the EPA.

745
00:48:08,785 --> 00:48:13,357
Plus, this test is meant for 
Energy Star certification, which is optional.

746
00:48:13,624 --> 00:48:17,294
Regardless, that's not important to the argument I'm about to make.

747
00:48:18,228 --> 00:48:20,864
Well, it might be, but more on that later.

748
00:48:21,365 --> 00:48:25,569
CFM is something we can measure objectively, and on the surface,

749
00:48:25,602 --> 00:48:30,040
it feels like the most apples to apples 
number you could give to a ceiling fan.

750
00:48:30,474 --> 00:48:33,210
This thing is, after all, a fan.

751
00:48:33,210 --> 00:48:36,780
And moving air is how fans make you feel cool.

752
00:48:37,481 --> 00:48:45,388
But a ceiling fan is not a blower fan with a cowl 
to suck air in from one side and blow it out another.

753
00:48:45,489 --> 00:48:48,692
Nor is it a squirrel cage fan feeding a duct.

754
00:48:48,725 --> 00:48:55,699
It's just a great big fan hanging in the open air, and its purpose isn't to move volumes of air,

755
00:48:55,933 --> 00:48:59,002
but to create artificial wind you can feel.

756
00:48:59,269 --> 00:49:06,844
Therefore, the velocity of the air once it gets to where you are is what matters to perceived performance.

757
00:49:06,910 --> 00:49:12,149
And because we're talking about ceiling fans, you're probably not going to be that close to it all the time.

758
00:49:12,749 --> 00:49:17,287
Sure, that testing rig can measure the volume of air flowing through that cylinder.

759
00:49:17,287 --> 00:49:21,824
But that's not actually very relevant 
to what a ceiling fan is trying to do.

760
00:49:22,559 --> 00:49:26,964
To be clear,
I'm not saying that CFM information isn't potentially useful.

761
00:49:26,964 --> 00:49:31,568
And if we look back at those old instructions 
from Hunter, it's listed there too.

762
00:49:31,802 --> 00:49:36,807
So this isn't a new thing, but I am saying that CFM on its own

763
00:49:36,840 --> 00:49:38,775
describes less than you'd think.

764
00:49:39,242 --> 00:49:41,578
Take a look at this reading from the anemometer.

765
00:49:41,678 --> 00:49:45,015
I've placed it a couple of paces back from the ceiling fan,

766
00:49:45,048 --> 00:49:49,987
so it's measuring the lateral currents produced 
after the air bounces off the floor.

767
00:49:50,654 --> 00:49:54,257
The reading is hovering around 0.8m/s.

768
00:49:54,558 --> 00:49:58,695
This is what matters to the subjective experience of a ceiling fan,

769
00:49:58,729 --> 00:50:02,966
because that wind speed determines what you're feeling on the ground.

770
00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:08,739
And the thing is, if all I do is 
elevate the anemometer very slightly,

771
00:50:08,772 --> 00:50:13,844
the reading is cut in half and occasionally the airflow nearly stops.

772
00:50:14,378 --> 00:50:19,649
Turbulence is going to affect how quickly 
the air is moving in any particular location,

773
00:50:19,649 --> 00:50:25,089
and you can see from the fact that the reading is bouncing around that it's anything but consistent.

774
00:50:25,288 --> 00:50:29,092
The effect is even more pronounced
when the fan is running at high speed.

775
00:50:29,449 --> 00:50:32,262
Ah, but what about the stand?

776
00:50:32,295 --> 00:50:35,265
Could that be influencing the reading of the anemometer?

777
00:50:36,266 --> 00:50:39,536
Perhaps, but that's kind of my point.

778
00:50:39,803 --> 00:50:47,511
Obstructions in a room like the furniture are going to change the path air takes after a ceiling fan throws it to the floor,

779
00:50:47,577 --> 00:50:50,781
and especially since air currents collide with each other,

780
00:50:50,814 --> 00:50:55,051
that could increase or decrease the wind speed on its way to you,

781
00:50:55,051 --> 00:50:58,422
and thus how effective the ceiling fan seems to be.

782
00:50:58,922 --> 00:51:02,359
CFM is irrelevant to those factors.

783
00:51:02,759 --> 00:51:05,162
It's not just the stuff in the room either.

784
00:51:05,462 --> 00:51:07,998
The shape of the room, the size of the room,

785
00:51:07,998 --> 00:51:11,601
and even where the ceiling fan was installed in that room

786
00:51:11,635 --> 00:51:15,305
all make significant differences to how it performs.

787
00:51:15,605 --> 00:51:19,843
Another huge factor is how close the ceiling fan is to the ceiling.

788
00:51:20,177 --> 00:51:22,946
As the sweeping blades push air downward,

789
00:51:22,946 --> 00:51:26,016
it has to be replaced by new air from above,

790
00:51:26,016 --> 00:51:28,852
and when the blades are right up against the ceiling,

791
00:51:28,885 --> 00:51:33,760
the fan can only grab new air through a relatively narrow slot at the edges,

792
00:51:33,760 --> 00:51:38,762
and that creates pressure gradients above the fan, which screw up its air distribution.

793
00:51:39,062 --> 00:51:45,402
This is why so-called hugger fans, designed for rooms 
with low ceilings often don't work that well.

794
00:51:45,569 --> 00:51:49,706
In general, the lower the fan can be from the ceiling, the better.

795
00:51:50,207 --> 00:51:54,932
Safety standards in the US require the fan blades to be seven feet off the floor,

796
00:51:54,932 --> 00:51:58,448
and with standard eight foot ceilings, 
there's not much room to play with.

797
00:51:58,448 --> 00:52:01,318
So I get why hugger fans exist,

798
00:52:01,418 --> 00:52:07,324
but the test procedure the EPA uses hangs 
the fan over three feet from the ceiling,

799
00:52:07,324 --> 00:52:12,129
so the results from that test are not representative of almost anyone's reality.

800
00:52:12,762 --> 00:52:18,168
Setting aside all those real world variables, 
two fans with the same CFM rating

801
00:52:18,168 --> 00:52:21,538
can themselves deliver air extremely differently.

802
00:52:21,938 --> 00:52:25,142
For instance, these fans with their simple paddles

803
00:52:25,142 --> 00:52:29,146
are really just producing a column of downward air movement.

804
00:52:29,146 --> 00:52:32,849
And that means the fan’s diameter is going to affect

805
00:52:32,849 --> 00:52:35,552
how tall the lateral currents of air are

806
00:52:35,552 --> 00:52:38,722
once it hits the floor and spreads out sideways.

807
00:52:39,322 --> 00:52:48,298
A small fan with an identical CFM rating to a large one may not produce a noticeable air current except right down by the floor,

808
00:52:48,632 --> 00:52:54,304
which is not very useful if you're looking to install a ceiling fan 
so you feel a breeze when lying in bed.

809
00:52:54,905 --> 00:53:00,911
This is, incidentally, why I think these newfangled 
fandalier things are extremely silly.

810
00:53:01,044 --> 00:53:06,650
The whole point of a ceiling fan is 
to be big so you feel it everywhere in a room.

811
00:53:07,284 --> 00:53:11,621
That's also why I find sizing guidance based on square footage to be silly.

812
00:53:11,621 --> 00:53:16,301
It seems mostly based on 
perceived visual appropriateness, and little else.

813
00:53:16,301 --> 00:53:17,961
Go as big as you want.

814
00:53:17,994 --> 00:53:19,529
It'll probably work better.

815
00:53:19,896 --> 00:53:26,302
But even ceiling fans with identical diameters can distribute 
air differently because of their blade design.

816
00:53:26,603 --> 00:53:34,378
Fans with curved blades or fancy airfoil shapes are like that 
so they don't just create a column of air below them.

817
00:53:34,778 --> 00:53:37,581
Those fans will throw some air out to the sides,

818
00:53:37,581 --> 00:53:42,819
so that their output can be felt directly 
over a wider area than the fan’s diameter.

819
00:53:42,886 --> 00:53:47,491
And that can avoid the issue of obstructions changing the direction of air currents,

820
00:53:47,491 --> 00:53:51,895
which may or may not be better 
depending on your preferences and your situation.

821
00:53:52,329 --> 00:53:57,134
This CFM rating does absolutely nothing to explain any of this.

822
00:53:57,200 --> 00:54:02,439
Therefore, I am simply not at all convinced 
that it's enough information to be useful.

823
00:54:03,607 --> 00:54:05,408
And even if it were,

824
00:54:06,009 --> 00:54:12,249
I am now very convinced that the 
CFM number on these labels is wrong.

825
00:54:12,816 --> 00:54:17,287
Again, all of this is subjective 
and situational, which I need to acknowledge.

826
00:54:17,387 --> 00:54:27,497
But in my previous home, I installed two outdoor ceiling fans from Menards, which the Energy Guide label rated 3,911 CFM.

827
00:54:28,331 --> 00:54:35,472
Since the Hunter Original is also an outdoor rated fan 
and its diameter is within two inches of those fans,

828
00:54:35,538 --> 00:54:38,275
the CFM numbers should be apples to apples,

829
00:54:38,275 --> 00:54:42,379
and since the original is rated 4,620,

830
00:54:42,445 --> 00:54:46,483
those Menards fans should have been 
within spitting distance of this thing.

831
00:54:46,483 --> 00:54:49,753
But they were definitely not.

832
00:54:50,020 --> 00:54:53,690
I can't go back in time to make a true side by side comparison,

833
00:54:53,690 --> 00:54:59,362
but I would estimate that the Hunter is at 
least twice as powerful as those fans were.

834
00:54:59,429 --> 00:55:05,669
So not only do I have plenty of logical reasons 
to doubt that a CFM rating can actually tell you very much,

835
00:55:05,869 --> 00:55:09,673
but I also have firsthand 
experience which contradicts these labels.

836
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:11,708
And it gets worse.

837
00:55:12,108 --> 00:55:17,814
The credibility of these labels 
is also put into question by several basic facts.

838
00:55:18,348 --> 00:55:21,184
If you look at the Hunter original on the Lowe's website,

839
00:55:21,217 --> 00:55:26,217
you'll see that they are claiming it moves 6,716 CFM.

840
00:55:26,627 --> 00:55:30,259
Awfully close to the 7000 Hunter was claiming back in the 70s.

841
00:55:30,327 --> 00:55:33,096
It's almost like it's the same fan or something.

842
00:55:33,563 --> 00:55:38,668
So where does this 4,620 number actually come from?

843
00:55:38,868 --> 00:55:43,239
Could it be there listing the airflow 
on the medium speed without telling us?

844
00:55:43,440 --> 00:55:47,577
That would, after all, line up with typical use, I suppose.

845
00:55:48,411 --> 00:55:49,979
Well, perhaps.

846
00:55:50,046 --> 00:55:52,749
But that 53 watt figure there?

847
00:55:52,816 --> 00:55:54,084
That's awfully strange.

848
00:55:54,084 --> 00:55:58,188
And not just because the FTC doesn't seem to know watts aren't energy.

849
00:55:58,521 --> 00:56:06,202
My testing, which says this fan runs at between 85 and 90 watts on high and at less than 40 watts on medium

850
00:56:06,269 --> 00:56:11,534
would seem to imply this fan was tested at a speed which doesn't actually exist.

851
00:56:11,601 --> 00:56:18,742
So how on Earth am I supposed to trust that CFM number means anything relevant to the fan's real world performance?

852
00:56:19,309 --> 00:56:23,447
But now we've got to talk about 
why those labels are there in the first place.

853
00:56:23,480 --> 00:56:27,150
Because even if I had no reason to doubt their accuracy,

854
00:56:27,150 --> 00:56:29,652
I think there's a very good case to be made

855
00:56:29,652 --> 00:56:32,789
that the motivation behind them is backfiring

856
00:56:32,789 --> 00:56:35,959
and defeating the very point of a ceiling fan.

857
00:56:36,693 --> 00:56:40,897
Much like the energy guide labels on things
like refrigerators and water heaters,

858
00:56:40,930 --> 00:56:44,934
this is there to encourage you 
to pick an energy efficient ceiling fan.

859
00:56:45,402 --> 00:56:48,638
Ceiling fans are an energy consuming appliance, after all,

860
00:56:48,638 --> 00:56:52,041
and that's why it shows you an estimated cost figure.

861
00:56:52,375 --> 00:56:56,346
And look, there are certainly gains to be made there.

862
00:56:56,579 --> 00:56:59,315
We've gotten much better at making motors over the years,

863
00:56:59,315 --> 00:57:03,716
and that's how the Hunter Original of today 
only needs 90W of power

864
00:57:03,716 --> 00:57:08,859
to do what the fan of 1970 something needed 155 watts to do.

865
00:57:09,559 --> 00:57:16,632
But we're not actually evaluating the efficiency of ceiling fans based on how efficient their motors are at performing work.

866
00:57:16,866 --> 00:57:19,769
We're doing it based on CFM per watt.

867
00:57:20,203 --> 00:57:22,405
Now, I understand the logic there.

868
00:57:22,405 --> 00:57:25,775
You can put the same motor into all sorts of fan designs,

869
00:57:25,775 --> 00:57:28,812
so the finished product matters more than its guts.

870
00:57:29,412 --> 00:57:36,102
But since I'm not convinced the CFM number from a test 
rig describes ceiling fan performance in a useful way,

871
00:57:36,102 --> 00:57:42,925
we could very well be making ceiling fans worse at their job by chasing a metric which is effectively meaningless.

872
00:57:43,960 --> 00:57:45,628
I think we need to remember

873
00:57:45,628 --> 00:57:48,064
we're talking about ceiling fans, folks.

874
00:57:48,064 --> 00:57:50,967
They are themselves an efficiency play,

875
00:57:50,967 --> 00:57:56,239
and the whole point of their resurgence 
was to offset the energy use of air conditioning.

876
00:57:56,239 --> 00:57:59,162
And in order to actually be successful at that,

877
00:57:59,162 --> 00:58:05,515
first and foremost, the ceiling fan needs to be 
effective in the eyes of the person using it.

878
00:58:05,548 --> 00:58:11,248
A fan could have a miraculous CFM per watt 
figure if it's only drawing ten watts,

879
00:58:11,248 --> 00:58:14,991
but then it might not be powerful enough to actually do anything.

880
00:58:15,859 --> 00:58:18,127
And that's the maddening thing here.

881
00:58:18,394 --> 00:58:23,633
We know that the relationship between CFM 
and input power isn't linear.

882
00:58:23,933 --> 00:58:28,338
CFM per watt numbers get higher at lower fan speeds,

883
00:58:28,338 --> 00:58:30,807
so the metric becomes more impressive

884
00:58:30,874 --> 00:58:33,309
the weaker the fan is.

885
00:58:33,910 --> 00:58:36,246
Now, Energy Star is aware of this,

886
00:58:36,246 --> 00:58:39,249
and that's why the number they give is a weighted average.

887
00:58:39,349 --> 00:58:45,989
For instance, this fan model is rated 220 CFM per watt, despite the fact that on its highest speed,

888
00:58:46,022 --> 00:58:51,094
which draws 29.5W while supposedly delivering 4,053 CFM,

889
00:58:51,427 --> 00:58:55,431
the number only works out to 137 CFM per watt.

890
00:58:56,065 --> 00:59:01,236
But I don't actually know that its 
top speed is equivalent to 4,053 CFM

891
00:59:01,236 --> 00:59:07,910
because Energy Star doesn't tell you CFM numbers, and the Energy Guide label hasn't specified which speed it's showing you.

892
00:59:07,944 --> 00:59:15,618
And the Energy Guide label says the fan only moves 
166 CFM per watt, and also that it only uses 24 watts.

893
00:59:15,618 --> 00:59:18,955
This whole situation is just royally forked up.

894
00:59:18,955 --> 00:59:20,456
But most importantly,

895
00:59:20,823 --> 00:59:24,025
performance is the thing which actually matters,

896
00:59:24,025 --> 00:59:30,633
and a fan which uses more energy can very well end up saving energy because it does a better job at being a fan.

897
00:59:31,000 --> 00:59:34,771
To illustrate this, let's go back to the Hunter versus the Kichler.

898
00:59:35,238 --> 00:59:38,141
The 85W this fan draws on high

899
00:59:38,207 --> 00:59:44,747
does mean the fan uses more energy than the Kichler, 
which maxes out at 55W ever will.

900
00:59:44,981 --> 00:59:49,419
And yeah, that means using the Hunter fan will cost more.

901
00:59:49,852 --> 00:59:57,425
But if the Hunter running at 85W cools 
you off more effectively than the Kichler at 55W,

902
00:59:57,425 --> 00:59:59,162
which it definitely will,

903
00:59:59,195 --> 01:00:02,966
then it can buy you a couple extra clicks on your thermostat,

904
01:00:02,966 --> 01:00:06,415
which will more than pay for those extra 30 watts.

905
01:00:06,415 --> 01:00:09,706
Even if you ran the fan 24/7.

906
01:00:10,206 --> 01:00:17,383
If spending an extra 30W means you can keep a tiny 1 kW air conditioner from running for just an hour a day,

907
01:00:17,383 --> 01:00:23,019
you'll have spent an extra 720 watt-hours 
using this, but you'll save 1,000.

908
01:00:23,386 --> 01:00:27,290
And don't forget, this has a medium speed, too. Even a low one!

909
01:00:27,290 --> 01:00:29,525
And you don't have to run it 24/7.

910
01:00:29,525 --> 01:00:33,062
So it's not always going to use 85 or 90W.

911
01:00:33,162 --> 01:00:40,041
You simply cannot possibly come up with a single CFM number 
or a single CFM per watt number for a ceiling fan,

912
01:00:40,041 --> 01:00:46,676
and our efforts to try are ignoring that an efficient 
but weak fan is not actually a useful fan.

913
01:00:47,076 --> 01:00:50,013
So are we possibly barking up the wrong tree here?

914
01:00:50,446 --> 01:00:52,715
I think there's pretty good evidence that we are.

915
01:00:53,178 --> 01:00:55,451
Now look, if you've been watching me for a while,

916
01:00:55,451 --> 01:00:58,821
you might already know that my feelings here are complicated.

917
01:00:58,855 --> 01:01:03,192
I understand the desire to reduce 
the amount of energy ceiling fans use,

918
01:01:03,259 --> 01:01:07,964
especially since your average Midwestern home 
probably has 4 or 5 of them these days.

919
01:01:08,031 --> 01:01:11,334
But they have to be good at the thing they're supposed to do

920
01:01:11,334 --> 01:01:14,737
if we have any hope of them offsetting air conditioning use.

921
01:01:14,937 --> 01:01:18,975
If we're creating efficiency targets based around CFM per watt,

922
01:01:19,042 --> 01:01:23,890
that may look good on paper, 
but if it hurts real world performance,

923
01:01:23,890 --> 01:01:28,551
then we're defeating the point of
 having a ceiling fan in the first place.

924
01:01:29,018 --> 01:01:34,090
To be clear, I'm not blaming energy policy 
alone for making ceiling fans worse.

925
01:01:34,090 --> 01:01:38,895
It may play a part, but there are plenty of other pressures 
pushing us that way too.

926
01:01:39,328 --> 01:01:41,998
The race to the bottom is still very much a thing.

927
01:01:42,331 --> 01:01:47,603
But I am saying policy may be too focused 
on the energy needs of the fan itself,

928
01:01:47,603 --> 01:01:50,973
and we should probably refine how we're evaluating them.

929
01:01:50,973 --> 01:01:54,410
Because as of now, it feels like we've lost the plot.

930
01:01:54,911 --> 01:01:59,082
And remember. We're talking about ceiling fans.

931
01:01:59,115 --> 01:02:03,553
They're not exactly power hungry
things and never were in the first place.

932
01:02:03,553 --> 01:02:07,023
And through our decision to chase diminishing returns,

933
01:02:07,023 --> 01:02:09,959
we're creating pressures I'm not super fond of.

934
01:02:10,293 --> 01:02:13,863
For example, the Energy Star certified fan we've been looking at

935
01:02:13,896 --> 01:02:18,185
has a DC motor, and many of them do these days.

936
01:02:18,185 --> 01:02:20,603
Those can be more energy efficient,

937
01:02:20,603 --> 01:02:26,075
but that adds a lot of complexity 
to an otherwise very simple product.

938
01:02:26,342 --> 01:02:31,147
DC motors need DC power supplies 
and motor controllers just to function,

939
01:02:31,147 --> 01:02:35,051
which adds two electronic devices with potential points of failure.

940
01:02:35,118 --> 01:02:38,955
And I do think it's a bit ironic that this Energy Star certified fan

941
01:02:38,988 --> 01:02:43,659
has a standby power consumption of 0.3W,

942
01:02:43,693 --> 01:02:49,832
meaning it's going to use at least 2.6kWh 
of energy every year even if you don't use it.

943
01:02:49,899 --> 01:02:51,100
That's fun.

944
01:02:51,501 --> 01:02:56,839
There are advantages to a DC motor 
beyond efficiency, which some shoppers will appreciate.

945
01:02:56,906 --> 01:03:00,109
For instance, they don't hum like an AC motor can,

946
01:03:00,109 --> 01:03:07,183
and they can offer many more fan speeds without requiring a fancy and potentially persnickety motor controller

947
01:03:07,216 --> 01:03:09,185
like you do with an AC motor.

948
01:03:09,685 --> 01:03:13,790
Solid state variable speed fan 
controls for a fan like this do exist,

949
01:03:13,790 --> 01:03:15,758
but they're not easy to come by.

950
01:03:16,325 --> 01:03:18,895
Additionally, though it's not my cup of tea,

951
01:03:18,928 --> 01:03:23,513
it's easier to incorporate things like smart controls 
and built-in LED lighting

952
01:03:23,513 --> 01:03:26,870
when your ceiling fan has a DC power supply on board.

953
01:03:26,903 --> 01:03:31,741
So I get that market pressures 
are also pushing us in that direction.

954
01:03:32,074 --> 01:03:38,584
Regardless, the permanent split capacitor AC induction motors in a typical ceiling fan are still pretty energy efficient,

955
01:03:38,617 --> 01:03:43,152
and best of all, they simply get hooked right up to line voltage.

956
01:03:43,219 --> 01:03:47,256
They don't have any electronics controlling them other than a capacitor,

957
01:03:47,256 --> 01:03:51,961
and thus there are only two things 
which might go wrong with such a ceiling fan.

958
01:03:51,994 --> 01:03:56,132
Either the bearing can fail 
and the fan will start to get noisy as it spins,

959
01:03:56,132 --> 01:04:01,312
or the capacitor can fail which will cause the fan to spin slowly or perhaps not at all.

960
01:04:01,312 --> 01:04:04,941
Barring a catastrophic short in the motor windings,

961
01:04:04,974 --> 01:04:07,076
or I guess a failed power switch,

962
01:04:07,143 --> 01:04:11,871
That's really all that can go wrong with a traditional ceiling fan.

963
01:04:11,905 --> 01:04:14,984
And replacing a failed ceiling fan capacitor is really easy, too.

964
01:04:15,017 --> 01:04:17,520
In fact, hardware stores stock replacements.

965
01:04:17,920 --> 01:04:22,024
There's plenty of merit to the simplicity of an AC motor,

966
01:04:22,024 --> 01:04:26,529
and the Hunter Original proves 
you absolutely can make one which doesn't hum.

967
01:04:26,829 --> 01:04:29,932
You just have to, you know, try.

968
01:04:30,299 --> 01:04:35,104
This is why I've developed more than a bit 
of a fascination with the Hunter Original.

969
01:04:35,204 --> 01:04:43,012
It's an extremely old ceiling fan design, and yet it seems to be among the best performing ceiling fans out there,

970
01:04:43,145 --> 01:04:46,215
at least of the kind you typically find in a home.

971
01:04:46,449 --> 01:04:47,617
And I mean,

972
01:04:47,617 --> 01:04:49,785
while it feels very surprising

973
01:04:49,785 --> 01:04:54,824
given that we live in the age of computer aided 
design and advanced modeling of fluid dynamics,

974
01:04:54,891 --> 01:04:57,493
in other ways, it's really not.

975
01:04:57,860 --> 01:05:00,863
Yes, 1906 was 120 years ago,

976
01:05:00,863 --> 01:05:04,166
but it's not like we didn't know how to experiment back then.

977
01:05:04,166 --> 01:05:09,305
And we definitely wanted to 
get the most out of a very expensive motor.

978
01:05:10,006 --> 01:05:14,877
Four plain, rectangular paddles 
might seem like a very low effort design,

979
01:05:14,877 --> 01:05:21,684
but it clearly works and a lot 
better than every ordinary ceiling fan I've ever lived with.

980
01:05:21,961 --> 01:05:27,857
Ceiling fans essentially didn't change at all 
between when this thing was first designed

981
01:05:27,890 --> 01:05:30,493
and the resurgence of the 1970s.

982
01:05:31,060 --> 01:05:34,130
We just figured them out!

983
01:05:34,163 --> 01:05:37,266
That's how you make a ceiling fan which is good.

984
01:05:37,800 --> 01:05:42,505
Other than Emerson switching to a cheaper motor 
which allowed them to leverage economies of scale

985
01:05:42,505 --> 01:05:44,941
...and shut down a production line,

986
01:05:45,107 --> 01:05:50,579
the fundamentals remained exactly the same 
right up until manufacturing went overseas.

987
01:05:51,380 --> 01:05:54,250
And that's what's tricky about this story.

988
01:05:54,650 --> 01:05:59,255
The purpose of a ceiling fan 
changed when it came back into fashion.

989
01:05:59,689 --> 01:06:04,327
Performance didn't matter as much now that they were meant to help your air conditioner

990
01:06:04,327 --> 01:06:06,862
and not provide cooling on their own.

991
01:06:06,862 --> 01:06:12,068
And that created affordances for 
cost cutting without significant consequence.

992
01:06:12,635 --> 01:06:17,039
Cost cut ceiling fans, in turn, 
created competition based on retail price.

993
01:06:17,039 --> 01:06:21,277
And then once every big box store 
had their own line of cheap ceiling fans

994
01:06:21,310 --> 01:06:23,946
that created competition based on style.

995
01:06:23,946 --> 01:06:26,549
And then once everybody was copying each other,

996
01:06:26,582 --> 01:06:29,952
that created competition based on gimmicks like remote controls

997
01:06:29,952 --> 01:06:33,456
and these days, Alexa integration.

998
01:06:33,956 --> 01:06:40,395
After several rounds of this nonsense, we sort of forgot 
what makes a good ceiling fan in the first place.

999
01:06:40,429 --> 01:06:47,937
And all that complexity is before we get to the energy standards, 
which I would have no problem with at all if I were convinced

1000
01:06:47,970 --> 01:06:51,107
we were measuring performance of a ceiling fan correctly.

1001
01:06:51,507 --> 01:06:53,943
Which I'm not.

1002
01:06:54,243 --> 01:07:01,083
And the fact that Hunter still produces 
this ancient thing in 2026 is the main reason I feel that way.

1003
01:07:01,517 --> 01:07:05,321
Its existence is no means hard evidence of anything.

1004
01:07:05,654 --> 01:07:08,724
A cast iron motor housing and an oil bath bearing

1005
01:07:08,724 --> 01:07:12,495
are certainly not necessary for a well-performing ceiling fan.

1006
01:07:12,695 --> 01:07:17,033
Anyone could copy this fan's performance for a much lower price.

1007
01:07:17,133 --> 01:07:19,635
All you need is a motor which is equally strong,

1008
01:07:19,635 --> 01:07:22,204
and fan blades with the same specification.

1009
01:07:22,671 --> 01:07:24,173
And that's not hard to come by.

1010
01:07:24,607 --> 01:07:27,977
But the enduring existence of this design proves

1011
01:07:27,977 --> 01:07:34,850
there are enough people out there who believe function matters over form, and are still willing to pay for it.

1012
01:07:35,351 --> 01:07:39,255
This thing's sales are helped, no doubt, by its timeless appearance,

1013
01:07:39,288 --> 01:07:45,126
but asking someone to check the oil in their ceiling fan every five years with a pipe cleaner

1014
01:07:45,126 --> 01:07:50,399
would certainly be a bridge too far for anyone who doesn't really care about ceiling fans.

1015
01:07:50,699 --> 01:07:52,668
I suppose that's the rub, isn't it?

1016
01:07:52,735 --> 01:07:54,870
Many people care enough to have one,

1017
01:07:54,870 --> 01:07:57,339
and many people care what it looks like.

1018
01:07:57,506 --> 01:08:01,610
But the ceiling fan as a concept is so simple

1019
01:08:01,610 --> 01:08:04,346
that it's hard to believe there's more to it than that.

1020
01:08:04,613 --> 01:08:08,217
I didn't until I met someone who collects these things, and now,

1021
01:08:08,517 --> 01:08:12,621
unfortunately, I've been cursed with knowledge of what's been lost.

1022
01:08:12,655 --> 01:08:15,224
I believe The Good Place has taught us that

1023
01:08:15,224 --> 01:08:21,464
the Hunter original is the ice cream of ceiling fans, 
while the modern ceiling fan is much like frozen yogurt.

1024
01:08:22,098 --> 01:08:23,331
As Michael said,

1025
01:08:23,331 --> 01:08:29,872
"there's something so human about taking something great and ruining it a little so you can have more of it."

1026
01:08:30,906 --> 01:08:33,375
That's pretty much what happened with ceiling fans.

1027
01:08:33,776 --> 01:08:35,744
It's not all bad news though.

1028
01:08:36,212 --> 01:08:40,549
While most of the fans you can find in the home 
improvement store these days are pretty meh

1029
01:08:41,383 --> 01:08:43,986
premium ceiling fan brands now exist,

1030
01:08:44,019 --> 01:08:48,758
and I'm sure many of them made 
by the likes of Big Ass Fans are great.

1031
01:08:49,058 --> 01:08:53,229
It's just kind of a shame what things look like today.

1032
01:08:53,362 --> 01:08:55,931
Everyone who's got experience with ceiling fans

1033
01:08:55,931 --> 01:08:57,933
probably has complaints about them too.

1034
01:08:57,967 --> 01:08:59,902
I know I've had my fair share of them

1035
01:08:59,902 --> 01:09:03,539
which rocked just enough to make some kind of a ticking noise which wouldn't go away,

1036
01:09:03,539 --> 01:09:06,308
or which had a loud motor buzzing away all night,

1037
01:09:06,542 --> 01:09:09,011
or which was weak and useless.

1038
01:09:09,411 --> 01:09:15,784
But those complaints really come from 
how much we've lowered our standards in the name of more.

1039
01:09:16,418 --> 01:09:20,856
Still, I'd rather have a landscape 
where average folks can afford a ceiling fan

1040
01:09:20,856 --> 01:09:23,872
in every bedroom and living space they spend time in.

1041
01:09:24,283 --> 01:09:26,996
And fans which don't need oiling.

1042
01:09:27,463 --> 01:09:28,964
I know I'm repeating myself,

1043
01:09:28,964 --> 01:09:33,969
but it's not like the Hunter original represents 
the only way to make a good ceiling fan.

1044
01:09:34,036 --> 01:09:40,209
But its endurance makes a pretty airtight 
case that we've completely lost the plot.

1045
01:09:40,643 --> 01:09:43,345
The formula has always been there,

1046
01:09:43,345 --> 01:09:46,682
but first we need to stop ourselves from reinventing the wheel.

1047
01:09:47,249 --> 01:09:50,559
I wouldn't have thought that 
something as simple as a ceiling fan

1048
01:09:50,559 --> 01:09:54,139
would become subject to seemingly every human impulse

1049
01:09:54,139 --> 01:09:57,960
and every Earth-changing event 
which has happened over the last century.

1050
01:09:58,694 --> 01:10:01,063
But maybe I shouldn't be surprised.

1051
01:10:01,530 --> 01:10:04,727
After all, that's capitalism.

1052
01:10:05,599 --> 01:10:07,876
♫ tempestuously smooth jazz ♫

1053
01:10:08,396 --> 01:10:09,905
Bonus thing!

1054
01:10:09,905 --> 01:10:15,377
The builder grade fan I took down to replace 
with a Hunter Original is a very funny example

1055
01:10:15,377 --> 01:10:20,382
of how we are still importing Asian fans 
and dressing them up to look 'murican.

1056
01:10:20,983 --> 01:10:25,410
This motor housing mimics the size 
and shape of the traditional pancake motor

1057
01:10:25,410 --> 01:10:28,257
which the Hunter Original actually is,

1058
01:10:28,257 --> 01:10:33,361
but the flywheel the blades attach to 
is in fact a commodity spinner motor

1059
01:10:33,395 --> 01:10:36,832
just hiding in a vast expanse of empty space.

1060
01:10:37,333 --> 01:10:40,636
We just still expect ceiling fans to look like this.

1061
01:10:40,803 --> 01:10:44,506
And I mean, in the days when we were cost cutting like crazy,

1062
01:10:44,907 --> 01:10:46,909
there was a time

1063
01:10:46,909 --> 01:10:50,045
when we were just dangling light kits below spinner motors.

1064
01:10:50,045 --> 01:10:52,982
But this just looks weird.

1065
01:10:55,545 --> 01:10:58,049
So, did this video... blow your mind?

1066
01:10:58,049 --> 01:11:01,076
I hope you didn't think it was too long-winded.

1067
01:11:01,076 --> 01:11:04,418
Though that runtime sure is fun. Can't get mad at that!

1068
01:11:04,418 --> 01:11:07,527
And I swear that wasn't just an excuse to pad the script with hot air.

1069
01:11:07,527 --> 01:11:08,994
It's just a...

1070
01:11:08,994 --> 01:11:10,733
fantastic coincidence.