The History of Ceiling Fans

Many households today have ceiling fans inside and outside of them for their magnificent cooling features and for their additional comfort in heating as well as for overall energy savings and style, but today’s modern day ceiling fans do not look anything like the ceiling fans that were popular over a hundred years ago. The first ceiling fans were created in the late 1800’s and actually did not use any electricity at all.

The first ceiling fans were powered by water. Large turbines were used to drove a vast system of belts to turn the ceiling fans blades. These early fans only had two blades and had to be used only in places that were located close to streams so that the water from the stream could be used to power the turbine belts that turned the fan’s blades.

Early ceiling fans were extremely expensive and not very beneficial to the average homeowner. For many years these ceiling fans would only be seen in factory related buildings because they were just too expensive for most people. Over time, ceiling fans were increasingly seen in restaurants and store as well as offices in the Southern most areas of the United States. It would still be quite some time before these fans would become a staple in the American home.

During the energy crisis of the 1970’s American homeowners began scrambling to save money any way that they could. At this time the use of a ceiling fan became very popular and ceiling fan companies began to mass market the products throughout the country and throughout many other countries of the world. Americans realized that it was far cheaper to use a ceiling fan than it was to use the very new and not so energy efficient air conditioners that had become very popular in homes.

Over the years the use of air conditioning came back into play as it became cheaper to use. Although it is still far less costly to run a ceiling fan than it is to run a central air conditioning unit, many now choose for both maximum comfort and lowered energy consumption by using the two units together. Not only have ceiling fans become ever popular again with the rise of energy costs, but today’s ceiling fan models come in so many styles that many homes showcase a ceiling fan in a room as an accessory.

While ceiling fans were once very large, highly expensive, and not so pretty to look at, today’s fans are just the opposite. Most are beautiful to look at, there are price points to fit every budget, and ceiling fans range in sizes from hugger models that are small enough even for lower ceilings and regular ceiling fan models for the average room as well as fans with long blade spans to cool larger rooms more efficiently. The ceiling fan has evolved into an art form over the past 150 years since it was first introduced.