Does a free standing fan use more electric on speed setting 3 compared to setting 1.?

Question

My boss thinks that our fan use's more electric when we have it on high speed than it does on low speed and he makes us turn it down which makes it feel like we work in a chinese sweat shop making cheap shoes.

Answer 1

I honestly don't know hun.

You have certain rights such as working in a comfortable environment, your boss should stop being such a miser & consider his employees more. Happy employees make for a more cost  effective business in the long term, so whats a few pennies/cents here & there.

Good Luck.X :-)

Answer 2

26 °C is the recommended air conditioning set point, as listed on the government web page for the province of Ontario.

That's about 78.8°F.

Yes, a higher speed will use more electricity, but the nearest fan I could find is rated at 120V, 0.35A.  We pay 0.059 cents per kilo-watt hour in Ontario, Canada.  To run this fan at full speed would cost

120V times 0.35A divided by 1000W per kW times 8 hours times $0.059 = $0.02

That's right, full speed costs two cents per 8 hour work day.

Check the rating on your fan, and assume that when the switch is at 1, you're using only 1/3 of that.

Feel free to ask for the price of electricity in your area, and do the math.  Show him the difference in price.  You could even volunteer to take a ($0.02 times 20 days per month =) $0.40 cent per month cut in pay just to have the fan at high speed.

Answer 3

Remember that the output power is directly proportional to both speed

and electromagnetic torque that is generated at the axe of the rotor-The fan's fins- so the higher the speed the hieger the electrically consumed power that if the load torque remained constant or has been increased.

anyhow, the electrical power difference is not too high, so you can amuse your self by fresh cool air with low cost.

Answer 4

I'm going to say its probably the same, or even more efficient.

Most fans when running at full speed are just virtually connected straight across the mains. So all the power coming in goes straight to the fan.

To slow the fan down you pass the voltage through a big resistor, which reduces the voltage to the motor, thus it turns slower. The excess voltage gets turned into heat and disipates through the resistor.So not very efficient, and a waste of power in the fan. Probably find the actual current drawn from the sockets doesn't change much.

Its a bit like a normal bulb compared to an energy efficient one.  

Answer 5

Yes, the fan will use slightly more electricity on the highest speed.

I tested a 16" oscillating fan using a Kill-a-Watt meter.  Here are the loads on each speed:

Low: 44 watts

Med: 53 watts

High: 58 watts

It didn't make any difference if the fan was locked in position or allowed to oscillate.

The incremental load between low and high speed is only 14 watts.  (0.014 kilowatts)  Over the course of an 8-hour shift, the incremental electric consumption would be:

0.014 kW x 8 hours = 0.112 kWh.

If electricity costs $0.20 per kWh, operating the fan on the highest speed will cost an extra $0.022 or 2.2 cents.

Below is a link for the Kill-a-Watt device.

My old 20" box fan uses:

Low: 83 watts

Med: 138 watts

High: 180 watts