What uses more electricity, running the air conditioner or running 3 rather large fans?

Question

I have a 2 bedroom, 1150 square foot apartment on the 3rd floor that gets pretty hot in the summer. What would use more electricity?

Answer 1

It kind of depends on the capacity of the air conditioner and what you mean by "large" fans, but all things being more or less equal, the air conditioner will use more electricity, because it not only has a fan, it has a compressor to run the refrigeration cycle, and that has to do a lot more work. The fans just move air around, but don't actually transfer any heat out of the air. So it really depends on how cool you want it to get in your apartment -- if you think the sweat evaporating off your skin is enough to keep you comfortable, the better option is the fan because it uses less electricity, but if it gets really hot in your apartment, you might want to opt for the air conditioner, since it will actually cool things off instead of just moving air, but it will cost more in electricity.

Answer 2

How bout you use 1500 paper fans? Then you use NO electricity!! If you want I can help you make them, and then send them to you...

Answer 3

A refrigerated A/C unit (compressor and fans) will almost always use more electricity than 3 fans.  An air conditioner might even use twice as much as 3 fans depending on the BTU rating of the A/C unit.

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Answer 4

Depends on three things.

Insulation, the amount of space, and running time.

The fans might seem like they are cheaper... but you have to keep them going non-stop and you'll only have air being circulated, not cooler.

With proper insulation, the A/C will run until you get to the set temperature, actually cooling the air.  Then it will shut down until the temperature gets too high again.  So it will run a LOT less than the fans will and give you better results.

How that adds up?

You'd have to calculate the wattage/hour for the fans combine, running non-stop, and the A/C running for a few hours per day and decide that if the A/C is more expensive,  if it's worth it.

Myself, my electrical bill didn't change that much between the time I switched to a bunch of fans to an A/C.

I never looked back and have central air now.

Answer 5

Electricty usage is measured in KW/Hrs (kilowatt hours). Every appliance in the US has a label that list how much wattage the device uses.

Look at the labels on the fans, note the wattage used and add them together. Compare that to the wattage listed on the AC unit.

The device(s) with the lower total wattage used is the one that uses the least energy.

Be sure to compare the hours of actual usage of each device (ie: you may run the fans 24/7 but only run the AC in the afternoon & evening)

Answer 6

air conditioner

Answer 7

Okay.. an A/C may use more electricity but a fan will not cool the ambient temperature.

You should turn on your A/C intermittently say for 15 mins an hour and use fans during the times the A/C is off.

You don't want to be sitting in front of a fan that's blowing hot air at you.

Answer 8

In all likelihood the AC would. Figure about 8 to 12 amps for the AC and 3 to 9 amps for the fans. However the AC beats the fans hands down for comfort, particularly on a third floor.

Answer 9

Please provide the wattage or current ratings for each device.  Should be labelled on the back.

I'm guessing though, that each fan is probably 10 watts, and the air conditioner is close to 1400 watts.

Answer 10

If you are running 3 "large" fans all the time you may be consuming 10-15 amps all the time. You can get a AC that will consume the same 10-15 amps and you apartment will get nice and cool. The fans move air around they do not cool per se. In fact they dissipate heat  into the space possibly raising the temperature.

The 3 fans are probably a waste. You may as well get an AC and pay a little more for power than keep all 3 fans on for about the same money and get little relief.

Another option is get a smaller AC and a smaller oscillating fan. The one AC will make cool air and the fan can assist in facilitating the flow to other part(s) of the apt.