I’ve taken a photo while laying down looking up at the fan. I labeled one counter-clockwise and the other clockwise. What direction is the fan supposed to go in the winter?
Now, I also have a opinion question.
Does having the fan on in the winter make a difference? The fan is the right size for the room, but I don’t want to turn it on if it does not help in the winter.
Looking up, counter-clockwise in summer to have air forced down, clockwise in winter to push air up. You can also look at the blade pitch to figure out which way it is pushing the air.
No cite, but especially with a high ceiling, I always felt it was advantageous to keep the fan blowing up in winter, at the lowest speed, to force the hot air up there to move down. Seemed to work.
The instructions on my new ceiling fans say exactly that - slowest speed/clockwise direction in winter to push the warm air up and then down-wards round the edges of the room.
Our fan does not change direction, but the paddles can be tipped to change the way the air is directed, and there is a diagram for winter and summer. (It was cheap!)
As for does it make a difference - YES! We could turn our heat down by 3-4C and not feel colder. That made a big difference in our fuel bills that was very noticeable the first season after we got the fan. Now we have one in our living room and one over the stairwell, and they both really do help warm the upstairs in winter. In the summer, they do bugger all to help us feel cooler but whatever…