How much electricity does it cost to run your fan?
We take a look at how much running your fan costs as the nights get warmer.
As we head into summer, the hot nights are returning, making it difficult to get a restful night's sleep without having the fan or air conditioning running.
However, using these devices throughout the night can increase your electricity bill. This might not mean anything to some people who swear by the fan or air conditioning, even on the cool nights, but it can leave a dent in your electricity savings budget if you're unaware of the costs.
Renewable Energy Specialist Wes Reddy consistently provides comfort in his explanations of energy usage. Previously, he helped break down the cost of leaving your charger in the socket, and this time, he caught our attention by discussing the cost of running your fan overnight.
In one of his videos, Reddy explains that fans, based on the type, use between 50 and 150 watts of power every hour.
He used a base wattage of 100 as an average usage number and explained that 100 watts x 1 hour equates to 0.1 kWh, at R4.00, which would cost you R0.40 an hour. That means if you use a 100-watt fan for one hour a day for a month (30 days), you would be paying roughly R12.00 to run your fan.
On the other hand, if you prefer to run the fan continuously throughout the night and use it for 8 hours, you can expect to pay R96 per month.
Breakdown: R0.40 X 8 hours = R3.20 | R3.20 x 30 days = R96.00
A R100 per fan per month is a good cost average to work on. A good comparison to show is that fans use between 50 and 150 watts, but air conditioners use between 1000 and 3000 watts and that's a huge difference.
Check out what South Africans had to say in the comments section:
- "My fan is always on every night since January, even in winter, I can't sleep without it."
- "Oohh nice and cost effective."
- "I have been waiting for this analysis; you read my mind."
- "Summer time incoming... Love this info. Thank you, bro."
- "I’m a Fan of fans! Got them in every room- so much healthier than air con and, it chases the summer away."
Some people asked him to delve deeper into the costs of air conditioners and to elaborate on the cost difference between inverters and non-inverter air conditioners.
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