Why do the Blades in a fan run Anticlockwise?

Most recent answer: 06/25/2012

Q:
Whenever i went to anyone house i notice that the fan always starts rotating in anticlockwise sense,is electrical connection from source ways are responsible for that or its randomly chosen from early&going on right now?
- aman (age 17)
Jamshedpur,jharkhand,india
A:
They could run clockwise just as well, it depends on how you wire them up.   Unlike three-phase motors, single phase AC motors need a starter to get them going.  For low power motors, like fans, one uses a starter winding fed by a capacitor in order to provide an additional current 90 degrees out of phase with the main winding.   After reaching a certain speed the capacitor is switched out by a centrifugal switch.  So depending how you wire up this additional winding you can make the fan go your favorite direction.

LeeH 

(published on 06/25/2012)