What direction should a ceiling fan turn?

Actually it is not that simple. If you have a standard ceiling height (~8 feet) then you want to run the fan in the clockwise direction during the winter. Specifically, the ceiling fan blades should be running with the lower edge of the blade being the leading edge into the air. Having the leading edge of the fan blade down will pull the air in the room upward which pushes the warm air hovering near ceiling outward and forces it to mix with the rest of the air without creating much turbulence or breeze. Although it is a common sense explanation to run the fan in the opposite (counter clockwise) direction pushing the warm air down as a direct force, this also creates a breeze in the room (giving an undesired ‘cooling’ effect) and is therefore not effective for standard ceiling heights.