Standby power: do connected ceiling fans use more?

Connected fans on the certified list, the ones with app or network control, have a median standby draw of 2.0 W against 0.8 W for the rest. But 39 of the 48 connected listings come from one brand, BAF, and the other 9 connected fans post a median of 0.8 W. On this list the gap follows the brand more than the connection.

What standby means here

Standby is the power a fan draws while it is switched off but still connected to power, waiting for a remote, a wall control or an app. EPA measures it in the certification test and counts it in the CFM/W weighting. Across all 712 listings the median is 0.9 W, and 88 listings report 0 W.

Most fans sit below 1 W. The tail beyond 2 W is short, and the highest reading on the list is 4.2 W, from the BAF MK-HKC1-042506.

Connected fans, brand by brand

The list flags whether a fan has connected functionality. Only 48 of 712 listings carry the flag, and 39 of them are BAF models, 34 of those HSSD fans. Splitting the connected group by brand changes the picture.

Group	Listings	Median standby (W)
Connected, all	48	2.0
Connected, BAF	39	2.2
Connected, other brands	9	0.8
Not connected	664	0.8
With a light kit	297	1.0
Fan only	415	0.7

The connected fans of the other brands sit at the same median as fans without connection. With so few of them, that is not proof that connection costs nothing in standby; it does mean the list gives no evidence of a general penalty. Light kits show a small difference: 1.0 W against 0.7 W for fan-only models.

By mount type

The three mount types differ mainly because of HSSD fans.

Mount type	Listings	Median standby (W)	kWh a year at that standby
Standard	587	0.8	7.0
Hugger	87	0.7	6.1
HSSD	38	2.2	19.3

The last column is arithmetic: standby watts times the 8,760 hours of a year, divided by 1,000. It assumes a fan that is never switched on, so it is an upper bound on standby use, not an estimate for any home.

By blade span

Among standard fans, the median standby draw ranges from 0.6 W to 1.4 W across the spans with a page. The lowest median belongs to the 42 in group and the highest to the 62 to 66 in group, so standby does not simply follow fan size the way draw on high does.

Blade span	Standard fans	Median standby (W)
42 in	14	0.6
44 in	27	0.7
52 in	238	0.6
54 to 58 in	67	1.3
60 in	119	0.9
62 to 66 in	33	1.4
68 to 72 in	51	0.9
84 in	15	1.1

Does a low standby lift CFM/W?

Standby is part of the CFM/W weighting, so a fan that draws nothing while off might be expected to gain a little. The list does not bear that out. Standard and hugger fans reporting 0 W sit a median of −33% against their group median; those with a standby reading sit at +2%. Whatever separates strong fans from weak ones, standby is not the main part of it.

Fans that report zero

On the list, 88 listings report 0 W in standby. RP Lighting + Fans has the most of them (39), followed by WAC Lighting (9). A zero on the list means the test recorded no measurable standby draw; the list does not say how each fan reaches zero.

Sensors

The list has 33 listings with an occupancy or humidity sensor, and all of them are BAF models. Their median standby is 2.2 W. The BAF page sets them out with the rest of that brand's fans, and the fan table can filter for app or network control.

HSSD fans

The 38 HSSD fans have the highest standby readings as a group, a median of 2.2 W. All of them carry the BAF name, 34 of them are flagged as connected and 31 carry a sensor. Their CFM/W is weighted on high speed and standby only, so standby counts for more in their figure than in a standard fan's.

Newer listings

Fans first certified in 2025 or 2026 post a median standby draw of 0.7 W, against 1.0 W for listings certified earlier. Every listing on the page is still certified; the date only marks when it joined the list.

Putting standby in proportion

For a fan with the median standby draw, a year of standby comes to a few kilowatt-hours. A single hour on high at the 52-inch median uses about as much as 34 hours of standby at the list-wide median. Standby is worth knowing for fans that are rarely used; for fans that run every day, the watts on high and low weigh far more, as the watts article shows.