We’re getting ready for some of the hottest temperatures we’ve seen this year. That means air conditioning units will struggle to keep homes cool amid rising heat.

There are things you can do, however, including turning on your ceiling fans to help battle the temperatures. But there’s a right and wrong way to run your fans in the summer.

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Ceiling fans, along with all table, floor and mounted fans, don’t actually lower the temperature in a room but do create a wind chill effect that makes you feel more comfortable even if it’s being cooled by air conditioning, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Ceiling fans are particularly effective as they circulate air throughout a room and create a draft.

In the summer, ceiling fans should be set to operate so the blades spin counterclockwise. In the winter you should reverse the direction to clockwise and set to a lower speed to move air from the ceiling to the living level of a space.

Using a ceiling fan allows you to raise the thermostat setting by about 4 degrees with no reduction in how cool it feels, the Department of Energy said. Fans work best when the blades are 7-9 feet above the floor and 10-12 inches below the ceiling.

The size of the fan also matters. Larger ceiling fans move more air. A 36 or 44-inch diameter fan will cool rooms up to 225 square feet, while 52 inches or more fans should be used in larger rooms. Multiple fans work best in rooms longer than 18 feet. Small- and medium-sized fans will provide efficient cooling in a 4- to 6-foot diameter area, while larger fans are effective up to 10 feet.

A larger blade will also provide comparable cooling at a lower velocity than a smaller blade, the agency said.