Fan speed
Sets how fast the indoor fan blows: automatic, or a fixed step from silent or low up to high.
What pressing it does
Press to step through the speeds. Midea goes AUTO → LOW → MED → HIGH and shows no bars for auto; Airwell has silent, low, medium, high and strong plus auto; Fujitsu AUTO, HIGH, MED, LOW and QUIET. Daikin notes that at smaller airflow rates the cooling effect is also smaller.
What it does not do
It does not change the set temperature, and in some modes it is locked: Samsung allows only Auto in Dry and Auto mode, Midea none in AUTO or DRY.
Makes differ, check your unit’s manual: the same drawing can mean different things on different brands, and only your model’s manual says exactly what a button does and which modes it works in.
- What it looks like
- A small fan next to bars or wedges that grow from one to three or five steps; no bars, or the word AUTO, for automatic speed.
- Names makers use
- FAN SPEED (Midea, Airwell); FAN (Fujitsu); Airflow rate (Daikin); Fan speed (Samsung)
Where makers differ
The number of steps differs (three on Midea, five plus auto on Airwell). Samsung’s Fan mode adds a Turbo speed; Airwell’s strong speed works only in cooling and heating.
Often confused with
Only the indoor fan runs: the air is moved around the room at room temperature, with no cooling or heating.
Other symbols with the same shapes
Sources
No single published standard defines air-conditioner remote icons, so this meaning is taken from 5 makers’ own manuals, each fetched and read on the date shown:
- Midea: Midea — Remote controller owner’s manual, RG51A(2)/E and RG51B(2)/E (PDF) — FAN SPEED “Selects fan speeds in the following order: AUTO, LOW, MED, HIGH”; fan speed indication: HIGH, MED, LOW, “NO display — Auto fan speed”. Checked 2026-09-26.
- Airwell: Airwell — RC08W remote control manual (PDF) — Fan speed indication in bars: silent, low, medium, high, strong and automatic; “Strong fan will only operation cooling & heating mode.” Checked 2026-09-26.
- Fujitsu General: Fujitsu General — Operating manual, wall-mounted 18/24RLB and 30/36RLXB (US, PDF) — “7 FAN button — Controls the fan speed. AUTO, HIGH, MED, LOW, QUIET … When AUTO is selected, the fan speed is automatically adjusted according to the operation mode.” Checked 2026-09-26.
- Daikin: Daikin web operation manual — Adjusting the airflow rate — “Each pressing of [the button] changes the airflow rate setting in sequence … At smaller airflow rates, the cooling effect is also smaller.” Checked 2026-09-26.
- Samsung: Samsung — Wind-Free 2.0 air conditioner user manual, AR**TSFA*** (PDF on Samsung HVAC’s document store) — Available fan speeds: Auto only in AI Auto, Auto and Dry; Auto, Low, Med, High (and Turbo) in Cool and Heat; Low, Med, High, Turbo in Fan. Checked 2026-09-26.
Written in our own words; quotations are the makers’ wording.