Increase fan speed
The Increase fan speed action is useful when you want more airflow without choosing an exact final value. Use it to nudge the fan up by one step or by a percentage you choose.
Requires the Purpose-specific triggers and conditions Labs preview feature. Enable it at Settings > System > Labs.
Using this action from the user interface
If you prefer building automations and scripts visually, Home Assistant walks you through this action step by step. You pick what to target, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.
To use this action in an automation or script:
- Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
- Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
- If you’re creating an automation, add a trigger in the When section.
- In the Then do section, select Add action.
- Select what you want to control. Under By target (see Targets), pick the fan you want to control. You can also select an area, a floor, a device, or a label.
- From the actions shown for that target, select Increase fan speed.
- Optional: under Increment, set how much the speed should increase.
- Select Save.
Options in the UI
Using this action in YAML
If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required.
In YAML, refer to this action as fan.increase_speed. A basic example looks like this:
action: fan.increase_speed
target:
entity_id: fan.office
data:
percentage_step: 10
This increases fan.office by 10 percent.
Options in YAML
Targets of the action
This action requires a target. The target is the object of the action. You can point the action at a single entityAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more], a device, an area, a floor, or a label, and Home Assistant will run the action on every matching fan entity behind that target.
-
Entity: one specific fan entity, such as
fan.living_room. - Device: every fan entity that belongs to a device.
- Area: every fan entity in a room or area.
- Floor: every fan entity on a floor.
- Label: every fan entity that shares a label.
You can also select different target types in one action. For example, you can add a specific entity and an area as targets in the same action to run the action on both of them at once.
Good to know
- This action is available only for fans that support speed control.
- If you leave Increment empty, the integration decides the step size.
- To set an exact speed instead, use Set fan speed.
Try it yourself
Ready to test this? Open Developer tools > Actions, search for this action, fill in the fields, and select Perform action. You see what happens on your actual entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] without writing a line of YAML.
More examples
Real scenarios where this action shows up in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.
You don’t need to edit YAML to use these examples. Copy a YAML snippet from this page, open the automation editor in Home Assistant, and press Ctrl+V (or Cmd+V on Mac). Home Assistant automatically converts the pasted YAML into the visual editor format, whether it’s a full automation, a single trigger, a condition, or an action.
Automation: increase the office fan speed at midday
If the room gets warmer as the day goes on, you can raise the fan speed a little without switching straight to full power.
- Trigger: Time: 12:00
- Action: Increase fan speed
- Target: Office fan
- Increment: 10
YAML example for a midday speed boost
alias: "Increase office fan at midday"
triggers:
- trigger: time
at: "12:00:00"
actions:
- action: fan.increase_speed
target:
entity_id: fan.office
data:
percentage_step: 10
Automation: give the kitchen fan a bigger boost after cooking starts
When cooking begins, you may want to push the fan up more quickly.
- Trigger: State: Stove hood light changes to on
- Action: Increase fan speed
- Target: Kitchen fan
- Increment: 20
YAML example for a kitchen airflow boost
alias: "Increase kitchen fan when cooking starts"
triggers:
- trigger: state
entity_id: light.stove_hood
to: "on"
actions:
- action: fan.increase_speed
target:
entity_id: fan.kitchen
data:
percentage_step: 20
Still stuck?
The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the action you’re calling and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.
AI assistants like ChatGPT or Claude can also explain actions or suggest the right one when you describe what you want in plain language.
Related actions
These actions work well alongside this one:
-
Decrease fan speed: Decrease the speed of a fan.
-
Set fan speed: Set the speed of a fan.