Ceiling fans....

[Royall]

This may be no brainer, but what direction should a ceiling fan run for best results in Puna? Should the fan be blowing the air down, or pulling the air up? Also in a room with about a 13’ ceiling, how far down would one want to hang it for best operation?

Royall

What goes around comes around!

[Carey]

Royall, this is on the directions for our "Windward II" fans:
Fan comes with a forward and a reverse setting. For rooms with standard 8-foot ceilings, when you click it to "forward", the fan blows the air down. Standing under the fan, you will feel a breeze. When you click it to "reverse", the fan reverses rotation and blows the air up. Now, when you stand under the fan, you won't feel a breeze.

So, during the winter, turn the fan to "reverse" to circulate the warm air without blowing air down and cooling you in the process. Hot air rises and a ceiling fan, running in reverse, gently mixes the air.

During the summer, on the other hand, turn it to "forward" to create a wind-chill effect as the air moves against your skin and cools you."
"Some people with higher ceilings, like a stairwell, often do the opposite of this. The rationale for this is that cool air sinks to the floor, which causes the lower levels to be cooler and the upper levels hotter. So, in the summer, run the fan in a blowing-up direction to keep cool air-conditioned air, which is coming out of their upstairs vents, upstairs.

In the winter, run the fan in the blowing-down direction to move warm air into the lower levels of the house. There will be no noticable draft downstairs because objects are too far away from the fan."

Don't have any info on the height, but most of the downrod styles I've seen have the blades mounted near ceiling (8') height. Don't know why....
Aloha, Carey

[OpihiChuck]

I've got seven (!) ceiling fans in my home here in Florida. The further you can drop your fan from the ceiling the better to stir up a larger volume of air. Most of our fans are a minumum of 12" from the ceiling, a couple are three feet and work great, but the one that is flush-mounted is poorest of all and needs to be set on high all the time. So for efficiency sake, drop it as far as asthetics and safety allow.
We've got one ceiling fan in our new home in Opihikoa but it's a loud sonuvagun. The previous owner has had two in there, both quality fans, but both loud, and he's now convinced that the inverter is to blame......Lot's to learn about this off-the-grid stuff! Twenty four more days and we'll be there in person to figure it all out.
Good luck, Chuck

[JerryCarr]

I used a whole house fan for 20 years in Atlanta, and it was a great way to save on air conditioning costs there. Basically, they are attic fans which draw outside air into the house through whatever windows and doors one chooses to open. We found them especially useful after sundown when the outside air had cooled below the ambient indoor temp. Sometimes they were even useful in the afternoon when the southwest side of the house was hotter than the opposite side. Then we would only open the windows on the cooler side.

I don't know how they do in Hawaii, though. They tend to draw humidity in with the fresh air, which may not be a good thing. Once in Atlanta, my visiting mother left her suitcase open beneath a window with the attic fan going all night. In the morning we had to run her clothes through the dryer!!!

Hope this helps.

Aloha, Jerry

[JerryCarr]

Yes, Buzz, attic fans do create breezes, and you can direct them by trying combinations of open and closed windows. Depending on how powerful the fan itself is, you might find that having ALL the windows open makes the breeze potential too diffuse to do much good.

[PunaCat]

Has anyone here used a Reiker Room Conditioner?

They are a ceiling fan, with flourescent fixture and a ceramic heating element in them.

I was seriously considering putting two in my house here in FA. The claim is that they produce enough heat to warm up a room. They are energy efficient, not bad to look at - and of course, do double duty to cool the house in the summer. My thinking was that they could warm up the air in the house on those rainy, cold mornings just enough to take the damp out of the rooms. Might keep down the mold and mildew issues, not to mention warming up these aging bones!

The cheapest I have found them is on Ebay. Reconditioned units run frm $150 up, with new ones costing close to $400 off the Reiker website...

Just looking for some input....

PunaCat



Edited by - punacat on 05/27/2006 11:12:01