Tip of the Day - Fan Dancing
Posted on July 8, 2008 by
Noelle commented yesterday in regards to Umbra’s post on fans and air conditioners:
“Query about fans, Allie who always has the answer: I’m fan cooled in my house, I have those window numbers that do both intake and outtake. I leave them on the lowest level of outtake during the day to keep the air from getting stagnant in the house. It works really well, but Umbra says not to do it. Now I’m all conflicted, because stagnant air is like death, and those fans seem to be doing a great job during the day.
Oh and she’s right, I’ve got an exhaust fan in my roof, and it’s marvelous.”
I thought I was stumped.
One of the best ways to stay cool is not to let yourself get too hot to begin with. But Umbra is right about the energy use. But walking into a house full of hot air is going to totally make anyone lose their cool. But the energy use. . .
Completely and totally stumped. Then just before I fell asleep last night, I had an idea.
Put your fans on timers. You know, the little box timers that people use to make their lights go on and off while they’re on vacation? Plug those into the outlet and plug your fans into those. Set them for an hour before you get home, and the stagnant air will be moving around by the time you walk in the door, but you won’t have to leave your fans running all day.
Brilliant! I even have some hanging around with my Christmas decorations. Thanks!
Good idea. I use a timer on one lamp in my house too, so that I can see where I’m walking when I get home after dark.
Noelle — You’re welcome!
MG — We do that with the light that’s way over in the corner behind the couch b/c it’s a pain in the butt to reach over there to turn it off. It’s also a great indicator of it being time to go to bed.
Allie - I’ve just found your site, wow, there are so many brilliant ideas.
I live in Germany and here, not many people are using fans, like you are showing above. I don’t have any. But there are rolling shutters on the outer side of the windows (looking similar to this:
http://www.jaggistoren.ch/images/rollladen_top.jpg )
and in summer, when it’s getting hot, we are doing like this:
We open all the windows early in the morning, when the air outside is still cool and fresh. When the sun starts shining on the windows, or when we leave the house, we close them and put half down the rolling shutters, so that enough light comes in but the sun doesn’t shine too much on the window screens.
The air inside the rooms stays comfortably cool without using any electric equipment.
i still think energy is being used. if you have to leave the fan plugged in the timer and the timer plugged into the wall, does it not add to the phantom energy load? is this less than if you leave the fan on low? that is what we need to know!
moni - what a great idea!
We use a fan or two at any given time during the day, sometimes all day and night. They are small fans and they must use less energy than the AC, and that’s the goal. Your timer idea is brilliant, though, for someone who’s not at home all day.
Moni — Thanks! That’s wonderful!
Erikka — I did think about the energy use. I’m not 100% on this, but I think that the fan in use would use more energy than the timer. If the fan is old school mechanical — doesn’t have a digital panel, and doesn’t have any lights that stay on when it’s off, I don’t think it’s likely to pull energy when it’s off.
Mickey - Thanks! It is amazing how much a fan can do. Fan in conjunction with a dehumidifier can work wonders.