Best means of air circulation - can't do ceiling fans?

[destrekor]

So, not so big a deal right now, as it's winter here in Ohio, but for my new home, I'm trying to start thinking about summer (only partly due to the fact that I'm tired of winter!) and air circulation. Something I loved about the home I grew up in is we had ceiling fans.

But now, my place has 7'6" ceilings (just shy of 2.3m). I cannot imagine doing a ceiling fan at that height, in any place other than say, above my bed. Which, I might not mind a hugger-style fan in the bedroom but, I'd still have to do all kinds of attic crawling and wiring thanks to this place having no ceiling lights anywhere save for the basement.

I want good air circulation, that's the primary goal. Conditioning of that air isn't really a concern, purifying/cleaning it would be a nice touch but not a big deal. I've looked at some tower-style rotating fan/air purifiers, but I just don't know if those are going to be the best route.

Mainly thinking bedroom(s), office, living room, and maybe basement.

 

[cbrunny]

Forced air furnace/AC? If you had an air exchanger that'd work more than nicely. Pair it with something like a Nest which you can program the fan to run 15 mins every hour, and you'd be set.

 

[deadlyapp]

My favorite house had an attic exhaust fan. Kick that baby on for about a half hour in the evening to get all the hot air out of the house and I was done. Obviously depends on if you own your house and if you're willing to spend the money to get one installed. For local cooling, just use tower oscillating fans.

 

[d4a2n0k]

If you want air circulation, and cant do a ceiling fan, then a Vornado brand fan is your best bet IMO. These things are great at moving air. I have this one but they sell a few different models.

https://www.amazon.com/Vornado-660-...e=UTF8&qid=1486406726&sr=8-4&keywords=vornado

 

[destrekor]

Forced air furnace/AC? If you had an air exchanger that'd work more than nicely. Pair it with something like a Nest which you can program the fan to run 15 mins every hour, and you'd be set.

Yeah I've got a forced air furnace and AC. It has a blower fan. That's about all I know about the heating/cooling system. lol

I've read that Nest and Ecobee can control a vent fan, but I haven't a clue how that works and if mine is the right kind...? I've seen it referred to as a ventilator and is that what I have? No idea. There's of course the blower fan... same thing? I just know the last homeowner ran the fan continuously (needed good air quality, he was also on an oxygen tank). Couldn't for the life of me figure out what the hell was going on, why it wouldn't shut off - then discovered there is a switch inside my furnace/air handler that turned it from regular operation to continuous blower operation. That was my first tutorial on heating/cooling systems. lol

 

[zerocool84]

Box fans are the cheapest way to move more air. Tower fans are nicer but move less air.

 

[destrekor]

Oh, and it should be stated that I am also looking for the best power efficiency - I definitely enjoy the idea of not adding hundreds of watts to my power usage on a daily basis. It's gotta be more cost efficient than my AC. But, being that I am subjected to electric heat as well, my electric bill in the winter has been painful thus far, so turning the furnace down a degree or two and having better warm air distribution throughout the house would be quite swell! All my blankets are in the basement man cave for a reason lol.

If you want air circulation, and cant do a ceiling fan, then a Vornado brand fan is your best bet IMO. These things are great at moving air. I have this one but they sell a few different models.

https://www.amazon.com/Vornado-660-...e=UTF8&qid=1486406726&sr=8-4&keywords=vornado

Right, I have heard good things about Vornado. I think we had a tilting almost box-fan style one when I was a kid, one we placed at the bottom of the stairs. That thing moved serious air and kept the upstairs much more comfortable. No idea if it was a true Vornado or a knock-off but it worked wonderfully!

 

[destrekor]

My favorite house had an attic exhaust fan. Kick that baby on for about a half hour in the evening to get all the hot air out of the house and I was done. Obviously depends on if you own your house and if you're willing to spend the money to get one installed. For local cooling, just use tower oscillating fans.

What are those, like a bathroom vent on steroids? Yeah I own but not sure if that's the route I'm looking to go. I'd rather just move/circulate the air versus exhaust already conditioned air. Would be a cool idea for days where the windows are open though.

 

[cbrunny]

imo the best thing you could do is upgrade your furnace fan to something energy efficient (if it isn't already) & go with a programmable thermostat that can also control your fan. One fan to blow your entire house is going to be cheaper than 7 fans spread out around. Also way less ugly and most of the time you wont even have to think about it. Your furnace fan should have a filter too, so just get a higher quality filter. when you swap it.

I'd bet you could get a fan that would use ~30Whrs.

 

[TwiceOver]

My thermostat has an option that basically switches the fan to "on" a few times an hour. I have my schedule set to do this during sleeping time to keep the air from getting "stale".

It's a really nice function.

 

[destrekor]

imo the best thing you could do is upgrade your furnace fan to something energy efficient (if it isn't already) & go with a programmable thermostat that can also control your fan. One fan to blow your entire house is going to be cheaper than 7 fans spread out around. Also way less ugly and most of the time you wont even have to think about it. Your furnace fan should have a filter too, so just get a higher quality filter. when you swap it.

I'd bet you could get a fan that would use ~30Whrs.

Didn't realize this would be an option! I know some of them will keep the blower running after the coils aren't being actively cooled or heated, in order to extract all the heating/cooling potential.

It sounds like it requires there to be a separate blower fan wire at the thermostat. Is this a common thing? I'm assuming that if my current thermostat can set "Fan" to auto or whatever, then it must have that wire?

Well... it sounds like it should be, commonly the Green wire. I'm still really hoping the one blue wire I saw behind my current thermostat is in fact the C wire, I don't want to run a thermostat that makes do with power stealing. Unnecessary wear and tear on the furnace. My current one just runs on battery but it's standard AA alkaline - no recharge needed I imagine, just an ancient dumb programmable thermostat.

 

[cbrunny]

It sounds like it requires there to be a separate blower fan wire at the thermostat. Is this a common thing? I'm assuming that if my current thermostat can set "Fan" to auto or whatever, then it must have that wire?

Not sure in your area but I've had three different forced air thermos and all of them had a separate fan wire. If yours doesn't for some reason, I think you should be able to get a contractor in to get one put on. Or if you have a very typical system you could do it yourself. In my last house, I had a thermostat in the basement and a thermostat on the main floor. It was all one zone. I added the one in the basement because in the winter it would get hella cold down there (unfinished) and we used it as a rec room often. I'd turn the thermostat up to 21 C in the basement when down there. It would heat the whole house which is horribly inefficient but worked for what I needed. Installing a thermostat is very easy as long as you don't have to snake through drywall/between floors. That's the hard part.

 

[Newbian]

Make sure there are no mice in the AC clogging it up.

 

[destrekor]

Not sure in your area but I've had three different forced air thermos and all of them had a separate fan wire. If yours doesn't for some reason, I think you should be able to get a contractor in to get one put on. Or if you have a very typical system you could do it yourself. In my last house, I had a thermostat in the basement and a thermostat on the main floor. It was all one zone. I added the one in the basement because in the winter it would get hella cold down there (unfinished) and we used it as a rec room often. I'd turn the thermostat up to 21 C in the basement when down there. It would heat the whole house which is horribly inefficient but worked for what I needed. Installing a thermostat is very easy as long as you don't have to snake through drywall/between floors. That's the hard part.

If I ever want to get additional heat in the basement, it'll be done via a space heater of some kind. A fake fireplace perhaps, but I might not have the room for something that large. But, something - would be more efficient than heating the whole house up more! lol

 

[Imp]

I bought a box fan a couple years ago to help with circulation and ended up using it like twice. Donated it last year. Thing was too big and too loud.

We've tried leaving the furnace's blower fan on but it's a pretty expensive and loud way of doing it -- I think those blowers use a ton of juice.

 

[JulesMaximus]

7'6" ceilings? What are you moving into? A double wide trailer? A sailboat? A decommissioned 1970s era Soviet Submarine? A cave?

 

[MrSquished]

7'6" ceilings? What are you moving into? A double wide trailer? A sailboat? A decommissioned 1970s era Soviet Submarine? A cave?

seriously. I shoot real estate interiors and am a realtor, so I'm in a lot of properties each year. I haven't seen many such short ceilings in my time. These are within properties that have no wheels on them.

 

[who?]

Use one of these with the fan swiveled to blow at the ceiling.https://www.amazon.com/PATPX306U-Pa...F8&qid=1486443524&sr=8-2&keywords=patton+fans

 

[JEDIYoda]

Hire 100 women and have them talk all day long!! I promise all that hot air will circulate;;;;;;;

 

[Red Squirrel]

That's an odd ceiling height. Maybe 7'6" 2x4s were on sale when they built the house.

Assuming you have forced air, you can just use the furnace blower mode to move the air around. If you want to actually exchange the air, you could install a whole house fan. You open a window and turn the fan on and it will suck air through the attic, causing outside air to come through the window(s).

One thing I kind of want to do at one point myself is setup a return bypass that hooks to a large outdoor air return. There would also be an attic vent that opens via actuator. I could then run my system in air exchange mode and it would basically blow outside air through all the vents and air would naturally exhaust through the attic. Could also set it up so when I turn the AC on it would run that cycle first if the air outside is cooler. Ex: at night.

You can get pretty fancy with Arduino as far as hvac control goes.

For local air circulation simple desk fans work great. I have one in my room I sometimes even use in winter.

 

[destrekor]

7'6" ceilings? What are you moving into? A double wide trailer? A sailboat? A decommissioned 1970s era Soviet Submarine? A cave?

lol

Yeah, I hate it - they also used the full height for closet doors... perhaps all doors? Haven't paid attention to the bath, bed, and a couple other doors, I'm in no hurry to replace them like I am with the dual metal bi-fold closets. Ugh I hate them, and that means a custom size too so, money monies.

But, no, not an out of the ordinary construction type. Just, weird construction decisions.

It's townhouse-style condo complex, built in the mid 70s. No overhead lights except in the kitchen (and basement), odd ceiling height, full-height doors... if it wasn't so damn cheap yet in a wonderful, safe, and quiet neighborhood, I would have passed. As it stands it won't be my lifelong home, but hoping to catch a break on valuation with some updates and hopefully some recovery of the market in the surrounding area.

I just couldn't stand the thought of paying more for rent alone than I do on everything: mortgage, association dues, and homeowners insurance, all combine to be far less than rent in a halfway decent part of town, especially once square footage is factored in. At least I'm building equity, and for the most serious costs, like foundation repairs or roofing, that's all on the association. Sure I'm paying for that over time through the dues than up front but everything, be it lawn, snow, refuse, the new poured sidewalks, the infested and dying ash trees (ohhh, I miss those, so bright and barren entering the complex now), leaks in the foundation/basement, roofing replacement and repair, or any issues with any exterior or common walls... my hands aren't in any of that. Not a bad deal - sort of like renting but I just have to deal with the interior and can do whatever the hell I want inside. A lot of stress removed this route. As a starter home, I couldn't beat it, not in this market. Anything close to this purchase price as a stand-alone home and I'd have who knows what waiting for me to fall apart in the house or have a major foundation issue... or I'd be in the ghetto. lol