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-   -   Using attic heat for the house (https://ecorenovator.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1125)

Daox 09-18-10 12:07 PM

I only had about another 45 minutes before I had to leave last night. So, in just under 2 hours of blowing the attic air down, it brought the temp up from 68.5 to around 71.5. Not too shabby if I do say so. Well worth looking into IF the temperature gets high enough in winter.

Daox 09-21-10 09:22 AM

I did this again last night. I wasn't very sunny yesterday, but the attic was still 72 and the upstairs was 66. So, I wanted to see what a 6 degree difference would do to me. ~2 hrs later the upstairs was 67.5 and attic was ~70. With so little temperature differential I didn't think there was much benefit, but I was happy to see the temp go up 1.5 degrees.

So, going forward I'm thinking of improving the setup. I think the next easy step would be to move the fan into the attic and set it on top of the cutoff chimney. I recently bought a remote outlet control for another project, but I'm thinking it would be perfect here for manual control. When I notice its warm up there, I flick it on and have warm air blowing down into my kitchen. Of course I'll need to unblock the previously blocked hole.

Ideas, thoughts?

Xringer 09-21-10 10:08 AM

Is there an all-season attic-vent-fan product on the market with bi-directional fans,
that's insulated, with a flap that shuts during winter nights.?.

It would be nice to clear out indoor hot air in the summer and suck down warm air on days like this..

Daox 09-21-10 10:14 AM

Sorry, I haven't responded to a bunch of posts here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryland
what about installing a heat pump? the attic should always be warmer then the outside temp.

That would probably work very nicely, but I'd like to start out as simple as possible for now.


Quote:

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw (Post 8115)
If you have an unused chimney then go ahead and use it! It will save you the hassle and expense of running a duct between floors. Maybe make a circuit that checks temperatures and turns the fan on only when the attic is warmer than the kitchen? And Patrick is right about filtering.

Any chance of getting some insulation on that attic door?

Yeah, thats what I think I'm going to do. No filter for now. Its pretty clean up there so we'll wait to see if its a problem.

There is insulation above the door when its all closed up.

Daox 09-21-10 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xringer (Post 8231)
Is there an all-season attic-vent-fan product on the market with bi-directional fans,
that's insulated, with a flap that shuts during winter nights.?.

It would be nice to clear out indoor hot air in the summer and suck down warm air on days like this..

That is a great idea! I need to plug the chimney up anyways as I'm sure its a source of heat loss in the winter.

Anyone have any ideas on what products could be used like this? I'd imagine a bi-directional flapper door wouldn't be the easiest thing to come by.

Xringer 09-21-10 10:58 AM

It's 70 outdoors, 72 in my PC room right now (good solar), 66 in the basement and about 89 in the attic.

I have the pull-down door open about 8", so it doesn't get real hot up there..
Mainly, I want fresh dry air circulating in the basement. (for now).

When that pull-down door is sealed in the winter, it gets pretty warm up there..
Sun hitting any part of the roof will help keep the snow melting.. From the peak down.


I think my summer setup is okay, but I'll have to see if I can use some of that
attic heat for winter space heating.

skyl4rk 09-21-10 02:51 PM

Use an arduino or other microprocessor: When the attic is greater than 72 degrees and the house is less than 70 degrees, turn the fan on.

Daox 09-21-10 05:01 PM

Yeah, thats probably the way I'll go eventually if all the manual testing works out.

Daox 09-23-10 07:23 AM

So, I checked my chimney the other day. The opening is actually about half the size of my box fan. So, I'm thinking it would be a good idea to find some other fan for it. So, I'd imagine a squirrel cage fan would probably work better for this application since they're normally used for hvac stuff. I'm guessing because of their ability to create a higher pressure differential? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Patrick 09-23-10 08:36 AM

If you're going to use a squirrel cage fan, you can run it down the chimney since the discharge area is typically a lot smaller than a box fan. And it does produce a higher pressure differential than an axial fan.


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