Move heat with fans??

SuzeQStan

@alanwsg - amazing this is exactly the kind of info im after. Do you know the temperature difference you are achieving compared to before?

Above the door position really makes sense as the heat will rise?

this is fascinating to me thanks again!

alanwsg

SuzeQStan said:

@alanwsg - amazing this is exactly the kind of info im after. Do you know the temperature difference you are achieving compared to before?

Above the door position really makes sense as the heat will rise?

this is fascinating to me thanks again!

Don't know the actual temperature difference, just know it was freezing there before & now it isn't.

This is the 2nd attempt. First try was with the fans sitting on top of the radiator, that didn't work at all. In fact, they actually seemed to blow cold air around in that position.

SuzeQStan

Qyburn said:

I don't know your house structure but wonder if you could have a direct path between sitting room and the bedroom directly above. A high level register in the sitting room, and low level in the bedroom with passive convection passing warm air.

Hi @Qyburn - thanks this is a really good idea - unfortunately the LB is opposite end of the house to our bedroom. It’s right below our spare bedroom which is never heated. Must be good insulation upstairs/downstairs as the spare bed is always very cold at night.

Eldi_Dos

Might seem a bit Heath Robinson but could you fit a vent in ceiling of lounge and one in floor or wall of bedroom and connect with a duct.
Do not know if this would breach any regulations.

SuzeQStan

Eldi_Dos said:

Might seem a bit Heath Robinson but could you fit a vent in ceiling of lounge and one in floor or wall of bedroom and connect with a duct.
Do not know if this would breach any regulations.

Thanks @Eldi_Dos - had to look up Heath Robinson 🤣 - gonna try the fans tonite. But would consider what you are suggesting if only the LB wasn’t on opposite end of house from our bedroom 😊👍🏻

SuzeQStan

Ok - so getting ready to set this experiment up - couple of hiccoughs - got a lot of solar gain in our bedroom today (shutters wide open whenever it happens and slammed closed at sunset 🤣) so it’s currently stating 17.9 in the bedroom but that will swiftly drop I’d imagine. So it probably won’t be as cold tho as it is on a normal miserable winters day.

also I can only find 2x fans - I reckon OH has made off with the 3rd one but he is protesting innocence 😒. He says we can still do it as long as we make sure all upstairs doors are closed (aside from our bedroom door) & I’ll draft exclude the other upstairs doors as well. Hopefully will still be able to have a good go with the 2 x fans.

LB has warmed the lounge to 19.8 - once it hits 20 degrees I’ll open the lounge door/bedroom door & start the fans as well as making a note of the bedroom temp once I start.

Update to follow

Scot_39

Eldi_Dos said:

Might seem a bit Heath Robinson but could you fit a vent in ceiling of lounge and one in floor or wall of bedroom and connect with a duct.
Do not know if this would breach any regulations.

An old house in UK used to still have it's central air ducts.  Some at the time still used their central air boilers (as yanks would call them)  - but most were upgrading to wet GCH by time I moved in.

A firend lives in an old victorian conversion - still has the grills - but his are sealed behind ironwork.

Not so sure about building regs - but ripping up floors etc could be overkill.

Simple fans can make a big difference to air circulation in a room / space. 

Some of the higher flow fans are actually marketed as "air circulation" - with claims to cut down on thermal gradients in rooms etc.  They don't have to be big or bulky - some are more focused drive narrower jet of air further and quiter than others.  But even the cheapest fan will help.

And some use very little power (10-20W on lower settings) - c.f. heating bills.

Only on the coldest days - weeks not months in winter - do I switch upstairs heating on - most days - the LR and DS hall heater does enough passively.

So passive ventillation works - but often wont beat say heat loss at window or outside walls etc.

Some poster here say they even use ordinary fans (10s W and few £10s to buy ) rather than say dehumidifiers (100s W and £100s to buy) to circulate air and heat to avoid cold / damp / condensation spots forming.  ( I guess without cranking up heat at one side of room to compensate.)

SuzeQStan

Scot_39 said: Simple fans can make a big difference to air circulation in a room / space.  

Some of the higher flow fans are actually marketed as "air circulation" - with claims to cut down on thermal gradients in rooms etc.  They don't have to be big or bulky - some are more focused drive narrower jet of air further and quiter than others.  But even the cheapest fan will help.

OH was thinking of using a case fan from his old pc.  

At the moment both usb fans are running. Hallway starting temp - 14 degrees & bedroom temp 15.5 degrees.  Both of these are higher than normal as our home is south facing and the hall and our bedroom get a lot of solar gain on sunny days.

im not happy with the position of the fans as I would prefer to have them higher up like @alanwsg does in his photo.

SuzeQStan

Sorry rubbish photos

SuzeQStan

Good result even with the 2 x fans yesterday evening.  Temperature in hall and bedroom almost immediately rose to and stayed at 17 degrees all evening once the fans started blowing.

one unexpected benefit - the kitchen which has been no higher than 14 degrees since December also reached 17 degrees and stayed there! And it’s in the opposite direction that the fans were blowing.

im going to move the fans higher up the wall and see if that improves things further. Am pretty happy with the results though. The 2x fans would cost less than £1 a month combined to run 24hrs a day so at 5 hrs per day it’s 50p ish well spent per month as far as I’m concerned.

Thanks to everyone who responded

SQS