I'm trying to circulate air in my house. We have a split level home (lower, middle, upper, in a zig zag sort or arrangement. I hate it, but that's beside the point) and the lowest level is always too cold and highest level too warm. I want to move air from the lower level to at least the middle level.
I need a fan, preferably small or thin profile that blows 90° from intake. Ideally a box fan that has a horizontal intake but exhausts up or sideways. What I've done in previous years is have a rotated fan that pointed up, intake from below, and was raised off the ground.
The closest I've found is a carpet dryer drum style. It has round intakes on the side and a rectangular vent on the front. That would totally work (point the intake at the cold room and the exhaust up towards the middle room) but it's way over powered for my situation. Also, it's a bit wider than ideal, though slimmer than what I used last year.
22 Comments
lime@feddit.nu · 13 pts · 195d
you're looking for a radial fan, as opposed to the normal axial kind.
be warned though, they need to spin faster to move the same amount of air and so tend to be a lot louder.
RIotingPacifist@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 195d
Are they worth it vs just redirecting the input/output?
snooggums@piefed.world · 7 pts · 195d
Redirecting the input from the designed direction will slow down the airflow and often increase the noise level as it struggles to draw the air in.
GrayBackgroundMusic@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 195d
Ugh louder. That's not gonna go well with the spouse.
lime@feddit.nu · 7 pts · 195d
unfortunately as others have said, any redirection of the air flow will cause extra noise.
bob_omb_battlefield@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 195d
Centrifugal fans exhaust 90 degrees from intake and are very common. Could also search for blower fan. Not sure if sizes meet your needs though.
GrayBackgroundMusic@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 195d
Centrifugal! That's a good word for this. Thanks.
GorGor@startrek.website · 4 pts · 194d
try looking up "squirrel cage fan"
it sounds like I'm joking but it is really what they are called.
bhamlin@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 193d
Or blower fan
lemmie689@lemmy.sdf.org · 5 pts · 195d
I have a home air filter that pulls in through the front and blows out the top. Portable dehumidifiers can do the same on fan mode, blow air upwards.
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org · 4 pts · 194d
Any fan from a laptop computer does this. They aren't too noisy nowadays.
Tja@programming.dev · 16 pts · 194d
The first sentence from OP "I'm trying to circulate air in my house". Your proposal: a laptop fan.
I love comedy.
Venat0r@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 193d
I have a similar issue at my house, I put up a thermal curtain at the bottom of the stairs with an extendable curtain rail that wedges between the walls and that mostly solves it.
Cort@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 194d
If you have a central furnace you can close the outlet vents on one floor of the home. Downstairs in the summer and upstairs in the winter. Most air conditioners actually tell you to close the downstairs vents to keep the upstairs cooler, since warm air rises
palordrolap@fedia.io · 2 pts · 195d
I'd be sitting down and prototyping conduits with strong cardboard and sticky tape. And my desk fan in the middle.
The fan itself doesn't have to make the angle if it has the right kind of redirection around it.
Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe · 2 pts · 195d
Another term to search for is "centrifugal fan" - these are the type used where air flow restrictions are significant, as they can compress the air some unlike a traditional box fan. For noise, a larger fan at lower speeds is generally less intrusive.
Where's the return on your air handler? If there's more than one (one upstairs, one down), you may be able to cheat the system by blocking one seasonally.
Also most likely the air handler speed is set too high - installers are kind of lazy (they don't want callbacks) so they typically set the air handler to max speed. Since most instalsl are also well oversized, this means the system will short cycle and move less air during that short cycle. Lowering the air handler speed may help lengthen the cycle, moving more air in total.
You could also try just turning the air handler on (fan mode orn"Always On" on thermostat).
This probably won't solve your problem entirely, just maybe help.
GrayBackgroundMusic@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 195d
Centrifugal! That's a good word for this. Thanks.
GrayBackgroundMusic@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 195d
Oh I don't wanna mess with the air handler myself. I'd break it I'm sure. I could call the ac people I use tho.
Krudler@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 195d
Get Styrofoam blocks and plug vents seasonally. In summer plug the downstairs ones so AC feeds upstairs and drifts down, opposite in winter to make air heat the lower levels and slowly rise.
ironhydroxide@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 194d
If you have a variable speed fan this is fine. If you don't then this can burn up the blower motor, so be careful with balance and flow when you do.
Krudler@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 194d
Dude's not going to be burning anything out, his furnace fan motor can't even adequately ventilate his house as it is right
ironhydroxide@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 194d
That's not how it works.... But you be you.