Comments on: Warm House, Cool Planet—In Fairlady http://www.greenerhouse.co.za/2010/05/04/211/ Your Earth, Your Home ~ in South Africa Wed, 17 Aug 2011 08:34:15 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: boroughs http://www.greenerhouse.co.za/2010/05/04/211/comment-page-1/#comment-64766 boroughs Thu, 30 Sep 2010 09:27:21 +0000 http://www.greenerhouse.co.za/?p=211#comment-64766 Unfortunately, I still do not know of an off-the-shelf option to accomplish this. I made one in much the same way that Delport did: buying a bathroom extractor fan and physically reversing the motor. It's not necessarily a simple operation, however, depending upon the design of the fan. A DC motor, perhaps powered by a small photovoltaic panel, would be simpler. DC motors are freqently reversible, simply by switching the wires around. If you know a lot more about electricity than I and your bathroom fan has a permanent-split capacitor AC motor, apparently it is possible to reverse the direction of those motors. Before you spend any money or time on this, check your attic temperature in the winter to make sure that it is warm enough to provide a reasonable quantity of heat. A poorly sealed roof could prevent it from warming up. Delport lives in Pretoria. In Johannesburg, you would have to have an amazingly well-insulated house to expect a system like this to take the place of a fireplace on a cold night. It can help a lot on moderately cold days, however, and improve the daytime temperature indoors on colder days. Let me know if you learn anything along the way. Good luck, Don Unfortunately, I still do not know of an off-the-shelf option to accomplish this. I made one in much the same way that Delport did: buying a bathroom extractor fan and physically reversing the motor. It’s not necessarily a simple operation, however, depending upon the design of the fan. A DC motor, perhaps powered by a small photovoltaic panel, would be simpler. DC motors are freqently reversible, simply by switching the wires around. If you know a lot more about electricity than I and your bathroom fan has a permanent-split capacitor AC motor, apparently it is possible to reverse the direction of those motors. Before you spend any money or time on this, check your attic temperature in the winter to make sure that it is warm enough to provide a reasonable quantity of heat. A poorly sealed roof could prevent it from warming up.

Delport lives in Pretoria. In Johannesburg, you would have to have an amazingly well-insulated house to expect a system like this to take the place of a fireplace on a cold night. It can help a lot on moderately cold days, however, and improve the daytime temperature indoors on colder days.

Let me know if you learn anything along the way.
Good luck,
Don

]]> By: Map Ives http://www.greenerhouse.co.za/2010/05/04/211/comment-page-1/#comment-64615 Map Ives Wed, 22 Sep 2010 08:36:24 +0000 http://www.greenerhouse.co.za/?p=211#comment-64615 There is no "contact us" tab at the head of the Greener House site, and yet I would like to ask a question of the author. How may I get ahold of an e mail address and name ? Thanks and onwards Map Ives There is no “contact us” tab at the head of the Greener House site, and yet I would like to ask a question of the author. How may I get ahold of an e mail address and name ? Thanks and onwards Map Ives

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