Re:Ask HN: Do I place the fan so that it blows air inwards o...
by m0rose on Monday May 28, 2018 @11:41AM
(#17173006)
Agreed. In my own experience, it's much more effective when cooling a room to pull the cool air in than to try to exhaust the hot air from the entire house so that cool air will eventually trickle into the room you're trying to cool. Changing from pushing the air out to pulling it in directly was an epiphany for me when I was younger and lead to many nights of better sleep.
Even better, now that I own my own house, is a high powered fan in one window pushing the air out and another (lower-powered) fan in a different room pulling the air in with an additional window open. You can stand in front of the open window and feel the additional cool air streaming in. It's a beautiful thing.
Re:Ask HN: Do I place the fan so that it blows air inwards o...
by spdustin on Monday May 28, 2018 @12:59PM
(#17173448)
In some zones, whole-house ventilation fans (which are installed in the ceiling below the attic) are excellent and efficient ways to cool and/or ventilate a house quickly—by exhausting the air in the living area of the house up and out through the passive vents in the attic. Open some windows, turn on the whole-house fan, and the air in the house is fully exchanged with fresh air from outside very quickly.
It helps to reduce stale odors, bring in fresh air, reduce indoor allergens...also handy when you accidentally burn something in the oven. :)
If you have only one, set it to intake and leave another window open a bit (maybe like half the fan size). You can confirm that air is exiting that way by hanging some strips of tissue paper in it.
Positive pressure (blowing in, from outdoors) is also the right thing to do if you are trying to keep smells from other rooms at bay. Whereas negative pressure (blowing out, to outdoors) is best to keep a smell confined to one room (e.g. this is how bathroom fans work).