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Ceiling Fans and Temperature Gradients

Charles (in GA)

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Jan 11, 2006
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12,489
Location
50 mi south of Atlanta
Preformed a non-scientific test today. Its damp and chilly here in 'Jawja today, not super cold, but cold enough that I was running my 85K torpedo heater in the general direction I was working in.

I had been running the three ceiling fans on next to low speed, they move enough air on that speed that an oak leaf that had found its way in the building blew by as I stood and contemplated the test.

The building is a steel building with the vinyl covered insulation that is put on then the steel is screwed on over it, 60x60x16 with a 12/2 roof which is 66,600 cubic feet of area. It has a roll up 10x10 door on the north side with a large gap at the top when it is closed (due to the roll getting smaller as the door goes down) and of course, the door is simple sheetmetal, no insulation. there is another door on the west end, 12w x 14h that is made of five panels of glass and two of metal, uninsulated. On the east end is a set of Horton Stack Doors, 14 high and 56 ft jam to jam, covered in translucent fiberglass, so no insulation there either. The fans are 60 inch diameter Home Depot "industrial" fans, that on high speed, move over 10K cfm. They are mounted about 15 ft 6 inches off the floor. They are discussed in THIS THREAD

I took a regular thermometer and propped it up on the deck of my manlift, about 4 ft off the floor, and let it stabilize for about a half hour. It was 65 degrees, so I rode the lift to the roof and propped the thermometer in the flange of a purlin at the peak and left it for another 20 or 30 minutes. It read 66 degrees. The heater was running the whole time.

I turned the fans off, and left the thermometer on the purlin flange and after a good half hour, went up to check it, it was 70 going on 71 degrees, so I brought it back down and left it to stabilize and after a while I looked, it was down to 64 degrees.

Now the whole time this is going on, my heater is running, and the overall temp in the building is slowly rising. Had I left the fans on, I'm sure the temp would have climbed a couple of degrees at the floor, rather than going down a degree.

Not scientific I know, but it proved to me the effectiveness of running the fans even without any real heat.

Charles

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nehog

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Jan 2, 2010
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Jaffrey, NH
My ceiling fan blows air hot enough you'd think it was a heater when I have the heat on. I think I have as much as a 20 difference between floor and near the ceiling!
 

787B

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Sep 16, 2010
Messages
294
Location
Baltimore, MD
You're far enough South to know all about ceiling fans, Charles. Never hurts to have more evidence though. :)

I'm running a ceiling fan on low right now (in reverse) in my office to keep the heat distributed. I think the only time a ceiling fan isn't useful is when you have a heated floor.
 
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Charles (in GA)

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Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Messages
12,489
Location
50 mi south of Atlanta
As an example of how heat rises, I can take the torpedo heater (it is of course, horizontal to the floor) and set it about ten to fifteen feet away from the center line of a ceiling fan, and pointing at the fan, turn it on, and the fan (switched off) will spin (backwards) like it was turned on medium speed, just from the heat rising from the torpedo heater.

Very good example of heat rising rapidly as it exits the heater.

Charles
 

MattT

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Feb 20, 2010
Messages
3,201
Yeah fans make a big difference especially with high ceilings. My house has 12 foot ceiling and before I upgraded the fan it was freezing sat on the couch but comfortable standing up with the heater running wide open when the weather turned cold. Now it's comfortable and the heater doesn't run continuous:thumbup:

Another benefit of the bigger fan is it let me set the A/C 4* higher too:thumbup:
 
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